Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

Yikes, that’s a rant!

You can have a variable, pay for what you use every month billing if you want. Just ask for it. It’s either called whole amount direct debit or variable direct debit depending on which energy supplier you speak to.

The vast majority of people want a fixed monthly payment, you are very much in the minority.
 
@One 48
I have some questions, I hope you don't mind.

How often are you submitting your meter readings? I submit my own readings at the same time each month (ie: 1st of the month), unless there's a price change or I change suppliers.

Are you recording these readings anywhere (such as a spreadsheet or book)? If so, do you have readings from roughly a year ago or close to a year? This could help work out your annual usage, especially if you use a spreadsheet to save your readings.

Do you have smart meters? If not, would you consider letting your supplier install them? I know a lot of people are suspicious of them and treat them with contempt, but in your case they could genuinely help you by giving the supplier readings automatically. Even though I have smart meters, I still record my own meter readings so I can monitor my usage and costs - this way you're still in control of things and can easily spot when things might be going downhill.

Are you using the Submit a meter reading page or are you just emailing readings with photos as proof? Use the supplier's meter reading submission page and only email them images of the meters when requested to do so.

When did you last have anybody from the company read your meters? I find these reads can help confirm your own readings to the supplier.
 
One 48 said:
Octopus are reluctant to do that though, gonna have to waste time and phone bills and call them again tomorrow I think? My attempts at getting or losing DD and just submitting my accurate meter reads with pictures seem to be falling on deaf ears.

Yes Yes Yes, but you dont seem to understand what I'm saying my friend, we all know the Energy company's love this strategy of accumulating our credit to pay for a winter balance, but who gets the interest, its them not us. I actually find this concept quite disgusting they think we cant manage our own finances, the people that cant pay and that really is a shame pay tough enough penaltys already with over priced pre pay metres without people likle us who pay on the dot furnishing their coffers even more by them keeping our credit in their banks and god knows interest amounting. Its disgusting IMHO.

I have tried to control my DD amount and reduce it, even got a bit of my accumulated credit back from Octopus but nowhere near all of it, to get it all back needs to jump through more hoops it seems, hard work and telephone calls at my expense, most folk wont do this, they know that ... mark my words, this company are getting greedy like the rest of them, they are not the same company as when i first joined at the beginning.

DD can be handy sometimes, but with greedy Energy companys and yes I include Octo amongst them that store our credit balance, who makes interest on it?

Finally folks and thanks, but what really is wrong with calling in your usage each Month and paying exactly what you owe, no more and no less? We have always been subject to random meter inspectors for those that lie and cheat and for those that cant or wont pay there bills in these harsh time get shoved on to pre pay meters. terrible practice to make the poorer suffer more with higher costs, crazy practise ... punish punish punish :(

I pay my way in all life, but it seems to me with Energy companys, they can do more or less what they like ... OFGEM are a complete waste of space IMHO too.

And before the usual full time argumentave contrarians come on and troll I see on these forums recently ... All I'm asking for is a system where I pay for what I use, no More or no Less, no more hidden profits should be accumulated from us ... terrible concept I know, LOL ... and if that means submittying meter reads each month and paying exatly that, whats wrong with that?
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thats very strange ?? i pay my dd on the 28th of every month ..£100 and put a reading in on the 1-2nd anything i owe them is paid then by logging on to there web site and making a payment .. i can also change my dd there to what ever i want ??? and they have a box for getting your overpay back .. no phone calls needed ??????
 
Despite the fact you are legally entitled to claim excess DD payments back, in reality such claims once elevated to the highest level are taking three to six months to be processed and refunds issued. And that's after elevating the claim to a letter of intent or whatever it's called, which in itself takes some time.

I am glad I held fast and continued to pay a tad more by having or sending quarterly readings and then posting a cheque.

Now all I have to do is more and more firmly reject Scottish Power's frequent kind phone offers of a smart meter "which will help reduce my bills".

Not it wont do anything of the sort, it will reduce Scottish Power's bills in paying actual meter reader's wages...

£1500 this last quarter. Scandalous.
 
