Octopus direct debit

bristolleedsfan

MalMonroe said:

MWT said:

cherryade44 said:

edit I did email them a week ago and have heard nothing, which i think is poor considering the seriousness situation  some people find themselves in, it stands to reason if the prices have gone up then so should the DD automatically

Right now it seems that whatever the energy supplier does will be wrong

Half the people posting here are complaining that their supplier has put their DD up and when Octopus leave it for you to manage as you see fit that is wrong too...

You can if you wish continue exactly as you were with a lower DD and make make top-up payments each month, and as long as you don't leave your balance negative Octopus will be happy for you to continue like that.

... or as you can increase your DD and review as you go along making an additional payment if necessary or even reducing the DD if you feel you are building up too much credit. 

Energy suppliers, as far as I can tell, are also having a tough time right now. Many of them get things wrong as we know but so far I'm fairly happy with Octopus. They are very flexible and also, if I do want to leave, there are no exit fees. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79146639/#Comment_79146639

teeny39

pochase said:

teeny39 said:

Exact same thing happened to me. I was with Avro as well, and my DD did not increase. Got a reply from Octopus saying what was stated earlier, that is up to you to increase your DD. I didn't have a recommended payment amount on the app either, but in the" bills "section of the app, you are given an estimate of your annual usage, just check your latest bill. I found this to be way more than expected (from £74 up to £186). So, I have paid off what I was owing them (£117), let them take another payment of £74 next month and see what the shortfall is. Then if I am, say, £50 in debt, I shall increase my DD to £124, or thereabouts and hope this will be enough.

Your logic is a bit flawed here. Sense of the fixed direct debit is to build up credit during summer to cater for higher bills in winter.

If you do it like described, add the debt for next months to your DD you will be up for some bad surprise next spring after the expensive months.

I know what you are getting at, but, because of where I live, I still have my central heating on, still using tumble dryer, so my usage is still quite high, obviously decreasing through the summer months. In other words, what I have to pay now should give me a bit of a surplus over the summer. Plus, I can always make a one-off payment or change my DD at anytime. The point was that Octopus didn't notify me of what I was expected to pay per month, which has never happened to me with any other supplier.

frederick1950

cherryade44 :- Do you give regular monthly meter readings?
I left Octopus because I found that everytime I gave a meter reading  they adjusted my direct debit .
I used to set it slightly higher to build up a balance but at every monthly reading they would reduce it.

[Deleted User]

frederick1950 said:

cherryade44 :- Do you give regular monthly meter readings?
I left Octopus because I found that everytime I gave a meter reading  they adjusted my direct debit .
I used to set it slightly higher to build up a balance but at every monthly reading they would reduce it.

I have been with Octopus now for over 4 years. I have manually changed my monthly DD payment via their website/App and never had an issue.