Bulb pushing for monthly Direct Debit increase?

Shoxt3r

Hi there,

We've recently been contacted by Bulb to increase our monthly Direct Debits  - they say, given the increases in energy prices and so that we build up a credit in time for winter. Our current monthly payment is £62.00 which in the last couple of months hasn't been enough, so I have opted to top this up manually to keep the account in credit, but they are recommending we increase this to £128.00 a month which we simply cannot afford to do regularly.

We are currently sitting at £40.00 in credit, with the next bill due in early May when our next Direct Debit will be taken out.

Has anyone else been approached by Bulb or other energy companies to do this? Should we obey or just keep going as we are and see what happens to our payments each month?

Our tariff is "Pay Monthly Variable" which I assume is the same for all Bulb customers?

Thanks in advance.

pochase

You will need to give a bit more information to give detailed advice, like is that gas and electricity or electricity only, how much have you used the last 12 months and what region are you in.

Unfortunately the £128 are most likely very realistic. You are saying the 62£ are not enough already, add that the increase this month and a further much likely increase in October. That will almost double your current cost.

As said above, we need more information for a more detailed analysis.

TheMilkmansDad

As above, more information needed. But at a bear minimum based on what you've said (not paying enough currently + an "average" 54% increase in SVT) I would except you'd need to be paying at least (£62+54%) £93 pm to keep you on track.

Shoxt3r

Thanks pochase - this is Electricity and Gas. Confusingly they changed the name from Vari-Fair to Pay Monthly Variable.

The last annual statement was received back in June 2020 - is it just a case of adding up the last year's usage month-by-month? As a guide, according to the last statement earlier this month, our estimated annual usage is as follows:

Electricity: 1867 kWh

Gas: 11097 kWh

Our annual costs are provided by Bulb are as follows:

Electricity personal projection: £523.00

Gas personal projection: £588.00

We are in the South East, in Kent.

Having looked into the statements and "Energy usage" within the account area, the amounts do not add up. For example, this was January and February's "Energy usage" according to the account, in contrast to the monthly statements.

January

Statement total: £112.44

February

Statement total: £116.69

Joyful

Remember that these prices are all before the 54% rise plus they are expecting another large rise in October. I try to build up about £200 credit before winter comes.

MattMattMattUK

Looking at your usage from above and factoring in the recent price rise and the predicted October price rise unfortunately £128 looks optimistically low. 

pochase

Thanks @Shoxt3r

First a few questions. Do you submit regular meter readings/are you on a smart meter? If so, why only an estimated usage? 

From the estimated use I get to a annual cost of £1614.01 - the £40 in credit = £1574.01. That would be a monthly direct debit of £131.17 and does not even cater for the expected further increase in October.

Electricity	£     550.47
Gas	£     812.13
Standing charge electricity	£     152.06
Standing Charge gas	£       99.35
Total	£  1,614.01

SO the £128 direct debit order is not to high, it seems to be on the low side.

This is based on the estimated use, otherwise you would need to give me real usage figures.

Shoxt3r

Joyful said:

Remember that these prices are all before the 54% rise plus they are expecting another large rise in October. I try to build up about £200 credit before winter comes.

Agreed - the latest statement from early April pinpoints that our annual usage is estimated to be £1,580 (£695.00 on electric, £885.00 on gas). It still doesn't make sense that we are apparently paying less than our usage though? Unfortunately I don't have figures for the "Energy usage" beyond February even though we provide them with monthly meter readings?

Based on our September-December statements from last year, we were averaging around £150-200 in credit before the December, January and February bills (average of about £110 per month) came through and wiped the credit out completely.

MattMattMattUK said:

Looking at your usage from above and factoring in the recent price rise and the predicted October price rise unfortunately £128 looks optimistically low. 

Ok thanks for clarifying that. Do I have an obligation to change the monthly amount or would I be better off just topping it up when I see the account dip into debit? I assume it wouldn't affect my credit score for example since I'm paying it off within a day or so of the statement coming through.

Shoxt3r

pochase said:

Thanks @Shoxt3r

First a few questions. Do you submit regular meter readings/are you on a smart meter? If so, why only an estimated usage? 

From the estimated use I get to a annual cost of £1614.01 - the £40 in credit = £1574.01. That would be a monthly direct debit of £131.17 and does not even cater for the expected further increase in October.

Electricity	£     550.47
Gas	£     812.13
Standing charge electricity	£     152.06
Standing Charge gas	£       99.35
Total	£  1,614.01

SO the £128 direct debit order is not to high, it seems to be on the low side.

This is based on the estimated use, otherwise you would need to give me real usage figures.

Ok thank you for working all of that out for me! Yes we submit monthly readings when requested by Bulb, at least 3 days ahead of our statement and Direct Debit on the 2nd of each month. The estimations were taken from the statements that Bulb provide. We did get an annual statement in June 2020 but we haven't had one since so I find it difficult to work out our usage per month.

MattMattMattUK

Shoxt3r said:

Joyful said:

Remember that these prices are all before the 54% rise plus they are expecting another large rise in October. I try to build up about £200 credit before winter comes.

Agreed - the latest statement from early April pinpoints that our annual usage is estimated to be £1,580 (£695.00 on electric, £885.00 on gas). It still doesn't make sense that we are apparently paying less than our usage though? Unfortunately I don't have figures for the "Energy usage" beyond February even though we provide them with monthly meter readings?

Based on our September-December statements from last year, we were averaging around £150-200 in credit before the December, January and February bills (average of about £110 per month) came through and wiped the credit out completely.

MattMattMattUK said:

Looking at your usage from above and factoring in the recent price rise and the predicted October price rise unfortunately £128 looks optimistically low. 

Ok thanks for clarifying that. Do I have an obligation to change the monthly amount or would I be better off just topping it up when I see the account dip into debit? I assume it wouldn't affect my credit score for example since I'm paying it off within a day or so of the statement coming through.

The energy provider can insist based on it being a Direct Debit tariff, they are unlikely to force the issue provided you remain in credit, but it makes little sense to pay £60 pcm by Direct Debit and transfer in another £70+ via a one of payment every month, raising the Direct Debit would be the way to go. Your credit score does not matter, it is a pointless number, your credit report does matter but it would only have an impact if you missed payments or were in arrears.

Shoxt3r said:

pochase said:

Thanks @Shoxt3r

First a few questions. Do you submit regular meter readings/are you on a smart meter? If so, why only an estimated usage? 

From the estimated use I get to a annual cost of £1614.01 - the £40 in credit = £1574.01. That would be a monthly direct debit of £131.17 and does not even cater for the expected further increase in October.

Electricity	£     550.47
Gas	£     812.13
Standing charge electricity	£     152.06
Standing Charge gas	£       99.35
Total	£  1,614.01

SO the £128 direct debit order is not to high, it seems to be on the low side.

This is based on the estimated use, otherwise you would need to give me real usage figures.

Ok thank you for working all of that out for me! Yes we submit monthly readings when requested by Bulb, at least 3 days ahead of our statement and Direct Debit on the 2nd of each month. The estimations were taken from the statements that Bulb provide. We did get an annual statement in June 2020 but we haven't had one since so I find it difficult to work out our usage per month.

You can submit a meter read whenever you want with Bulb so I would recommend submitting one on the first day of the month every month, that way there will be a more accurate position showing in your account going forward. 

pochase

It is very normal to have a credit going into winter and than the credit is wiped out during the winter months.

The problem is that the credit you got last year is based on the old prices, with the new prices you will be already in debt in November if you don't increase your direct debit.

Do you have by any chance the meter readings you submitted 12 months apart, from that we can work out your approximate use.