My energy provider won’t reduce my payments

[Comefromaway]

We moved house in March 2020 (great timing). The previous home owners were retired, they were at home all day plus had an adult son with SEN living with them. They kept the house very warm.

we al know what happened next. Lockdown happened, me, Dh, Dd and Ds were all working/studying from home. During the winter of 2020 the house was occupied a lot more than usual. Ds was on alternate weeks in college plus his Btec course meant he was home 2.5 days a week anyway. There were numerous closures. We kept the house warm and comfortable all winter.

In Sept 2021 my fixed rate expired and I went on a variable rate. I handed in meter readings. We were at home less that winter but still had numerous periods of isolation, Ds was at home 2 days per week using a multitude of electrical equipment he always forgot to turn off and in college 3 days per week In addition fil used to come up in the day and we’d have the hearing on quite a bit. Dd left home to go to Uni in London. Due to a p/t job she only came home for a few days at Christmas and 1 week in August.

In March 2022 we were offered a fixed rate, twice the cost of our previous fix but one of the rates Martin Lewis advised people to grab whilst it lasted. Our monthly direct debit was increased. At the start of September I turned our thermostat down one degree. Ds left home to go to Uni.

Last month we got our energy bill based on estimated readings. Our direct debit was increased. It was very high so I handed in proper readings. It turned out electricity was pretty accurate but they had massively over estimated gas. Our bill was re-issued and we are currently £1,500 in credit.

I worked out that if we use the exact same amount of gas and electricity as we did last year but at our current rate £250 per month will cover it. I applied to reduce our direct debit from £460 to that amount explaining our usage Taking note that we used to have 4 people at home now we have two and we totally work out if the house whereas we were working partly from home so I expect to use less especially as we’ve turned the thermostat down.

They have refused to reduce our payments. Our current rate is only available to those who pay by direct debit. We can’t get a refund of our credit until at least our next review in March.

Have you actually tried ringing and speaking to someone? You might get further forward if you do

I’ve now put a formal emailed request in stating if they don’t either reduce my payment or credit my balance I will be making a formal complaint escalating to ombudsman if necessary.

I got moved to EDF when the previous supplier went bust.

This is the number it says to call for a refund

Switch to a variable dd which is based on actual readings but still a dd, so shouldn’t affect your dd discount.

They won’t allow that.

I am on a variable DD. As far as I am aware, the cost is still the same - they take the monthly payment from my account and neither of us owe each other any money.

You can do that really easily with Shell. I don't know if that works with other companies.

They are incredibly cheeky not taking into account people's changing circumstances - that is of course one of the advantages of a Smart meter as both you and them can see how usage changes.

People will be changing their habits - will direct debits also change?

If you tried all these things I’d send them an email telling them you are cancelling your DD and as they have £1500 of your money, they can pay your bills form that.
I expect you’ll get a phone call from them pretty quickly.

I'm with edd and afaik they only do 6 monthly billing, not all suppliers work in the same way. You can input readings as often as you like but they won't send you a bill ime

If I do that I will get a missed payment charge which I’d then have to try and challenge

EDF are the pits. I left them after several trouble free years when

• they tried an erroneous transfer
• took 18 months to resolve it
• opened a new account for me and started charging me £ 200 pm instead of £ 50 pm as 'you don't have an account history'
• couldn't find my MPAN number when I started a transfer to Eon

In the end I emailed the Eon rep on MSE and s/he sorted it out in a couple of days. Touch wood, have been with Eon a few years and they are fine.

If I wasn’t on a decent for the times fixed rate I would absolutely move. My previous suppliers all accepted monthly readings and billed accordingly. This every 6 months thing is ridiculous.

If I do that I will get a missed payment charge which I’d then have to try and challenge

But you’ve given them warning of what you’re doing by emailing or sending a letter, so they can’t charge you.

Your can get in touch with EDF on WhatsApp 07480 802942 or they have a live chat function on the website. I'm with EDF and have the opposite problem. They keep reducing my direct debit and I don't want them to because it means I'll end up with a massive debit when the next bill comes.

Can recommend Eon if you do move. Monthly readings and you can adjust your DD.

Op, I'm with EDF and I suggest you ring them rather than emailing/chat bot. Get your figures clear before you do and argue your case with a human. Don't let them put you off, ask to speak to a manager if they can't resolve it. I reduced our DD by £30 recently (we're low users) as we were building up credit each month and I could demonstrate that we were overpaying.

I’m with EDF, I just phoned them when they increased my payments and told them I couldn’t afford it and they put them back down to the original payment plan.

We had that problem with an elderly friend of the family for whom my parents gave LPOA. She had her heating on summer and winter, her payments nowhere near covered it but they kept reducing the direct debit.

I haven’t actually tried the I can’t afford it option as I can (I’d just prefer to have my money to spend on other stuff like helping elderly fil with his bills)

Did you ask for the entire credit? If so, that may be the issue. They legally cannot hold on to a large amount of credit without reason. However, they can argue that at least a month in hand is reasonable. I recently got several hundred pounds back from Bulb, albeit in two installments, and my DD manually reduced (as in on the phone, the computer said no to me), as I had built up so much credit. Also by reading every month for the last 6 months, BUT, I did leave £350 in credit to cover the next months bill.

Give them a call and speak to a person. On-line and forms never get you anywhere.

I asked for the payments to be reduced rather than the credit back. But my latest email gives them the choice of either/or

they can't keep a large credit like £1500, they can keep a relatively small amount like a month in hand

Mine is same with scottish power
£2200 in credit
they have just put dd up by £200 which I tried to reduce backs and I can’t do it without an immediate additional payment of £1200

2 children left home and 1 person travelling v a lot
not had heating on yet since April (warm house)

very annoying
I have opted for a full refund following review which Is January

Are you really saving that much on your fixed that it's worth them holding on to thousands of pounds?

Im with edf, I used their Whatsapp chat feature and asked to pay less than they had set my increase to, and the reasons why, and they agreed on the chat.