It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

MovingForwards

I'm in SVR rather than a fixed rate, have been since purchasing the flat.

The highest petrol I saw the weekend was £1.679 in Dundee and my trip crossed through several counties. 

LadOnTheHill

Our local petrol station got taken over about a month ago. Fuel is now about 30p a litre dearer since then. Fortunately we don't use very much.

I always pay the gas bill on receipt of bill, monthly. I've worked out that it cost me about £40 more over the year last year to do this, compared to having a direct debit. I'd much rather pay a bit extra and stay in control of the bill every month than have a direct debit go out and wind up with a large sum of money in the gas company's bank account. It does mean bigger bills in winter, but knowing that they're coming means I can budget for them. I'd rather be owing a company than owed by the company - the money is better in my account than theirs and if the supplier goes bust, I don't have the hassle of getting a refund possibly several months later. It's worth paying a bit extra, for me, to have that control.

Rosa_Damascena

LadOnTheHill said:

Our local petrol station got taken over about a month ago. Fuel is now about 30p a litre dearer since then. Fortunately we don't use very much.

I always pay the gas bill on receipt of bill, monthly. I've worked out that it cost me about £40 more over the year last year to do this, compared to having a direct debit. I'd much rather pay a bit extra and stay in control of the bill every month than have a direct debit go out and wind up with a large sum of money in the gas company's bank account. It does mean bigger bills in winter, but knowing that they're coming means I can budget for them. I'd rather be owing a company than owed by the company - the money is better in my account than theirs and if the supplier goes bust, I don't have the hassle of getting a refund possibly several months later. It's worth paying a bit extra, for me, to have that control.

That's £40 pa they don't deserve, so why are you cutting off your nose to spite your face? Would you make £40 in interest?

[Deleted User]

Different strokes for different folks 😊 

I too prefer paying on receipt of bill, for the reasons explained above. I prefer it and as a rule I don’t ‘do’ direct debits, other than for the internet. It’s a control thing, definitely, but also links to my health issues.

February’s bill for the electricity has landed; my efforts to reduce consumption and switching to big oven off have really paid off - £47 for the month. January was just over £70 so I’m happy with that; even accounting for the fact it’s a shorter month it’s still a good saving.

I will be continuing with the small things that make a big difference - baking in the slow cooker rather than the oven (total game changer for us in this house); sweeping daily rather than getting the hoover out; everything off at the socket bar router and fridge/freezer. 

MovingForwards

Rosa_Damascena said:

LadOnTheHill said:

Our local petrol station got taken over about a month ago. Fuel is now about 30p a litre dearer since then. Fortunately we don't use very much.

I always pay the gas bill on receipt of bill, monthly. I've worked out that it cost me about £40 more over the year last year to do this, compared to having a direct debit. I'd much rather pay a bit extra and stay in control of the bill every month than have a direct debit go out and wind up with a large sum of money in the gas company's bank account. It does mean bigger bills in winter, but knowing that they're coming means I can budget for them. I'd rather be owing a company than owed by the company - the money is better in my account than theirs and if the supplier goes bust, I don't have the hassle of getting a refund possibly several months later. It's worth paying a bit extra, for me, to have that control.

That's £40 pa they don't deserve, so why are you cutting off your nose to spite your face? Would you make £40 in interest?

I know it wasn't aimed at me, directly, however I'm on SVR and pay on receipt of the bill.

As I said in an earlier post last year I spent £523 on gas and electric, they think it will cost me £1085 for this year paying on receipt of the bill and remaining on SVR.

If I fix my tariff and pay by DD they think my bill will be £2271.

Please tell me how an extra near £1200pa is cutting my nose off to spite my face? 

newlywed

OH won’t go to direct debit either. We are still on prepay and non smart meters (which for a change looks like it’s in our favour as we can potentially kind of postpone the rate increases)

he won’t go to DD as his ex wife claimed to be paying the bills but didn’t and when she did a bunk, he was left with joint loans, debts and bills to sort out. Partly his fault for not checking but still…

So everyone has their own past and personal reasons for choosing payment methods. 

