Energy bills- is your dd much higher than your usage?

[Glitterkitten24]

We have a smart meter installed, and in the last couple of months have used about £60 of electricity and £30 of gas per month since the heating isn’t on much with the weather being quite warm.

Our direct debit used to be £150 which covered the usage, but has been bumped right up to £300 per month which means our account is in credit.
I’d rather have that money in my pocket, but when I looked at reducing my direct debit amount, the app gives me dire warnings that I’ll be in mega debt by 2024. Is this the case? I know prices are going up again in October, should I be trying to build up a big credit now?

I guess I’m just wondering if you are in the same boat and paying in loads too much now, or if I should try and reduce the amount I’m paying monthly?

I suppose it's knowing how much gas you normally use over the colder months in KWH and seeing what that costs.

Are you on a fixed rate tariff or the price cap?

Yes our DD was on the new tariffs £268 a month (5 bed detached house but only 3 of us). Our energy bill this month was £88. Bulb have reduced our DD to £240, but I estimate we’ll going into autumn with around £1000 credit (more with the government payout). I’m happy to leave it there ready for the winter.

I'd reduced my dd but was still remaining in credit as they wouldn't let me reduce further.
I've now changed to dd of the bill amount, which I am happy with.
I've no problem paying the bills but don't want to build up credit in their account and would rather keep those funds in mine.

I'm with Shell and always used the app and couldn't see this as an option. Someone on MN linked to it and it was clearly available on the website (rather than app).

@cakeorwine thanks, it’s fixed but only for another year I think, it should end in May 2023. I’ll check out the winter usage and try and compare, thanks!

With bulb they change it but you can go into your account and override it very easily. I got an email to say I was in credit so went into my account and reduced the payment by £40 each month.

I keep trying to get a smart meter installed, but my energy company never have any appointments available!! 🤨
Since I stopped putting the heating on regularly in March, my account has been in consistent credit. I pay £130 a month direct debit. I’d like to keep it that way, so come winter, I’ve got that little buffer already in the account when I start needing the heating on again.

Yes and it’s pissing me off that the app won’t let me change the DD. I’m going to ring and ask for a refund of the amount I’m in credit by - around £500! The last letter I had from them said they’d review the credit in 3 months but I’d rather have the money in my own account and just pay the extra in the winter when I’m actually using the heating, not be treated like a child who can’t budget and has to have funds held for me ready for winter.

Check what you used last winter then double the cost. That'll give you an idea of how much credit you need to build up.

It's normal to overpay in the summer, otherwise your DD would increase massively in the winter. As prices will go up steeply again in October, your DD needs to be even higher than normal now.

I have had a refund on my gas bill for some reason!

You over pay in the summer so it’s not so bad in the winter.

I've been really boring and created a spreadsheet.
It's got monthly readings for gas and electricity - so I can predict usage for the next year.
So since last October, there was a price rise in April and then there will be one in October

Based on this - my Jan 22 bill was £110 and Jan 23 bill is predicted to be £238. Based on estimates for October 22 price cap changes.

So a doubling - but that is a based on the most expensive month

The spreadsheet is useful to see what I need to budget.

I know it’s normal but I’m still not happy with it. I’d rather just pay the higher bill when it comes. There’s going to be £400 credited to everyone’s accounts this winter right? I don’t think I’m going to use £900 worth of heating. We live in a very warm new build. I just think it’s cheeky of them keeping my money all summer ready for winter.

We're the other way, we're in quite a big debt and our supplier has only just increased the DD, and it's still probably going to take nearly a year to get back up to zero on our account.

It's fine to say that you'd rather have the money in your account, but it's known that bills are going up again, and some people, if they don't start getting ahead, they will get used to the current DD level, spend the money they've 'saved' and get a big shock when they're hundreds of pounds in debt early next year and their supplier wants to increase their bills by a huge amount, possibly to an amount they are unable to afford.

My mum died in Feb, so only minimal usage for her house now.

Bulb took 2 months to acknowledge that her dd should be less, but I had to fight for it to be reduced from £180 to £40 a month.

Despite monthly meter readings they are still estimating her usage at the former levels so we are getting 2 statements a month, one with the super inflated over-estimation and one with the correct amount.

I'm currently £330 in credit with my own home, usually I'd be claiming that back but I'm on a fixed rate until Feb so I think I'll leave it for now to cushion the blow...

I cancelled my DD and pay as I go. Last winter I was paying approx 50 pm for gas and 28 for electricity. Last month gas was 20 and electric 40

Our DD hasn’t changed at all since we came off our fix in March - still £47. We used £30 electricity and £9 gas last month so might need to put it up in the winter but we are already £145 in credit so there’s no need to change it for the moment and the energy company haven’t mentioned wanting to. But I’m with a decent company (Good Energy) who aren’t out to rip people off!

A spreadsheet is a really good idea @cakeorwine ! I might copy that.

I don't pay by dd. I just pay the bill when it's due but previously when I did pay by dd and was in credit I just cancelled the dd for a couple of months.

A spreadsheet is a really good idea @cakeorwine ! I might copy that

I have created a list of values for the charges per KWH and the standing charges - done that per quarter

Then created a formula - so when I know the actual charges, I can just change that and it feeds through.

I love my variables....It's a bit scary looking at the costs - but it also makes a bit of a mockery of the 'average energy bill' as there are 2 price rises over a year - so people are using gas at the new energy price cap over the summer months when they don't use much gas for heating, but in October, a new price will kick in - and people will be using much more gas over the winter months.

Yes, and I'm a bit fucked off with it. I've amassed about £560 of credit in my Scottish Power account and my current annual usage stands at £2600 so £2040 to cover for the year. It's a fixed tariff until '24 so those figures won't alter. And they want a minimum of £195/month and won't let me drop it further, saying I will end up in debt if I do.

Before you take into account the additional £400 government subsidy, those figure don't make sense. 195x12=£2340, plus the £560 credit £2900. If you add in the subsidy that's £3300, £900 more than my usage.

Not £900, £700 more than my usage 🙄

I refuse to have a direct debit as the amount they said it would need to be set at was 3x higher that even our biggest winter bill. Each month they send us a ridiculous bill, I send them a meter reading and they send an actual bill. It’s so tedious!!

Does your annual usage look right?

If they are looking at your annual usage during lockdown - when that changed for many people - and assuming that's the same for the next year, then they have made a mistake.

I can imagine many companies are using 'lockdown' usage to predict people's energy usage, when lockdown completely altered energy use from what it normally is

The annual usage is accurate because it is based on smart meter readings. And the usage last year was fairly typical actually because I work from home and keep the house running at an even temperature, so I'm not too worried about that.

I'm just a bit knarked with their algorithm. All these numbers above are their own and yet somehow mangled when it comes to setting the dd. I think I'll have to do something dramatic and actually phone a human.

Mine is £150 they wanted to make it £250, I said no, last bill was £110- they said they wanted to make it £190, again I’ve declined. If I need to top of in winter fine but it’s not sitting in their acc.

Mine's on a variable direct debit. Doesn't cost anymore. I am not sure how it's going to work with the Government grant. I guess I will just get it on my bill - so I will have a credit for a few months until it's spent.

Better make sure I remember to put money aside for the colder months.