Direct Debit and new fuel quotes

onlineo

Hi

Im with Atlantic energy.
We spend £400 p/a on Gas, and £300 p/a on electricity.

We pay quarterly after we get the bill.

I would like to fix our energy bills but I am struggling as they all seem to be Direct Debit (DD) only or over £100 extra.

I have no problem paying monthly or but I will only pay for the energy I use when I use it. So every quarter we self fill in our meter reading to make sure we only pay for what we have used. This is because previous energy DD have over charged us by 4 figure amounts for the year, leaving cash limited.

Are there any energy companies that allow you to fill in your monthly or quarterly figures yourself and then pay DD on these amounts, not there useless predictions - whilst still getting the DD discount? Thanks

KimYeovil

You can not unknowingly be charged an extra £85 per month on average. Swallow your silly wounded pride and choose a cheap tariff with a standard direct debit and monitor your meters (and bank account) so that you know what is happening. Or keep paying extra for quarterly bills.

(There are some suppliers who offer such tariffs but they do not seem to be any more reliable - if you can not bother to double-check and assert over a monthly debit you will not bother to assert a supposed-to-be-non-estimated tariff.)

st999

The reason that DD tariffs are discounted are because they cost the fuel companies the least amount and are easier to administer.

Your choice, either go on a DD tariff or do not get a discount.

onlineo

ok I agree with both of you, but I feel you were missing the point. I last used direct debit 8+ years ago for energy. Every month I got billed for I phoned up and gave my exact readings. I wrote to the company suggesting they were over charging me, they said that I would catch it up over winter, I said I wouldn't but they said wait and see. Over winter I carried on phoning my readings they said they did not believe me. Come the following spring, and the end of a 1 year contract, I left the energy company.

About 3-4 months after I left, and a lot of letters and phone calls I got a refund of over £1000. I knew I was being over charged the whole time. I told the energy company but they just ignored me, took my money, got all the intrest, then made me wait until a meter reader came round before offering me a refund.

So if these energy companies still do this, then I do not want to go back to it. If you can phone in or do them on web like I currently do and get your bills altered to reflect useage I will hapily switch.

james2012_2

The purpose of DDs is so that you pay the same each month by taking your estimated yearly spend and dividing by 12 so that you can budget easier.

If you would rather pay a bill of £500 one quarter, £200 the next then £100 then £200 for £1000s worth of fuel over a year do it.

Or do what most people do and pay £80 each month and only pay £950 instead of £1000.

I know what I would do.

onlineo

James2012.

I think that is missing my point. I may write in a rabling style so you can be forgiven.

I know DD is cheaper I know that it spreads the cost over the months rather than peaks and troughs.

I think the questions I was trying to ask are
1. Is there anyway of me stopping the energy company from overcharging? I know that the energy bill for next year will be below £700 with my current supplier, as it was £700 for the last 12 months, and we have now lost 1 person from the household who worked shifts. So if I changed to the cheapest DD fixed rate tarif i should save £100. Making the total cost no more than £600 per year. However if the new energy company tries to charge me £70 per month I will pay £840 per year, and will be at least £240 in credit. Can I force the energy company to bill me at £50 per month knowing that I will not spend more than £600?

2. What is variable DD, and how does it work?

Richie-from-the-Boro

onlineo wrote: »

Hi

Im with Atlantic energy.
We spend £400 p/a on Gas, and £300 p/a on electricity.

We pay quarterly after we get the bill.

I would like to fix our energy bills but I am struggling as they all seem to be Direct Debit (DD) only or over £100 extra.

I have no problem paying monthly or but I will only pay for the energy I use when I use it. So every quarter we self fill in our meter reading to make sure we only pay for what we have used. This is because previous energy DD have over charged us by 4 figure amounts for the year, leaving cash limited.

Are there any energy companies that allow you to fill in your monthly or quarterly figures yourself and then pay DD on these amounts, not there useless predictions - whilst still getting the DD discount? Thanks

Eight years ago the bulk fuel costs .. .. relative to current costs were predictable and cheap even in the buy ahead market. Current retail pricing takes account of this.

The fact of the matter is that either you pay a premium of £100 for the four 13 weeks periods you use the fuel we pay for through our monthly direct debit / or / we have to subside you with the fact that you only pay only once at the end of your quarter.

If you want to tightly manage your DD's send you readings in bi-weekly

BTW I agree with your historical references, all energy companies [ cough ] accidentally overcharged all consumers by about a quid plus per week on average, and it went on for a decade or more.

t0rt0ise

I have to say that EDF were very accommodating with my telling them what I want to pay by monthly DD and didn't argue or suggest I pay more. So I'd say you should give it a go. Choose the cheapest supplier as per uSwitch or another comparison site and tell them your usage and negotiate the DD.

DUTR

onlineo wrote: »

Hi

Im with Atlantic energy.
We spend £400 p/a on Gas, and £300 p/a on electricity.

We pay quarterly after we get the bill.

I would like to fix our energy bills but I am struggling as they all seem to be Direct Debit (DD) only or over £100 extra.

I have no problem paying monthly or but I will only pay for the energy I use when I use it. So every quarter we self fill in our meter reading to make sure we only pay for what we have used. This is because previous energy DD have over charged us by 4 figure amounts for the year, leaving cash limited.

Are there any energy companies that allow you to fill in your monthly or quarterly figures yourself and then pay DD on these amounts, not there useless predictions - whilst still getting the DD discount? Thanks

British Gas do, that is the tariff I'm on, send in a reading every month .

Yorkie1

I assume that you've got your kwH consumption figures for the last few years or so? Is your annual consumption fairly stable?

If so, you can go on uswitch or any other comparison site and use those figures to get quotes. Your annual cost and DD should be based on that consumption, so should be fairly reliably accurate these days.

I've never had a problem adjusting DD when it was clear that I was going to overpay or underpay.

Premier_2

I fully understand your position regarding paying monthly by DD, onlineo.

It may not be the cheapest option to pay on receipt of bill, but at least you only pay for what you have used and you can immediately manage that cost (by modifying your usage). I too have had bad experiences in the past paying monthly by DD, but financial pressures persuaded me to try this method again (despite saying I never would) and already I've had problems.
Sometimes it's better to pay a little more for peace of mind and less hassle.

Anyway, if I understand your question correctly, you are looking for a fixed (or possibly capped?) priced tariff that will allow you to pay on receipt of bill (perhaps paying quarterly by DD? but only the amount as billed)

Use a comparison site. E.g energyhelpline gives you this very option.
Currently showing appears to be 2 tariffs by EDF (Fixed s@ver 2 and Fixed Price 2014) and one by Eon (Age UK Price protection April 2013) which allow for payment on receipt of bill by cash, cheque, etc.

If you are prepared to pay quarterly by DD (after receipt of bill) then there is a capped deal tariff from nPower - Price Protector.