EDF - monthly bill half of what they suggested.

Abella12

How can they take a rough estimate from us ?   family of 3  now , formerly 2 pensioners , us moving into a house 1 month ago ? Suggested direct debit over 100% more ? I'm not clever but even over a year that does not Equate. Why are we in are petrol / fuel crisis ? When BT and Shell have ounnoced recorded profits ? 

Thrugelmir

Abella12 said:

When BT and Shell have ounnoced recorded profits ? 

The media totally overlooks the write-off of Russian assets though. Probably as they cannot read a set of company accounts. Nor do politicians have any understanding of running a commercial enterprise. Though none of this is relevant to personal situation. In fact it's a distraction. 

pochase

Abella12 said:

Hi pochase , personally can you tell me who you are with, be easier to decide the best way forward. I have all the standard elec / gas KW / SC rates so be good to know where I'm going right or  wrong 🤔 clarity important 👍

I am with EDF on a 2 year fix until February 2024. On the expensive side with 32.905p for electricity and 9.05p for gas, but I decided on security and as we use very little gas (5000KWh) and way over average electricity a two year fix made sense for me.

At the end of the fix the second wind park from Ripple Energy should be online and I will get the cheaper electricity through my shares.

The fix is 11.58% more expensive for electricity and 23.65% for gas than SVT so I expect to start winning in October. Of course I had to give up also 1 months of cheaper SVT for March when I came of the old fix at the end of February.

Mstty

Abella12 said:

How can they take a rough estimate from us ?   family of 3  now , formerly 2 pensioners , us moving into a house 1 month ago ? Suggested direct debit over 100% more ? I'm not clever but even over a year that does not Equate. Why are we in are petrol / fuel crisis ? When BT and Shell have ounnoced recorded profits ? 

Hi Abella in most cases the rough estimates don't end up too far out on a 2/3/4 bedroom house or bungalow because they all have a national average.

They have to start somewhere and from the one reading (well amount £110) I replied to you and used our own summer usage metrics to come up with a potential yearly figure. It wasn't that far off what your energy company are proposing and to be honest the news this morning announced wrongly I hope that energy bills could go up by 40% in October. (Take that with a pinch of salt the news can't get anything right at the moment with regards to energy)

We have found ourselves in a similar situation. Moved into this house 10 months ago and we fixed our energy price and knew it was £75 a month and the usage was realistic for the house. This fixed part of our budget. Sadly our energy company went bust and our new budget for energy is £177.70 and we will do all we can to meet that budget or come under it. But that has taken away £1200 a year "fun money" 

It is tough for a lot of people out there. I now drive like I am 70 years old to get more miles per gallon out of the car just to nullify the affects of the rise in price of petrol and diesel. Pleased that we are on a five year fixed rate so we know where we are for the next 4 years and 2 months. 

To answer your question why is your direct debit double your current payment. It's because most don't have any heating on this time of year and heating is the biggest cost to any house.

You have a choice go variable direct debit and pay big bills in the winter(if we believe the 30-40% increase on the news) think £300-500 each month for Dec/Jan and Feb and you won't be too far off (maybe even more if we get a cold winter). For us paying by DD it lets us build up a surplus going into winter so we have a good Christmas and New year without having to try and find £600-1000 for fuel bills over the Dec/Jan period.

As they say it's all your choice but certainly on those figures the energy company is not trying to get one over on you. They are just preparing you for winter.

Sea_Shell

Mstty said:

Abella12 said:

How can they take a rough estimate from us ?   family of 3  now , formerly 2 pensioners , us moving into a house 1 month ago ? Suggested direct debit over 100% more ? I'm not clever but even over a year that does not Equate. Why are we in are petrol / fuel crisis ? When BT and Shell have ounnoced recorded profits ? 

You have a choice go variable direct debit and pay big bills in the winter(if we believe the 30-40% increase on the news) think £300-500 each month for Dec/Jan and Feb and you won't be too far off (maybe even more if we get a cold winter). For us paying by DD it lets us build up a surplus going into winter so we have a good Christmas and New year without having to try and find £600-1000 for fuel bills over the Dec/Jan period.

As they say it's all your choice but certainly on those figures the energy company is not trying to get one over on you. They are just preparing you for winter.

I think this is the biggest risk for those who may now choose to go for variable DD for the first time.   

I'm not sure that they quite understand how big their bills will seem come this winter (especially on the back of an October cap rise). 

That January bill landing, after Christmas, could break people IF they haven't budgeted for it, and have also been very strict with ringfencing that put aside cash and having the determination NOT to just dip into it over Christmas. 

We hear every year stories of how people struggle with the "December pay trap" as it is...without adding a massive energy bill into the mix. 

If anyone feels they can't afford their flat DD at the moment, do they realistically think they can afford potentially 3 big ones next winter.   



