Hi everyone,

I could do with some help regarding a direct debit amount that my new energy supplier

First Utility have set which is three times the amount I was expecting. Sorry if this post turns out to be a long one.

I tried to join First Utility in August this year after deciding to leave E-On when they got rid of my tariff.

I tried to join via a comparison site, which quoted £34 a month via direct debit.

Unfortunately, the first application was cancelled due to my address being incorrect on the national databases

and E-On took their sweet time in sorting this out.

I was then able to make a second application with First Utility in early October.

This time, I went to First Utility direct, clearly stating that I would use so much energy over twelve months

and expected to pay between £400-£450 a year, which was in line with what I was paying E-On

(I was infact quoting my most recent bill which had the details of what they expected I would use).

Fast forward to the last couple of days where

I have received my direct debit confirmation of a whooping £94 a month!

The email states that they have based the payment amount "using information I provided when I signed up,

alongside information held on central energy industry databases."

To give you some background into my energy usage and lifestyle,

I am a single person living in a small one bedroomed flat which is not exactly in the wealthiest part of the country.

I work full time five days a week and spend some evenings out, so I barely see my flat on those days.

I only have radiators at the lowest of settings and I don't leave any unnecessary lights on or have my TV on standby or anything.

Doesn't take much to see that I do not get through £94 a month of gas and electricity.

I have tried emailing them and I rang them up today.

The woman I spoke to said it could be readjusted, unfortunately the line got disconnected so I have no idea whether this is being processed.

Apparently my first direct debit payment is being taken on 25th November (despite the fact they have not asked for my meter readings),

so I know I don't have a lot of time to resolve this.

I am inexperienced when it comes to switching energy suppliers

- I was with E-On for four years, they were the supplier set up by my housing association when I first moved into my flat (from leaving 'the nest'),

so I don't really know whether this is normal or not.

I just want to know whether new suppliers have a tendency to set extremely high amounts but also:

what sort of "information on central energy industry databases" are they are likely to be working towards?

Would this be something like an average figure for my type of property

or just an average figure regardless of property sizes and people's circumstances?

should I be making a complaint at this stage?

It is not an official complaint and I don't particularly want to burn any bridges early on,

but I do think that they cannot justify £94 a month based on the information they have.

is it worth mentioning to the Ombudsman that First Utility are setting some direct debits at high values

or will I have to go through First Utility's complaints system before they will even consider it?

Any help will be much appreciated! I'm happy to answer any questions if I haven't made myself clear.

You could always cancel the direct debit and contact the energy supplier again.

British Gas tried this trick with me upped my gas to £91 a month during the summer.

When i put my meter reading in online it showed us using no more then £20 per month as only being used to heat water once a day and cook.

You could set the direct debit for a lower amount and see if you need to increase/decrease in a month or so.

change the amount on your banks webportal.

dx

You could always cancel the direct debit and contact the energy supplier again.

change the amount on your banks webportal.

Hi, thanks for getting back to me.

My online banking account is not showing the direct debit at the moment. I will try getting hold of First Utility on Monday. I will also speak to my bank, see what information they have.

The smaller Utilities normally like payment in advance as they cannot carry credit. We are a retired couple with electric heating and our consumption is £85 per month average and we are at home all day.

Sounds like the DD has not been set up yet tho it may be in the process, ring your bank and see if they can stop the DD taking place.

Sounds like the DD has not been set up yet tho it may be in the process, ring your bank and see if they can stop the DD taking place.

I have spoken to my bank, they were able to confirm that two direct debits were in place (why there's two I don't know), but they did not have any amounts or payment dates against them - I would need to go back to First Utility for that.

The smaller Utilities normally like payment in advance as they cannot carry credit. We are a retired couple with electric heating and our consumption is £85 per month average and we are at home all day.

I don't mind paying in advance, but this £94 is not a one-off payment - they are intending this £94 to be paid every month. I spend nowhere near that even in the winter months, so not sure how they've come to that figure.

One would be for the gas and one for the electricity. Best to ring them and explain you cant afford that amount and are concerned it is set too high for your usage. Hopefully they will drop the amount to something more reasonable.

