How to challenge your supplier's direct debit increase

The process is straightforward: check your account first, complain to the supplier, and escalate to the Energy Ombudsman if it is not resolved. All of it is free, and Citizens Advice can help at every stage.

When your supplier can increase your direct debit, and how to object

On a fixed tariff, where the unit price and daily standing charge stay the same, payments rise because you are using more energy than your supplier expected⁶. Suppliers also commonly increase the monthly amount over the winter months to cover higher usage, even though the rates charged per unit do not change¹. If you have built up arrears, the supplier may raise payments and use the extra to clear the debt over a few months².

None of this means the figure is correct. The most common weakness is the estimate itself: if the supplier is working from an old or inaccurate reading, the projected usage, and therefore the new payment, can be wrong. Suppliers are not allowed to offer discounts for paying by direct debit, though they can restrict their cheapest tariffs to direct debit customers⁷, so a payment-method discount is never a legitimate reason for a rise.

Review your readings, tariff and balance before you complain

Before you complain, gather three things: an up-to-date meter reading, your current tariff, and your account balance.

The reading matters most. Your payments will increase if you use more energy than the supplier has estimated¹, so an actual reading replaces the estimate with a real figure. If you have not received a bill in a while, the supplier may increase your payments to cover the usage it has not yet billed for².

Your balance matters too. A credit balance is money you have paid for more energy than you have used, for example because you pay a set amount by direct debit every month⁸. Suppliers can refuse to refund credit in some circumstances, including where direct debit payments would not cover future bills without the credit balance in place, or where no recent meter reading has been supplied or a smart meter is not working correctly⁹. Knowing your balance tells you whether the increase is genuinely covering usage, clearing debt, or simply building credit.

It also helps to know the wider picture. Electricity bills paid by direct debit instalment increased by 128.84% between 2014 and 2023, more than standard credit bills at 120.63% or prepayment at 106.43%¹⁰, and in a Which? survey, 7% of respondents reported direct debit payments set too high or too low by their supplier in the past year³. So you are not alone in questioning the figure, but the numbers only support a challenge if your own account shows the estimate is wrong.

Taking your complaint to the supplier first

The first step in the complaints process is logging a dispute with the supplier¹¹. Where a problem arises with an energy bill, the contact point is the energy supplier¹², and before the Energy Ombudsman will look at anything, the supplier must be notified and given the chance to work with the consumer to try to resolve the issue¹¹. There is no route that skips this step.

Set out in writing what you think is wrong: the reading you have taken, the balance you believe is correct, and the payment you think is fair. Ask the supplier to explain how it calculated the new amount. Keep copies of everything you send and everything you receive, because that correspondence becomes your evidence if the complaint is escalated.

If you pay a site owner or landlord for your energy rather than a supplier directly, the first contact is that site owner or landlord, not the supplier¹².

Referring your dispute to the Energy Ombudsman

If the supplier will not resolve it, the Energy Ombudsman is the next step, and it is free. You can complain if a reported problem is not fixed within 8 weeks, if you and the energy company cannot agree how to fix it, if you receive a deadlock letter, or if you are not happy with the decision you receive⁴. The Ombudsman's own guidance puts it plainly:

Once you escalate, the Ombudsman will ask you to send information and evidence, review evidence from you and your energy company, inform you of its decision, and give the energy company a set of actions to resolve the problem¹³. The Ombudsman handles complaints about energy bills, mis-selling, problems with energy supply and problems with switching supplier¹⁴.

Support available from Citizens Advice and the Extra Help Unit

Citizens Advice offers free information and support on a range of topics including struggling to pay bills, problems with your energy supplier or energy supply, saving energy at home and getting a better energy deal⁵. The consumer service can advise on a problem to do with your energy bills or energy supply⁵.

The consumer helpline is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and the online chat is usually available over the same hours⁵. Two numbers are published for the consumer service: 0808 223 1144 and 0800 702 2020⁵.

For some cases there is a further tier. The consumer service may refer you to the Extra Help Unit if you need support with a difficult or urgent complaint, cannot deal with your energy supplier on your own due to personal circumstances, are considered vulnerable, or are at risk of being disconnected from an energy supply¹³. The Extra Help Unit supports vulnerable consumers by raising complaints with energy suppliers on their behalf, particularly where there is a risk of disconnection or complex personal circumstances⁴.

Assistance across the UK nations

The advice above applies across Great Britain, but the contact points differ by nation.

In Wales, Citizens Advice runs a Wales service covering the same energy topics, and the Welsh government provides help with home energy bills for people who live in Wales¹⁵. Business Wales separately offers help with small business and microbusiness energy bills.

In Scotland, Energyadvice.scot has a free service for Scottish citizens with questions about their energy supplier, wanting to understand their supplier's complaints process, or with problems with their energy bills¹⁴.

In Northern Ireland, the energy market is separate and so are the advice routes: the Consumer Council NI and Northern Ireland Energy Advice give free, independent and impartial energy advice to all domestic householders¹⁶.

Payment difficulties alongside a disputed bill

Disputing the amount and being unable to afford it are two separate problems, and you can raise both at once. Tell the supplier you dispute the calculation and, separately, that you cannot afford the payment.

Be careful about simply letting a payment fail. If you do not have enough funds in your bank account to pay your direct debit, it may be returned unpaid and your bank could charge an administration fee¹. A failed payment does not solve either problem and can add a third.

If the supplier has raised your payment to clear arrears, the underlying debt is real even if the instalment is wrong. Citizens Advice can help with affordability as well as billing disputes⁵, and a referral to the Extra Help Unit is possible where personal circumstances make dealing with the supplier directly difficult¹³. For the wider picture on payment levels, the price cap set a small monthly increase of 28 pence for a typical dual fuel direct debit household from 1 January to 31 March 2026¹⁵, so a large jump in your payment is far more likely to come from your own usage estimate or balance than from cap changes.