To not have realised this?! (Bulb customers, but may help others)

[Newbie198]

So Bulb want to increase my payments from £170 a month to £260, with an absolute minimum of £234.

I phoned and explained that my £170 plus the £66 from the government totals £236 (above their minimum) so I’m all good thanks, no need to increase payments. Happy for them to reassess in March when the government help stops.

Tried to reduce the new direct debit amount online, will not accept any less than £234 a month (replacing the current £170). Clearly the £234 they want me to pay, plus the government £66 makes £300 a month Bulb intend on taking.

Phoned back, trying my best to explain that the government’s £66 means my payments are enough. Bulb did not seem to see my point.

Some companies I believe, are indeed using the government’s £66 to reduce customer payments, which of course was the original intention was it not? To help keep payments manageable through the winter.

Bulb, and maybe others, are keeping the £66 (ok, crediting it to your account) whilst still demanding massive increases from the customer. I want the government help to make things easier for me now, not to be banked in my account as a credit.

So, I cancelled my direct debit. They try to scare you by saying you may be charged £20 for doing this. However, you have the right to pay by bank transfer (as well as other methods) which is what I have requested. They still want a minimum £234 by bank transfer, but of course I have control over this and will pay £170. If they want to take me to court for being £500 in credit and rising thanks to the government’s help, I wish them luck.

So, I hadn’t realised that some companies are not deducting the £66 off your monthly payments to help you, but are banking this money (as a credit to your account) and still trying to up people’s payments by ridiculous amounts.

Just wanted to let people know there are other options if you are worried about how you are going to pay these latest unreasonable increases.

I suspect Bulb, and maybe others, are using the government help to keep plenty of people in loads of credit whilst still upping their payments, perhaps to cover those who won’t or can’t pay in the future. I’d rather my £500 or whatever be used by me how I choose, especially in these difficult times, not sat in Bulb’s account.

This is how I pay bulb and have done for 3 months.
I do a meter reading and then pay what I owe by bank transfer each month.

I will too now, very sensible

I’m not sure I totally follow what you’re saying here - not because of how you’ve written it, but more because the whole process that Bulb have set up sounds quite complicated!

If you don’t want to increase your bills (which is totally fair), can you shop around for a better deal with another provider?

I know it’s difficult right now, as most deals are very expensive. You can look at price comparison sites for the deal that suits you best though, and use uSwitch (I think that’s what it’s called?) to change.

Apologies if you don’t want to change your deal - it just sounded to me like you might, as you don’t sound too happy with your current deal.

Oh this is a great tip. I was so confused about why they wanted me to increase our monthly payment by so much when we’re already in huge credit and even more so with the government payment.

I think Bulb kept my government discount to, as my DD is the same as before (180)
Im not in credit though so I didn’t quibble, but yeah if they are going to take more than you want to pay, and you are in credit then I would cancel the DD too and just do a standing order.

I have the opposite with bulb. Yes, I do have a lot of credit but they keep asking me to halve the DD I am paying. I do send in regular meter readings though. The government's £66 is credited to my account. Maybe they look at past usage from last winter to estimate the DD? Who knows!

British Gas are paying the £66 into our bank accounts each month so we are getting the benefit, it’s then up to us how we use the money.

I’ve just come to the end of a fixed term and they want me to increase payments from £94 a month ( very low) to £350. I’ve done my own calculation based on my usage in the last 12 months and after deducting the credit amount, I need to pay £240 to cover my costs. I intend to tell them that this is the maximum I will pay - once I manage to get through to someone!

Unfortunately prices this winter will be double what they were last winter, so even with the govt rebate (which ain’t a payment, because we’ll all be paying it back in even higher prices in the future) most people will have to increase their Ed this winter

I thought the govt had insisted that suppliers transfer the £66 a month into the customer's bank account? Not simply deduct it from their energy account (which would have made more sense imo).

Have you considered that the price increases may well increase your bill more than the £66 a month is reducing it (quite likely if you were already using £170 a month worth at the old prices)?

