Your method of paying energy bills? Direct Debit?

davidgmmafan

BTW your supplier obviously has a fixation on the month of April as a settlement month. NPower who I am with don't do this, which can bring its own problems. They probably won't reassess on the first statement depending on the timing, which can mean you go 12 months BEFORE the first reassessment. Fine if you've done an accurate comparison like me, but if its your first house or you are not used to doig comparison God help you! lol

"The point I was trying to make is that I "manage" my monthly payments as far as is possible to minimise the credit balance that the Utility supplier holds at any one time."

I totally understand where you are coming from, I hear it everyday, particularly now everyman and his dog INSISTS on a refund despite the fact they need that credit to cover thier Winter usage. The problem is consmption, particurly on gas, is uneven. So if you set the DD EXACTLY right for 12 of the total cons depending on when you started with a supplier at some point you WILL have a debit or a credit. IF you started now or in the next couple of months your first bill will be in debit. If you start in Feb you would build up a credit.

What people really want is to pay on DD and still pay in arrears, as they would on a quarterly bill. But if you look at it from the suppliers point of view this isn't reasonable. In my case they are giving me £100 for paying by DD which more than compensates me for not paying in arrears. If I want to pay in arrears I could go on a quarterly direct debit or a reciept of bill system. Everyone wants the best of both worlds naturally! lol

PS the same people who insist on a refund are usually on the phone after the Winter bill furious that thier payments have increased, even when it has been explained to them that this would happen!

Cardew

Post above is spot on.

It is patently obvious that many people simply do not understand how the DD system works!