What happens if I don't pay G&E?

[saltwater1985]

Just looked at bank account and we have £80 to last til payday (last working day of month)

I thought right that's a challenge but will be ok.

Then realised I've not entered the gas and electric readings so I've just done that and I'm £285 in debit

There's me, 2 DC, 2 Ddogs and a DCat for reference

Are you on a prepayment meter or a normal meter? If a normal one, nothing will happen, the amount will just be added on to next month.

You can always contact the provider and let them know, there may we ways they can help

Ring them, and anyone else you owe (water, council tax, mobile any loans etc) tell them you are in financial difficulty and ask for help. Or call citizens advice who can help advise you, your bank may also offer help and advice for how to get through this - there are often whole departments for CIFD (customers in financial difficulty). Good luck, it’s shit 😐

Ring the provider. If you pay by direct debit they’ll just make it a debt on your account that you can chip away at.

Nothing immediately but if you can't clear the debt then the utility company has a duty of care not to let you slide further into debt (used to work for them) and ultimately they will fit a prepayment meter which will force you to prioritise paying for gas and electric. If you have a smart meter I believe it can be changed at their end to a prepayment meter. If they need to actually change the meter and it is inside your property they would be granted a warrant to gain entry, they will charge you for the warrant and they will barrel your locks.

The best thing you can do is talk to them, explain the situation and when you think you can pay some money toward the bill. You are not alone in this , many people will be struggling to pay their energy bills. They might suggest a monthly direct debit which would see you paying the same amount each month. It would be for your usage plus an amount toward the debt. Please ring them.

Also if you rang and got me, or anyone else at the company, we would do our best to sort it all out, I was never awful to anyone because people's circumstances change overnight. We were sympathetic and tried to help everyone. If we weren't we would have been sacked. We are trying to get the money in, so nice works better than shitty

How do you pay for G&E? If you have a monthly direct debit, and that payment has already gone out, nothing happens.
If you pay on receipt of bill, they will add late payment charges.
Is it general cost of living that has left you short? Or is this a one off skint month? Long term if you don't pay G&E they are likely to put you on a prepayment meter - although I think thay can't right now - and you would be classed as self disconnecting if you didn't have funds to top up.

I cancelled DD over a year ago as was paying way over what our usage was (they were taking £250 and usage was averaging £66 for both!) so I take readings and pay monthly.

I have been getting the credits from the govt (paid directly to EDF).

This month the bill is £285 I just forgot to pay at the beginning of the month as usual.

I did ring them and they said they would set up a DD but I'm really hesitant to do that as what about next month? And after that?

I'll go to CAB and see what I can do.

I was managing until they hiked my mortgage up (doubled it) and I'm stuffed now.

Thank you for the replies

Your utility bill is highly unlikely to be £66 pm. The standing charges would take most of that. I'd definitely get back on to DD so you can spread the cost evenly throughout the year, instead of needing to pay for all your winter usage in winter.

Are you entitled to universal credit? If so, you should be due £301 very soon, which you'll be able to use to pay your bill.

But have a look at Moneysaving Expert to make sure you're getting all the help you're entitled to.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/how-to-get-help-if-you-re-struggling-with-your-energy-bills-/

Can you look at remortgaging? Why has it doubled? Even if you have to pay a penalty to change it might be worth it?

For people who say £66 was crazy low, that’s more than I was using in the summer months in 2021.

Of course, I was using a lot more in the winter months so my DD was higher to smooth it out.

OP, the problem with not setting up a direct debit is that you still owe the money - it’s just not getting paid.

If you are having general financial issues, you need to sit down and go through your outgoing and income and see if there are any changes you can make. As @timetorefresh says, it sounds like looking at your mortgage may be the first step.

Summer 2021 was before all the price rises, which means that everything is 2/3/4 times more expensive now.

I have a direct debit, but still pay monthly on actual use. I'm with uw if that makes a difference I'm sure it was the same with Octopus

Ouch.
Cancelling the DD is not ideal as its more per month in the low usage months but you then have the more expensive months covered.
Can you sell some old/ unwanted clothes/ get an extra shift to cover?

