How much to live on

blue.peter

BooJewels said:

 I can't submit a meter reading, as I can't get down the cellar steps.  I think that's worth a quid each month - to me.

Could you get a smart meter? That'd save you the trouble of obtaining and submitting meter readings, since the meter provides them directly to your supplier automatically. My energy supplier encouraged me to have one installed, and I was willing. It was done several years ago now, and seems to do the job well.

Archerychick

Albermarle said:

Organgrinder said:

The point for me is that i don't let any other business keep £200-£300 of my money so why should I let Octopus do so? 

Well Octopus claim that for part of the year you are keeping some of their money, as at the end of Winter you should have a negative balance.
I suppose that is more likely if you adjust the fixed payments from time to time, and keep them on the lower side.
For the sake of a few Pounds a year I prefer the payment to be the same every month, as it helps my general budgeting.

@Pat38493

You can adjust the DD payment on the website/app. I think if you try to fix it too low it will block you, but I have put it down by £50 a month before now ( in anticipation of lower bills) with no issue.

I think for some consumers this is great, but for me personally I adjust my DD as I go through the year to account for the seasonal highs and lows. I have no desire for a energy company to build up credit over the summer months when I can just vary my DD myself. I guess it offers both options. I know some people really love the fact that their DD is the same all year round so that's good.

Pat38493

Albermarle said:

Organgrinder said:

The point for me is that i don't let any other business keep £200-£300 of my money so why should I let Octopus do so? 

Well Octopus claim that for part of the year you are keeping some of their money, as at the end of Winter you should have a negative balance.
I suppose that is more likely if you adjust the fixed payments from time to time, and keep them on the lower side.
For the sake of a few Pounds a year I prefer the payment to be the same every month, as it helps my general budgeting.

@Pat38493

You can adjust the DD payment on the website/app. I think if you try to fix it too low it will block you, but I have put it down by £50 a month before now ( in anticipation of lower bills) with no issue.

Thanks - for sure that is the theory about how the smoothing works but when you first go onto Octopus, they assume you will be on the SVR and calculate your DD accordingly.  If you then move to Tracker or whatever or a TOU tariff and you have an EV you are going to be paying the wrong amount.  I could have called them probably and sorted it but it's not a huge deal yet.

In any case I might move onto Variable DD.

Organgrinder

Octopus don't like you ever owing them money in my experience and to me, it seems ludicrous that in March many are seeing £200+ in credit balances with no indication Octopus will lower your monthly DD. 

BooJewels

blue.peter said:

BooJewels said:

 I can't submit a meter reading, as I can't get down the cellar steps.  I think that's worth a quid each month - to me.

Could you get a smart meter? That'd save you the trouble of obtaining and submitting meter readings, since the meter provides them directly to your supplier automatically. My energy supplier encouraged me to have one installed, and I was willing. It was done several years ago now, and seems to do the job well.

My difficulty is only temporary, as I'm recovering from a broken leg - I'll be back down there shortly.  A smart meter may be problematic in itself as the meter is in the cellar and there's no mobile signal down there, so might need some kind of hard wiring or comms hub or such like. 

In the narrow sphere of my own personal experience with smart meters I'm not that impressed - in managing estate properties with them - all 4 had gone dumb and I still had to submit readings, so I'm not sure that I'd want to rely on them.

trevjl

Their reply. Seems it's easy, will check later

Pat38493

trevjl said:

Their reply. Seems it's easy, will check later

How?  I am looking around on all the payment options on the web site and I cannot see any option to change to variable DD.

I can see the option to alter my DD amount but I don't see any option to switch to variable DD (nor in the phone app either).

Also did they say what happens if you have a large credit balance - do they automatically use up the credit to pay your bills until there is no credit left, then start charging you?

trevjl

The above was about it. I've not looked at it yet

Gerry1

Organgrinder said:

Octopus don't like you ever owing them money in my experience and to me, it seems ludicrous that in March many are seeing £200+ in credit balances with no indication Octopus will lower your monthly DD.

★ The Ts & Cs state that you have to keep your account in credit:-

When paying by direct debit:
    8.2.1(i) you should keep your account in credit

★ You can request a refund of your credit balance:-

https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/how-do-i-refund-the-credit-on-my-account/

Floss

Maybe we can now get back on topic, rather than divert to the travails of Octopus & DDs....