Direct Debits are over collecting

Bluejonah

I’ve just received notification of my new tariff from Octopus and of a resulting change to my direct debit.  The minimum payment however has gone up more than the tariff change and seems to be set by Octopus energy at a value such that I will still be in credit in March 2023 and this cannot be reduced.  I therefore seem to have lost the ability to self select a lower direct debit amount that would instead achieve my target zero credit in September (of this and every year) and allow me to be in debit for the rest of the year

Has anybody else experienced this? Have the rules changed or should I still expect to be able to set payment values that aim for hitting credit after my summer ‘low' bills and minimise the time the account is in credit?

MWT

Bluejonah said:

I therefore seem to have lost the ability to self select a lower direct debit amount that would instead achieve my target zero credit in September (of this and every year) and allow me to be in debit for the rest of the year

Octopus are entitled to insist that you keep your account in credit at all times, so it is fine to hit a zero target in spring and then build up a credit balance to cover winter, but not to intentionally owe them money for most of the year.

You can ask to pay the full amount of the bill each month if you prefer not to build up a credit balance with them, but that will mean you have much higher bills to pay in winter.

What you cannot reasonably expect them to do is to provide you with credit for the majority of the year.

This is not a change, it has been in the T&C's for a long time now, but they may not have enforced it before.