so folks tell me this .

while i was away in the ukraine the mrs signed up to some super tarriff if we agreed to direct debits based on estimates thinking she was doing gooood …

we sent in meter readings and got an actual bill of 17 quid to date since we moved in 7 weeks ago

so far they have taken 2 direct debits of 40 quid.

we are oil heating so its not even going to stockpile up for the winter heating…..

cant see how paying them 40 quid a month and gaining credit with them is benificial to me.

has any one had any luck renegotiating the value of the direct debit with them. ie if next month is also <20 quid then surely its fesable to take my DD down to 30 quid or even 25 quid …

erm its your money you pay what you want..
the amount you pay per month is no indication of your electricity bill and is merely an offset against your useage.. pay a quid a month if you want but the real bill will be still to be paid.

ok – ive always done it old school and submitted the reading when asked and paid the bill by cheque or debit card when it arrives – not really au fait with the fangled DD system – i figured because she had agreed to let them DD 40 quid every month it was like a contract ….

he thing about paying by direct debit seems to be them taking loads and loads of money up front, whereas on the old system we paid in arrears.

So over a three month period I’d run up a debt of about £210 and pay it promptly.

Under the DD system they were taking upto 90 a month off me upfront £270 so in my eyes I was seeing it as nearly £500 taken off me compared to the old system!

I gave up and went back to paying by meter reading and I’m far happier! 🙂

I’m with First Utility. Which Mag liked them when Mrs SOS was looking around. Near the end of each month they email me a reminder. I log in and enter the numbers off my meters, gas and leccy. They take the relevant ammount by DD. End of last year they payed back a bonus or rebate or whatever, £200. Once or twice a year someone checks the meters for them.

I think that’s what you should be looking for. When are you signed up to?

Just give them a ring and ask for it to be reduced.

I’d rather do that than do as slowoldgit does – I’d personally rather have the £200 in my account earning money for me (albeit tiny amounts) than adding any more profit for elec company etc.

Im on a similar system with Scottish/British gas. They do an estimate based on how many rooms. At first i was 30 each. This has now been reduced to 17 and 18. If my credit builds up to a certain level i get an automatic refund.

While i suppose id rather the cash was in my pockets, i prefer not getting a massive bill all in one go, as the saved cash would likely be spent on other things.

Is it EDF by any chance?

I had a fun phone call to them last Friday asking why my direct debit for my gas had gone up double. There excuse was they had a new computer system that automatically re-calculated your actual usage when an actual meter reading was given, it does not take into concideration the winter summer trend so had stuff my bill way up. The agreed to reduce my direct debit back down to what it was and i got a letter yesterday confirming the change.

Phone them up and tell them you want it reduced. No problem with SSE.

@trail_rat – unfortunately this is absolutely standard practice, the companies deliberately set the DD too high and take it as an interest free loan. You must persist with customer meter readings and they will eventually back down but probably only after they send someone out to verify the readings and that can take many months. Unfortunately the “pay by cheque” tariffs are really awful in the region of £100’s of pounds a year.

Change d/d to standing order and pay what YOU want.