Ridiculous increase in monthly direct debit

Ironside69

We all knew that gas prices were going to soar.  However, Octopus Energy is taking the P1$$ in my opinion.  I have been on a fixed tariff my monthly direct debits have been £138.  I'm already £222 in credit, so I have been paying too much.  However, I've got to read new my contract on the different tariffs, and the cheapest tariff they are offering is £196 a month.  I can't see my bills rising by £96 a month.  Maybe I am naïve.  I will see where I am with clever at the beginning of December; that will give me a good idea of whether I'm overpaying or not.

[Deleted User]

Ironside69 said:

We all knew that gas prices were going to soar.  However, Octopus Energy is taking the P1$$ in my opinion.  I have been on a fixed tariff my monthly direct debits have been £138.  I'm already £222 in credit, so I have been paying too much.  However, I've got to read new my contract on the different tariffs, and the cheapest tariff they are offering is £196 a month.  I can't see my bills rising by £96 a month.  Maybe I am naïve.  I will see where I am with clever at the beginning of December; that will give me a good idea of whether I'm overpaying or not.

Fixed tariffs across the board have risen exponentially as a result of the 4fold increase in wholesale gas prices which then tracks across to the price of electricity. The cheapest tariff at the moment is Octopus Flexible which is fixed in reality until the 31st March UNLESS Ofgem brings in an emergency revision of the Cap.

As far as fixed tariffs are concerned, I suggest that you carryout a full market price comparison. All the suppliers are pricing their fixed tariffs on the basis on unknown wholesale prices.

Brie

Have you checked that you are being charged the correct amount??  Submitted meter readings??  You should have to submit a reading as part of any switch to ensure you are charged and refunded the correct amount when the switch takes place.

And you don't need to accept their idea of the correct DD amount.  If you have meter readings from now and 12 months back it will be possible to get a pretty accurate idea of what you might be charged going forward. 

In my current switch I'm being asked to make yet another payment to my old supplier (despite being in significant credit) as well as pre paying a full month's estimated use with my new supplier.  So that's a very serious amount of money I'm out for a while.

I have always argued for as low a DD as possible while also agreeing to make top up payments when my payments aren't keeping up with useage.  My position is that I would rather have the ££ in my bank account even earning me tiddly than in the energy company's making their balance sheet look fat.

Ironside69

Okay, this may well account for why they are backing up my DD so much.  I was somewhat lazy when it came to meter readings.  It was only last March when I started taking readings properly.  Before that, Octopus Energy was estimating my gas and electricity usage.   in January 2021.  They estimated my monthly gas usage at £213.  However, I started submitting readings at the end of February, and my gas bill was £33 in March.  So my guess is that they are basing figures on the first few months that I failed to submit meter readings.

[Deleted User]

Ironside69 said:

Okay, this may well account for why they are backing up my DD so much.  I was somewhat lazy when it came to meter readings.  It was only last March when I started taking readings properly.  Before that, Octopus Energy was estimating my gas and electricity usage.  Through stones, in January 2021.  They estimated my monthly gas usage at £213.  However, I started submitting readings at the end of February, and my gas bill was £33 in March.  So my guess is that they are basing figures on the first few months that I failed to submit meter readings.

I would have not thought so. All properties have an EAC which is held by the supplier’s data collector. Data on some properties goes back over 80 years. If you submitted actual meter readings in March then you were billed up to this point and missing readings become irrelevant. 

Out of interest, what is your annual energy consumption in kWhs/year for both gas and electricity? DD payments are a poor way of assessing annual cost.

Ironside69

That should have read "January 2021 they estimated" it would only let me edit my post once.

Ironside69

This is all could find in my account regarding gas usage yearly.

"Estimated Annual

Usage* 15604 kWh"

[Deleted User]

I should have added that if you disagree with Octopus’ DD assessment then you can set your own monthly DD payment via the App. I have mine set at £1 a month at the moment to draw down my credit balance. Like many suppliers, I understand that Octopus is now insisting that customers have a credit balance of a least one monthly payment. 

dunstonh

I have been on a fixed tariff my monthly direct debits have been £138.  I'm already £222 in credit, so I have been paying too much. 

I don't know how you come to that conclusion.    

You use most of your energy during the winter months.   During the summer you build up summer credit that you will later spend during the colder months.    £222 credit based on a £138 monthly payment is actually low.

Its worth recording your readings and working out what you use in kWh.  Don't go by money as what you are paying may not reflect what you are using and you could end up the excess or arrears (usually arrears if you get it wrong).

Usage* 15604 kWh"

At 25p, that equates to £325 pm   plus the daily charge which is around £7pm.  So, £332pm should be your direct debit.  Probably a bit more as you dont have much summer credit.

Also, your usage is very high. It's about the same as me but we have heavy electrical use with specific items.     

Robin9

@Dunston 15,604 is Gas not Electric =  approx £800

OP hasn't given a figure for Electric but if typical 3,000 kWh  could well be £800 as well

dunstonh

Robin9 said:

@Dunston 15,604 is Gas not Electric =  approx £800

OP hasn't given a figure for Electric but if typical 3,000 kWh  could well be £800 as well

Sorry.  I missed the bit on gas.  We rarely see gas in this section. Most misposts are electric.  Ooops.