Budget energy

hardtimes

Just a warning to anyone paying by dd each month,I got a letter stating my dd is not covering my useage. I now will have to pay nearly £150 for next 3 mths to clear the arrears.

RTNI

hardtimes wrote: »

Just a warning to anyone paying by dd each month,I got a letter stating my dd is not covering my useage. I now will have to pay nearly £150 for next 3 mths to clear the arrears.

How much was your monthly DD and how long since the last DD amount adjustment (if any)?

dsab

Budget annoys me a bit, and I am considering switching back to NIE, despite the savings.

With NIE the meter got read, you got a bill within less then a week and it was taken from your account by DD. Just a simple process.

With Budget it takes up to 6-8 weeks to get a bill after the meter has been read, which I find terrible annoying. Then if you owe them some money for the 3 months of the bill they don't take it from your account, and they also don't update your monthly DD. IMO just a very complicated and user unfriendly process they have in place.

Golden_Anemone

I feel a bit the same dsab but if I go back it will be to Airtricity rather than NIE.

The admin at Airtricity was brilliant - you could log on and view all your bills, meter readings, usage stats etc. You were billed every 2 months for actual usage having been notified that a meter reading was due (by text and/or e-mail) and given the opportunity to submit it online or by phone.

Budget's admin is woeful but to be honest NIE's wasn't that much better - my DD was always too high giving them my money to earn interest on for up to a year at a time. Yes their billing was quicker than Budget's following readings but that is all.

2scoops2

I agree with Golden Anemone & dsab

Never sure when the bills are coming.

Rang them up last time & they said it was to do with their billing cycle. For example if your meter is read at the start of the month you will have to wait until they run their billing process before receiving yuor bill. Unfortunately we appear to be at the start of the NIE reading period but BE don't process our reading/bill until about 6 weeks later.

They did advise they were looking into it .....?

i'm sticking with them for now but will be monitoring the situation

hardtimes

I think Budget are useless if you pay by dd. I am going back to Airtricity as they have far superior billing and admin systems.

Dunwunderin

hardtimes wrote: »

I think Budget are useless if you pay by dd. I am going back to Airtricity as they have far superior billing and admin systems.

I agree that the Budget DD bills are far too complicated for the average user.
So have changed back to NIE where the billing system is more traditional and understandable. NIE don't require a " running month payment " also when you start. Don't like to pay for electricity I have not yet used!

Budget prices are lower but you never know where you are with BE!

rolo1_2

Budget responds to PowerNI upcoming price reduction.
http://www.budgetenergy.co.uk/

From 1st October new tariffs are:
Keypad 14.07p (currently 14.81p)
Bill Pay 13.965 (currently 14p)

PowerNI prices from 1st October will be:
Monthly DD 14.7p
Keypad 14.93

So Budget will still be cheapest.

Jo4

Have I got this correct as I am not feeling the best at the moment?

Budget Energy are going to charge 13.965p per unit (including VAT) for "Bill Pay" while PowerNI are going to charge 14.39p per unit (including VAT) for "Energy Online Discount" and 14.7p per unit (including VAT) for "Direct Debit Discount" which means that Budget Energy customers will save 0.735p per unit (including VAT) when comparing like with like (Budget Energy with Direct Debit Discount?

Budget Energy had been 14.7p per unit (including VAT) for Bill Pay customers so from 1st October 2012 those customers will save 0.735p per unit (including VAT)?!?

rolo1_2

I see Budget have just increased Keypad price back to pre 1st October price per unit .

14.07p back up to 14.81p -Bit of a sneaky move that one......................

Still slightly cheaper than PowerNi keypad though.