Stop telling us what your energy DD is!

[anon2022anon]

Let's see how many don't read the post but just the title and react to that.

Stop telling us what your energy DD is or is going to be. It's just a made up number that your energy provider is using to get your money in the bank as a buffer for themselves.

If you're worried about energy (as we all are), why aren't you learning about it?
How much do you pay per unit for electric/ gas?
How much is your standing charge?
Are you on a fixed tariff or variable?
Do you give actual meter readings?
Have you got an idea of your usage? Check your bills, get a smart meter,

It's driving me a little mad, the amount of threads saying they're paying £500 a month, I can't afford it, with no actual relevant information that people can use to say- your usage is unusually high, they're putting your DD up too much you should ask for a reduction, your meter could be faulty. If you struggle with understanding it, just copy out your latest bill and someone will guide you.

I’ve just fixed but I think it’s a mistake.

Fixed rates are 58p electricity and 16p for gas. I keep thinking about how even if energy goes up 50%, the standard variable will be cheaper than the fixed rates.

Ouch that’s a lot.

in dreading when my fixed runs out

Tbh only time will tell.

When my fixed ran out I decided to stick with variable as the fixed was way above my actual usage costs even with the rise.

What they are offering now still is even if you count the expected rise again.

But that's because I'm including the £400 reduction in that and I'll also get the £150 as ds is disabled and I'm going to put that into my energy account as a buffer if needed.

Same thing.

Absolutely agree with this

Our flat - DS and I - we average about 3 - 4 KWH units electricity per day. Mainly the showers!

Gas - DS is at school, I work a lot - so we are on about 8000 - 9000 KWH a year - aim is to get that down over winter as it's heating that is most of it. Flat is single glazed.

I’ve read somewhere that you should only fix if the fixed rate is less than the variable x 75%.

But how are you supposed to know how much they might go up by?

That's good to know.

My fix is offered at variable costs x 129%!

I saw this too but now I’m not sure if it was for the old increase or new one

What would be helpful rather than media blaring out you’re all goners headlines every few weeks is a fix if it’s double or don’t or whatever

100%!

I just don’t know if we should stay on the really high fixed or take a chance on the standard variable not going above that.

I came off a fixed rate in March. Since then not one fox I’ve been offered has been less than the projections were at the time of that makes sense. If I had taken the first ever fix offered in March the unit rates would be cheaper than what is currently being predicted in October/January but I would have spent six months considerably overpaying and after working it out I just didn’t think it was worth it.

I also live in a small amount of hope that something might be done about these astronomical rises and I would hate to find myself trapped into a stupidly high rate for two years with a £300 exit fee (which is a con in itself, thanks EDF!).

mine is a 3 year at EDF and it’s not that much to get out. That stings. But the rate I was offered was to the green energy customers they got dumped with when they went bust

@Calmdown14 I'm not questioning whether people are using £500, I'm sure some people are. I'm saying don't just tell us that your direct debit is £500, if you don't know whether your usage is £50, £250 or £500. Some people appear to have honorable energy companies, who are setting their direct debits at a rate that will cover their usage until winter is over. But unfortunately, lots of people are with unscrupulous companies who are setting DDs at rates not in line with their usage. But how do you know, unless you check your actual usage against your direct debit?

@BigSkies2022 if i could get a fix that low, I would have it now!

On comparison sites, it uses a monthly amount as a headline tool. However if you select a tariff, and choose more information, the tariff rates are normally in there.

Well as much as this thread may have annoyed some people, it's also helped a couple of people go look at their bill and figure out a bit more detail, know a little more about their usage, and hopefully either be less worried about their direct debit, or know that they can speak to their provider about reducing it if it's unnecessarily high. All in all, I'm happy with that.

Those who are looking at their bill and realise that their usage seems high (for example I am currently using about 5-9 kWh electric a day, for 4 people in a 4 bedroom house, depending on whether the teen is home or not!), please have a look at threads to reduce usage in credit crunch and money matters- there are some great ideas that may help, I hope they do.

@anon2022anon I think you misunderstood my post. I was agreeing with you entirely that someone stressed about a £500 DD when they are only using £100 a month and are massively in credit (but may not realise) is in a very different position to someone actually using £500 a month....who probably needs to work out where on earth it is being used because it's way above average

@Calmdown14 I think I did misunderstand ☺️ I think we're all in for a shitty time of it, and even if you're paying too much, we all know how reluctant energy companies are to refund, and they tell you you HAVE to pay by direct debit every month, which simply isn't true!

