Email from octopus energy

[thebigpurpleone]

Suggesting increase monthly direct debit to £180!!!! This is nearly double. My god I just feel like the cost of living is crazy.

The last time I spoke to them, the person said the prices will change in April. There is possibility it might get better. I was previously paying £60. The biggest rise has been gas.

I'm with Octopus and my DD has stayed the same at £60 pm for both gas and electric. My last bill still left me with a credit and another DD has gone in too.

Unless this month's bill is exceptionally high, I hope it won't have to alter and I do have the option to make additional payments if needs be.

I got an email from Octopus yesterday, my fixed rate is ending next month and they gave me 3 options:

To go on a 12 month fixed rate and pay an extra £100 approx per month.

To do nothing and they would move me onto a variable tariff and my DD would be the same as what I actually used last month (extra £10 per month).

Or to choose their loyalty 12 month fixed tariff at an extra £60 approx per month.

I'm choosing to go on the variable rate as Martin Lewis advises against signing up to fixed deals at present, and I want to pay for what I actually use rather than let credit build up. I already have over £400 in credit sitting in my account, that's after asking for and having £300 refunded in Nov.

Just because they want you to pay £x for a DD that doesn't mean it's what you will use. Look at what you used in Dec then set a DD according to that with maybe an additional £20 or whatever is manageable on it.

Check if you have credit on your account that you can use to offset any increases. I get an email every month to tell me my DD will be taken on x date and when I scroll down it tells me how much credit I have.

Look at ways of reducing your energy consumption too. They send out emails weekly with energy saving ideas on if you signed up to their 12 week energy saving initiative.

Wow how are all your bills so low?!
I pay £250 per month on octopus and that’s without any recent increase

We are with octopus and our fixed rate ends in April. I’m absolutely dreading it.

We just switched as they also put ours up a ridiculous amount. Managed to get a new deal for only a small price increase.

With Octopus you can amend your payment up and down yourself online. I see how much I've used and what I think the payment should be and change it myself. They've never had an issue with me doing that

@UpToMyEye

Wow how are all your bills so low?! I pay £250 per month on octopus and that’s without any recent increase

Until the prices started increasing, the average bill for the whole country was about £100 pm.

Obviously there's variation in property size, and type of heating, insulation, occupancy and usage, so in your circumstances, you must either have a larger than average property, poor insulation, inefficient heating, high usage either because you're housebound or similar, or are simply wasteful or extravagent, eg heat the house to tropical levels and sit around in a t-shirt, wash everything in sight on a short programme each day instead of waiting until you have a full load and having the eco programme, tumble dry etc.

You just have to look at what you can change, and perhaps see if you are entitled to any grants, to do what you can to reduce your usage to more typical levels.

@dementedpixie

With Octopus you can amend your payment up and down yourself online. I see how much I've used and what I think the payment should be and change it myself. They've never had an issue with me doing that

I never understand this though because surely you need to be paying enough to cover what you’re using and I’ve always found their recommended amount is exactly that? So by choosing how much you pay do you not get stuck with a huge bill at some point as surely you’d be underpaying if you’re adjusting it to less than they want?

@thebigpurpleone

No our previous direct debit for both was £105 a month. If we don't accept the increase won't we just end up owing hundreds.

Not necessarily as the bills are estimates, the actual total is only done once a year. What you end up owing will entirely depend on how much you use. You can keep checking your running total by looking at your meters. Octopus emailed me saying they were significantly changing my monthly amount and I asked them not to as my account was already in a bit of credit and they didn't raise it. So definitely worth asking.

Are you noting and entering your readings every month?

@UpToMyEye we pay £280 per month but have the hearing on all the time plus give it a blast at 24/25 degrees when I cold. Some people rarely have their heating on.

I dont underpay though. I look at what I am using and if I have a credit balance I will reduce the payment. It did help that I had a few referral bonuses so that helped maintain my balance at a higher level.

I was only paying £100 per month the last few months as I was in credit but have changed it to £130 for my next payment and then when my fixed deal ends soon I will be at around £160 I think on the variable rate. My fixed 'deal' was for about £260.

@Bagelsandbrie our DD for duel fuel is £100 but I know we use around £160, sometimes more each month. I can't alter my direct debit (they won't let me) so if I didn't make additional payments I would be massively in debt. The fixed tariff they put you on and set your DD at is an average so not always accurate at all.

Octopus have a bad habit of doing that. Email them back and say you don't want to increase your direct debit at the moment as you have always been perfectly capable of managing your account in the past and will up your direct debit or make a one-off payment yourself should you feel it necessary. I've emailed them this several times over the years and they've always accepted it (and I've always been right - never gone too far over!)

[quote MalbecandToast]@Bagelsandbrie our DD for duel fuel is £100 but I know we use around £160, sometimes more each month. I can't alter my direct debit (they won't let me) so if I didn't make additional payments I would be massively in debt. The fixed tariff they put you on and set your DD at is an average so not always accurate at all.[/quote]
Who are you with and why can't you change your direct debit amount? Its your price per kWh that's fixed not your monthly paymwnt

We went out for a walk the other night and passed a house with the people inside sitting muffled up in their coats

Our account isn't in credit and not having the heating on isn't an option because I won't have my baby being cold.

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

We went out for a walk the other night and passed a house with the people inside sitting muffled up in their coats

That's awful.

I have literally just come off phone with EDF. They notified me that they were putting up DD by nearly double.
I am on a fixed tariff!
However, I only moved to them in October so they have based this increase on my usage over period oct to Dec. Bonkers as it means they reckon my annual bill will be £3600 - and I live on my own in a binge low🤣🤣🤣
I have gone through my meter readings since I moved in, with my first energy provider, in June. Calculated my daily KWH for both gas and electricity based on this. My bill on my tariffs will be just below £2000
So called and said I a, not giving them permission to increase to amount thy want, but suggested a much smaller increase and gave them calculation.
They agreed with no problem
My argument was that I was still waiting for a refund from igloo, via Eon, who I have never been with as igloo charged me too high DD- I wasn’t unhappy at time as I though it would offset winter, but now they went bust I’m still waiting for my £250 credit to be returned 4 months later. I refuse to let that risk happen again
I have also got them to agree to bill monthly on my monthly meter readings so I can keep close tabs on my credit or debit and adjust
So, long and short, check your usage and tariffs. If it doesn’t add up call and get them to change their proposal. Not difficult in my experience just now

Binge low= bungalow 🤣

@LargeProsecco

I've just gone to the variable rate as moved home & they wanted to charge me £396 a month on DD.

Have been paying £85 a month by entering monthly meter readings & paying bill by bank card.

Once I have 3 months readings I can hopefully get a decent contract based on actual usage.

This. Read the meters. Pay for what you use.

I’d also point out at the time of running credit up in igloo the interest earned in their account by me was higher than I’d get at any bank🤣🤣🤷🏼‍♀️…didn’t seem unreasonable at time to bill up the credit..
But then they went bust and it’s a long winded pain to get your money refunded. I’ll get it, it’s just an issue as I never actually went to the company who took over their accounts (eon) .

@UpToMyEye

Wow how are all your bills so low?! I pay £250 per month on octopus and that’s without any recent increase

I keep showers short, wash on eco settings for dishes and clothes and our heating only gets put up to 20 if it’s really freezing. The rest of the time it’s comfortable at 17-18 degrees with jumpers & extra socks on, heating on 15 overnight is warm enough under the duvet with an extra blanket.

British gas, I've asked repeatedly but they won't let me so every month I go to the app and make an additional payment. Super annoying