Direct Debit to electricity companies

[KTF]

Sheepshanks said:

830kWh in a month is insane!

We used 122kWh in electricity last month. No idea how you can use 800+ a month in the summer.

[Sheepshanks]

KTF said:

Sheepshanks said:

830kWh in a month is insane!

We used 122kWh in electricity last month. No idea how you can use 800+ a month in the summer.

That's remarkably low - I'd say we use stuff without any regard for economy etc and we use about 400 per month.

At 800 per month I'd be looking for something like an immersion heater left on - or perhaps the famed landlord's swimming pool.

[KTF]

Sheepshanks said:

That's remarkably low - I'd say we use stuff without any regard for economy etc and we use about 400 per month.

Thats for a 3 bed, 2 person household. I guess we spend more time outdoors than indoors, stuff isnt left on, etc.

[guindilias]

My supplier (NIE) direct debit a fixed amount every month, whether summer or winter - but if I run into credit and want the cash back they happily refund it the same day.
They do insist on changing the direct debit once a year or so, for no reason - if I ring them and tell them to change it back, they are happy to do that as well.

[Blue Oval84]

Foliage said:

Yeah I save about £10 a year switching.


My point of my original post is that energy companies are clearly taking more than they can reasonably justify, its common practice in the industry, and then penalise you for trying to take your money back.

That's just not true, although granted there will be cases where the systems calculate a ridiculous payment, there are many reasons why this can happen but for example, confusing meter readings on the system can be one. e.g. if a read has been entered with an incorrect date, causing a silly average value which is then projected forwards.

Conversely, plenty of people end up underpaying (although oddly, complaints about low payments are far less frequent, until the catch up bill comes in).

Be careful when checking that you're "in credit", I know of at least a couple of supplier's who's systems will say that you're a silly amount in credit, but that's because they have counted all of your payments and no usage at all since the last bill which may have been six months ago.

My personal belief is that we'll see a much larger take up of "exact amount" payment plans where people just pay for precisely what they've used each month as Smart metering becomes more common place. Trying to estimate the average payment for a service which varies greatly in demand and then get it to balance over a 12 month plan just causes headaches for all concerned.

Regarding interest on credit balances, pretty much every supplier already offers healthy discounts for payment by flat DD, the savings on energy supply prices far outstrip any interest one would gain in the bank for an average credit of say £100 (and believe me, the average across most accounts is far less than £100 in credit, about half of them are in debit). Ovo are a rare exception in offering interest as well as a discount, but I believe they needed a derogation from Ofgem in order to do so because it actually breaches their supply licence.

[Foliage]

Blue Oval84 said:

That's just not true,

Its what they do to me, just paid the bill for this quarter, in credit..

[Blue Oval84]

Foliage said:

Its what they do to me, just paid the bill for this quarter, in credit..

That doesn't mean it's happening to everyone, or that it's a deliberate ploy. Because on both counts, it isn't

You're well within your rights to ask for a lower monthly payment, if for some reason they categorically won't do it then the worst thing that they can do is take you off DD, although if they're any use they should be suggesting a switch to an "exact amount" style of plan where you just pay for what you've used by DD (and I would imagine get the same discount but that's dependent on the company)

[LambShank]

We're currently using around 400kwh per month since January this year.
Heating by oil, cooking by electric.

Have recently had a large extension and 50 new LED lights fitted which the wife likes to leave on for long periods, a 14 year old daughter with everything plugged in 24/7, computers, iPads etc on charge constantly...

My usage graph is interesting - from December 2015, this is when we started using the new cooker, hob, fridge, washing machine, tumble drier (all A or better rating) and all the new LED lights.
Everything else in the house is as before

Edited by LambShank on Friday 19th August 14:00

[Mothersruin]

Sheepshanks said:

Foliage said:

Mothersruin said:

Funny this post has just come up.

We moved into a place in February. Based on the previous occupants they set our DD to £40 a month.

Did a reading last month and they're putting it up to £96! Seems the wife and I burnt through 3,529kWh in 5 months and I've just done another reading and we've gone through 830kWh in the last month! That seems crazy for the two of us, in a 3 bedroom cottage, the heating is oil and most of the cooking is done on gas, with nothing more than usual telly and computer use.

Any ideas?

Things like lights, kettle, fridge, stuff on standby, electric shower? usual culprits really.

Your usage doesn't seem to bad, £96 for that amount of KWH does seem high tho...

830kWh in a month is insane!

Quick update for this.

Having read you guy's comments I decided to see if the immersion heater was on - we're renting so I'd left everything as it was when we moved in as everything was working well - it was.

So, turned that off, also turned off a heated towel rail that was on very low, but still on. The wife made a point of turning off the telly off if she wasn't watching and I've just read the meter...

421kWh!

Almost halved the consumption!