How exactly does electricty direct debit work??

April84

Hiya ive switched my electricty from paying on receipt of bill, to now being a set direct debit amount.
But im confused as to how exactly it will work??

Since every month i use different amounts of electrity, and so if the actual amount that ive used during the month is £5 less than the direct debit amount, will i get that £5 refunded back to me automatically at the end of the month??

And the same when if i use more electricty than the dd amount value?



Thanks

glider3560

You receive a bill every quarter, just like before. Your monthly payments are deducted from this bill. In the winter, you will pay less than you use. In the summer, you will pay more than you use.

Premier_2

April84 wrote: »

Hiya ive switched my electricty from paying on receipt of bill, to now being a set direct debit amount.
But im confused as to how exactly it will work??

Since every month i use different amounts of electrity, and so if the actual amount that ive used during the month is £5 less than the direct debit amount, will i get that £5 refunded back to me automatically at the end of the month??

And the same when if i use more electricty than the dd amount value?



Thanks

No.

They will have estimated you total annual consumption and divided that by 12 to establish a monthly amount to collect.

But your account will still be debited with whatever amount of energy you consume and will be credited with payments you make monthly.

Hopefully, they will also review your account through the year so as to revise payments up or down as necessary to keep on target to pay for a years consumption in 12 months. But if they don't, or even if they do and get it wring, you'll still have a running account with debits (the amount used) and credits(the payments made).

[Deleted User]

Hi,

have a look here, most suppliers use the same method, click on other links for more info.

markharding557

you have to keep an eye on them though,crafty !!!!!!s will sometimes up your payments higher than they need to be and on the other side of the coin they can set them too low:rolleyes:

spiro

Dont forget new rules have just come in regarding direct debit payments which means supplier have to clearly explain how they operate.

As already stated they are designed to level out your payments over the period therefby removing peaks and througghs cause by season variation is useage. Most if not all suppliers have a month (March/April?) when you account needs to be somewere around zero. This means if you change suppliers in say December you may get a large refund but you need to remember that you paid that money to cover the winter so dont think of it was a windfall and go and spend it as you'll need it.

PlutoinCapricorn

I am with EDF energy. They used to review the DD amount once a year, but say they now do it twice. This means that they may change the amount twice a year; they certainly do not align it with monthly usage.

They read the meter every quarter. I have had my payments put up a few times, and also down. They may base the amount not only on your annual usage but also on expected price rises.

It is very important to keep an eye on your account at the end of every quarter to see how much you are ahead or behind.

DVardysShadow

Premier wrote: »

No.

They will have estimated your total [STRIKE]annual[/STRIKE] consumption in 14.5 months and divided that by [STRIKE]12[/STRIKE] 9.5 to establish a monthly amount to collect.

But your account will still be debited with whatever amount of energy their over-estimated readings indicate you consume and will be credited with payments you make monthly.

Hopefully, they will also review your account through the year so as to revise payments up [STRIKE]or down[/STRIKE] as necessary to keep on target to pay for a years overestimated consumption in [STRIKE]12[/STRIKE] 10.5 months. But if they don't, or even if they do and get it wring, you'll still have a running account with debits (the amount used) and credits(the payments made).

Fixed your post.