One would be for the gas and one for the electricity. Best to ring them and explain you cant afford that amount and are concerned it is set too high for your usage. Hopefully they will drop the amount to something more reasonable.

That £34 a month I was originally quoted was supposed to be for both. Wouldn't have thought I would be making two seperate payments?

That £34 a month I was originally quoted was supposed to be for both. Wouldn't have thought I would be making two seperate payments?

I doubt very much if you would use only £17 of electric and about the same for gas every month. For electric alone I would expect the bill to be about £35 and about the same for gas.

I doubt very much if you would use only £17 of electric and about the same for gas every month. For electric alone I would expect the bill to be about £35 and about the same for gas.

I was paying E-On £33 a month for both on a dual fuel account and then on a review it was upped to £35 a month, although it would have been a lot more after the next review as they got rid of the tariff I was on.

I had in fact only being paying E-On by direct debit for the last year - for the first three years, I was paying the bill when it came in every three months (based on mostly actual readings), so they had a pretty good idea of what I was using.

So yes, I believe I could reasonably expect to pay £34 a month for both on a decent tariff. I suspect it is not a straight £17 split between them both, but total it would work out about right. I think you misunderstood my circumstances as I explained in my opening post.

Plot thickens!

Finally managed to speak to First Utility.

Apparently someone had attempted to alter the direct debit amount, but were unsuccessful as apparently I have to either pay a fixed rate of at least £50 a month,

or a variable rate, neither of which is what I agreed to nor particularly affordable.

The bloke I spoke to tried to put me through to someone, but I was on hold more than 20 mins and my phone ran out of battery.

I have now sent a letter to my bank asking them to refuse if they ask for £94 a month and that I would pay First Utility by other means.

I could cry, wish I had never started the switching process.

Posting an update.

I've had several unsuccessful attempts at contacting First Utility after the last revelation.

I did notice that their t&cs mentioned nothing about a minimum fixed direct debit, so was going to try to resolve it.

I did get a response to the initial email I sent but it was along the lines of

"we notice we have recently been in contact, I trust everything was resolved to your satisfaction."

I noticed that E-On had not taken their monthly direct debit

rang them up as considering First Utility had not asked for my meter readings or given me my supply start date,

I am still technically being supplied with E-On.

On trying to sort out the direct debit (something they're looking into), I asked about the feasibility of going back with them.

E-On has faults like most companies but nowhere near as bad as First Utility for dealing with.

They agreed that I was still being supplied by them as I have not been fully switched by First Utility and we sorted a new tariff.

I will be paying £11 a month more than I was for a fixed 1-year tariff,

but that's a lot cheaper than £94 a month and even the £50 a month minimum fixed direct debit.

I half expected it anyway with the price rises.

I have cancelled my direct debit both with First Utility and with my bank.

Hopefully this is the end of the matter (until the fixed tariff comes to an end!). Thanks to those who offered their help

Hello Caggers, you've offered me some help in the past and I am hoping to have some help with an issue I am having with my former supplier First Utility.

The back story - in October/November 2013, I attempted to leave E-On to join First Utility. However, everything became problematic quite quickly and I asked E-On if I could go back to them. Amongst the problems, First Utility were not giving me a start date and I still have the confirmation from First Utility that they failed to give a start date. E-On were of the belief that I was still with them as I had no start date (this was back in Nov 2013) but they would have to go through a switchover process with First Utility so they would be a delay to starting the new tariff I agreed with them. They gave me the dates, asked for meter readings on the set dates and thought nothing else of it.

Fast forward to January 22nd this year when First Utility have sent me a text message saying I have a bill to view. I was further shocked to discover that it was dated December 19th 2014 and was due for payment on January 19th -three days before I knew of its existence. It appears that there is a six week period between November 2013 and early January 2014 where I was a First Utility customer.

