# My Energy provider is upset



## Phaeton (10 Aug 2020)

They don't like me only being £11.56 in credit & want me to fund them by me being £110 in credit, I know I will have to up the payments later in the year, but I'd rather have to money in my account rather than theirs. Daft thing is I gave them my usage for last year & they suggested £90 before I joined them.


----------



## Drago (10 Aug 2020)

British Gash used to do the same to me. I responded cancelling the DD and paying quarterly, only for what i had used. Scottish Power, for all their faults, turned out to be quite good in this regard.


----------



## bikingdad90 (10 Aug 2020)

It’s something to do with Ofgem and a rule change. You can’t be in debt with the energy provider and need to cover 1 and 1/2 month of payments as credit balance to cover winter fuel usage without changing your direct debit up or down.

I was recently in need of my credit balance and that was what they explained to me.


----------



## Venod (10 Aug 2020)

bikingdad90 said:


> You can’t be in debt with the energy provider



But you can not pay monthly by Direct Debit and only pay when you get a bill. you don't have to pay up front for the energy you are going to use.


----------



## Archie_tect (10 Aug 2020)

If savings earned interest then this would be an issue... just treat your energy company like a bank current account and forget about it..


----------



## toffee (10 Aug 2020)

I currently owe my energy provider about £400 and have never been in credit with them. When I moved to them a couple of years ago they set the DD up too low and did not provide an online way of changing it. Also their contact center only worked 9-5 Monday to Saturday which, unsurprisingly is what I work.

They recognized their error over a year ago but still did not up the DD enough to cover the under payment. Why should I worry, they will get the balance when I leave in September when our deal comes to an end


----------



## pawl (10 Aug 2020)

Phaeton said:


> View attachment 540843
> 
> 
> They don't like me only being £11.56 in credit & want me to fund them by me being £110 in credit, I know I will have to up the payments later in the year, but I'd rather have to money in my account rather than theirs. Daft thing is I gave them my usage for last year & they suggested £90 before I joined them.


----------



## pawl (10 Aug 2020)

Just had a £170 refund from EON But putting myDD up from£65 to£87


----------



## raleighnut (10 Aug 2020)

pawl said:


> Just had a £170 refund from EON But putting myDD up from£65 to£87


----------



## Moodyman (10 Aug 2020)

If you build up a large credit balance, that will take many winter months to recoup, you can ask them to refund you.

There is flexibility in all this.


----------



## Ming the Merciless (10 Aug 2020)

I’m able to control what my monthly payments are via an app. If they thing they are getting extra they can bog off.


----------



## Phaeton (27 Aug 2020)

They have now sent another email saying that although I am still in credit by £5, they need to increase my DD from £101 to £124, went onto the website & I cannot make it less than £110, so they had a strongly worded email from me that I will cancel the DD if they try to take more than £101 & report them to Ofgem.


----------



## Notafettler (30 Nov 2020)

bikingdad90 said:


> It’s something to do with Ofgem and a rule change. You can’t be in debt with the energy provider and need to cover 1 and 1/2 month of payments as credit balance to cover winter fuel usage without changing your direct debit up or down.
> 
> I was recently in need of my credit balance and that was what they explained to me.


Sounds like bol***** to me. I did have to pay a month in advance to Yorkshire energy and the latest one Symbio but both went on my total for previous year dividend by 12. As long as I gave a reading every month they wouldn't increase it unless I was getting behind. Sounds like they are interpreting Ofgem to suit themselves.


----------



## Notafettler (30 Nov 2020)

Venod said:


> But you can not pay monthly by Direct Debit and only pay when you get a bill. you don't have to pay up front for the energy you are going to use.


If you are talking about paying one month in advance that's what most good deals require. I don't know if all the energy utilities do it or its an Ofgem requirement. Would be a problem for some people.


----------



## Profpointy (30 Nov 2020)

Moodyman said:


> If you build up a large credit balance, that will take many winter months to recoup, you can ask them to refund you.
> 
> There is flexibility in all this.



It took me over a year and a lot of hassle to get my large credit balance back. I was on the point of suing them in the small claims court. I'd not been paying attention and they'd just been taking the money each month till they were several 
years worth of gas overcharged. It really was taking the piss when they try and justify it as "evening out the spend". I am now only willing to take a tariff where they take what I owe - just like my bills with every other supplier of goods and services


----------



## Notafettler (30 Nov 2020)

Archie_tect said:


> If savings earned interest then this would be an issue... just treat your energy company like a bank current account and forget about it..


Which means your energy provider is treating you like a savings account. In business getting paid in advance (a rarity to say the least) means you improve your cash flow and rarely have to borrow. They should be paying you interest. Marcus pays half a percent on its instant access account. I would rather have it in there for emergencies.