I'm on variable DD with Octopus and it only took a Twitter DM. I perfectly understand individuals desire for a fixed DD for stability but I got a bee in my bonnet when with Eon and was damned if I was going to allow any of my money to accrue interest in a suppliers account.
 
One 48 said:
Octopus are reluctant to do that though, gonna have to waste time and phone bills and call them again tomorrow I think? My attempts at getting or losing DD and just submitting my accurate meter reads with pictures seem to be falling on deaf ears.

Yes Yes Yes, but you dont seem to understand what I'm saying my friend, we all know the Energy company's love this strategy of accumulating our credit to pay for a winter balance, but who gets the interest, its them not us. I actually find this concept quite disgusting they think we cant manage our own finances, the people that cant pay and that really is a shame pay tough enough penaltys already with over priced pre pay metres without people likle us who pay on the dot furnishing their coffers even more by them keeping our credit in their banks and god knows interest amounting. Its disgusting IMHO.

I have tried to control my DD amount and reduce it, even got a bit of my accumulated credit back from Octopus but nowhere near all of it, to get it all back needs to jump through more hoops it seems, hard work and telephone calls at my expense, most folk wont do this, they know that ... mark my words, this company are getting greedy like the rest of them, they are not the same company as when i first joined at the beginning.

DD can be handy sometimes, but with greedy Energy companys and yes I include Octo amongst them that store our credit balance, who makes interest on it?

Finally folks and thanks, but what really is wrong with calling in your usage each Month and paying exactly what you owe, no more and no less? We have always been subject to random meter inspectors for those that lie and cheat and for those that cant or wont pay there bills in these harsh time get shoved on to pre pay meters. terrible practice to make the poorer suffer more with higher costs, crazy practise ... punish punish punish :(

I pay my way in all life, but it seems to me with Energy companys, they can do more or less what they like ... OFGEM are a complete waste of space IMHO too.

And before the usual full time argumentave contrarians come on and troll I see on these forums recently ... All I'm asking for is a system where I pay for what I use, no More or no Less, no more hidden profits should be accumulated from us ... terrible concept I know, LOL ... and if that means submittying meter reads each month and paying exatly that, whats wrong with that?
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speak to octopus, get a smart meter fitted so that you dont have to submit readings and then switch to a variable direct debit. That way they dont use your DD payments to accrue credit and interest.
 
Chris Wilson said:
Despite the fact you are legally entitled to claim excess DD payments back, in reality such claims once elevated to the highest level are taking three to six months to be processed and refunds issued. And that's after elevating the claim to a letter of intent or whatever it's called, which in itself takes some time.
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Octopus are really good with this to be honest, I can't speak for other companies.

I've claimed two refunds of excess balance back this year by using the app, it's literally a few buttons, input the amount and submit. Both occasions i've had confirmation of the refunds in 48 hours then back in my bank according to the usual bank processing times.
 
OK guys and thanks, some people seem to be getting my situation now, for the record, am with Octopus and submit to them each month, on the 1st my meter reads for both gas and electricity and back those up with pictures from my phone too, before the swap to Octoplus had new meters fitted and presumably calibrated after the last fiasco of an Energy company whom shall remain nameless for now ... but total headache that nobody needs, especially at my age and disability LOL.

I totally get what some suggest with a variable DD and I shall speak to Octopus about that just now and switch to it if can, but ever since this nasty energy price thing went through the roof was kinda happy to pay a monthly realistic DD to Octopus, but their estimation and even over last winter is far to high for a single frugal living guy like me and I was paying far too much, even in the winter, their web site used to let us lower the DD amount manually, they have stopped that ... go try it and prove me wrong ... and its hard work getting back any plus balance credit they are keeping in their bank for me back, it means hoop jumping and even then they still have the arrogance to keep a bit of it.

Where does the interest from all this money over hundreds of thousand customers go, into their coffers, of course it does.

Thanks though guys, maybe i should go smart meter, am old school really and reluctant to change though. Variable DD is a good idea too and get my not inconsiderable amount of credit back in my bank where it belongs and not in theirs.

All i want to do is pay for what i use in my normal light single person user scenario and not what they over estimate I use ... no more, no less. I am not in debt to this company or any other, am well in credit to Octopus actually.

