D/D or monthly bill ?

I recieve a paper bill monthly from Octopus and then I pay online. We were £400 in credit payimg £150 a month DD. I cancelled this and now pay apporox £120 a month for electricity minus the £66 from the government, so our bills have halved.

I have solar panels Maw and when I changed supplier,(granted, before all the energy crisis) I too was worried it would upset my solar payments, which had always gone smoothly.

This was over a year ago, but it all seemed to transfer over effortlessly.

I pay direct debit
. An 80 yr old friend pays a bill monthly but has been in hospital for a few weeks so hasn't been online to see or pay the bill so they sent it to bad debt and added £13 to it.... a relative went on the account and paid it.

so dd is best. imo

I've just checked and it's only paid on existing contracts not to new customers. Bloomin' cheek!!

Growstuff ,did you mean the interest payment has stopped?
I get 4% interest on my credit balance at the moment so it hasn't stopped for me.

NotAGran55, like you, I pay British Gas monthly (£30 standing order, but only in the winter, then, usually, a top up if needed) and my £66 goes straight into my account. Right now, they owe me but I think maybe different suppliers do things their own way.

SusieB50 if you are referring to the annual ‘ Winter Fuel Payment ‘ and the one-off additional ‘Pensioner Cost of Living Payment’ they will be paid directly to your bank account.

SusieB50 ours is paid into the energy account, I can check online on my account and the app.

We have been away for two months. Our August to October bill with British Gas was £40 after the credit of £66 for the month of October. We do not pay by direct debit just quarterly.

I left Scottish Power and got a much better deal from EDF. Of course that was before all this recent energy crisis.
Why not phone and enquire? I might be worth it. I sometimes think these big companies count on not having their charges queried.

Maw why don’t you sign up for monthly variable DD ?

Thank you for your comments- while I am sorry many of you seem to be in the same boat, I nevertheless feel less “victimised” and on my own faced with the big guys.
I might be able to switch supplier but I get my solar panels feed in tariff also from Scottish Power and I am scared of jeopardising that.
Just have to suck it up I fear.

Susie My two £66 payments have been paid into my bank account.

Pittcity

Ovo pay 3% interest on any positive balance rising to 5% if you stay with them for 3 years. This is better than most savings accounts.
If you pay the same amount every month you'll build up credit in the Summer and use it in the winter. Credit balances look high this year because the price has more than doubled since last year.

I have a feeling that's stopped now.

I’m on a fixed rate with OVO until next October. I already pay enough to maintain a credit balance but they’ve just put my DD up £50 a month because apparently I’ll be £500 in debt when my rate changes if I don’t start paying more. 🤔

I pay EDF the amount I have used each month . They wanted to increase my DD to £280 which was ludicrous as I was in credit by £350. So I stopped the DD. With the £66 each month going into my EDF account directly, so far I have had to pay just £56 each month . My heating and thermostat is on at 19 all day, I’m not cold , and put a blanket over me in the evenings when watching TV . I think these fuel companies are taking far too much as DD to line their pockets. Not sure if the extra amount this winter ( apart from the pension fuel allowance) is paid directly into our fuel account anyone know ?

Ovo pay 3% interest on any positive balance rising to 5% if you stay with them for 3 years. This is better than most savings accounts.
If you pay the same amount every month you'll build up credit in the Summer and use it in the winter. Credit balances look high this year because the price has more than doubled since last year.

Every single year EDF overestimates our usage. When I put in my meter readings they tell it can't be right! But it is. Oh well. I'm glad I fixed until next March. Goodness knows what'll happen then.

I'm £637 in credit with OVO and pay £265 a month in direct debit. My bills since the beginning of May have been between £80 and £90. At one stage I was over £800 in credit.

I rang then up and asked for a refund. Apparently, they want me to keep a cushion of three months, which they calculate by multiplying my direct debit by three - £795.

Over the last two months I've had two refunds - £75 and £160 (in addition to the government money). When I asked about reducing my direct debit, so I don't have to request a refund each month, I was told the same as you Maw.

I did wonder what would happen if I just stopped all payments until I've used up all my credit, but I'm too much of a coward to find out.

Thanks NaG, I will pursue this with vigour. Appreciated.

Kim19 I pay BG the exact consumption monthly by DD and get a 5% discount.

I would really prefer to pay my actual consumption monthly but I am aware that the dd route is cheaper. Don't know why that should be but, unfortunately, I don't make the rules and..... I'm mean enough to comply.

It just shows what a bunch of robber barons these people are! I am nearly £1000 in credit. I am just waiting to get the rest of the government money then I am cancelling the direct debit. They have had enough of my money.

Can you not pay a variable DD? This is what I do...I have a smart meter.....the 67 is deducted from my dual fuel bill each month ....do last month my bill was £57 ....it willbe slightly more this next month

I’m sure though that you don’t have to raise it as much as they want you to?
I’m with OVO and the last time they wanted me to raise the amount of DD I raised it a bit but not as much as they said.

I’m still in Credit, but I’m preparing for that to slowly diminish.

I’d get some dogs for the bed, but I doubt they would work out any cheaper 🤗