Ofgem has pledged to crack down on reported direct debit increases.

Addressing the Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero Committee, Neil Lawrence, Director of Retail at Ofgem, said: “This is troubling times for consumers and people are struggling to pay their bills.

“We were aware of a number of reports of direct debit increases and earlier this year, we announced a series of market compliance reviews, the first of which was the direct debit to review, how energy suppliers increase direct debits, are they fair?

“That is a very invasive review, so we are collecting a range of data, we are also looking at the management control frameworks.

“Direct debits can increase for a range of reasons, but rest assured where I find, where my colleagues find that suppliers have not treated customers fairly, we will take robust enforcement over that because customers need to receive a fair price for their energy.

“So we will take this very seriously. We are on it and I am looking forward to getting the results back from our compliance work.”

A few days ago, a report suggested an estimated 25% of customers reported had seen their energy direct debits double in recent months.

Earlier this month, energy firms were given a three-week deadline to justify these increases.

Article source: https://www.energylivenews.com/2022/05/11/ofgem-vows-to-take-robust-action-to-tackle-unfair-direct-debit-rises/