We paid our usual amount of £104 in September, were credited £66 on 1 Oct and paid the reduced amount of £68 this month. The amounts of £66 and £68 add up to £124, which is what Bulb originally told us we'd have to pay when the amount went up. I suspect they'll reduce your next payment.

Bulb emailed me a couple of weeks ago to tell me they were reducing our DD due to the Government help!

I received an email from Bulb suggesting I lower my monthly direct debit, which I did with no problem. It did seem a bit odd, given the present situation, but I assumed they didn’t want us building up too much credit in our account while they are in administration.

I was in the same situation, called bulb and they reduced it right there on the phone, to even less than I had been paying, all sorted in less than 5 minutes. Confirmation email a few minutes later.
Must depend on the customer service agent you get.

I spoke to bulb a few months back as they wanted to increase my direct debit, despite being in credit. They were very helpful and cancelled the direct debit and told me just to pay each month, which is what I have done. Am paying what I wanted my direct debit to be and am still building a small amount of credit each month, which I hope will help in the coldest months.

Same
My account says its up to date and I get no emails from them.
There is a big red button on the account saying to set up a direct debit but they can't make you if you are paying your bill.

Some companies are sending it back to the bank but others (like my supplier Octopus) are reducing the direct debit payment and making it up to the original amount using the £66 payment e.g. original payment of £220 is reduced to £154 and then £66 is credited to the energy account from the government

I had an email from British Gas yesterday to say they had changed my account number but not to worry all will be the samw as before. I logged in and there is no history so I can't see if I've had the £66 credit, if I'm in credit, what by usage was...I know my DD is £283 and I'm sure I'm in credit from the summer, but I would like to feel on top of my account (even though it feels totally out of my control!)

So even Bulb customers are being told something different to each other? How strange.

My £66 is definitely being credited to my account but my payments have increased disproportionately, meaning I will be massively in credit.

To answer previous posters, I do of course appreciate bills have increased. The point with Bulb is they suggest a minimum of £234 (from £150 originally) which is covered by my £170 plus the £66.

As with PP though, they may well rectify this next month. Because of the unpredictability of direct debits I think bank transfer is preferable.

Happy with Bulb’s prices, not much difference with energy providers elsewhere at the moment.

Agree I may have been unlucky with the customer service reps.

That's dreadful.

I an with Utility Warehouse and they just deducted the £67 from my bill. ( I pay monthly by DD.).

Another one here with Bulb and have had my direct debit lowered to around £170 from this month because of the £66 rebate. Firstly they suggested I lowered it but I ignored it because I was happy paying the £236 a month and thought better to build up credit while we can, but then they automatically lowered it anyway.

I'm with bulb and in credit and this has been enormously informative and helpful op, thankyou so much.

Well said op. Some of the Energy Companies are using some dubious strategies in calculating direct debits right now. Your response was spot on.
The customer service people you talk to are themselves poorly informed and have no autonomy to discuss and adjust, only more senior staff do. In the ranks it is very much computer says no which the human just conveys to the customer.

We are with EDF and they are paying the £66 into the Bank account the DD comes out of a few days after you have made that month's payment.

I am astounded at some of the amounts people are paying monthly, before the first increase we were paying £50 per month (electricity) and were in credit we are now paying £85 and give regular meter readings and they have said we don't have to increase it and the next review is in February, I live in a 3 bed detached.

Gas we pay £21 per month - LPG, we were paying £40 but have loads of credit.

I have noticed on all the threads about bills and the humongous DD amounts, the same companies are mentioned usually octopus and bulb, they must do this just to make profit on the interest, but what will happen to all these companies if all the customers with huge credits ask for them back at the same time as they cannot refuse.

It's not dreadful that some suppliers are crediting the £66 to the account if that's what you mean

I'd much rather have that than a refund which I now need to send back to them

I rang OVO as they doubled my Direct Debit and I'd calculated I'd be clear by paying a lower amount. I asked them to reduce it to that figure.
They said they could, but it would then be a credit arrangement and recorded with credit agencies. I'm in the process of buying a house, so had to accept their figure and claim back the over payment when I move 😡