I'm getting solar panels next month (all electric and no gas).
Once they are in I'm cancelling the direct debit or putting it down to a tenner a month.
They can use the credit I have acquired and I'll be chucking the difference at paying them off.

I can tell you down to the kWh what we use as I've become obsessed!

It definitely pays to be informed when negotiating an appropriate dd amount

I have a property which stands empty most of the time. I had a DD for £30pm and was £43 in credit last months, yet, my energy provider (EON) took upon themselves to change my DD to £175pm and already taken it from my bank account! When contacted, they tried their usual song about increasing energy prices and giving me the best deal 'according to average consumer usage'. And algorithms! I had none of their nonsense and made them send money back into my account. Algorithms my a*!
Those companies just trying to build some nice money cushions for themselves and, I think, investing heavily in digital currency.

New rule mentioned on radio a while ago is that companies must ring fence our buffer cushions. Not to be ploughed into companies but safeguarded following recent multi energy company collapsing shenanigans.
My fix is with Eon next. Elec: 52p and gas 13p. Standing charges stay the same at 45 per day elec and 28p per day for gas. For one year and positive about Eon is no exit fee ❤️. It is incredibly hard to decide what to do for the best but after today the ridiculously high double the costs of the current price cap, having dismissed them with a snort a few months ago, suddenly appeared more attractive.
Yes OP your post has definitely got me delving deeper and deeper into the figures!
It is hard to know what to do for the best but the MSE website was leaning closer towards suggesting a possible fix for certain companies and EON was one of them. I promise to come back in 6 months and update!
Because of all this I’ve also created a spreadsheet with all my outgoings. I’m starting a new job later this month and assumed I’d be jus about ok on new 0.5 contract… added up all the little bits and bobs. Boy they add up!!! So I finally knocked off all non-essentials. Sorry National Theatre at Home, local lottery for good causes and my rather altruistic £5 pcm for an OU Alumni donation thing. I’ll be £26 pcm better off for doing all that so worth the scrutinising. I also bartered BT down for my BB as I was out of contract. Now paying £11 pcm less with them as well 🙂
I watch every penny I spend. I can’t believe I’ve been so lax on these details!
I encourage everyone to do the same. A few pounds here and there really add up!

Just to add - my experience with Eon was the exact opposite with DDs. They used to reduce mine and then do a ridiculous hoik back up again. When I wanted it to stay the same all year! When I moved 3 years ago they came to the preposterous conclusion I should pay them £19 a month!!! For both!! I couldn’t even go online and increase it above probably about £30. I had to ring them up to get them to set it at a more reasonable amount. Knobs!

mig it be worth looking into thermal panels as well

No, they know that energy prices are going to go up in October so they are trying to help customers spread the cost - by paying a slight overpayment now while energy usage is lower, people might find the winter slightly less tough to get through.
I wish people would stop saying the direct debits are made up, for the vast majority of people, they aren't, they reflect their cost of their typical annual usage, divided by 12. They are only an overpayment in the summer because they are generally an UNDER payment in the winter. Generally most people are paid the same amount each month so would prefer to pay a fixed amount for their energy each month.

Exactly. The energy companies ideally want customers to start from zero in the middle of the summer and then pay 1/12 of their expected energy bill for the next year each month from then onwards.

So from now on, we know that prices are going up a lot in October and there is usage data available for nearly all properties (although won't be that accurate if people change their behaviour or for new builds, but it's there or thereabouts for most people) so the energy companies have a pretty good idea of what this wil be and should set your DD accordingly, taking account of any existing debt or credit.

Obviously this amount will be too much for the next 2/3 months, but when it's November to February/March, many people's monthly bills will be two or three times what it is in the summer, and far more than their direct debit so they'll use the credit built up and come out of winter in debt, but this will be paid off from March to June.

I know that some companies are setting DDs too high, but it's probably not as bad as people are saying, and it's certainly not the case that, if your DD is currently £250 and your July bill was £100 and you currently have £200 in credit, that your supplier is being unreasonable, because the picture is going to look very different next March, especially if you're on the variable tariff so facing another big increase.