Octopus energy

monaymadlol

Hi, 

I'm currently with octopus energy paying £40 direct debit on gas and electric, per month on a single person one bed flat 

Unfortunately, it hasn't been enough to cover the cost so I've been meaning to pay off the circs £300 outstandingly, compare and switch.

The recent upcoming energy hike has prompted me to no longer put it off and take action 

But it's all very confusing.

My question is should I compare and switch now or wait a few more months? Do I use uSwitch?

Should I fix?

I'm not up to date with the options available.

Thanks (in advance)

ProDave

Well No 1 pay off the debt. Octopus make it easy to do and are very approachable to agree a new monthly payment level.

There is little point in switching at the moment, even if anyone else would take you one, the market is in turmoil and everyone is working on the capped price so you won't get it cheaper anywhere else.  And if you have not seen the news it is goingto get a whole lot more expensive from April, so somehow or other you are probably going to have to double your monthly payments as well as clear your debt.

monaymadlol

Thank you. I'll call today to pay off..and then should I increase to the recommended amount based on current usage eg £60ish a month on the same deal...ie it shouldn't affect anything, and then wait and see what happens?

youravinalarrrf

You don't need to call Octopus as it can all be done from your online account.

You can make a one-off payment online to pay off the outstanding amount.

Once you've made that payment and it's showing in your account you can then adjust your direct debit payment. It will tell you what amount they recommend the direct debit to be set at. 

MWT

youravinalarrrf said:

Once you've made that payment and it's showing in your account you can then adjust your direct debit payment. It will tell you what amount they recommend the direct debit to be set at. 

From personal experience, I'd say that the recommended DD level can be a little strange at times, so I'd set it to around your current monthly use and then adjust from there as needed.

monaymadlol

I've paid off the £370 and kept the DD of 40 as their estimated usage for me is showing as 37 a month which is strange? I must have overused at some point.

Coffeekup

If I were you for the next 3 months I would get onto the habit of taking meter readings in the last few days of the month and adding the figure's to your energy supplier.

Come May/June/July I can see these forums awash with people not having upto date readings and being charged with the higher rates.

monaymadlol

So after paying off the £370, I quickly found myself at -50 pounds debit! Despite the octopus energy account saying the £40 a month gas elec in my one bed flat was enough! I've been submitting monthly readings regularly now. What am I supposed to do? Increase my amounts? 

Also, what's the consensus now on sticking or switching? Are we basically supposed to ride out the storm!?

pochase

You knew already that the 40£ was not enough, as you accumulated a debt of £370 with it.

As you give no indication over what time frame this happened lets assume the 12 months, more likely would be 6 months.

To get 370£ into debt over a 12 month period you would need to be short over 30£ per month, for a 6 months time frame even 60£.

This means before the cap increase your direct debit should have been already 70£/100£ per month. Now we have an average increase of 54% starting this month. I don't like to go just with the 54% but to give you an idea you would in future need between 105£ and 155£ per month.

Can you please give us your use for electricity and gas over the last 12 month period so we can do a better calculation than the very basic calculations above, which just should give you an idea where you are standing.

pochase

Regarding you question if you should stick or switch, on the variable tariff all suppliers have similar prices, and most will no even accept you as a new customer.
There are some acceptable fixed rates, but they are existing customers only in most cases, for new customers the fixed rates are significantly more expensive than the SVT.

tlcgrantham

monaymadlol said:

So after paying off the £370, I quickly found myself at -50 pounds debit! Despite the octopus energy account saying the £40 a month gas elec in my one bed flat was enough! I've been submitting monthly readings regularly now. What am I supposed to do? Increase my amounts? 

Also, what's the consensus now on sticking or switching? Are we basically supposed to ride out the storm!?

1. Checking previous posts the £40 a month suggested contribution to your energy costs was in February. That is unlikely to be sufficient after the massive price increase on April 2nd. 

2. Do your own calculations based on actual meter readings and current tariff charges rather than assume a fixed amount direct debit contribution will be sufficient.
3. I’m guessing by your previous posts your on the Octopus flexible tariff. This is £50 a year cheaper than any other tariff you can find with any supplier at present, fixed or variable.