----------



## welsh dragon (30 Nov 2020)

Scottish power were rip off merchants. They changed me £180 A month. I was over £600 in credit and they wouldn't reduce the monthly payment so I went with Bulb. Reduced my payments by £90 A month and I am still in credit to the tune of £200 plus, but I will probably use the majority of that when it gets really cold. I got a refund off Scottish power. Good riddance to bad rubbish as they say.

With bulb you can also change your monthly payments of you choose to. I really like Bulb. Best thing I ever did was to change provider. 

I don't mind being a bit on credit, but some take the Mick big time.


----------



## Phaeton (30 Nov 2020)

welsh dragon said:


> With bulb you can also change your monthly payments of you choose to. I really like Bulb. Best thing I ever did was to change provider.


Funnily I am leaving Bulb for exactly the same reason you left Scottish Power, they have increased my DD again without notifying me, their estimates before I joined after being given the previous years data was £86 (I think) now they are wanting £143 they have also changed their T&C's without notification to demand that all customers are a minimum of 1 month in credit. Personally I think they are in financial difficulty,


----------



## welsh dragon (30 Nov 2020)

Phaeton said:


> Funnily I am leaving Bulb for exactly the same reason you left Scottish Power, they have increased my DD again without notifying me, their estimates before I joined after being given the previous years data was £86 (I think) now they are wanting £143 they have also changed their T&C's without notification to demand that all customers are a minimum of 1 month in credit. Personally I think they are in financial difficulty,




They havnt done that to me at all. Strange


----------



## Notafettler (30 Nov 2020)

I might be getting better treatment because I don't have gas. So my bills don't jump massively in the winter. Although one company did try it on. The argument went on for half an hour . Told her what I thought of her. Hung up rung back spoke to someone else who was able to grasp that my bills don’t rise in the winter.


----------



## sheddy (30 Nov 2020)

Any experiences with Octopus Energy ?


----------



## stoatsngroats (30 Nov 2020)

sheddy said:


> Any experiences with Octopus Energy ?


I’m with Octopus, started on 100/month as that was based on previous dwellers, and I got £350 back, at my request, without hassle recently. My monthly debit was reduced, at my request to 65/month, for dual fuel, and this is the eco tariff for both. I’d highly recommend Octopus.


----------



## oldwheels (30 Nov 2020)

Phaeton said:


> View attachment 540843
> 
> 
> They don't like me only being £11.56 in credit & want me to fund them by me being £110 in credit, I know I will have to up the payments later in the year, but I'd rather have to money in my account rather than theirs. Daft thing is I gave them my usage for last year & they suggested £90 before I joined them.


Girl who used to work for me always overpaid and then demanded the surplus back approaching Christmas. She regarded it as a kind of savings scheme.


----------



## screenman (30 Nov 2020)

I have just found out that my energy supplier has been charging me twice for my night time use for at least 5 years.


----------



## Drago (30 Nov 2020)

screenman said:


> I have just found out that my energy supplier has been charging me twice for my night time use for at least 5 years.


A nice refund, plus interest, on the way?


----------



## screenman (30 Nov 2020)

Drago said:


> A nice refund, plus interest, on the way?



I am hoping, also just found out they have been charging the same rate for day and night recently.


----------



## Houthakker (30 Nov 2020)

Might not be a bad thing with OVO energy, my previous supplier. They pay between 3 and 5% interest on any balance with them. Better than you'll get in any savings account these days.


----------



## Phaeton (30 Nov 2020)

screenman said:


> I am hoping, also just found out they have been charging the same rate for day and night recently.


Hope it's not Npower


----------



## Notafettler (1 Dec 2020)

Symbio Energy

The effective date of supply is 08 December 2020.

In accordance with the tariff conditions, you will receive a bill within the next seven days for energy consumption between the effective date of your switch until the end of the calendar month. Your next bill will be in the first week of the proceeding calendar month for the following month’s energy consumption. We will take a direct debit equivalent to the monthly quote you provided to us on the website.
WE WILL SEE!

Please remember you can only be charged for electricity you use 
WE WILL SEE!!
which can only be determined with meter reads.We request you to submit a meter reading by the end of each month. If a meter reading is submitted after the cut-off date, the meter reading will be considered in the next billing cycle.
IF I AM AWAY FROM HOME I WILL MAKE IT UP

Symbio Energy Limited, follows an Advance Billing System, hence customers are billed one month in advance based on the Estimated Annual Consumption and seasonal estimates. Upon receiving the meter reading at the end of the month, the bill will be reconciled in line with the meter reading received. Any over or under collection will be adjusted in the following bill. The process of reconciliation and estimating one month in advance is a continuous process

I change every year but I should change earlier as you can switch 49 days before the end of contract with out penalties But i have yet to work out how you do that. Do you apply to new supplier when you have 49 days left on your contact or can you time it so the actual switch over takes place then??


