To ask many of you are trying to build a bit of balance with your energy supplier?

[Creditcrunchhh]

I’m quite worried about the winter and what it may bring…
I’ve been trying to build a bit of balance for the winter months, it’s currently at £300 but that will be nothing for the cold months.

can I ask how much more you have been paying to build a bit of extra up?

I'm around 1100 in credit. I have various savings pots and the interest is shite. I'd rather it stay with the company so it's one less thing to worry about.

We’re paying an extra £100 a month to try and build a buffer. Given the impending increase I cannot be arsed to move it all to savings for the puny amount of interest it may accrue.

I was nearly £400 in credit and then last week EDF paid it all out to me. I have no idea why she didn't ask for it. It was going to add to it and now my account is at zero

Why is everyone giving all this money to the energy suppliers. Keep the money in your own savings account and earn interest on it. Imagine how much money energy companies are making on the millions they are holding in customer money, people really need to start to take back control.

The energy companies have no right to do this.

The interest at the moment you’d be lucky to get £2 a year
for ease and peace of mind and financial planning there welcome to my £2

This. And once they put a direct debit up, they never agree to reduce it. I’ll happily pay my usual direct debit and any extra I might owe on a monthly basis. Just like I do with my phone. I might try and reduce it to just cover the standing order.

last year I paid £99 a month and had to claw several hundred pounds back (and they still refused to reduce my DD. £80 would have been plenty). I’m still paying £99, and am still building credit, but I can’t see that being the case for long. I should have enough too see me through till October, and I hope the payment thingy will last till Christmas. By then I hope my budget will look very different, because I reckon it’s going to be £200, and that’s with being miserly with the heating. (which I really hate to do. I don’t mind not having new clothes and never going out, or making meals out of nothing most of the time. But a warm house, a hot bath and a good book has always made me happy enough) That’s a lot of ‘I hope’s, though. Not my finest planning, but I can’t see an alternative at the moment

Why would you give the energy companies your interest on that balance for free? Just stick it in an easy access savings account. It’ll be more protected in there too than if the energy company goes bust while holding it.

@Eeksteek when I moved to my current supplier a couple of years ago they put my DD down to my actual usage from their higher estimate after a few months of data so it does happen and this was without me even asking. Probably most likely to happen if you have a smart meter or send regular readings. Your provider needs to be able to justify the amount they have set your DD at and if they can’t, complain to the ombudsman.

I have a separate savings account that I am putting money into to build up a bills buffer as I expect my bill will be around £400/month. I have cancelled my direct debit entirely and I will be paying with my points collecting credit card. I built up £700 worth of nectar points this past year on it, and this very big monthly bill will add nicely to that balance. Gotta be a silver lining in it somewhere!

@Ohsugarhoneyicetea I don’t think it’s a bad idea, but I think that creditors sometimes take a dim view of putting bills on a credit card. It probably doesn’t matter unless you are planning on a remortgage or something, but just in case you (or anyone else) are trying to clean up a credit rating, it’s worth bearing in mind.

We’re building up savings to help offset costs. I wouldn’t leave extra money with an energy supplier. In my experience they are unscrupulous and unreliable.

Also, I pay almost all my bills with my credit card and then pay that off, fully, every month. I’ve never had any problems with creditors thinking it was dodgy (though a few places won’t take a credit card because of the fees they have to pay). It’s built a great credit score and I have points to spend.

How are people doing this? Making extra payments online?

I think it would be sent back if you've overpaid, probably better to keep it in your bank and gain the (admittedly paltry) interest.

I've diddled my meter so I don't have to worry about price increases. Probably should have done it but then again I shouldn't have to live with a £3500 price "cap". So actually I don't give a fuck.

Did you increase your usage readings to bank
some cheaper units?

No, I just cobbled it.

Just the electric, not the gas. Gas is dodgy and can be dangerous.

I've given up doing that.

I used to spend the summer trying to overpay so I was building up credit for the winter, but every stupid year for the past few years, British Gas refund me my credit around the end the September then promptly demand my direct debit goes up to cover the winter months because I had a zero balance, so I was 'obviously underpaying'.

When I complained they said the govt won't let them have more than a certain amount (can't remember how much but it wasn't a lot) & they have to refund it.

I’ve just increased my amount by £20 a month, partly to cushion them the low when my fix ends next year. . Haven’t got much credit at all, but Am on their recommended direct debit.

I would be 150 in credit and this is in premium bonds waiting for a big win .

I stopped my direct debit and pay monthly when billed. No extra cost with Octopus to do this.

I submit regular meter readings (no smart meter) so I know roughly where I am.

Nope, I will not be lending the greedy bastards my money, absolutely not.
I have set up a separate pot to build up cash to cover the winter and they can have it on the very last day the quarterly bill says it's due and not a day before.
I won't be setting up another direct debit either , they have been dipping into peoples accounts as they please increasing direct debits which I think is outrageous behaviour.

No. Its in our savings account gaining interest. My current balance with the energy company is -£56.

I'm an accounts nerd and take weekly readings and analyse every bill. I have a formula that calculates my average monthly bill based on kwh used in the past so I know what will likely owe over the winter.

Nothing. We got into arrears through covid (£12000 less take home pay).
Currently paying £600 a month and should clear the balance this quarter. I was hoping we would have some spare cash finally when we'd caught up.

I don’t think it was the score directly (because that’s just numbers). IIRC it was specifically mortgage lenders who didn’t like it. I think it’s a great idea, but I’ve never had a credit card with a big enough limit (mine is £350!), and as I’m forever waiting for a bloody mortgage, I dare not get one just now (I have had terrible problems with mistakes on my credit rating and admit to being ridiculously over paranoid about it!)

I don’t see why they can’t collect the amount I actually need to pay by direct debit. The phone companies all do, and they change every month. I have a smart meter, so it’s not like they don’t know what it is. What’s their obsession with building credit?!

A friend is with People’s energy (I think) and gets a whacking great interest rate on her credit with them. I can’t remember how much, but loads compared to the actual interest rate. Five percent or something. I’d be pumping money in (if I had any. Also, I think it’s capped)

Premium bonds is a good idea. Not that I ever win anything much.