Budget with energy supplier

[Tigerbreadbum]

sorry title meant to say debt. My ADHD brain got distracted thinking budgets!

About a year ago I was in Mat leave and couldn’t afford to pay my bills and eat. So I cancelled our DD for our energy company. When I went back to work I tried to set it up again but they wanted £400 a month with no negotiation, which I couldn’t afford so I did nothing. Now I’m 4k in debt and they say the lowest DD they can set up is £700 a month.

what do I do? I want to start paying it off but I can only afford £300 a month but they won’t accept that. The debt will just keep going up otherwise. It feels like a lose lose situation

Can you not just pay £300 a month to them, without a dd.

Debt advice.

Tomorrow.

Try Citizens Advice, National Debtline or Step Change.

I've put links in because googling this stuff can produce spurious results.

Just found this on a web search so don't flame me - but all the utility companies are meant to help where they can - yours sounds very inflexible.

www.thesun.co.uk/money/29614042/energy-grants-debt/

Ask to make a payment arrangement for the arrears and pay for your ongoing usage separately.

Make sure you're speaking to the right team though. Can you actually afford your ongoing usage though? If you can't that's a different situation.

Which energy company is it?

We owe too much for a grant unfortunately but once it’s below 2k I’m definitely going to apply for one.theyve said our ongoing use is about £170 a month so if we pay £300 it’s almost 50/50 for debt and and regular use.

It’s British Gas, I’ll call again tomorrow and see if I get someone more flexible than computer says no

Defo get some advice from citizens advice or step change.

If you were off for a year at £170 x 12 months that'd be just over £2k so to have £4k of debt it's clearly been some time since you paid them.

Which makes me wonder if you may have other debts building up too as it's been expensive having a baby and all that entails. Many people struggle.

It's good you're looking to sort this out, but proper advice on options is really what's needed. These adverts you see and debt consolidation companies are in it to profit. So best to ask for advice from a company that's not.

Don't give up. Get it all sorted out now. If citizens advice / step change can help you set up payment plans to everyone you owe money to then you'll gradually get back in control and debt free. That's going to feel soooo good. I'm looking forward to being like that too.

You can do this.

Moneysaving Expert has advice for people struggling with energy bills, also look at the wider budgeting advice .

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

If you can afford £300 pm you can show willing by paying that amount, but you want to get back onto DD as it's cheaper that way.

Have you tried to reduce what you use? £170 pm is quite high so see if there's any simple changes you can make to reduce your bills.

Could you not have claimed UC on mat leave?

Old bills used to have option to pay by post office can you not pay that way?

You might be better off asking if you can have a prepayment meter fitted to help you budget to be honest, prepayment meters do have their uses and actually, there’s a new scheme for energy suppliers which means that their tariffs are either equal, or cheaper than DD tariffs. It might show your supplier that you are taking the debt seriously, otherwise they might pass it on to a debt collection agency which would be worse.

Definitely head over to the Debt Free Wannabe and Energy boards on MSE.

Get one of the debt charities suggested above to help you negotiate.

Cut back on energy usage - if you know you leave lights on, put the oven on to heat up one item, rethink how you use electricity. Don't use heating when you can manage without - don't let the house get cold, but layer up and keep warm with moving and hot drinks first. May be worth investing in some thermals, Oodies, electric blanket, clothes airer or whatever. Try and keep humidity in the house as low as you can.

Can you sell some stuff you don't need? Can you claim any benefits? Cut back on any luxuries? But most importantly, contact CAB or other for help.

If anyone's looking to sign up to Eon Next, here's my referral code, which gives £50 to me and anyone who uses it.

https://share.eonnext.com/ice-quail-3460

I'm with Ovo, and when I log into my account I have the option to make a payment at any time.
Is this an option with British Gas? At least it would stop you falling further into debt and show willing on your part.