----------



## icowden (1 Dec 2020)

welsh dragon said:


> They havnt done that to me at all. Strange


Me neither.


----------



## mistyoptic (2 Dec 2020)

+1 for Octopus. 

Fell out with OVO who told me three months in a row I wasn’t paying enough, despite being £200+ in credit, and then increased my Direct Debit themselves when I kept ignoring them


----------



## Drago (4 Dec 2020)

As far as I'm concerned these energy companies are right up there with estate agents, solicitors, private parking enforcement companies, and Philip Green.


----------



## jowwy (11 Dec 2020)

i pay quartely for me leccy and gas.....no way am i paying monthly and filling their accounts with inflated monthly DD payments, gives me more flexibility within my monthly earnings to do what i want with my money


----------



## ebikeerwidnes (11 Dec 2020)

Drago said:


> As far as I'm concerned these energy companies are right up there with estate agents, solicitors, private parking enforcement companies, and Philip Green.


Nah - can't agree

Estate agents are WAY worse - especially one person at the place we have been dealing with recently
Mind you private parking enforcement are probably about equal

and Philip Green - yeah OK - class of his own (although there are probably quite a lot of rich people in the same area)


----------



## spen666 (4 Jan 2021)

My energy company are upset as well.


I haven't paid them for over six years now.

They have made 10 unsuccessful applications for a Magistrates Court Warrant and lost everytime.

They don't know what to do. Over 2 years ago, they said they were suspending collection activity whilst they made an application to the County court to prove the disputed debt exists. 2 years on and half a dozen different debt collection companies and law firms threatening me, they still have not issued proceedings.

I keep billing them for my time in all the unsuccessful magistrates court applications. Shame for them my bills are around 3 times what they say I owe.


----------



## Phaeton (15 Apr 2021)

Moved energy suppliers & went to British Gas 3 months ago, they suggested a DD of £85 (which I believed to be too low), just given them the first set of meter readings. 

After the readings they advised my DD was too low & at the end of the 12 month term I would owe them £272 & that I should increase my DD to £131. Clicked through to the page & changed the £131 to £101 it again warned me it wasn't enough but I applied it anyway, it then took me back to my account to be advised that at the end of the term I would now be £11 in credit, by that logic they purposely wanted £260 off me to boost their own account.


----------



## Tribansman (15 Apr 2021)

Phaeton said:


> Moved energy suppliers & went to British Gas 3 months ago, they suggested a DD of £85 (which I believed to be too low), just given them the first set of meter readings.
> 
> After the readings they advised my DD was too low & at the end of the 12 month term I would owe them £272 & that I should increase my DD to £131. Clicked through to the page & changed the £131 to £101 it again warned me it wasn't enough but I applied it anyway, it then took me back to my account to be advised that at the end of the term I would now be £11 in credit, by that logic they purposely wanted £260 off me to boost their own account.


British Gas are scumbags, what they're doing to their staff at the moment is an utter disgrace - and although the renewal theyve offered me is the cheapest available, I'll be switching away from them because of it. If we don't stand in solidarity with fellow workers, we'll all be next


----------



## Electric_Andy (15 Apr 2021)

I had similar, my DD was £46/month and I ended the year with £120 in credit which they refunded me. I went with them again this year, and they have put my DD up to £52. Needless to say I'm already £145 in credit and have already done the winter. I see it as just another forced savings account for me, where I get a nice little bonus at the end, albeit with no interest. It's bad though, for people who couldn't afford to do that, getting too much money taken from them when they really need it


----------



## Drago (15 Apr 2021)

Phaeton said:


> Moved energy suppliers & went to British Gas 3 months ago, they suggested a DD of £85 (which I believed to be too low), just given them the first set of meter readings.
> 
> After the readings they advised my DD was too low & at the end of the 12 month term I would owe them £272 & that I should increase my DD to £131. Clicked through to the page & changed the £131 to £101 it again warned me it wasn't enough but I applied it anyway, it then took me back to my account to be advised that at the end of the term I would now be £11 in credit, by that logic they purposely wanted £260 off me to boost their own account.


I think after the way theyve treated their staff this week I will never use British Gasp again for anything.


----------



## Milkfloat (15 Apr 2021)

Drago said:


> I think after the way theyve treated their staff this week I will never use British Gasp again for anything.


My Brother in Law is/was a BG Engineer. He setup his own company just yesterday, we hoped to be his first customer but we have been beaten to it. I wish him luck, although he has a lot of new companies in his area to compete with as many of his colleagues also got sacked.


----------

