Fixed DD with EDF

SamanthaD85

We have just changed to fixed version 2012 with EDF and i have set my gas to £45 and electric £30. We done this basing on our usage when we had the prepayment meters. Does this seem ok?

We live in a 3 bedroom terrace and work full time so our usage is quite low. We are also first time home owners so are new to all this.

jalexa

SamanthaD85 wrote: »

...i have set my gas to £45 and electric £30. We done this basing on our usage when we had the prepayment meters. Does this seem ok?

Slightly surprised that *you* have set it rather than stated the annual usage in kWhrs (or maybe you have) allowing Edf to calculate the payment (which in my case they did correct to the £).

However if you went to a comparison website and entered your annual consumption for your tariff then the headline cost will be accurate.

macman

Agree-the only way you can assess the correct level of DD (and the accurate cost) is to input your annual kWh consumption figures. Using DD figures forces the site to make assumptions about your actual consumption, which produces less accurate annual costs.

rising_from_the_ashes

Direct debits can be altered by the energy firm if you use more so you can't really fix it.

As Jalexa says, as long as you've checked comparison sites and this is what would cover your useage then it should be fine.

It will be cheaper on a direct debit/monthly plan than it was using a pre-payment meter so you should save some money there.

As a comparison, I live in a 3 bed house and my gas is £39/month and electric £26/month - HTH

cooking-mama

I live in a 3 bed semi detached, British gas direct debits £70 gas(due to rise to £80 after price rise) £36 for electricity(due to rise to £45 after rise)...British gas have calculated our direct debits pretty accurately,we're in credit in summer and it all evens out over winter....unfortunately their price increases are excessive so im switching to EDF,they have calculated my DD to be £66 gas and £44 electric(fix 2014)..im worried £66 will be too low to keep me in a credit balance so im planning on asking them to increase it to £70,just in case...family of 4(includes 2 teenagers)

McKneff

It doesnt sound too bad really, My OH and I are a three bed semi, and Ive just signed up with EDG till 2014.

We are both at home and EDF worked on my last years consumption and set my DD at £35 for gas and £55 for electric.

We have warm air heating so Im quite happy with the amount.

SamanthaD85

Thanks for your replys. When i phoned EDF to change to DD they just asked me for my meter readings and said it would be £45 for both gas and electric a month, but i asked if i electric could be £30 as we dont use alot. They were fine with this and ive had the letter to confirm.

The only thing im waiting for now is my first statement to see what our usage is, just to make sure we keep in credit. I do have a online account with them but it says there is no bills yet and says £75 credit, dont know where from as we have only just paid our first DD for £75 on the 9th August and that credit was showing on the 5th august.

macman

SamanthaD85 wrote: »

Thanks for your replys. When i phoned EDF to change to DD they just asked me for my meter readings and said it would be £45 for both gas and electric a month, but i asked if i electric could be £30 as we dont use alot. They were fine with this and ive had the letter to confirm.

The only thing im waiting for now is my first statement to see what our usage is, just to make sure we keep in credit. I do have a online account with them but it says there is no bills yet and says £75 credit, dont know where from as we have only just paid our first DD for £75 on the 9th August and that credit was showing on the 5th august.

You don't need a statement to tell you what your usage is, and unless the meter has been read prior to that, it will be an estimated statement anyway.
If you want to know your consumption, you just have to look at your own meter.

rising_from_the_ashes

SamanthaD85 wrote: »

I do have a online account with them but it says there is no bills yet

If you read your meters you should be able to enter the readings online if that's how your account's run.

This will then generate a bill (depending on supplier, instantly to a couple of days).

You'll then be able to check your usage / against money paid - however, you need to ensure you're building up a bit of a "nest egg" to cover the extra usage during the winter. Otherwise it's likely that they'll increase the dd to cover the extra if you end up with a debit balance during the colder months.

I'm a bit surprised that they let you put the elec to £30 if they suggested £45 based on your usage as they usually like to over estimate rather than under.

SamanthaD85

I assumed they would send me a bill with my usage on each month, so then i know if my DD is enough.
That was the plan to make sure we have enough credit on the gas to cover the winter.
I didnt know i had to take my own readings for my own record.

We were paying £20 electric on prepayment meter and about £30 gas a month, so thats why we set them at the prices i stated. The meter reading i gave was only for 14 days as the prepayment meter had been taken out and then we had to wait 14 days to switch to DD instead of quarterly.

rising_from_the_ashes

Highly unlikely - I've just changed supplier but was with SP on an online account.

It was my responsibility to enter the readings (yes they still came and read them every so often) and if I didn't I would get a "reminder" I think about every 3 months.

I ran into a bit of a problem with them tho' - I switched to SP in November, then had the coldest 3 months which resulted in a debit (unsurprisingly) and they wanted to treble my dd. I said "no" and it would balance out - which it did.

However, the same thing happened the next winter - even tho' I'd been with them over a year and they could see it balanced out, they set the dd payment on the previous 3 months usage (I realise I would've paid a lot less in summer but, to me, the reason I wanted to pay by dd is to pay the same amount each month).

Hopefully as you've switched earlier on in the year, you'll not have the same problems (and hoping this will be the same with my new supplier).

It's a good habit to get into to actually read your meters every month (even if you don't want to submit them online - as this will generate a bill). It lets you see how much you're using and if consumption rockets, you can sort it out before it becomes a problem.