Interesting that Bulb have been trying to increase direct debits. They are our electricity suppliers, we don’t have a smart meter, pay by direct debit and I make a point of sending them a meter reading every month. I have a small credit with them, mainly due to the special offer when I joined ( recommendation from nephew and we both got a credit to our accounts ) I hope Bulb survive. If anyone tries to put us back with EDF, I shall have a blue fit! No way am I contributing to a French company, using Chinese money, to build a nuclear power station with outdated and dodgy technology.
After fun and games with British Gas at our previous home, I insisted on having quarterly bills when we had a gas supply connected here. I also send them a reading when they do an estimated bill, it’s always higher than it should be, every chance they try it on!
@BenCotto It's only exploitation if you don't know they're doing it - if you want to go that way, that's entirely up to you
I don't think the energy companies are clear about how it works, which is fine when you're bright enough, or alert enough, or tech savvy enough to work it out for yourself. They suggest that the basis of the DD is a twelfth of your annual bill, so you spread the cost across the year. What they actually do is set the DD at a third of the highest quarter, so most of the year you overpay and the credit builds up. If the costs increase so that you begin to erode that credit, they up the DD (or try to, and lots of people don't have the wherewithal to resist that). They rely on that money to support their trading position and increase their profitability. So, for me, it's not about the £4 interest on the £500 credit, it's the things my Mum and Dad could have done with £1000 if they'd had it while they were alive. Money doesn't only buy more money - plants, days out, treats for their grandkids - so much they might have done with it, if they'd realised what was going on and how to stop it.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
My DD work out more or less exactly through the year. I build up credit (about £300) through the summer and use it through the winter. I do check, and my personal usage is pretty stable, so I can compare year to year and season to season.
I agree it's all so bloody complicated - even if you are interested, techy and paying attention. KWhs used, tariffs, contracts, standing charges. Octopus have an odd way of sending statements sometimes for two months and sometimes for one - no doubt there is good reason - they don't charge more but I look at energy use and can't figure out why it's so high and then see it's two months usage. It's all taken a while to get my head around. It's even more complicated to try and track when I have lodgers.
I think it is good to know roughly how much you are using across the month and across the year - to get to know your usage. It makes it easier to make sense of things when considering switching to other companies and assessing tariffs on offer. A bit like house insurance - you can pay vastly more with another company, for the same product. The complication puts people off looking into it all too closely, which I can well understand. It's enough to do anyone's head in.
Even when an energy company go out of their way to try and make it simple, transparent and straight forward, it really isn't.
I always pay everything on DD,after ex husband ran up massive unpaid bills. We actually had our electricity disconnected with a 2 month old baby,in an all electric flat. did get an e mail from Octopus this month saying I could have the credit deposited into my bank,no it's staying there for the winter.
My DD work out more or less exactly through the year. I build up credit (about £300) through the summer and use it through the winter. I do check, and my personal usage is pretty stable, so I can compare year to year and season to season.
I agree it's all so bloody complicated - even if you are interested, techy and paying attention. KWhs used, tariffs, contracts, standing charges. Octopus have an odd way of sending statements sometimes for two months and sometimes for one - no doubt there is good reason - they don't charge more but I look at energy use and can't figure out why it's so high and then see it's two months usage. It's all taken a while to get my head around. It's even more complicated to try and track when I have lodgers.
I think it is good to know roughly how much you are using across the month and across the year - to get to know your usage. It makes it easier to make sense of things when considering switching to other companies and assessing tariffs on offer. A bit like house insurance - you can pay vastly more with another company, for the same product. The complication puts people off looking into it all too closely, which I can well understand. It's enough to do anyone's head in.
Even when an energy company go out of their way to try and make it simple, transparent and straight forward, it really isn't.
And it's not very easy to make a direct , like for like , comparison as they seem to calculate things slightly differently to each other
The flat rate bit of the charge is confusing. I would much prefer to just pay for what I use. I only use about £25 of energy per month through the summer, so adding on £15 a month standing charge to that is a big add on. I understand it's to cover admin and infrastructre costs.
As ever, these threads cause me to dig and delve further into things, which is always useful as I learn more. Thanks for that.
I found 'So' good because they did a lower rate for the summer months, and higher for winter, which is good if you change around March /April, because you aren't building up a huge amount of unusable credit over those months when you're using less gas - assuming it's fairly standard home with leccy and gas. From April to September, I was paying around £50/60, but around £90/£100 from October to March. Money's in my account rather than theirs - not that it's earning much these days, but it's a better system, as a customer.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
We currently average £15 per week for gas and electricity combined (about 5 of which is gas). For the last two months Bulb have asked us to increase our direct debit to £145 a month. I haven’t done it as it seems ridiculous.
In our last place (old, cold, not well insulated) we rarely went over £90 a month in the coldest winter months.
I wonder if they knew what was coming and were trying to up everyone’s DDs to top up their coffers….. 🤔
I wonder if this is how they are trying to deal with their cash flow challenges, by encouraging DD over-payments? After all, it's cash flow in the end that causes bankruptcy.
I'm overpaying massively with Scottish Power on DD. They never reduced my monthly payments. I've built up a big credit on my bill and all the while they keep taking the overpayment every month. It's electricity only (we're not on mains gas here), which is much less seasonal than gas.
I'm in the process of switching to another provider.
Fire,I'm on a fixed rate with Octopus,20p daily kw, but only 9p for 7 night hours,at the moment till 8.30 am.so dishwasher, washing machine, Emersion Heater, batch cooking, done then. In the winter months tumble dryer, slo cooker. I give meter reading monthly, always get a monthly bill. Now online because it's slightly cheaper than the Paper bills. Fixed in July for 24 months have never known the prices go down. My sons were with Ebico that became Robin hood, because there was no daily standing charge. I don't know if it's the same now,but Martin Lewes explained if there was no standing charge,the kw rates were more expensive to make up for it.
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I hope Bulb survive. If anyone tries to put us back with EDF, I shall have a blue fit! No way am I contributing to a French company, using Chinese money, to build a nuclear power station with outdated and dodgy technology.
After fun and games with British Gas at our previous home, I insisted on having quarterly bills when we had a gas supply connected here. I also send them a reading when they do an estimated bill, it’s always higher than it should be, every chance they try it on!
I don't think the energy companies are clear about how it works, which is fine when you're bright enough, or alert enough, or tech savvy enough to work it out for yourself. They suggest that the basis of the DD is a twelfth of your annual bill, so you spread the cost across the year. What they actually do is set the DD at a third of the highest quarter, so most of the year you overpay and the credit builds up. If the costs increase so that you begin to erode that credit, they up the DD (or try to, and lots of people don't have the wherewithal to resist that). They rely on that money to support their trading position and increase their profitability. So, for me, it's not about the £4 interest on the £500 credit, it's the things my Mum and Dad could have done with £1000 if they'd had it while they were alive. Money doesn't only buy more money - plants, days out, treats for their grandkids - so much they might have done with it, if they'd realised what was going on and how to stop it.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'm overpaying massively with Scottish Power on DD. They never reduced my monthly payments. I've built up a big credit on my bill and all the while they keep taking the overpayment every month. It's electricity only (we're not on mains gas here), which is much less seasonal than gas.
I'm in the process of switching to another provider.