Should quoting costs to customers as a monthly direct debit amount be stopped?

MattMattMattUK

The problem is not the bills, nor the monthly amount, but the public. Many people do not understand and in many cases do not want to understand, they want the simple option even if it ends up being the suboptimal choice. The reason that so much is dumbed down is because that is what the majority of people want, or they are not capable of understanding more. Those that want more information and are capable of understanding it have of all at their fingertips. 

poundsNpence

It really shouldn't have to be, but at the very least, any quote against EAC should be very clearly worded (ie: not in the small print, but writ large) along the lines of "If your usage matches your EAC, your DD will be y. Use less and your DD will decrease, use more and your DD will increase. Or maybe, it'd really hit home if 3 quotes were given, EAC, less than EAC, higher than EAC. Or maybe that'd still be far to subtle?

MattMattMattUK

poundsNpence said:

It really shouldn't have to be, but at the very least, any quote against EAC should be very clearly worded (ie: not in the small print, but writ large) along the lines of "If your usage matches your EAC, your DD will be y. Use less and your DD will decrease, use more and your DD will increase. Or maybe, it'd really hit home if 3 quotes were given, EAC, less than EAC, higher than EAC. Or maybe that'd still be far to subtle?

People who want to make an informed decision will already make one, people who are so dumb that they do not understand that energy is not an eat as much as you can buffet will not understand three different figures. You cannot fix stupid.

Mstty

You can educate though and this is something the regulator could enforce suppliers to do.

badmemory

The real problem here is a regulator who does not regulate anything.

victor2

I manage a few accounts and use spreadsheets to do so. To figure the present billing systems out on paper is difficult and open to errors. I make mistakes in spreadsheets and it is only by cross checking or looking for reasonableness in the results that they are found and corrected!

Many people today will not be able to comprehend annual usage figures, and the conversion from gas volume to kWh, or even why it is necessary.

Maybe a fixed standing charge for everyone (as an earlier poster suggested), regardless of supplier, is something we should accept. After all, most of use are supplied through a national grid. Then abolish the fixed rate system, as it is too confusing for many, and just charge people for utilities as they use them. Will need a smart meter system that actually works and actual human meter readers as there used to be, where smart isn't an option.

MattMattMattUK

Mstty said:

You can educate though and this is something the regulator could enforce suppliers to do.

To be able to educate someone they need to be both willing and capable of understanding.

rp1974

It's not the accuracy of the quotes thats the problem,it's the ability to make use of it to inform the choices made based on them.
Maybe suppliers should stop quoting at all without accurate consumption data,by whatever means or method thats obtained by them or supplied to them.
Unless I'm much mistaken almost every quote/comparison I've done in the past 12-15 years has had the option to add your own personal usage instead of the default average,this would be as accurate as the information given.

BooJewels

@victor2 - you mean, like we did it 30 years ago!

We used to have a second bank account with Nat West, that they offered,  specifically to pay for regular bills - each year you'd add up all of your anticipated bills and divide them by 12 and you put that amount into that account each month on pay day.  Then you could write a cheque for each bill as it occurred - it was a precursor to paying bills monthly by DD.  Maybe that's a concept that has merit again to help people budget for fluctuations.

Mstty

MattMattMattUK said:

Mstty said:

You can educate though and this is something the regulator could enforce suppliers to do.

To be able to educate someone they need to be both willing and capable of understanding.

Willingness is probably on the rise right now with the news and first hand experience of rises

Personally I see this as the right time for such education to increase the knowledge out there.

If everyone took the opinion not capable of understanding the education system might as well give up. However with the right level of educating on this matter great things can be achieved.