I’m with SSE for both electric and gas. They email for a meter reading each quarter, I send the readings and they bill me through email. I pay by bank transfer, that way I get 3 months power up-front. Just received my Wessex water bill, £22 in credit, they are reducing my monthly bill by £7.
If you use internet banking you can go online and cancel the DD.
We are with Scottish Power and have had no problems at all with them they are certainly much better than any other provider we have experienced.
They always email us when they review our direct debit payments, even if only to say ( as in the last two reviews) that the payments are staying the same, and it is easy to get online and check our balance and usage, very easy to see a comparison of this year and last.
I have only last week changed from the same tariff as the OP, fixed until April, to another fixed until 2017, and our direct debit was automatically recalculated, because we have reduced our usage this year, it went down by about £50 per month, so very happy about that (we are high users as we have a large, old and not very economical energy wise house, and a large family)
This was all done very simply online, no hassle at all.
I changed now, rather than waiting to the end of our current deal, to beat the price rise that is coming in on the 6th December, so it is now fixed at our current rate for the next 3 years.
Jane.
------------- Enjoying life beyond kids, new love, living on a boat and a new lease of life in my mid 50s! Never too old to reinvent yourself.....
Mum to five - 4 girls, 31,28,25 and 22 and one boy, 20
Engaged! Wedding June 2020!
Quote: Originally posted by saxo1 on 27/11/2013
Scottish power terms and conditions:
Any credit that's the same or greater than three months worth of your direct debit payments at the time of your annual review will be automatically refunded.
Saxo1
Didn't know that.
We are in credit at £400, with monthly payments of £126, so I'll submit a reading tomorrow, and then I'll be asking for my cash back.
Just nice for Christmas.
------------- Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Winston Churchill. 21st August 1940
I have asked around, and it seems all of the big suppliers have done the same to all D/D accounts. In some cases doubling the monthly D/D. If this were across the country, billions would be held in credit by the 'big six', earning yet more revenue for them. I have fought, and managed to hold my D/D (Eon), but only with the promise to move to another supplier. My bank tell me I am not able to control the level of D/D, only by cancellation with the 'agreement of the supplier making the debit. Can this be right?
That is why I pay by standing order, I control the payments.
By agreeing to direct debit you are giving your supplier control of your payments. If more people insisted on standing orders rather than direct debits then we would regain control of our bank accounts.
I don't pay anything by DD, I pay the bills as they come in and check the readings.
To budget payments evenly throughout the year, open a savings account for utilities and pay a certain amount per month into it. You should be able to build up a surplus over the summer months which will cover the winter bills.
I dont understand why people let the energy companies take thier money. If you dont agree to the monthly fee refuse them permision to take the dd. If they take the money ask the bank to return it, under the DD gurantee they have to do it, so if so but's they have to.
If I do not like the DD amount the energy company want to take I ask them to justify the amount.I always end up paying what I want to pay.
Also do you know that you do not have to pay monthly for water. There is no penalty for paying every quater by what every method you like.
If you pay by D/D you get £40 per annum per fuel discount and if you pay your water bill you get £5 per annum discount,thats £2 per week possible saving!
Saxo1
We are with Scottish Power, and over pay on the DD, but as S ago says, they pay interest on over payments which ends up being better than the banks pay at the moment, and our refund appears in October, so in time for Xmas.
The discounts offered for paying vary between suppliers. Out last Scottish Power bill was for -£3.74. Yes, minus!
At least with DD you are notified at least 14 days before the amount changes, so you have a bit of time to do something about it if your unhappy.
Quote: Originally posted by saxo1 on 27/11/2013 Scottish power terms and conditions:
Any credit that's the same or greater than three months worth of your direct debit payments at the time of your annual review will be automatically refunded.
Saxo1
Didn't know that.
We are in credit at £400, with monthly payments of £126, so I'll submit a reading tomorrow, and then I'll be asking for my cash back.
Just nice for Christmas.
Submitted a reading last night, then e.mailed them, and in their drop down boxes is a title called, appropriately enough 'Refund.'
Bet you can't guess what I asked them?
------------- Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Winston Churchill. 21st August 1940
And all this is why we pay ours bills as they come in - only water and council tax done on DD (and they are set at the beginning of the year, so no unexpected changes). There might be a small 'penalty' for paying this way, but WE are in control of how much and when goes out of the account.
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Topic: Scottish Power