Furthermore, the gas part is inaccurate. They have used readings that bear no match to my meter readings at the time and equate to about 2 1/2 times the amount of gas I used in that period. E-On are baffled as to where First Utility have got their figures from as they gave them more accurate readings. The start reading was estimated by E-On due to the start date fiasco, but E-On had the data to know that was a good estimate. The end reading was read by myself and a meter reader on two separate occasions on January 6th 2014 so I know that what E-On have quoted is correct.

First Utility are currently not responding to my emails regarding the inaccurate bill. I have also put the question to them about whether they have attempted to contact me to resolve any issues before the late billing date and whether they attempted to contact me about my bill before January 22nd but again no reply. They have recently contacted me by email, text message and post so they have all the necessary info to get in touch.

I am wondering whether the back billing code applies here? I know I hadn't been in touch with them before but it wasn't clear I had been with them fully until now.

For what it's worth, I expect the accurate to be more like £50 (as opposed to the £110 they have billed me for) so not going to get in a major strop if back billing doesn't apply but would be interested to know your thoughts?

Many thanks in advance.

The billing code will apply in this instance. Under the billing code, a supplier can only invoice 12 months prior to the date of the correct bill being sent to the customer.

It sounds here as if they managed to produce a bill, but it was maybe held in their system for some sort of checking before being released to you, which then prompted the text message.

It might be an idea for you to check your E.ON accounts - first of all the end date for your old account and the meter reads, then the start date for your new account and the meter reads. Double check that these tie in with the bill you've got and that there isn't an overlap in the process.

You should also consider writing a letter of complaint to the CEO of First Utility

Thanks for that info nottslad.

I will look into doing a letter to the CEO at the weekend. I can see that someone has tagged this thread to my previous thread about First Utility so you can see my problems with them were numerous even at that time. But I will be making a particular point about the back billing code and lack of contact.

I have looked into your suggestion about checking my dates with E-On. First Utility's supposed transfer date is 12th November 2013. E-On's bills go up to 11th Nov and First Utility's end on the same dates as E-On's new tariffs start so no overlap. I had two bills from E-On in that time, though neither are marked as 'final bill' and one of them even talks about wanting to reduce my direct debit!

Hello again,

It has been more than 8 weeks since I sent my complaint to First Utility and no reply.

I couldn't find out the CEO's name and I had issues with my Internet shortly after my previous query in late January, so I ended up sending a letter through their official complaints procedure using information I had used on a previous complaint. I received an email acknowledgement from them saying they had received my complaint on 3rd February. However I have had no other correspondence from them regarding my complaint.

In March, I received a bill from them saying the full balance had been paid by BACS and that my account was now at zero. I haven't paid them a penny towards this bill so I have taken it as 'their way' of writing off my bill. However, I don't know whether it was because of back-billing or something else and I still don't know why I ended up with the back-bill in the first place.

It was at this point I decided to send them a SAR to try to establish what has happened - I still have other outstanding queries that may be better addressed through a SAR I understand they are meant to respond in 40 days. We are at just under the halfway point, to date the £10 cheque I sent them to cover the SAR has not been banked but I know they received the SAR as I sent it by recorded delivery. However, given that it has been nearly 10 weeks since they got my complaint and have not responded, I am not feeling hopeful about this being sorted.

So my question is where to go from here? I had threatened them with the Energy Ombudsman in my complaint. Should I wait for the SAR to arrive (or deadline for that to expire)? Would the Ombudsman still take it on even with an outstanding SAR? Should I be getting back in touch with First Utility? Or should I do something else entirely? It may well be that my bill has been written off but it would be nice to be told!

Any help much appreciated as always.

it is possible that they did reply and have sent a letter you've not received, so I think it would be worth checking with them at this stage?

Your other alternative is to wait the 40 days for the DPA request, then go to the Ombudsman about the whole lot - there'd be little benefit to you of escalating the matter now and then doing it again if you dont hear anything on the back of the SAR

Thank you nottslad, my initial thoughts were to adopt a wait-and-see approach. That said, I will try to check in with First Utility and see whether they did send something out. I say try to, there doesn't seem to be a quick method of getting through to them, but will try firstly with a phone call tomorrow morning.