Is the £285 indicative of the amount your winter bills have been so far? If so it may make most sense to set up a DD for a reasonable amount you can afford each month to allow you to clear this month and build a bit of a safety net going into next winter.

pre all of the prices going bonkers £70 was my typical DD amount but they went to to £150 which has left us coming out of winter just in credit (so dd has been decreased now)

talk to the provider about a reasonable DD payment to balance things throughout the year

Yes, that’s what I’m saying. The OP says she was paying £66 ‘over a year ago’ so I’m saying that if she means that’s what she was paying summer 2021, that could be both accurate and not really relevant to what she owes now.

Sorry, I should have been clearer.

It is so shocking that now we/people are being chased, and living in fear of their bills ands usage when effectively they have not changed their behaviour with regard to how they run their utilities and finances (generally speaking).

Although my electricity use was and is high (gas is negligible though - apart from the standing charge....), the only thing that has changed is the cost of it. I therefore (as they wanted to hike the D/Debit to a ridiculous amount) changed to paying on the bill - which worked by and large except for this last bill, which is treble the amount for the same usage as last year. I got the bill end of March and paid half straight away - but am being hounded and threatened mercilessly for the other half - which I was planning to pay using the COL payment that is due. But they just won't.

None of this our (people's) fault. I do have to be careful when I call British Gas, as I tend to go off on a rant - and the poor person at the other end neither understands nor (likely) cares, and must hear it a lot.

No one has said its anyone fault however if you know prices are rising and don't make changes then you need to pay.

Everyone I know has been proactive in making changes, my DS uses an electric throw to keep warm and told me he cycles to work and as a bonus cycling commuters have use of showers so he has saved there.

He's 27 and isn't just throwing his hands up going waaah it's not fair, he's an adult.
If you are not going to change your usage then you have to pay.

If you can't pay, I'd consider going back to direct debit if they'll include the sum of £285, ie you pay off this amount spread out as well as your monthly usage. If not, make a good will payment of £5 and I don't think they'll do much. However, with the second option, you'll have a further monthly amount to pay next month so your gas and electric will be a massive amount to pay for.

You mentioned your mortgage. Are you generally struggling since it's gone up, or is this a one off?

Just pay what you can. I'm with eon and do my bills the same way as you. Last month I couldn't afford the full amount so just paid a portion which stopped any late payment fee then caught up this month

Yy to contacting the company and coming to an arrangement

But this is absolutely why you don't cancel your DD.

DD are set to allow you to spread your costs for the expensive months over the cheaper months. Unless you are putting money away to cover the expensive months and sending readings monthly this was always going to happen.

When I say "changed their behaviour", I mean that all of a sudden , people are not using 3 x the electricity - and yet it costs 3x and more with the doubled standing charge.

I didn't really need the lecture, but good on your son,; maybe that's something he would have done anyway, as a young man - depending on accessibility etc. I cycle everywhere too - but it doesn't reduce utility bills. I have always done it.

When they wanted to increase my Direct Debit to over £350 a month, that meant that I would be "using" over 12,000 kWh/year, by their calculations (which are backward). Because their computer used only one quarter to extrapolate the figures. So I stopped the Direct Debit as they wouldn't adjust it, but it was a bad time of year to do it. And here I am - a previously prefect customer with threatening letters, emails, calls and text messages - when the balance I owe is less than I used to sometimes carry forward.

I am sure that some people were having a hard time before everything increased - there are only so many adjustments that it is possible or healthy to make.

But that only works if you can afford to catch up the next month and pay that months payment otherwise it soon becomes a vicious cycle.

This is true - but, as I have experienced and calculated, the D/Debit can be set stupid-high and a refusal to adjust by them can result in where I am (even though I kept on top of the payments). It's incompetent and greedy.

Meantime, "experts" are on the radio, saying "Oh yes, the bills will be coming down now" - Duh! Yes, in the summer the usage is lower - correct D/Debits should not be changing unless they were too high in the first place.

@Sirzy it gives you time to cut back in other areas where possible and get to the time of year where you're using less fuel. You can also chip away at it over a couple of months if need be Not ideal but neither are the other options. I prefer to have the control of where to prioritise from one month to the next. Like for me I normally pay the internet bill straight away but it has a long window and isn't 100% essential anyway so Ieft that to cover the file pay back in month 2 then shopped/meal planned cheaply to cover the internet before a late fee ended up applied. It's a contact juggle but as I said better to have a bit of flexibility on where and when to prioritise I find