Why in UK the DD amount is constant figure?

[Deleted User]

Sea_Shell said:

Does anyone know how Eon Next would handle the transition from FMDD to VMDD if your account is in credit?

Would they not take a DD at all, over summer, until your credit is no longer sufficient to cover that months use, and then a part DD, then the full DD?

I recently went from FMDD to VMDD with Eon Next.  They generated the first VMDD bill after the submitted reading on 1st April and took account of the existing credit to reduce the VMDD accordingly (taken on 17th April).  It produced a new balance of £0.00 after the payment had been applied to my account.  If your credit balance was larger than the bill generated, I would assume that Eon Next would not generate a DD and would continue in this fashion until your account was out of credit.  I would also imagine that when the October £200 is added to your account this would even mean a month of a low VMDD payment (or even none at all).

Sea_Shell

[Deleted User] said:

Sea_Shell said:

Does anyone know how Eon Next would handle the transition from FMDD to VMDD if your account is in credit?

Would they not take a DD at all, over summer, until your credit is no longer sufficient to cover that months use, and then a part DD, then the full DD?

I recently went from FMDD to VMDD with Eon Next.  They generated the first VMDD bill after the submitted reading on 1st April and took account of the existing credit to reduce the VMDD accordingly (taken on 17th April).  It produced a new balance of £0.00 after the payment had been applied to my account.  If your credit balance was larger than the bill generated, I would assume that Eon Next would not generate a DD and would continue in this fashion until your account was out of credit.  I would also imagine that when the October £200 is added to your account this would even mean a month of a low VMDD payment (or even none at all).

Thanks for that.   Just toying with ideas at the moment, as I'm currently overpaying on FMDD due to 2% cashback 😉



Conversely, what if a customer was in debt on their account and wanted to move to VMDD?  Would they have to settle up first, or would a separate fixed monthly charge apply to pay down the debt over and above usage?  By negotiation?

pochase

Sea_Shell said:

Conversely, what if a customer was in debt on their account and wanted to move to VMDD?  Would they have to settle up first, or would a separate fixed monthly charge apply to pay down the debt over and above usage?  By negotiation?

I can only answer that for EDF where I changed last month to VMDD and was told to be aware that I have pay all outstanding amounts  immediately. They even asked me for a meter reading for this day and generated an up to date bill to start fresh. That was the 22nd, and they wanted the next meter reading for the 29th of April, last working day of the month. Never got the next bill for the reading on the 29th

So change to VMDD is not a good move if you have a debt you are unable to pay off it seems. Also worth mentioning is that they increased my FMDD amount by almost £50 with the threat they will charge this if I don't deliver readings on time. 

Probably something I could have challenged, but I plan to give a monthly meter reading and have hopefully a working smart meter soon again, and also it would not hurt me if they do it, the next months would just be free.

[Deleted User]

Sea_Shell said:

Conversely, what if a customer was in debt on their account and wanted to move to VMDD?  Would they have to settle up first, or would a separate fixed monthly charge apply to pay down the debt over and above usage?  By negotiation?

In the circumstances above,  I'd be inclined to zeroise the account via a debit card payment before setting up a VMDD.  That being said, I suspect that they (Eon Next) would take whatever the balance is on the account although I don't know this for sure as these cicumstances did not apply to me when I changed over.  I doubt that many whose account are in debit would even countenance changing to VMDD for this very reason - potentially a huge initial DD.   

BUFF

Ultrasonic said:

Your particular plan isn't the best though. Since you stressed the money saving part it would be better to have spare money in an interest paying savings account rather than having a second current account. You'd be told what the VMDD amount will be each month and could transfer funds accordingly. 

or hold your cash in an interest-paying account with a standing order to your current account to pay for your fixed direct debits - it's all automatic.

Gerry1

BUFF said:

Ultrasonic said:

Your particular plan isn't the best though. Since you stressed the money saving part it would be better to have spare money in an interest paying savings account rather than having a second current account. You'd be told what the VMDD amount will be each month and could transfer funds accordingly. 

or hold your cash in an interest-paying account with a standing order to your current account to pay for your fixed direct debits - it's all automatic.

Until your energy company increases the DD, you don't contact the bank to increase the amount of the Standing Order, there's a shortfall and the energy company unleashes the Debt Collection hounds... 

Ultrasonic

molerat said:

Ultrasonic said:

VMDD needs monthly readings as far as I can see, which is of course perfectly doable with smart meters. 

That bit made me chuckle, if only !

My daughter has just started looking after her FIL's house.  Smart meters fitted and IHD working and showing current tariff rates.  Big red letter arrived stating no meter read has been sent in for over a year so if not actioned bill will be estimated. Meters had been fitted by current energy supplier who were the local "electricity board" who he has always been with, he used to work for them.  Property is in a large estate on the inner edge of the town.  There is little hope of a working fit for purpose smart metering system in the foreseeable future.

I said it was perfectly doable, not that all smart meters work flawlessly  . Most do though.

Chrysalis

molerat said:

Ultrasonic said:

VMDD needs monthly readings as far as I can see, which is of course perfectly doable with smart meters. 

That bit made me chuckle, if only !

My daughter has just started looking after her FIL's house.  Smart meters fitted and IHD working and showing current tariff rates.  Big red letter arrived stating no meter read has been sent in for over a year so if not actioned bill will be estimated. Meters had been fitted by current energy supplier who were the local "electricity board" who he has always been with, he used to work for them.  Property is in a large estate on the inner edge of the town.  There is little hope of a working fit for purpose smart metering system in the foreseeable future.

Yep this is another problem, I have started to notice a trend of posts reporting people have dysfunctional smart meters acting as dumb meters, where the supplier has failed to fix the problem.  I note myself I had to wait over 5 weeks for smart meter install, and then after my long fight over a month for a appointment to replace IHD, so the company that does meter related to work seems over burdened and has perhaps impacted the processes followed by the suppliers on how they deal with meter problems that need callouts.

This needs fixing, as we need working smart meters, to get as many as possible on actual meter readings.

Spoonie_Turtle

Chrysalis said: 

Octopus have their wheel of fortune which you can spin every time you submit a reading.  Nice idea, but not enough of an incentive.

It's actually once per month per fuel, not necessarily 'every time'.  Having an accurate bill each month is incentive enough for us to submit regular readings anyway.

BUFF

Gerry1 said:

BUFF said:

Ultrasonic said:

Your particular plan isn't the best though. Since you stressed the money saving part it would be better to have spare money in an interest paying savings account rather than having a second current account. You'd be told what the VMDD amount will be each month and could transfer funds accordingly. 

or hold your cash in an interest-paying account with a standing order to your current account to pay for your fixed direct debits - it's all automatic.

Until your energy company increases the DD, you don't contact the bank to increase the amount of the Standing Order, there's a shortfall and the energy company unleashes the Debt Collection hounds... 

The energy company can't legally increase the fixed DD without notification & my approval (albeit they can word the notification so that if I don't contact them they will assume approval). The DD Guarantee backs this so if they did take I could reclaim.
I would contact the bank (more likely change the SO online but if need be I could go to my branch) so there wouldn't be a shortfall, so no debt collection hounds.