Electric pay as you go vs direct debit

[twomumsonebump]

Hi all! DW and I are just about to move into a new flat. It's set up on gas/electric pay as you go top up cards which is fine but we can switch to direct debit if we want.

Which would work out cheaper in the long run?

Of course you haven't needed to top up your gas account since April, it's summer and your heating is off. How much do you need to top up in January when it's - 5 C outside?

We pay by direct debit and our last gas bill was £12 for the month so likely similar to yours. But if we're both on the price cap our unit cost and standing charge is less than yours even if we're currently paying more per month than you because we pay the same amount all year round.

@BarbaraofSeville
It's also so cheap as we don't have full central heating.
A DD based on a 3 bed house was £80 pm
I only have radiators in dinning room and 2 bedrooms.
British Gas went off my postcode and bedroom numbers not on partial central heating.
So my electric in the winter is more than my gas.
Maybe I don't explain myself properly.
I have electric heaters in my living room and third bedroom. A heat bulb in the bathroom. And extra blankets.

We topped up ours before the price increase on 1st April, so use since then has been charged at the rates before that date. The max we could top up was £250 each on gas and electric.

Our energy company conformed that the old rates would still apply to credit put on before the increase.

We have used about £60 a month since then so its about right.

We have never paid more in winter, as we top up the same each month and usually have some left over that builds up over the year.

We are careful in the winter with heating, but had a new boiler two years, plus new windows, doors and other bits that increase insulation over the last few years and its really made a difference. We have never paid more over the winter, although obviously expect to this year once our old rate credit is used up.

Our experience is exactly the same.

The point is that it doesn't matter if you use £50 worth of energy a month or £500.

If you're on a prepayment meter and were charged £50 for your electric in May - that WOULD have been lower had you been a billed customer rather than prepayment, because the rates are always lower for billed customers.

If you're actively choosing a prepayment meter, you're choosing to be charged more.

I get that the amount per unit is higher, but using it the same, we pay less a month on prepayment than we did on DD.

When we first moved in, we paid DD but when we switched to prepayment we paid less for the same usage. Even during the winter when we use heating, weve never paid significantly more than we do in the summer.

DD payment is partially worked out on an expected use, rather than actual use so its easy to pay for electric that you haven't actually used.

The direct debit might have been higher but it builds up as a credit in your account and you will get it back or it will go towards future usage.

You do not pay less for the same use on prepay because the rates are higher than on DD. It is simply not possible for it to work out like that.

It is literally impossible to pay more under DD than with prepayment for the same usage.

The DD payment is based on expected or historical use, but you never pay for electric or gas you do not use as every quarter they calculate expected usage vs actual usage and tell you if you are in credit or not.

I have a top up meter it was here when I moved in. I absolutely love it. When the increase happened this year we only went up £5 a week. We are in a 3 bed house with a heavy electric use per day. We are £130 per month. We are all electric no gas. I top my meter up with extra so it covers the extra winter use. The meters hold £1k in credit.

I know that you are talking just money, but depending on your meter and where it is, will also depend if you can have a smart meter, if not, then you have to physically go to the shops, if you are with British Gas, then you can only really top up at post offices, so it might be worth factoring in your time as well, if you are forced to top up via cards and keys

@sobeyondthehills you can top up via a app or can phone and top up.

@CombatBarbie which supplier doesn't apply daily/standing charges for DD customers please?

No, I cant, I have to physially top up both meters

Outfox the market, one of the few smaller eco companies that have not gone bust.