Utility bills - why do we have to pay so much in advance?

[strangeandfamiliar]

Just a rant really - as usual consumers are powerless about this sort of thing. I've just had a look at my Ovo account for combined gas and electricity. I have to pay £285 a month and as usual am hundreds of pounds in credit. Last month (as always in the summer) the actual bill was about £70, most of which was standing charges. At one point a couple of years ago I was about £1200 in credit and had to submit a complaint to get some of it refunded as they initially refused. I have no idea why utility companies are allowed to operate in this way. We have never been in arrears, own the house, have been here a decade, and have no trouble paying other bills, which we only have to pay when they are due and for the amount actually used/owed- such as mortgage, council tax, mobile phones etc. I'm fortunate in that for us the DD is easily affordable - but if I was struggling or on a limited budget it would be really detrimental for such large sums to be taken in advance and just be sitting there in Ovo's coffers 'in case' of large winter bills. I can manage my own money, thank you very much. How has this become the norm? (I know I could contact them to try to get my DD lowered and get some of the credit refunded, but why on earth should I have to do all that?)

You don’t have to pay that way. We have paid the actual amount used each month over several suppliers

This is why I pay the bill on receipt. If you pay £1 a month on direct debit, you can even keep the direct debit discount (on Octopus anyway) I then just pay the rest on my card.

Octopus have a "Direct debit on receipt of bill - for the amount of the bill" payment method. You don't have to pay £1 on dd and the rest separately.

I couldn't find it on the app or mobile site, had to go onto the desktop site to locate it and change.

You don't need to pay in advance

I'm with Octopus and I pay for what I use on a monthly basis.

I put £150 into a Chase account, monthly and earn 4.8% interest on the account. Then on the 21st of each month I give a meter reading online of my usage. They send me an email to remind me - but its set on my phone as a reminder. Then they bill me at the end of the month and I pay in full from my chase account.

This way my chase account has now £400 in it earning me interest and going into winter I know I will have enough money to pay a larger bill

If you want a referral code for octopus, meaning you get £50 worth of credit with them - go ahead and use the link below to change

share.octopus.energy/wheat-pearl-1000

I have OVO I pay £115 a month. They say I should owe them £41 by the end of winter. I have a smart meter and it’s worked great for us. I got to put my amount down as they owed me £100 at one point. Before that I was paying a higher amount but as they can see my usage I was able to move it right down.

Just alter your DD via the app.

And request a refund via the app.