Suggestions of ways to potentially save money is always good though, but a choice as to whether the suggestions are acted on.

LadOnTheHill

Rosa_Damascena said:so why are you cutting off your nose to spite your face?

That's kind of a rude way to describe the situation. It's also inaccurate.

I described in the post why I do it.

EssexHebridean

Rosa_Damascena said:

LadOnTheHill said:

Our local petrol station got taken over about a month ago. Fuel is now about 30p a litre dearer since then. Fortunately we don't use very much.

I always pay the gas bill on receipt of bill, monthly. I've worked out that it cost me about £40 more over the year last year to do this, compared to having a direct debit. I'd much rather pay a bit extra and stay in control of the bill every month than have a direct debit go out and wind up with a large sum of money in the gas company's bank account. It does mean bigger bills in winter, but knowing that they're coming means I can budget for them. I'd rather be owing a company than owed by the company - the money is better in my account than theirs and if the supplier goes bust, I don't have the hassle of getting a refund possibly several months later. It's worth paying a bit extra, for me, to have that control.

That's £40 pa they don't deserve, so why are you cutting off your nose to spite your face? Would you make £40 in interest?

Different ways of doing things suit different people - for many reasons. If someone can afford to do something which might be a bit more expensive, but which works better for them, then all power to them, so long as they are aware that it IS costing more, I'd suggest. 

Not buying value brand loo roll probably costs us a few extra £ per year, but each and every time I use some somewhere else and remember how much it disintegrates in use, I recall why those extra £'s, for me, are well worth it!

Something to be aware of is that many providers DO offer a variable DD option where there simply take the amount of the bill by DD - this deals with the worries about DD's being put up to falsely high levels, or credit building up, and still gains the power rates, as far as I know. For a lot of folk it could well be a compromise between keeping control (if the energy company take more than the cost of the bill you could invoke the DD guarantee) and not paying more than you really need to. 

euronorris

I've always done DD in the past, and still use them for my other bills, but when I got moved to BG after supplier going bust I was automatically put on a quarterly, pay on receipt method. The small print of the tarriff states that they won't change it unless you make a change. One of the examples of a change, was changing the payment method. They have asked me to establish a DD and say it won't change my tarriff, but I don't trust that, so I am sticking to pay on receipt right now, so they can't stick me on a more expensive fixed tarriff. 

EssexHebridean

MovingForwards said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

LadOnTheHill said:

Our local petrol station got taken over about a month ago. Fuel is now about 30p a litre dearer since then. Fortunately we don't use very much.

I always pay the gas bill on receipt of bill, monthly. I've worked out that it cost me about £40 more over the year last year to do this, compared to having a direct debit. I'd much rather pay a bit extra and stay in control of the bill every month than have a direct debit go out and wind up with a large sum of money in the gas company's bank account. It does mean bigger bills in winter, but knowing that they're coming means I can budget for them. I'd rather be owing a company than owed by the company - the money is better in my account than theirs and if the supplier goes bust, I don't have the hassle of getting a refund possibly several months later. It's worth paying a bit extra, for me, to have that control.

That's £40 pa they don't deserve, so why are you cutting off your nose to spite your face? Would you make £40 in interest?

I know it wasn't aimed at me, directly, however I'm on SVR and pay on receipt of the bill.

As I said in an earlier post last year I spent £523 on gas and electric, they think it will cost me £1085 for this year paying on receipt of the bill and remaining on SVR.

If I fix my tariff and pay by DD they think my bill will be £2271.

Please tell me how an extra near £1200pa is cutting my nose off to spite my face? 

Not really a fair comparison as clearly in the current climate a fix will cost more. If you stayed on the SV and switched to direct debit, you would of course see a cost saving which I think was the point being - albeit IMO rather bluntly - made. :sm