To be confused about fuel direct debit?

[AlternativelyWired]

The line was terrible but it had taken me several attempts and a long time to get to an actual person. I have an outstanding bill of £450 on my gas and electricity account. I had cancelled my DD in March as I was skint. I tried to reset it up and kept getting cut off. Today I have managed to do it (couldn't do it online before anyone suggests that) but I'm suspicious that my pre-price hike DD was £143 and now it's only £150 and will be for the next 18 months.I'm on a variable tariff. I did try to fix in early March but couldn't find a decent tarrif. I'm confused because my DD hasn't gone up significantly but prices have. Will I end up massively in debt when the 18months are up and have a big increase to my DD? The guy I spoke to didn't even try to get me to pay more. I just said I could afford £150 and that was it. Totally different to previous experiences but I've been put over to Eon Next from Eon.

Have you paid off the £450 debt?
Have they given you a note of your current tariff with price per kwh and standing charge?
If you haven't paid off the £450 and are using more than £150 worth of gas/electricity then yes, you will just get further into debt

Have you paid off the debt?

What will probably happen is that once your debt has grown to a certain point your direct debit will increase, and then if the debt continues to grow then increase again.

No, I couldn't afford to. He just said the direct debit was set until November 2023.

Maybe to them £150 pm is better than the £0 they got in March, I'm sure the guy is spending all day everyday speaking to people in the same boat. If he'd set your dd at £300 you'd probably cancel it again..

Your debt will just increase then unless they've done you a special deal with your tariff. Have they sent you any details about it?

Well then your debt is going to increase significantly over the next 18 months.

Make sure you regularly check your account so that you know how much more you are using and accuring.

And also think about is there anything at all you can do to try and reduce the balance

I'm paying towards the debt and current usage with that amount. I've not been sent any details at all. He didn't even en read me the direct debit thingy. I'll phone again tomorrow and check.

But then what happens when people get more and more in debt if they only pay what they can afford? Won't they then be forced onto prepayment meters?

Has he put you on a social tariff or a debt recovery tariff? I don't know if Eon offer them but you should be able to check if you can view your account online?
If so be careful because the payment can be fixed for a period but you can still rack up arrears.

I can't get anywhere with the app as it shows a balance of zero while everything is being transferred to Eon Next. Over the summer the usage will be very little so I hope things will balance out.

I'm going to phone tomorrow and just make sure of everything. The conversation was very basic with me saying I wanted to set up my direct debit, he asked if I could need a one off payment towards the debt and I said no, he asked what amount I could afford to pay and I said £150 and he said ok that's £50 towards the debt and £100 in ongoing usage. Took my bank details and that was that.

@Svara going off this site alone there are lots of people who can't afford their fuel bills. It's all over the news too. I can't see all those struggling being put on prepayment meters.,The demand would be huge and it would take ages to get them installed.

Good plan to ring back and make sure but you definitely won't be on an 'unlimited' or capped fee so best to use as little as possible and try to find out so you don't get hit at the end of the repayment period.

I'm well aware of that! I'm on a low income and trying to decrease my usage as much as possible myself. Just wondering what happens to the debt? I can't reduce my direct debit myself or I won't have enough credit in October to be able to afford to put the heating on.

I was asked if I wanted to change my direct debit to something more affordable but I figured that would just make things worse come winter if I had only covered summer bills so I said I'd leave it for now. So I'm confused about how it could possibly work as well!

I guess so? Do they still cut people off, I'm not sure. It's a crappy situation but paying the £150 is much better than cancelling the dd completely.

Can you get hold of an electric blanket before winter? I also got a free water saving showerhead and two and four minute hourglass timers through the water company so I can save on hot water.

If you managed to get into £450 debit when you were paying £143 a month before the price increase, your debit is going to increase massively if you are now only going to be paying £100pm after the price increase.

Paying £50pm off your debt means it will take 9 months to pay of the current debt of £450, which will take you into Jan23 so even not using as much over the summer isn't really going to help. Plus, prices are expected to increase again in October.

I'm not sure what the answer is tbh.

I'm not sure what they are doing with regards to cutting people off but don't panic about that it isn't that easy and they need a court order. That wouldn't be given while you are trying to service the debt.
I did hear on the radio about the forced installation of PPM but not much detail of what triggers that.
If you are on UC or any other benefit mention it to provider, sometimes there are special tariffs and also most have emergency funds you may be entitled to help from.

Ask about warm home discount too even if you are too late for this year if you're eligible set a reminder on your phone for when the scheme reopens.