Anyone else's Energy DD gone down significantly?

[SamBeckettslastleap]

Had my DD review.

I paid £67 a month until end of contract, went to £240 in Sept 23, £301 in March 23 and now just had an email to say dropping to £137!

We are £600 in credit which doesn't seem that much in July if its dropped to £137. Any thoughts?

Our gas and electricity was £217 a month, and went down in July to £153. We were £500 in credit.

I had an email from eon saying their charges were going down - great I thought!

Followed by another saying they had neglected to adjust my direct debit for the last 6 months, I'm in debit and so my DD is going up by £90!!!!

Yes and we seem to be £1200 in credit so clearly British Gas were over charging & now they are making profit off all the customers by keeping hold of that money and getting interest off it. I have reduced monthly payments and hoping the £1k credit will avoid it going back up again.

Last year they put it up from £110/month for both to £370/month. It's going back down to £155. So I think it was a ruse by the energy companies to get us all overpaying.

I agree, @converseandjeans - last winter there were some astronomical increases in DD and I think a few of us suspected then that they were above and beyond what was really needed.

I think they panicked about prices going even higher and many people not being able to pay their bills so 'milked' customers for as much money as possible to protect their own cash flows.

It's really important (I think) to track and understand your energy usage and how that translates to costs - so that you can spot when something like this is going on.

Particularly, how much you use annually and how that breaks down over the months/seasons, so that winter is never too much of a shock.

We are with Octopus (formerly with Bulb), are in credit and they have just asked us to increase our dd from £100 to £135. Said no.

Octopus are odd - they give me two suggested DD amounts depending on which part of the website I look at.

One is my estimated annual bill divided by 12 (I think - they haven't stated that but the figures match). Except, that is now out of date since prices went down slightly, but the suggested DD hasn't changed.

The other is the balance forecast, which takes into account the credit I have with them. Which is £125 a month less than the suggested DD.

No wonder people get confused.

@YourCrackersMiLord

I think they panicked about prices going even higher and many people not being able to pay their bills so 'milked' customers for as much money as possible to protect their own cash flows.

Yes I think this is what happened too. If they have £1200 of my money sitting in the bank then presumably they have similar from other customers. They must be making a fortune in interest.

We have dropped from £300 to £232 per month. OVO reckon this will cover us for winter as well. But we shall see.

Have just checked actual as have put meter readings in today. We are still £490 in credit. Happy to leave that in there ready for winter

I think it would help to stop using the term “in credit” and replace it in your thoughts with “over payed”

Honestly

”We are £600 in credit”

sits rather differently to

”We overplayed out energy bill by £600”

(As an aside I don't like the way BG only bill twice a year)

I am in credit & like it that way. I wanted to leave the £67 pm from the Govt in there, but they kept sending it to me🫤

they always want to reduce my DD, but I go in & manually increase it

in in credit, but only by a few hundred. I LIKE being in credit with them. I HATE having to pay them anything over & above a DD. I could reduce my DD & I could put the extra in savings, but I don't want to.

THE 5/8ths if fuck all I'd get with it in savings, doesn't out weigh my loathing of of having to pay them a chunk of money if the DD doesn't cover it.

no bill from BG yet.

,

Even though I send regular readings to EDF I've always felt we pay too much (especially as the kids no longer live here).
Well. 3 weeks ago EDF refunded £875 back in to my bank account, and our payments are going to be £170 a month instead of £251.

Yes and no.

We overpay in the summer and underpay in the winter so that the amount going out remains fixed.

How are you in so much credit in the first half of the year. Max over payment balance surely will be just before winter and not 4 months worth? What’s the minimum “credit” (aka amount of money you give the energy company to hold) you’ve had in your account this year?
Remove THAT amount at least

I was only about £70 in credit and my DD went down from £307 to £135, it will probably go up again in a few months

It probably depends on your ratio of credit to expected usage.

If you only use £30 a month, but are in £300 credit that is a lot different to using £100 a month and being £300 in credit.

I have just had mine reduced because my credit to usage ratio is quite high. I think the government has put some pressure on the businesses not to accumulate large amounts of credit or demand that dds are larger than expected usage.

There's probably been a lot of variation in the calcs because a lot of people have really cut back on usage recently. For example gas prices may have increased by a factor of 2, but this winter I cut my usage by a factor of 3 relative to the previous one, making it hard for the businesses to figure out how much your dd should really be.

Yep. Ours has gone from £209 to £127 so a big decrease. Based on useage and lower prices. We’ve only been here since mid December so a good balance of expensive and less expensive months.

Yes the price per unit has dropped considerably for everyone
Some providers might not have taken it into account yet
I live alone in a tiny flat so no comparison to families
My DD in July dropped from £72 pcm to £46 plus I had a refund of £84 as I was in credit
I'm with OVO

You can request a refund at any time if you're in credit
Better in my bank account than theirs

I’m with Octopus and just updated my meeting readings and no reduction!

Yet they emailed me with ‘good news’ re reduction in energy prices it doesn’t appear to have kicked in yet.

*meter (bloody autocorrect)

Yes but they work the Dd out based on your average usage throughout the year and divide by 12 so that's not really relevant.

Energy credit is better in their bank than mine as I want to be safe when I'm moved to universal credit. I've been determined to get ahead so I have a cushion when it happens.

Looking at direct debit amount doesn't give the picture.

Annual usage
£/kWh
Standing charge
Amount if credit / debit the account is in.

It's the maths of the above that determines the direct debit.

Nah, 4% instant access interest is easily available. So better in my account thanks.