Advance Direct Debit Payments

matelodave

If you make sure that you give your own estimates based on your own consumption figure, rather than allowing the energy company to guess (they call it estimating) then your DD should be so high that you are likely to end up too far in credit.

So far I've been with two companies that have gone bust (GB & IRESA) and I've got my £20 credit back - do your sums and control your account and you should be able keep a relatively well balance account.

Takmon

Benight wrote: »

I think it is very risky going with any small supplier due to the chances of them going bust. There have been about a dozen so far, I believe.

Stick to the Big 6- that's what we do. None of them have gone bust and little chance any of them will. None charge in advance either, as far as I am aware.

Maybe not the cheapest, but ...

I don't see where the risk is? Even if they go bust you still get your money back and don't loose out.

The fact that the Big Six would be massively more expensive for me I don't see why I would want to pay more when I can pay less with no chance of losing my money.

bonus2010

gt94sss2 wrote: »

If a firm goes out of business, any credit you have with them is protected via Ofgem - so yes, it might take a couple of months - but you are guaranteed to get your money back.

I'm not in any worried, I'd just rather avoid having to wait months to have my money returned where possible.

bonus2010

matelodave wrote: »

If you make sure that you give your own estimates based on your own consumption figure, rather than allowing the energy company to guess (they call it estimating) then your DD should be so high that you are likely to end up too far in credit.

So far I've been with two companies that have gone bust (GB & IRESA) and I've got my £20 credit back - do your sums and control your account and you should be able keep a relatively well balance account.

I've always provided regular meter readings, sometimes once a week, making sure my account is always up to date. I've got a spreadsheet whereby I just enter the meter readings obtained from my IHD and I see the current balance of my account immediately. OK I admit I'm an anorqk over this lol

My monthly DD is £67. From following Martin Lewis' Direct Debit Energy Cycle explanation, I shouldn't be any more than £67 in credit with a supplier. When I take the effect of advance payment as is done with some supplier, that figure jumps to £134. No, I wouldn't be happy about crediting a failed supplier at that point should failure occur to the tune of £134. I need that money for my next energy bill, and not able to wait 3 months +

I've to wonder if you've just been lucky in that you've only credited a failed supplier at the £20 point mark at the point of failure or if it the peak of your energy DD cycle, your energy cost is only £240/annum.

Takmon

bonus2010 wrote: »

I've always provided regular meter readings, sometimes once a week, making sure my account is always up to date. I've got a spreadsheet whereby I just enter the meter readings obtained from my IHD and I see the current balance of my account immediately. OK I admit I'm an anorqk over this lol

My monthly DD is £67. From following Martin Lewis' Direct Debit Energy Cycle explanation, I shouldn't be any more than £67 in credit with a supplier. When I take the effect of advance payment as is done with some supplier, that figure jumps to £134. No, I wouldn't be happy about crediting a failed supplier at that point should failure occur to the tune of £134. I need that money for my next energy bill, and not able to wait 3 months +

I've to wonder if you've just been lucky in that you've only credited a failed supplier at the £20 point mark at the point of failure or if it the peak of your energy DD cycle, your energy cost is only £240/annum.

People who have a Gas supply will build up a credit over the summer to account for winter so having a balance of over £134 coming up to winter is not an unusual thing for people will gas heating.

But if you can't deal with not having £134 for a few months then that's a failing of your budgeting because you should have alot more than this in an emergency fund and shouldn't be an issue.

bonus2010

Takmon wrote: »

People who have a Gas supply will build up a credit over the summer to account for winter so having a balance of over £134 coming up to winter is not an unusual thing for people will gas heating.

But if you can't deal with not having £134 for a few months then that's a failing of your budgeting because you should have alot more than this in an emergency fund and shouldn't be an issue.

I fear you're missing what I'm getting at here..with a normal Direct debit Energy Cycle I should be crediting a supplier no more than one month DD (that's total annual energy costs divided by 12). With a supplier that demands an advance payment that amount doubles, i.e. doubling the credit to supplier, and as you say during the summer months.


btw, it wouldn't be £134 for a few months, it would peak for one day only. then gradually decline.

to my original post and relevance is the risk of crediting small suppliers who have been falling by the wayside rather often I'd say.

onlyfoolsandparking

Takmon wrote: »

I don't see where the risk is? Even if they go bust you still get your money back and don't loose out.

The fact that the Big Six would be massively more expensive for me I don't see why I would want to pay more when I can pay less with no chance of losing my money.

Seems I'm not the only one who doesn't want to pay more:T


If people want the 'so called security' of sticking with a 'big 6' well crack on! it wont affect me:D

Takmon

bonus2010 wrote: »

I fear you're missing what I'm getting at here..with a normal Direct debit Energy Cycle I should be crediting a supplier no more than one month DD (that's total annual energy costs divided by 12). With a supplier that demands an advance payment that amount doubles, i.e. doubling the credit to supplier, and as you say during the summer months.

btw, it wouldn't be £134 for a few months, it would peak for one day only. then gradually decline.

The point about the £134 for a few months was the time it would take for a failed energy company to issue a refund. You said you wouldn't be able to wait for a refund which shows a budgeting problem.

bonus2010 wrote: »

to my original post and relevance is the risk of crediting small suppliers who have been falling by the wayside rather often I'd say.

But how is that a risk? You just have to wait longer to get your money back you don't actually lose any money. This is well worth it considering the substantial savings to be made.

bonus2010

Takmon wrote: »

But how is that a risk? You just have to wait longer to get your money back you don't actually lose any money. This is well worth it considering the substantial savings to be made.

I'm not disputing whether or not people get their money back that's been "protected" by Ofgem as you say.

The risk I'm talking about is the risk of being inconvenienced of having to wait a several months to have your money returned. in such circumstances.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't at all be happy about my money being locked in other companies bank accounts until they (or their adminstrators) decide to return it, and from what I read here it has caused members who have been in that situation considerable stress.

Takmon

bonus2010 wrote: »

I'm not disputing whether or not people get their money back that's been "protected" by Ofgem as you say.

The risk I'm talking about is the risk of being inconvenienced of having to wait a several months to have your money returned. in such circumstances.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't at all be happy about my money being locked in other companies bank accounts until they (or their adminstrators) decide to return it, and from what I read here it has caused members who have been in that situation considerable stress.

When i switched from my last energy supplier from the day i switched to the day i got my credit refunded (£90) it took a few days short of 4 months.

Yes it was slightly annoying but it hasn't put me off small suppliers because of how much cheaper they are so i'm happy to put up with small issues. Plus moving to a big name supplier doesn't guarantee you won't have any issues, the only thing guaranteed is that you will pay more for the exact same gas and electric.