Why pay the energy suppliers more than you have to ?

moonrakerz

I must confess to be more than a little surprised by the number of people who seem to be "happy" to pay energy suppliers more of their hard-earned money than they need to.

I am referring to payment by Direct Debit on a monthly basis. There are numerous posts on this site regarding large increases in DD payments. Sorry, but I am a cynic: if I was in a position to add a few pounds a month to every DD payer's bill - what a wonderful source of interest free money ! Especially at the moment where prices are sky high with a prospect of them falling in the new year.

Years ago we opened a Building Society account, worked out our annual spend on gas, electric, phone,etc, etc: divided it by 12 and paid that amount into the account every month. I still pay the bills by DD, but on a quarterly basis, after I have used the fuel/service.
I also check my bills carefully; any estimated readings I check, if they are high, I correct them. If there is a price rise in the (very near) offing, consider increasing the estimated reading - the loss of 5% on paying early is better than paying an extra 16% + when the bill comes in.

If your bank wrote to you asking you to lend them several hundred pounds at 0% interest, I dare say your reply would be fairly short and pithy - with the second word being "off". Why let the energy suppliers do just this ?

Could I remind you of something I heard on BBC radio the other day (in relation to the NHS of all things !): It is the legal duty of a company to look after the interests of its shareholders first, NOT its employees, NOR its customers. So if you don't look out for yourself no one else will.

tripled

Most companies give you a discount for paying by dd, eg npower gves you 60 quid a year and bg up to 10% off. So it's not quite 'intest free', and also if you underpay one year they don't charge you interest either, they just put your payments up!

frivolous_fay

What tripled said.

Gal

Or you could pay by Quaterly Direct Debit and just pay what the bill is for.

The Discount far outweighs interest anyways - I mean how much potential interest would you get on £40 a month. compared with a saving of 10% off your bills for the same period

Cardew

Also according to the Regulator more people have a debit balance than credit balance with the utility companies. So on balance(pun intended) it is they, and not the customers, who lose out.

Besides if a DD is set up correctly it should be 'neutral' between debit and credit balances over a year; not the hundreds of pounds you state.

TMFTP

Problems are caused by estimates. If they overestimate they create overpayments, underestimate and they put people behind.

Maintenance of the system in future should include installation of supply monitors to allow them to automatically detect usage - and leaks as soon as they happen.

Water companies should be doing this too...

Gal

there are plans for smart meters in the future that do exactly what you say - These are already in use in sweden and will start to be installed over here very soon.

Xbigman

So people like me who read their meters regularly will end up paying more for smart meters to be installed everywhere, just to benefit the lazy who don't bother to read their own meters.

Not happy.

Regards



X

Gal

Don't think they will put prices up as such - But will prevent alot of cases of people that can't be bothered to read there meter and then complain when they get catch up bills.

Its been implented in sweden because it became law that there meters had to be read every time a bill was sent out - Smart meters will be installed in the future and imo they are a good idea - prevents alot of current problems with estimated bills.

tomstickland

I cancelled my BGas Direct Debit because they were so crap. Then I relented and they sent me a new one....for £45 per month when I use at most £22 per month. I phoned them and they agreed to reduce it. I've just had £45 taken from my account. I've cancelled the DD again. See what happens next. I think I'm going to write to them since I'll end up paying a few pounds on phone calls otherwise.

webuserisme

I believe the OPs idea would work well if you were with Ebico?