Outfox The Market Direct Debit changes

paters

editor1, Enough with the specious legal jargon word-salad already, you're not helping anyone. The other day you were crying about the misreported standing charge changes and how you were going to get your "Barrister peers" on to OTM for a supposed £300 loss when in reality it would have only cost you about £50.


Nobody here is recommending OTM customers on fixed tariffs should switch. The only thing they should be concerned about is if they can afford the winter DD hike and if OTM will still be in business before their deal ends.

TheHeatingEngineer

bs7 wrote: »

Of particular note was your comment - "This is a prime example of needing to take heed of all the professional consumer advice that's around these days" and then actually giving misleading and arguable incorrect advice!!

Please be specific. There are five points in that post. Which ones are misleading? Please say why.

Lijong

Sorry I struggle with the sums. This was the email I got from OTM with my price hike:

From 1st January 2019 your electricity unit rate will change from £0.1206/kWh to £0.1346/kWh.

Your gas unit rate will change from £0.0372/kWh to £0.0426/kWh

Your monthly membership fee will be replaced by a daily standing charge of 28p per fuel.

Now, I am trying to change and looking at Ovo 24 month fixed, is this cheaper than OTM:

Electric 15.141p per kWh
Standing charge 28.77p per day

Gas 3.633p per kWh
Standing charge 28.77p per day

I have autism and cannot work this out. Can anyone suggest anyone cheaper?

thanks Li

paters

Lijong wrote: »

Sorry I struggle with the sums. This was the email I got from OTM with my price hike:

From 1st January 2019 your electricity unit rate will change from £0.1206/kWh to £0.1346/kWh.

Your gas unit rate will change from £0.0372/kWh to £0.0426/kWh

Your monthly membership fee will be replaced by a daily standing charge of 28p per fuel.

Now, I am trying to change and looking at Ovo 24 month fixed, is this cheaper than OTM:

Electric 15.141p per kWh
Standing charge 28.77p per day

Gas 3.633p per kWh
Standing charge 28.77p per day

I have autism and cannot work this out. Can anyone suggest anyone cheaper?

thanks Li

That Ovo deal doesn't look very good, the standing charge alone would be £210 per year, but it depends on what you usage is. You need to know / work out how much gas and electric you use per year (in kW/h) before you a make a comparison. Have you tried the MSE Cheap energy club?

editor1

@Paters,

Funny, the alleged 'spurious' legal jargon you talk about was accurate, hence OFTM has not moved from a Membership-based system to Standing Charge system for gas and electricity for Fixed Contract customers - something to do with Contract Law I'm afraid, despite this Website stating that is what they were intending to do.

As for concerns about changes to DD schedules, simple, if on a Variable Contract then leave, not so simple of Fixed Contracts though, hence, some considerations needs to be used and application of maths.

Lijong

I am looking now but the Zapp December tariff I am on isn't listed so I cannot do a comparison, The nearest one I can get says if I switch I will pay £280 more a year

Lijong

Ahh, People's Energy his will cost you an extra £56/yr
No cashback
Estimated new costs £1,356/yr
£113/month

But I wonder if this takes into consideration the new hike with OTM. May be worth it for the peace of mind

alittleowl

Lijong wrote: »

Ahh, People's Energy his will cost you an extra £56/yr
No cashback
Estimated new costs £1,356/yr
£113/month

But I wonder if this takes into consideration the new hike with OTM. May be worth it for the peace of mind

Hi Li, the Cheap Energy Club hasn't yet taken into consideration the new hike with OFtM. It's still showing as cheapest for me when it very definitely isn't, especially after the latest price rise.

TheHeatingEngineer

paters wrote: »

Nobody here is recommending OTM customers on fixed tariffs should switch.

It was not clear from the discussion but clearly to switch in those circumstances would be unwise.

However, if the discussion is just about VT then I ask why the discussion? I don't see what can be gained. Just switch... Or have I missed something?

Switching from the OFTM VT is no different from switching from a fixed tariff. You pay for energy used and are eligible for relevant refunds, period - (unless someone knows differently).

The only thing they should be concerned about is if they can afford the winter DD hike and if OTM will still be in business before their deal ends.

I would agree that this is the crux of problem but this is not being discussed.

I can confirm that everyone is still paying the same over the year with 6 months 40% higher and 6 months 40% lower than the annual average payment. As I pointed out when I first arrived here, I thought this might also result in a high credit, but was surprised to see that the credit / debit remains relatively near zero through the annual term as compared with the fixed monthly payment. In that case it gives the customer and supplier a high credit in one period of six months and a high debit in the other. Many people grumble about this but although the solution provided by OFTM answers this problem, it has a sting in the tail - the need to pay six high payments in the 12 month period.

Clearly people would like all the benefits all of the time but life is not like that, and no one here has suggested an alternative including those prone to making accusations of misoginism...

However as mentioned above, customers have to be prepared for the six higher payments before the six lower payments come along. So people need to understand how to budget and save when in the period of the six lower payments ready to use those savings in the higher payment period.

If people don't like or can't cope with the OFTM winter / summer regime, then switch. It's easy to do and there will be no loss - but they will go back to an arrangement where for at least six months the supplier will hold lots of their money in credit - you can't have is both ways.

If anyone wants the mathematical proofs and graphs I can post them in the cloud. Just ask - nicely...:)

If customers don't mind the OFTM solution I suggest there is no further problem to solve - unless as mentioned that OFTM may try to unilaterally alter the contract. But then it's a complaint for OFGEM.

Lijong

alittleowl wrote: »

Hi Li, the Cheap Energy Club hasn't yet taken into consideration the new hike with OFtM. It's still showing as cheapest for me when it very definitely isn't, especially after the latest price rise.

Many thanks so we're none the wiser then. I need to know before the new prices come into effect. OTM have ignored all my emails and won't speak to me on chat as they say they cannot access my account right now.....hmmmmmm