Are my sums correct?

Magentasue

DreamerV wrote: »

And the reason I pay d.d. is more so I have a set amount coming out to budget for (with a little buffer) at the same time every month. Also so I don't need to remember to pay by other means each bill, and because most companies give some kind of at least minimal discount for paying by d.d.

Perhaps a compromise would be to pay a fixed amount of your choice by Standing Order and settle any outstanding balance quarterly. No DD discount but you get to do it your way.

DreamerV

Magentasue wrote: »

I think you will need to be able to give your previous annual usage in kwh to convince an energy supplier to reduce your DD to such an extent when you have such a low credit balance. If you use less than £56 in November and December and continue to increase the amount you're in credit, you will have a reasonable case.

It was more the fact I'll be using 3 months energy, with 4 months direct debit due to being away, coupled with the credit which has already been produced in just 2 months (bear in mind this is not build up over summer, but I'm having excess credit on winter bills, since I only joined in September, which is wintery weather in scotland). I've used 80.12 inc VAT in exactly 8 weeks on the bill, so £40 a month over winter (I chose £50 as I was away part Sept, and tried without heating for wk after I came back). I'll see what they say. Like you are suggesting, I might need to show a reasonable case...hence I told them about the holiday and mentioned the credit....eg. if someone goes away for 3 months in January, I'm pretty sure their energy supplier would negotiate a price decrease as this change would not have initially been factored into the d.d. calculation, espec if they're in credit already. I have a feeling they'll go in between my figure and theirs. I don't think my previous annual useage will help them, as I wasn't on any holidays, and was in the house as I didn't work then. I now work fulltime, so am away from house 07:30 to 4:40, 5 out of 7 days. If they do ask for any more detail though, I'll be sure to pass it on to them. From initial responses though, I think general consensus here will be might need to wait a bit to reduce d.d. any significant amount

DreamerV

Magentasue wrote: »

Perhaps a compromise would be to pay a fixed amount of your choice by Standing Order and settle any outstanding balance quarterly. No DD discount but you get to do it your way.

Ah well, I haven't mentioned the whole story. I've had an incident in my past which leaves me with poor memory at times, and so I have forgotten to do things in past (e.g. eat meals, go to meetings, pay bills). Direct debit suits me...since it'd still always be in credit, I don't see why that should be a problem with energy supplier. If I did standing order to the amounts I thought would keep me in credit, I suppose this wouldn't be a problem since if I was in credit, I should be able to claim this back, and so still wouldn't have to remember to go pay anything. I'll look into if there's any discount for my d.d. as if not, the standing order might be a viable option.

DreamerV

Right, I think I'm gonna think about it for a bit/sleep on it, based on the info I have, and the input you guys have put in, and a little more research also. Thank you both