Shall go call Octopus now while its still early in the day and hopefully not to many hours waiting on the phone ... thanks for help and pointers.
 
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One 48 said:
OK guys and thanks, some people seem to be getting my situation now, for the record, am with Octopus and submit to them each month, on the 1st my meter reads for both gas and electricity and back those up with pictures from my phone too, before the swap to Octoplus had new meters fitted and presumably calibrated after the last fiasco of an Energy company whom shall remain nameless for now ... but total headache that nobody needs, especially at my age and disability LOL.

I totally get what some suggest with a variable DD and I shall speak to Octopus about that just now and switch to it if can, but ever since this nasty energy price thing went through the roof was kinda happy to pay a monthly realistic DD to Octopus, but their estimation and even over last winter is far to high for a single frugal living guy like me and I was paying far too much, even in the winter, their web site used to let us lower the DD amount manually, they have stopped that ... go try it and prove me wrong ... and its hard work getting back any plus balance credit they are keeping in their bank for me back, it means hoop jumping and even then they still have the arrogance to keep a bit of it.

Where does the interest from all this money over hundreds of thousand customers go, into their coffers, of course it does.

Thanks though guys, maybe i should go smart meter, am old school really and reluctant to change though. Variable DD is a good idea too and get my not inconsiderable amount of credit back in my bank where it belongs and not in theirs.

All i want to do is pay for what i use in my normal light single person user scenario and not what they over estimate I use ... no more, no less. I am not in debt to this company or any other, am well in credit to Octopus actually.

Shall go call Octopus now while its still early in the day and hopefully not to many hours waiting on the phone ... thanks for help and pointers.
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I changed my DD on octopus website to £20 the other day despite it suggesting almost £100.
£100 is probably correct for the forseeable but I have almost £900 credit right now.

Certainly still works for me
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
I changed my DD on octopus website to £20 the other day despite it suggesting almost £100.
£100 is probably correct for the forseeable but I have almost £900 credit right now.

Certainly still works for me
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I do this as well. When it gets higher than what I’m currently using I’ll adjust it so it sits with very little credit in there.
 
delta0 said:
I do this as well. When it gets higher than what I’m currently using I’ll adjust it so it sits with very little credit in there.
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I am still trying to work out based on current prices what a reasonable annual bill will be.

Since I am on year 1 of my solar install its a tricky one.

I am still debating moving to paying actual bills monthly. Although I prefer generally to have a more consistent flow of cash into and out of my bank account.
More equal amounts mean less chance of going overdrawn. I don't tend to keep a high balance in there so the more variable the bills are the more attention I need to pay to the balance.

I am also waiting to see how the guinea pigs that moved to Flux find moving back to a diff tariff later this year get on. If its painless I would probably join the flux crowd next year and see even more volatility between seasons.
 
delta0 said:
I do this as well. When it gets higher than what I’m currently using I’ll adjust it so it sits with very little credit in their bank and not mine
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Fixed that for you

I cant believe some folk are letting some companys sit with £900 of your money in their account and accruing interest and not in your own? Not you Delta, the guy before in this thread who seemed rather proud of £900 of his own money accruing interest in some one else's bank account.

Gobsmacked some people are doing this SMH

Anyway and further to my post earlier on today, went and called Octopus, took about 15 mins to get through and at my cost, no free phone numbers here, then only to get connected to a guy whom i could hear but couldn't hear me ... maybe? Call ended, so determined as ever called again and this time 20 min wait until answer, at least, this time a guy did answer ... so after passing my DPA, asked straight out, where does customers collective balance sit ... he was unsure and said, we hold it for you, so i asked where? he couldnt answer, he honestly never knew ... but I think we all know it sits in Octopus bank balance somewhere accruing interest for someone we'll never see on our own money ... I've a good mind to take this issue to OFGEM, but as we all know I'd have better luck with an ash tray on a Motorcyle as talk to them., corruption city right there.

