How are you managing energy direct debits?

I'm in a one-bedroom semi-detached bungalow. I pay a combined charge for electricity and gas with UW, and used to pay £118, but that has gone up to £181. It is due to go up again on Saturday, so reminding everyone to get their meter readings sent in asap so they don't just 'predict' your costs.

I seem to be on a different planet. Are Scottish power just behind??? I have just sent them my meter readings...they put up my monthly Dual fuel DD's from £177 to 233 and now say that is not enough...
Your current balance is £822.26 in credit
Your estimated annual cost is £3019.22 [1]|
You currently pay £233.14 per month Current Direct Debit
£233.14
Recommended Direct Debit
£241.00

I had a letter from ovo energy stating they are putting my d/d up each month to £144. I rang them and pointed out my account is £600 in credit. They wouldn’t budge on the new d/d so I’ve asked for my £600 to be repaid. That’s fine they said!!! I wouldn’t advise anyone to let a big credit build up on their energy accu

My DD has increased to £291 pm. What does Account Balance mean? I have £690 showing. Does it mean I owe them that or I am in credit by that? No point ringing them -

We are with Brit.Gas. we're an all electric house. Our DD is £220 and we have a £600 credit balance, at one point it was over £1000. I have asked for a refund twice, but BG refused saying that we won't be able to cover the energy we'll use over the winter. But when I look at our account it tells me I'm paying too much! So I reduced our DD payment and BG immediately increased it again! TBH I can't be bothered with faffing about with it all or changing suppliers, so we'll leave it alone and see what happens after the winter. If they gave us a refund from the credit we'd probably only spend it on something else.

I will leave my reduction as it is and then the extra money I would have spent will stay in my bills account to cover any bill when gov help is finished.

No action on DD yet. I'm on a 2 year fix until 31 Oct.

i am with Eon was paying £39 a month they put it up to £63 a month from 6th October but i have been paying a bit more in so over a £100 in credit Eon are now saying i will be paying £0 from 1st October for 6 months !! i am going to keep paying the £39 a month so my credit hopefully builds up to when the government money stops

I'm also on EDF, had an email telling me that based on usage I needed to up my DD by £25 per month which seemed reasonable. The next day I had another email telling me my DD would be going up by £100 per month! Go figure.

I’m also with Octopus and have had the same email saying my monthly DD will reduce to £23 due to government discount. I’m currently £171 in credit and have told them to keep my payments at the previous level if £90.
I’d rather do that than get used to a tiny payment then have to increase it in six months.

I think the same way as Riverwalk and others. I used to pay a regular monthly amount, but the amount got silly high and I felt British Gas were using me as some sort of loan bank without paying interest. I now pay for my consumption by the month only, albeit by direct debit. It makes my consumption much clearer and I can see, for example, that in June of this year my actual gas consumption cost me only 26p more than the service charge. This way I save up for my bills and I get the interest. Anyone can cancel their direct debit at any time and I think it would be such a good way of protesting.

I pay for what I use by variable direct debit. The disadvantage is that I pay more in the winter but the advantage is that I don't build up credit or debt. It suits me this way. I've used this system for a number of years. I used to submit a meter reading every month but last time I wanted to get the best deal I had to have a smart meter fitted so now I get accurate bills without having to do anything.

I'm with British Gas for elec and gas. They email me to read the meter every 3 months,(I won't have a smart meter) they tell me how much it is and I pay them via bank. Easy.

Instead of letting a significant credit build up, surely you can put the ‘extra’ monthly amount into a savings account and at least get a bit of interest on it? Better in your coffers than in theirs (as long as you’re affording the correct payment).

I refuse to have a smart meter but I take a reading on the last day of each month and submit it using the app, then record it on a spreadsheet so I can monitor my usage and check it is as I expected.

jocork- that's a good idea I will suggest this to friend in her 80s who I help with online bills. Her previous supplier went bust and she got transferred to British Gas at the time she was £300 in credit. Once transfer happened the £300 credit turned into a £79 debit. She hated being in debt so I paid a credit to her account. BG said some previous bills had been estimated although she eventually ended up with 150 in credit. I arranged for a smart meter to be installed. Credit has built up again so I tried to reduce her DD. It would only reduce by £4 pm which is scandalous. I will see if BG will do a variable DD and refund her credit. I can't understand why anyone would want to fund Energy Companies bank balances.

A shout out for E.on as when I asked to increase my DD they refused saying they had already taken into account the increase from 1 October when they reduced our DD to £13 and said no need to overpay unless we added more electrical appliances.

I am with EON next. Am all electric, Economy 10. Storage heaters. For two months they took no DD then last month £230. I am in £250 in credit I phoned and asked if I could go on a cheaper tariff but they said Iwas on the cheapest already!
I am not really worried because I have to keep warm but feel sorry for those who are struggling.
Everything was so much easier when the utilities were nationalised and there were no shareholders.

i am with sse and keep getting asked to have a direct debit, i have a pre-payment meter so i can only use what i can afford and that suits me better, i would just stress myself out if i was getting a bill.

I am with Scottish power and at first i got an e mail saying my payments would only increase by £2 a week ! oh joy i thought ! and then got another e mail the next day saying actually the increase will be £25 a week !!! and despite trying to ring them and getting nowhere i trawled through their website to find their e mail address and finally messaged them to ask why there were two conflicting e mails but no reply as per usual. So i would be very sceptical of any messages you may be getting and i would advise taking meter readings, even if you have a Smart meter, before October 1st or i think we may get conned !

Can we switch like we used to with ease? I am thinking Octopus or Ovo sound better best...any strong views?

No brainer…. Octopus..?

nexus63

i am with sse and keep getting asked to have a direct debit, i have a pre-payment meter so i can only use what i can afford and that suits me better, i would just stress myself out if i was getting a bill.

Nexus
Please read this article. Scroll down to which is more expensive etc It will save you money.

metro.co.uk/2022/08/26/is-it-cheaper-to-pay-for-energy-by-prepayment-meter-or-direct-debit-17248854/

I switched from BG to Octopus in July. Best thing I did. A previous poster has offered to use their £50 switch benefit. I suggest you pm them.

We are pay as you go. Always know whether we can switch the heating on. Word is that it’s much more expensive but we no longer get a bill in March 10 years ago for £900. One third of that. However in the current situation we keep turning off everything as much as we can.

Hope you all stay warm.

Remember if a company goes bust you will become a creditor. Better to have the overpayment in your bank account and stick to the suggested dd. The company will contact you if it is insufficient.