According to recent reports the UK’s energy giants may be sitting on billions of pounds worth of customers’ money, after increasing direct debits for energy usage without giving the customer a say and then reaping in the profits from interest over the winter period. British Gas was recently found to be hugely increasing customers’ direct debits, even in cases where the account holder had credit in their account.
A senior government official stated: ‘People should clearly be given a choice about this. Utility companies should be adjusting payment plans quickly to ensure large balances do not build up. If there was evidence that they are not doing this, it is something we may decide to look at.’
An official from the watchdog group, Consumer Focus, said: ‘Unless an account has been mismanaged or there has been a significant change in energy use, we would not expect to see increases in direct-debit payments approaching 100%. Increases on this scale would not be in line with recent price increases and should be challenged, particularly where the account is in credit and no debt needs to be recovered.’
One Labour party official stated: ‘Some of the privatised utilities are getting away with murder and we have to make clear that this kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable. We need proper regulation to protect consumers, especially the most vulnerable, like pensioners.’
