Scot Power - What is an appropriate amount of credit on a DD account?

Ferris

I'm new to the idea of paying for energy by DD, and was just wondering what kind of level of credit is usual? I paid a bill in February covering several cold months, and I still have around £250 credit on the account. By the time of the next bill, the credit will be around £400.

Is this normal, or should I be looking at reducing the monthly DD payment?

I'm with Scottish Power, if any reps feel like helping

brewerdave

When did you start paying by DD?? If it was early last Summer then, in my experience, my "rule of thumb" is that I would expect to be ~ 50% of one month's DD in credit by mid March, so that I'm at a zero balance by my annual review date in mid May.
If you started your DD plan much later during the Autumn then they have probably set the DD higher on the basis that you had built no credit up going into Winter -and knowing the Utility Cos. they were probably ultra pessimistic and predicting another very cold Winter!
In the second case, they will probably be very resistant to reducing your DD (or paying you back any credit) until your "review date".

greyteam1959

With that amount of credit I would send them an email from your
online account & politely ask for 150 GBP to be refunded.
Better in your bank account than theirs !!
They will refund it.............

Ferris

brewerdave wrote: »

When did you start paying by DD?? If it was early last Summer then, in my experience, my "rule of thumb" is that I would expect to be ~ 50% of one month's DD in credit by mid March, so that I'm at a zero balance by my annual review date in mid May.
If you started your DD plan much later during the Autumn then they have probably set the DD higher on the basis that you had built no credit up going into Winter -and knowing the Utility Cos. they were probably ultra pessimistic and predicting another very cold Winter!
In the second case, they will probably be very resistant to reducing your DD (or paying you back any credit) until your "review date".

I moved to ScotPower in April last year, so it's been just under a year, The original DD was £90ish, then reduced (by them) to £70ish around Xmas time, but there is still what seems to be a lot of credit on the account. My cheap deal runs until September, and I'll be switching providers then if necessary, so I don't think I'll really want to get involved in a struggle to get £300 or £400 back from them built up over the summer if I move elsewhere.

Any Scottish Power reps on here these days?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Ferris wrote: »

I moved to ScotPower in April last year, so it's been just under a year, The original DD was £90ish, then reduced (by them) to £70ish around Xmas time, but there is still what seems to be a lot of credit on the account. My cheap deal runs until September, and I'll be switching providers then if necessary, so I don't think I'll really want to get involved in a struggle to get £300 or £400 back from them built up over the summer if I move elsewhere.

Any Scottish Power reps on here these days?

Was the latest bill based on an estimated or accurate reading?

Ferris

Accurate. I add a reading every month, generally, just to keep it on the right track.

Buzby

Why even bother going down that route? Go for a quarterly bill, paid by DD. No credit - they get paid shortly after the bill is sent. This wag you don't have to worry about opportunistic (and fanciful) guesstimates based on what gory think you might use over the year.

Ferris

We moved from a quarterly bill, but in all our searches monthly DD was the cheapest option. I don't mind particularly being in credit a little, but I get the feeling they should review DDs automatically once a certain threshold has been reached.