Check, or cancel, your Direct Debits!

I am referring mostly to the direct debits to energy suppliers here, but others are in the frame as well (telephone, broadband etc)...

Yesterday, I got an email from my energy supplier (Shell) "Your direct debit is changing.." within which they stated in a bright and breezy fashion that my direct debit was changing to £294 per month!

In short, this would represent a hike of 167% on the amounts that I was paying last year (my direct debit last year was circa £82 in summer, and £120 in winter, so even rounding up to £90 and £130 respectively, the amount they were wanting represents such a massive increase); it is also worthy of note that our consumption simply MUST have reduced dramatically - we have used our tumble dryer twice since last October, where the prior winter it was on four to six times per week... we have used the electric shower three maybe four times in the same period, using the hot water tank (gas heated) fed shower instead. We have LED lighting throughout, the driveway security light has been disabled for months, we batch cook/pressure cook/slow cook where we can, often sit with just the light of the TV screen and a candle, and even have remote switches that kill off circuits at night so that things are not left on standby.

The one thing that we could do to resolve is our ancient chest freezer which has a bit of a badgered seal, so it is possible that we are to some degree cooling the room with that one - but, I don't have a few hundred quid on the hip to buy a new one.

I phoned Shell yesterday, spoke to a chap in South Africa who told me that almost every call he was getting was exactly the same - people cancelling their direct debits. There is no discount for paying by direct debit anymore so maybe people are waking up. He himself was astounded when I told him how many billions profit his company made last year - it is obscene and there is no competition in the market at all as you essentially cannot even switch now.

As it stands, my account is £259 in debt - given that Shell failed to take a direct debit of £120 in January when they made the final switch from Pure Planet over to Shell, that would actually have been £139 debt over my direct debit coming out of the winter which I don't think is terrible. Even at the new uber-inflated rates, I reckon our use in the dead of winter was £200-£230 per month absolute tops, so where they are getting £294 x 12 is beyond me.

I shall now simply massively overpay on a credit card (or filter into a spare bank account if the credit card is paid off) and then pay monthly by that credit card. Next move is to get shot of all the utilities and burn wood.

Check. Keep checking and don't be afraid to cancel a direct debit.

 

I won't let them have a direct debit at all now - cheque, BACS etc only now

 

I am in the same boat with a massive percentage increase, same for everyone. Are you taking meter readings and double checking your consumption against this time last year? I am keeping a spreadsheet and taking monthly readings. I've managed to cut down consumption by tweaking thermostats etc as you have done.

I'm actually in debt to my supplier, Octopus. When the previous supplier went bust I cancelled my direct debit so I built up a debit of a few hundred for several missed monthly payments. It's going to be October before I pay off the outstanding balance by which time we are due another price rise.

 

Oh yes, I am keeping a spreadsheet and doing readings monthly, that is how I know their 'estimates' are so wildly inaccurate. They initially said I was in debt to the tune of almost £900 when the change was made, but I corrected their meter values and that dropped significantly. It is now circa £200-£300 in all reality, so will be cured fairly rapidly I would say.

Folks also need to be aware that your utility bills are now also going on your credit file - I was not aware that they ever have before, but they certainly are now. For those who are still on direct debit, I wonder if they will show a credit balance when there is one? Somehow, I doubt it. Credit files are a one-way street.

 

I don't know why Shell are getting yours so wrong. Maybe they are estimating your annual consumption by multiplying your current month by 12, obviously wrong as consumption will naturally drop as the weather warms up. I know how much I've used on average over the last few years and it's about the same as my supplier estimates. I saw that Shell has tripled their profit announced today I can see why.

 

I send my meter reading in, online, every month and check it against their estimate which they also show. At the moment they are continuing the Direct Debit monthly charge that my previous supplier (went bust) was charging.

I'll wait to see what they do but I'll soon change it if they try to put it up. All my other Direct Debits are set to just pay off what is owed.

 

Found this on the BBC which backs up your argument FC

Energy firms face deadline in review of direct debit hikes

Let's hope they get slapped down

 

In fairness to Shell, they are not the only ones - they are all a bunch of crooks. I'd take a punt that there is roughly £6bn profit being hauled out of us in profits here in the UK, over and above the cost of our energy. Utterly obscene

 

I think that is inflation rather than interest, but even so it is still bloody awful.