Energy company wants to cut my direct debit massively.

[Nolongera]

As title, we pay £100 a month with Octopus for both gas and electric, well into winter and we are still £300 in credit.

They want to cut of payment to £40 a month. Just our standing charges alone are £20 a month.

Just seems a bit strange, is £300 credit that much?

How come people are leaving so much money in their accounts? Wouldn’t it be better getting interest somewhere? I’m in debt at the moment and I’ll be in credit in the summer, exactly as it should be. If we’re in the middle of winter now and you’re in credit, then you’re paying way too much.

I’d withdraw any credit then reset my direct debit to a much lower level.

Personal preference.

We like having a set amount going our each month, it was one of the benefits of moving across to DD all those years ago.
TBH the interest on the credit would be negligible, £500-700 in the summer and reducing down in the winter.

There are some with much higher credits.

Whatever your surplus, you still pay a set amount. Mine hasn’t changed for a few years.

Just go into Octopus website and change to whatever you prefer / expect an appropriate payment to be.

I’m with Octopus. They’ve just cut my payments. I’m well over £1000 in credit oddly enough!

I had this with eon. To refuse I had to call them and get it to stay the same... then they tried again a few months later. I was in even less credit than you. Very annoying.

Eon do it automatically sending you a message to say they have already reduced the DD to £...
We then log in and put it back up to our preferred amount, usually within an hour.
Happens every other month.

I prefer to have a large amount on credit, so I don’t have to worry about the winter months. Scottish power did this with me. I just increase it again.

I am around tht much in credit with Octopus and they are advising me to keep my DD the same or even increase it
Very odd they would ask you to reduce it

im in credit as well tho sure jan Feb March will be 250/300 a month so wont be

thy want to lower mine. I said no so go onto the app and decline the reduction or add in own making do could put £75 for exampl

Why would you want to be in credit by so much ?

It's just money tied up doing nothing that you can't get hold of easily and makes no sense.

I would just let them reduce to the amount they think is right. Monitor the credit coming down, then bump the debit value back up when it starts to get close to zero if you want to leave a bit of credit.

But you don't need to worry about the winter months.

That's the main benefit of DD, you pay the same amount each month and if the amount is set right, you spend some of the year in credit and some in debt but you never have to pay a lot in one go, if your balance owing gets too high, they'll just bump your DD amount up a bit.

EDF cut mine from £85 to £40 because I was £300 in credit. I’ve just adjusted it back up a bit.

I see you have sorted it OP.

I'm also with octopus and have had the opposite issue. We are re-decorating a property we moved from last year. Due to other issues, we are there 1 night a month max- so barely more than standing order amount. Its currently £25 a month, but octopus suggested it should be £89 a month!! Luckily I could toggle it back down. IF I had a large amount in credit, then I'd get it paid back into my own account where it can earn a few pence of interest. 😊

Yes the same happens to me and to my mum who's also with Octopus on a regular basis. I always put it back up. I want to pay the same throughout the year, not £300 a month in the winter and £50 a month in the summer (for example). My mum is the same. I just use the app to increase mine, I don't ask their permission.

But that's the exact point. We want to pay the same every month, not have the direct debit bumped up a bit - which can be quite a lot.

So I absolutely build a significant surplus over the summer so I can pay it down over the winter. Yes they could potentially go bust but that's my lookout.

Exactly our thinking.

It is annoying when Eon lower our DD meaning we have to put it back again.
Having a set amount taken out each month and being in credit suits us perfectly rather than them lowering and then raising it.