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Original poster

Bulb decreasing my payments?

53 replies

Mrsdeeds · 27/09/2022 13:26

I've been bracing myself for an email from Bulb telling me that they're increasing my monthly payments, they sent me a projection recently the costs were up around what I'm currently paying so I imagined that they'd ask for more.

However today they've emailed and they're reducing my payments, bizarrely to under £65 a month when I'm currently paying over £150. I do have around £400 credit but even so I thought that was surprisingly low given everything that's going on. It includes the discount that everyone is getting. So I'm not sure if I should query this? Thanks

OP posts:
queenofthedryshampoo · 27/09/2022 15:12

I've had the same! Not such a drastic reduction but my DD has been reduced by about £50 a month. I was very surprised, although I have been more careful with my usage, and not holding my breath it won't go up again. Also this reduction will be sadly offset by more and more increases in my mortgage as I have a tracker mortgage Sad

myleftventricle · 27/09/2022 15:16

Your payments will have gone down by £66/67 from next month because of the £400 allowance from the govt. The energy companies are obliged to knock it off your bills.

myleftventricle · 27/09/2022 15:17

But you can increase your DDs again if you want to... It's just that they have to deduct it first.

ifonly4 · 27/09/2022 16:30

We've been paying £105pm, which under the cap would obviously go up, but taking £67 off each month means we're literally £2pm worse off a month than the same time last year. You have a much larger credit than us, so your payment is lower - I'd make the most of it, but just be aware the monthly rate will go up in April.

Do you submit monthly readings to them or have a smart meter? I do and each month it states by my monthly payment what I ideally need to pay, also the minimum they'd want from me. It's very easy to adjust, so if you think you're under or over paying you can adjust.

Roystonv · 27/09/2022 16:50

Us too, yes it talks about the allowance but do think they should put some sort of warning as the new rates haven't started yet or the cold weather. It is too early to make predictions. Some will accept the reduction and then get a big shock. We decided to put ours back up again and can review later

takliyah · 27/09/2022 16:51

ifonly4 · 27/09/2022 16:30

We've been paying £105pm, which under the cap would obviously go up, but taking £67 off each month means we're literally £2pm worse off a month than the same time last year. You have a much larger credit than us, so your payment is lower - I'd make the most of it, but just be aware the monthly rate will go up in April.

Do you submit monthly readings to them or have a smart meter? I do and each month it states by my monthly payment what I ideally need to pay, also the minimum they'd want from me. It's very easy to adjust, so if you think you're under or over paying you can adjust.

Isn’t this cap for two years?

CeeJay81 · 27/09/2022 16:53

I've had the same with eon. Theyve dropped it to £43 a month! We are on a cheap fix due to end 3 November, paying £110 a month. We have £450 in credit. I still expected them to raise it slightly though. I've estimated our use to be around £200 a month on standard tariff.

Margo34 · 27/09/2022 16:53

They've dropped my DD too by about £45pm. 🤷

ginsparkles · 27/09/2022 16:55

I had the same. I have put them back up again to use as a buffer over the winter.

Circleoflife2057 · 27/09/2022 16:59

Same with octopus. They explained they have deducted £66 from direct debits automatically due to the cost of living payment from October so we get the benefits immediately. But if we want to increase it again to build up more credit then we can.

myleftventricle · 27/09/2022 17:06

They have no choice but to knock it off your current payment. And they'll be telling you what they're doing. Octopus have.

Chemenger · 27/09/2022 17:08

They have dropped my recommended payment to £1, which is ludicrous.

LaurelGrove · 27/09/2022 17:12

I will be very interested to see what Bulb say to me. They have kept increasing my payments and I've just discovered they owe me over £950! So having braced myself for a big hike I'm now going to assume - when they get round to communicating with me - that it will go down. Which would be nice

2orangey · 27/09/2022 17:18

Eon Next have reduced our DD from 82 to 26 pounds. Yes, we are in a small flat. And it does include the 400 pound discount. Still feels strange though!

Irisbouquet · 27/09/2022 17:22

My have been decreased by £50pm. I've gone in and increased it back up by £30pm to give me more of a buffer. Currently £300 in credit.

Allthegoodusernamesareused · 27/09/2022 17:28

Our monthly DD has been nearly halved by Eon Next. Rather than increase my DD again, I'll put the extra aside just in case.

CeeJay81 · 27/09/2022 17:57

Ah yes it makes sense now. They've taken off the government subsidy ready for October payment, even though our fix ends November. I'm sure they won't hesitate to put my payments up soon ready for then.

Mumof3girlsandaboy · 27/09/2022 18:06

I had mine decreased as well by £86. I used to pay £207 and now paying £121 per month

presentandsometimescorrect · 27/09/2022 18:10

Same here with octopus. £105 dd is set at and they reduced ours but dh put it straight back to the usual amount to build the credit up. We are fixed for another year luckily. We changed just as Martin Lewis announced the hike last year.

Elphame · 27/09/2022 18:31

I'm so glad you've posted this!

I hadn't heard from Octopus but they have, it seems, cut my payments too. I just put them back to where they were.

I was expecting to have to make a one off top up early next year to make up the shortfall as I know I'm generally underpaying. I now won't have to as long as they don't fiddle with my DDM again.

HappyDad2DS · 27/09/2022 20:20

Damnit! They've increased our payment to £350, even though we'd been over-paying during summer and built up £750 credit. So yes, they're not just reducing bills I'm afraid...

InterestQ · 27/09/2022 20:28

my supplier have too - I have just under £500 in credit, payments £150 pcm typically use £90pcm and they want to reduce it to £60 pcm.

I’m all electric so Dec to Feb inclusive are very easily £300pcm if I don’t really keep the lid on so I’m going to put it back up to £100pcm and send the extra £50 to council tax so I have more Jan off the council tax bill and not just Feb and March. And THOSE payments can go to the mortgage or my future new massive savings interest account…

userxx · 27/09/2022 22:08

Bulb suggested my payments should be £58 instead of £110 so I've taken their advice and lowered my payment, my credit balance is about £350ish.

Original poster
Mrsdeeds · 27/09/2022 22:46

Thanks everyone. Yes the £66 reduction is part of it but it's over 90 quid less than I'm currently paying. I guess I'll go with it, if they change their mind later so be it. I'd only spent around 60 quid here these past few months. Trying to be careful
.

OP posts:
LunarC · 28/09/2022 09:56

I had an email yesterday from Bulb advising that they were lowering my DD - it's only decreasing by about £11 so I was a bit surprised that they were bothering. We are about £450 in credit so I thought that might be something to do with their decision.

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