A HUDDERSFIELD man is warning other Brits to take a closer look at their energy bills after British Gas raised his monthly direct debit by 277% – without consulting him.
Andy Hirst says he was paying £350 a month for his gas and electricity bills but the supplier automatically updated this to £1,320 last month.
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He says the steep jump was barely highlighted in his March to October Energy Statement with no prior warning.
The price hike took him by surprise and he’s worried for the thousands of other British Gas customers who may be stung.
Andy told Yorkshire Live: “We’ve a few rooms in the house and there can be five of us here so I expect our usage to be above the average house and it is, as it turns out we’d spent a shade over £2,000 on our gas and electricity since we joined them eight months previously.
“The statement said we were in arrears by £303 so, in my naivety, thought that wasn’t too bad. I checked the figures which had mainly been provided from meter readings and it was only on a second good look at the bill I noticed a blue box to the right side which stated my new monthly direct debit would be £1,320.04 from December 10.”
The father-of-four did some digging and found that British Gas can charge your direct debit with any amount it wants.
It only has to let you know at least ten days prior which means if you miss the warning, the money will be taken from your account.
He added: “No separate email to warn of this huge new figure and it wasn’t that easy to spot as it was under the rather bland headline Keeping You On Track. I eventually found the section which said you could amend your direct debit online in your own account, but British Gas had already popped the £1,320.04 figure in and you’re not allowed to change it for less.
“So, the only option then was to go through the agony of a phone call to try to sort it all out. It took me two hours. The first call handler insisted on having meter readings and I did them while on the phone and our deficit rose from £300 to just over £400. My £350 direct debit was due a few days later so that arrears figure would have come down considerably then.
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“No matter how I tried to explain it, she kept insisting the £1,320 was correct as that was British Gas’s estimate as to what I’d use that year even though on the March to October energy statement it said clearly my projected annual cost for gas was £2,230 and for electricity £3,492 making a total of £5,722 – a third of what they were trying to charge me.
“In the end she said all I could do was pay the bill every month – every penny that was owed. But she did put me through to the wonderfully-named Ability To Pay Team and the call handler I spoke to was helpful, saw sense, accepted the amount they were trying to charge me was ‘crazy’ but, worryingly, had no idea how it had been calculated to that sum.”
In the end, it was agreed to increase Andy’s monthly direct debit to £420 – based off his projected 12 months costs not just the next six months over winter.
That’s £5,040 a year, less than a third, of what the energy supplier was originally trying to charge Andy.
The Hirst family had to switch to British Gas in February after their previous supplier went bust.
Andy says he had to wait until June to get the direct debit set up for £350 a month, £100 more than his old bill, thinking that would cover the end-of-year cost he estimated to be £4,000.
He explains: “It seems the problem is with customers who were switched to British Gas as a supplier of last resort earlier this year and then had to wait a long time for their direct debit to be set up.”
“British Gas wants everyone to not be in any debt to it at the end of each year so carries out a review after every six months and then raises the direct debit if it feels you’ll still be in debt by the end of the next six months.
“Bizarrely, the unbelievably high monthly direct debit British Gas wanted me to pay would have brought in three times what the company itself estimates I’d use a year in gas and electricity.
“British Gas estimated my use to be £5,722 but if I’d paid £1,320 a month for a year it would have been £15,840.”
The former journalist says he’s been in contact with a complaints manager about his case.
Andy said: “He suggested the high direct debit amount would have been reviewed again in March and would probably have then come down but it means I would still have paid over £7,380 by then. There was no indication this direct debit rise was temporary and it clearly failed to take into account my (or anyone else’s) ability to pay.
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“In short, I strongly believe the 12-month contract should only start once the direct debits have been set up, not once the supply starts as they will ultimately lead to a massive increase in direct debits at the first 6-month review as people would not have paid the full first 6 months and fallen into arrears.
“But, quite why mine should have jumped from £350 to £1,320 when I was just £400 in arrears just days before I’d have paid them another £350 by direct debit remains a mystery. And I’m deeply worried many people switched to British Gas early this year are about to be caught out by this over the coming weeks.”
British Gas were contacted for comment.
