British Gas Direct Debits

Bextonian

Most people who pay British Gas via direct debit invariably find that they are well in credit. This is because British Gas carefully arrange your monthly fixed payments so that you build up a significant credit during the summer months and this is gradually reduced during the winter. It is unlikely that they will allow your credit to become a debit, which means that for most if not all of the year they are holding your money interest free. A recent letter in the Daily Telegraph says there is a way of avoiding this using a scheme called "quarterly variable direct debit" which British Gas, not surprisingly, do not publicise. With this your bank account is debited by the full amount of each quarterly bill, just like many other organisations operate (eg. BT). You are therefore not paying up-front for goods or services that you have not yet received. Can anyone confirm that this is indeed an available option and do you still get the direct debit discount? If so then it's a definite money-saver!

jackieglasgow

Bextonian wrote: »

Most people who pay British Gas via direct debit invariably find that they are well in credit. This is because British Gas carefully arrange your monthly fixed payments so that you build up a significant credit during the summer months and this is gradually reduced during the winter. It is unlikely that they will allow your credit to become a debit, which means that for most if not all of the year they are holding your money interest free. A recent letter in the Daily Telegraph says there is a way of avoiding this using a scheme called "quarterly variable direct debit" which British Gas, not surprisingly, do not publicise. With this your bank account is debited by the full amount of each quarterly bill, just like many other organisations operate (eg. BT). You are therefore not paying up-front for goods or services that you have not yet received. Can anyone confirm that this is indeed an available option and do you still get the direct debit discount? If so then it's a definite money-saver!

Its not really a money saver as you still pay the same for you energy. They also do variable,monthly direct debit if you have energy smart, and enter meter readings monthly (which I use) and direct debit flex, where you can choose to do the above, and also miss a payment, which I suppose is quite handy. Petsonally, I pay variable mdd for electricity, and a fixed amount for gad, so that I dont need to worry about the winter gas bill (my monthly useage in the summer is about four pounds)

TIMMY85

Quarterly DD is available but is not for everyone - great in the summer but if in january or febuary you are unable to afford the bill and go to a monthly payment the amount would be higher as it would be for the future years usage plus the large winter bill. I talk about this option to customers who already pay quarterly by cash so they can get the discount but would not really mention it to others as most people would not put the money aside each month to budget and then would feel unable to cope with the resultant higher monthly payments.
Most dd customers do go into debit over winter and while no interest is being made in a savings account on the credit in summer/autumn no interest is charged by a utility company when in debit. For those who will keep the money for the large bills it is a good option but I personally would not do it as the payment could be large and is always taken 14 days after the bill is generated rather than a fixed date each month.

jalexa

TIMMY85 wrote: »

Quarterly DD is available but is not for everyone ...

I tend to agree with that argument for the reasons you state, and for similar reasons don't advocate accurate monthly "smartbilling". Hey, isn't British Gas a promoter of accurate monthly billing?

Most dd customers do go into debit over winter

I don't know the stats on that, but I do know that two suppliers in particular are having their Direct Debit review process rubbished in this Forum and that one of them (Edf) from personal experience is operating a "dysfunctional" review process unable either to explain (as required by Regulations) or to accurately calculate payments in accordance with their (stated) objectives.

I would advise customers not to write off quarterly non direct debit billing where the tariff features a "prompt-pay" discount.