Fixed price tariff vs price cap

PennineAcute

Boris_Blank said:

No. it doesn't.   If the usage figures were roughly the same as mine then the direct debit estimate was way too low.

I did a quick calculation using my usage figures above and using your energy unit/standing charge figures, my direct debit would have been £252 per month.   To put that into perspective, about 7 months ago I was paying about £120 a month then Hub went bust and with a new deal with Eon-Next I found my new DD was £170.   Today that has just today jumped to £277 with the new fixed rate deal.

I'm not sure what you can do now.  If your energy consumption figures were accurate and the energy prices are correct I doubt you'd get anywhere by complaining about the low DD estimate.  The shock of DD amounts basically doubling in the past 14 months is just how it is now - I think you will have avoided a couple of large-ish increases by having a good deal with Shell at the right time only to be eventuallyhit by those increased prices in your current deal.  I'm in the same position as are many others.

My only advice would be to be very sure of your usage figures and calculate the costs using  the figures shown by any potential new supplier before committing to them and be sure that your calculation roughly matches what you are seeing on screen when selecting a supplier. 

If you are any good with spreadsheets you can easily calculate the figures in seconds and re-jig as necessary. It'll worth it for avoiding surprises and peace of mind.

Yes, but as we do not know the figures the OP used for the quote - either the incorrect figures were entered for the quote, or there was a gremlin in the system of whoever provided the quote.

PennineAcute

QrizB said:

PennineAcute said:

ClaireH79 said:

My husband said he used the annual usage figures we had from shell when he did the comparison.  It just felt like they'd estimated a reasonable direct debit amount so we'd agreed to sign up then say its not enough 🤷‍♂️. We've lowered our usage which we proved to Scottish power.  After 3 hours on a call to them they finally said we're charging a lot more then shell which is fair enough but we would've appreciated a more realistic direct debit estimate.  Doesn't feel very transparent...

Perhaps, and a wild assumption, the figures from Shell were way out.

The GIGO rule at work?

That rule was used today  for the students in my maths class.  Do no rely upon your calculator due to GIGO.

Boris_Blank

PennineAcute said:

Yes, but as we do not know the figures the OP used for the quote - either the incorrect figures were entered for the quote, or there was a gremlin in the system of whoever provided the quote.

Indeed, one or other of your suggestions must have occurred.  Either way, the current DD situation would not have changed.

PennineAcute

Boris_Blank said:

PennineAcute said:

Yes, but as we do not know the figures the OP used for the quote - either the incorrect figures were entered for the quote, or there was a gremlin in the system of whoever provided the quote.

Indeed, one or other of your suggestions must have occurred.  Either way, the current DD situation would not have changed.

If incorrect figures were used in a quote from October (or incorrect figures were passed from the comparison site) 5 months is around the time that SP would be checking that all is okay with payments.  In this case, sadly the payments were way too low for the usage that were declared to SP.

Hard lesson to learn, but people need to keep on top of how much they are using, so that shocks like this can be avoided.