(I make this as a general comment, not necessarily aimed at the OP.  Just food for thought)

Mobtr

Sea_Shell said:

Mstty said:

Abella12 said:

How can they take a rough estimate from us ?   family of 3  now , formerly 2 pensioners , us moving into a house 1 month ago ? Suggested direct debit over 100% more ? I'm not clever but even over a year that does not Equate. Why are we in are petrol / fuel crisis ? When BT and Shell have ounnoced recorded profits ? 

You have a choice go variable direct debit and pay big bills in the winter(if we believe the 30-40% increase on the news) think £300-500 each month for Dec/Jan and Feb and you won't be too far off (maybe even more if we get a cold winter). For us paying by DD it lets us build up a surplus going into winter so we have a good Christmas and New year without having to try and find £600-1000 for fuel bills over the Dec/Jan period.

As they say it's all your choice but certainly on those figures the energy company is not trying to get one over on you. They are just preparing you for winter.

I think this is the biggest risk for those who may now choose to go for variable DD for the first time.   

I'm not sure that they quite understand how big their bills will seem come this winter (especially on the back of an October cap rise). 

That January bill landing, after Christmas, could break people IF they haven't budgeted for it, and have also been very strict with ringfencing that put aside cash and having the determination NOT to just dip into it over Christmas. 

We hear every year stories of how people struggle with the "December pay trap" as it is...without adding a massive energy bill into the mix. 

If anyone feels they can't afford their flat DD at the moment, do they realistically think they can afford potentially 3 big ones next winter.   



(I make this as a general comment, not necessarily aimed at the OP.  Just food for thought)

Totally agree with you. Setting up a monthly variable dd this time of year seems a great idea when energy usage is low but then cue all the posts and complaints that the meters must be faulty when they get their monthly winter bills 

Abella12

It's not an issue that I cannot afford it but I do feel there is a lot of scaremongery going on as normal in this country and anyone who has fixed seem to have the ....I told you so .....attitude. Like I said in an earlier post , I will let things settle down,  put money in an emergency account to deal with the worst winter in the history of the world so no issue , job done. Worst case I will just live on baked beans ..... no don't tell me there's a shortage and they will be £5 a tin 🤔 Lets try not to believe everything we read 🥱

Sea_Shell

Abella12 said:

It's not an issue that I cannot afford it but I do feel there is a lot of scaremongery going on as normal in this country and anyone who has fixed seem to have the ....I told you so .....attitude. Like I said in an earlier post , I will let things settle down,  put money in an emergency account to deal with the worst winter in the history of the world so no issue , job done. Worst case I will just live on baked beans ..... no don't tell me there's a shortage and they will be £5 a tin 🤔 Lets try not to believe everything we read 🥱

That's great and I hope it works out for you.

As for the BiB, We're just trying to help people (generally, not just you) not to have to hear "I told you so" later on.

And it's not just those on a fixed tariff saying that.... because even a fix is not all you can eat for £x a month.   

LADYXXMACBETH

I like to pay by DD the same amount each month a.) Because I can budget easier and won't be tempted to dip into the money I would have to put aside for winter and b.) If I overpay I get a bit of a bonus at the end of the year, maybe and c.) If the energy companies put my excess money into investments to make a profit then I think that's a good thing. We've seen from the bust companies that there could be an issue with losing money and if they have excess then they are unlikely to fold and then be baled out by the tax payer. 

jrawle

It's all very well saying a fixed direct debit helps people to avoid a big shock in the winter, but it can also lull people into a false sense of security. There's a good chance current DD amounts won't cover the cost of the higher October price cap, in which case people will find their "fixed" monthly payment is increased in the winter.

LADYXXMACBETH said:

I like to pay by DD the same amount each month a.) Because I can budget easier and won't be tempted to dip into the money I would have to put aside for winter and b.) If I overpay I get a bit of a bonus at the end of the year, maybe and c.) If the energy companies put my excess money into investments to make a profit then I think that's a good thing. We've seen from the bust companies that there could be an issue with losing money and if they have excess then they are unlikely to fold and then be baled out by the tax payer. 

You could (a) put the same money into a savings account that's easy access but where the money isn't automatically available for everyday spending on your debit card. (b) if you overpay you will have a bit of a bonus sitting in your savings account to spend as you wish. (c) you can earn interest (the upside to the bank rate increase!) rather then letting the energy companies do so.

I do think people should be able to choose which payment scheme they prefer, as everyone has their individual reasons. However, I don't like the way that fixed monthly is default and that you have often to go to great lengths, usually involving phoning up, if you want to switch to whole bill DD (at least in my experience of EDF and BG). I also think it's unhelpful that companies quote everything in terms of the estimated fixed monthly DD as there are a lot of people out there who just don't understand that they still have to pay per unit, and that the cost is ultimately dependent on usage, not fixed (I don't mean anyone on this forum, but I don't think people here are representative!)