Second guy at Octo was quite helpfull though, we have cancelled my DD and even one due on the 5th of July and from now on all i need to do is submit my monthly meter reads online again and backed up with pictures for my own records too and pay them monthly for what I use, no more and no less ... i am happy this way.
 
darkgen said:
I'm on variable DD with Octopus and it only took a Twitter DM. I perfectly understand individuals desire for a fixed DD for stability but I got a bee in my bonnet when with Eon and was damned if I was going to allow any of my money to accrue interest in a suppliers account.
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Octopus emailed me a FIXED Tarrif and said it was cheaper which seems scummy to me

"The Flexible Tariff that you are currently on may have had a different rate at the time you signed up for it. However, at the moment, the Flexible Tariff is not the best unit rate and standing charge available. The Loyal Octopus 12M Fixed tariff is currently the best unit rate and standing charge available."

*CURRENT*
Flexible Octopus November 2022 v1
Prices follow wholesale costs

STANDING CHARGE 45.66p/day
DAY RATE 44.25 p/kWh
NIGHT RATE 17.74 p/kWh


*FIXED*
Daily standing charge 45.66p /day
Unit rate (day) 39.59p /kWh
Unit rate (night) 16.76p /kWh

However what Octupus is failing to tell me is the rates are going down as from 1st July to

"1ST JULY FLEXIBLE"
⚡ Electricity
Daily standing charge 45.66p /day
Unit rate (day) 38.72p /kWh
Unit rate (night) 16.39p /kWh

So I'd go yes please, I'd like a FIX at the higher rate for 12 months, while the flexible goes well below that on the 1st :/
 
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One 48 said:
Fixed that for you

I cant believe some folk are letting some companys sit with £900 of your money in their account and accruing interest and not in your own? Not you Delta, the guy before in this thread who seemed rather proud of £900 of his own money accruing interest in some one else's bank account.

Gobsmacked some people are doing this SMH

Anyway and further to my post earlier on today, went and called Octopus, took about 15 mins to get through and at my cost, no free phone numbers here, then only to get connected to a guy whom i could hear but couldn't hear me ... maybe? Call ended, so determined as ever called again and this time 20 min wait until answer, at least, this time a guy did answer ... so after passing my DPA, asked straight out, where does customers collective balance sit ... he was unsure and said, we hold it for you, so i asked where? he couldnt answer, he honestly never knew ... but I think we all know it sits in Octopus bank balance somewhere accruing interest for someone we'll never see on our own money ... I've a good mind to take this issue to OFGEM, but as we all know I'd have better luck with an ash tray on a Motorcyle as talk to them., corruption city right there.

Second guy at Octo was quite helpfull though, we have cancelled my DD and even one due on the 5th of July and from now on all i need to do is submit my monthly meter reads online again and backed up with pictures for my own records too and pay them monthly for what I use, no more and no less ... i am happy this way.
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Lol.

The reason I have so much there is I was taking advantage of an offer from Santander that paid me double the normal cashback that I get on my utility bill payments.
So I took the opportunity to max out.
As such I would have received more cashback on that than you would be getting in your bank account for a year, don't you worry about that.

Then due to Solar my bills have dropped significantly, more than I was expecting. So despite putting my DD down previously I only ended up balancing my payments to my bills.
So I put it down again.

Plus I got another £50 added to my account for a referral from someone at work.
 
Anyone with Eon thinking of changing from Next Flex over to Next Loyalty Fixed V4 tariff? Biggest difference is in the daily standing charge but it isn't a huge saving. Only a difference of £60 between the two. If the prices continue to go down it might end up being worth staying on Next Flex instead.

Fixed offer is:
Elec
Std Charge 43.57p
Unit rate 29.98p

Gas
Std Charge 23.08p
Unit rate 7.48p
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Lol.

The reason I have so much there is I was taking advantage of an offer from Santander that paid me double the normal cashback that I get on my utility bill payments.
So I took the opportunity to max out.
As such I would have received more cashback on that than you would be getting in your bank account for a year, don't you worry about that.

Then due to Solar my bills have dropped significantly, more than I was expecting. So despite putting my DD down previously I only ended up balancing my payments to my bills.
So I put it down again.

Plus I got another £50 added to my account for a referral from someone at work.
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So long as you know what your doing pal :) But the very idea of having £900 gaining interest in someone else's bank account to me is just bonkers.

Good luck with your future financial plans :)
 
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