Energy Suppliers

ci_newman said:
Or as has been mentioned a few times recently, move to "variable direct debit" where they bill actual monthly usage, not annual usage / 12. You still get DD discounts if they are offered that way too.
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Yes I have changed to a variable rate for now at £100 a month. Woman on phone said they would let us know if its wise to change at anytime.

Thanks.
 
SDK^ said:
The standard variable rate won’t change until October.
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No you're missing the point the poster was talking about variable direct debit which means you pay for exactly what you use. So the amount you pay is different "variable" each month or quarter. I pay £101.73 for February for instance and £126.85 in January.
This way there is no upping your payments no drama, you just pay what you owe nothing more nothing less.
 
Octopus have today enabled my Go Overnight tariff of 7.5p.
My switchover to them happened on 16th March, so it took them 9 days to identify my meter readings and tag them to my account.
 
We were with Avro (2 people in 3 bed semi, with solar panels etc.) £82.00 a month when they went bust we were moved to Octopus, price went to £126.00, now gone to £202.89.
 
Quick question - if i'm seriously thinking of getting a solar battery the next few months would it be wise to switch to one of those low-night tarrifs now rather than get locked into a year of......whatever the current rate is
 
robj20 said:
How is it variable if it's fixed at £100 a month?
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Sorry I meant that is what we are going to pay each month, our choice for now. It is a variable tariff and the woman on the phone said looking at our usage we will probably be in credit over the summer months but would need to up the monthly payment later on for the winter months but they would let us know by how much and it gives us sometime to decide what to do nearer October time.
 
Electric smart meter readings popping up now, they much lower than old meter interestingly.

The IHD isnt working though and someone elsewhere told me it should be working by now.
 
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135 > 300 here haha, I told them o jog on and set me DD to 200

2 adults, 3 kids, dishwasher, bath and tumble dryer on most days

This is from E.on next, theyve refused to install smart meters they can actually use and so I have to do manual readings.
Wonder how much effort theyd actually put in to getting the readings lol
 
Most suppliers should have the option for DD whole amount monthly if you don't want to pay estimated monthly values, so you just pay balance in full as you use it.

For some people though I think they'd prefer the same fee each month, I prefer not to leave cash with the energy supplier to build up.
 
Shell wanted me to go from £125 to £220. I think £185 is more accurate but I set it at £200 for now to see what's up. I stopped a bunch of mining, so I'm not 100% sure what our energy usage will be.
 
HungryHippos said:
Most suppliers should have the option for DD whole amount monthly if you don't want to pay estimated monthly values, so you just pay balance in full as you use it.

For some people though I think they'd prefer the same fee each month, I prefer not to leave cash with the energy supplier to build up.
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It's threads like this that suprise me how bad a lot of people are at budgeting by needing the same fixed amounts or they suddenly can't manage.
 
robj20 said:
It's threads like this that suprise me how bad a lot of people are at budgeting by needing the same fixed amounts or they suddenly can't manage.
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Who says people can't manage?
I prefer to have the same/similar amount leaving the bills account each month rather then lower in the summer and higher in the winter. Doesn't mean I don't monitor my actual usage and change it if necessary or that I couldn't somehow manage if it was billed based on usage that month. Personal preference.
 
Foghorn Leghorn said:
Who says people can't manage?
I prefer to have the same/similar amount leaving the bills account each month rather then lower in the summer and higher in the winter. Doesn't mean I don't monitor my actual usage and change it if necessary or that I couldn't somehow manage if it was billed based on usage that month. Personal preference.
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If the providers gave accurate forecasts / direct debit values then I would also prefer an average monthly figure. However the big six seem intent on you building massive credits with them and make it incredibly difficult to get a credit refund without changing providers. Moving to variable DD puts the credit back into my pocket and not theirs
 
ci_newman said:
If the providers gave accurate forecasts / direct debit values then I would also prefer an average monthly figure. However the big six seem intent on you building massive credits with them and make it incredibly difficult to get a credit refund without changing providers. Moving to variable DD puts the credit back into my pocket and not theirs
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Fair enough, but to have inaccurate forecast/direct debit values and to build up a large credit usually means the customer hasn't bothered submitting readings or given their bills even a cursory glance. I can only comment on E.on as I can't remember using any of the others in the last ten years, E.on's online portal was great last time I used it and allowed me to submit readings and alter my dd without any problems and I never built up a huge credit because of this.
Variable monthly DD still relies on the customer paying attention and bothering to submit readings.
 
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