CEO mailbox is as follows:- [email protected]

You should get some response there, "they don't like it up them"

Thank you for that, I'm waiting to see how my SAR progresses (answer due early May) but will certainly keep that email address in mind.

First Utility received my SAR request on 30th March.

My maths tells me that the 40 days are up today (I have had post here today). No SAR has been received. They have cashed in the cheque for this request.

I did send an email trying to establish whether they sent the response to my complaint and whether they were processing the SAR.

I know I mentioned about making a phone call in this thread, but I read your telephone guide

and decided that it would be better to keep a paper trail whilst I look into getting some recording equipment.

They cashed in the cheque shortly after I sent the email but otherwise no response to that either.

I have taken the fact they have banked the cheque as an acceptance to process my request

and also the fact that they never asked for further information to establish my identity

or what I was after as that they understand what is needed

and that therefore the start date for the SAR was in fact the day they received it (30th March).

The Information Commissioner Office's website recommends sending them a letter asking for the SAR to be sent within 14 days or else report it to the ICO.

I am in the process of drafting up a letter, but would you suggest this is the best route to go down?

Bearing in mind they now have £10 of my money for a service they haven't provided the goods for within the statutory time limit.

Many thanks in advance.

Yes. I suggest that you write them a letter before action – assuming that you are prepared to take County Court action – and tell them that they are now in breach of the Data Protection Act and that if they do not make the full disclosure to you at the end of 14 days that you will begin a County Court claim against them.

Tell them that in any event you are sending a copy of this letter to the information Commissioner as part of a formal complaint.

Make sure you only do this if you're prepared to carry out your threat. Don't bluff.

If you do sue them simply for a data protection act breach then I would suggest that you keep it very small – maybe £50 – and see what happens.

I can imagine that once the court papers served that they will react very quickly and you will have your disclosure.

It is not worth getting into protracted correspondence with this people. The best attitude is to be assertive. To apply the rules correctly and without any fuss.

The trouble with these utility companies is that they are used to being bluffed and they always call the bluff.

Hello BankFodder,

Yes, I would be prepared to take it to county court if it came to it - one thing I normally do in complaints is always say what I intend to do if things are not resolved and whilst I have never bluffed, I've never had to take things as far as First Utility have pushed. I would presume it would be my local county court I would make an application to if it came to it? (First Utility are based in Warwick, which is in a neighbouring county to me, but would obviously want it at my end). £50 also seems fair - enough for my inconvenience but without ripping them off.

Anyway, I have drafted up the letter I intend to post recorded delivery on Monday. Please could you (or anyone else reading this) give this a once-over to make sure this sounds fine?

Dear Sirs,

Letter Before Action

Non Response to Subject Access Request

Account Numbers xxxxxx and xxxxxx

I am writing further to my subject access request which was received by yourselves on March 30, 2015. This was sent via Royal Mail’s “signed for” service and would be deemed the start date for processing the subject access request.

I have yet to receive a response from yourselves. As the statutory time limit for responding to my subject access request (40 days) expired on May 9, I would appreciate a response as soon as possible.

Please note that I included a £10 cheque for this subject access request to be processed, as this is the maximum amount that can be charged as per the Information Commissioner’s Office guidelines. This amount was taken from my bank account on April 21. I take this as your acceptance that you agreed to process my request and that you had sufficient information to work out my identity and what I was after.

Therefore, if I do not receive a response within 14 days of the date of this letter, I will be making a claim for a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 to my local county court. I had initially planned to take my complaints to the Energy Ombudsman, as you were made aware when I raised my complaints previously, however in light of the fact you have accepted payment for a data request for which you have not supplied the requested information within the statutory time limit, I have now decided that I will be seeking legal redress should you not reply this time. I have also sent a copy of this letter to the Information Commissioner’s Office for their records.

I trust this meets with your approval and I await your prompt response.

Yours Faithfully,

Good Sister

c.c. Information Commissioner’s Office.

To be honest I don't really care about the original complaint anymore, because I think when I do eventually get the SAR disclosure, that will give me the information I have been after all along and I will be at peace with that.