Fuel Direct - It's my money!!!

modsandmockers

The OP hasn’t posted for a couple of weeks, so hopefully a solution has been found.

As a member of the core group of Warm Homes Discount recipients, I have experienced some of the things which the OP describes. As a monthly direct debit payer, I was unable to benefit immediately from the £140 which was credited to my electricity account last September because the energy supplier (so they said) was not allowed to convert it into a direct ‘refund’ of the credit balance, and they were not willing to reduce the monthly payment in order to reflect the level of the credit balance on the account. The get-around was to switch supplier, so that the previous supplier had no option but to release the WHD funds into my bank account.

This year, I do not want to switch supplier (EDF) and, at no extra cost, I have changed from monthly DDs to quarterly Whole of Bill variable DDs. My reasoning is that, after this year’s WHD has been credited to my account, the credit balance will result in there being ‘nothing to pay’ for at least one of the following couple of bills.

I have opened a dedicated current account for my energy bills, and I pay in a regular amount every month which will cover my next year’s bills. The monthly amount is less than I would be paying to EDF on a monthly DD plan because I have taken into account the upcoming WHD payment.

Amongst companies which are part of the Warm Homes Discount scheme, EDF is, for me, the cheapest supplier and they charge the same prices for quarterly DDs as they charge for monthly DDs.

As a more general comment, I would venture to suggest that monthly DD payment plans are not properly understood by large numbers of consumers, and a system like mine would potentially help them to better understand (and have some control over) their fluctuating energy costs.