Why in UK the DD amount is constant figure?

Thrugelmir

Gerry1 said:

Thrugelmir said:

oliverbrown said:

Thrugelmir said:

A system has that has worked well for decades. Why change it.  Now there's panic over very little.

Very little? FMDD was the cornerstone of corrupt directors getting rich from overpayment for energy, and walking away scot-free when their companies collapsed, leaving every billpayer paying for the consequences.

The companies that collapsed were all newbies to the scene. A failure of light touch regulation. No one foresaw a pandemic followed by an opportunistic war.  

That's a red herring because no energy companies have collapsed since Putin invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

Slight matter of a gas pipeline that was scheduled to open. Now mothballed. Possibly forever. The future was built on Russian gas supplies. 

GunJack

I'm with @Mstty on this...FMDD is a perfectly good and non-complicated way to do energy bills. If people don't/won't put in just a little bit of effort & maths to understand and manage their accounts, that's their look-out, but but don't inflict a possible solution to those problems onto everyone else. I too could quite happily move to VMDD should I choose but I don't. FMDD way more convenient and less hassle. And I always run my utility bills in credit as I choose to do so.....and before anyone says I shouldn't, I say why not?? It's not like the miniscule amount of interest those credit balances would produce would buy more than a loaf if that and might pay more depending on the energy supplier

pochase

GunJack said:

I'm with @Mstty on this...FMDD is a perfectly good and non-complicated way to do energy bills. If people don't/won't put in just a little bit of effort & maths to understand and manage their accounts, that's their look-out, but but don't inflict a possible solution to those problems onto everyone else. I too could quite happily move to VMDD should I choose but I don't. FMDD way more convenient and less hassle. And I always run my utility bills in credit as I choose to do so.....and before anyone says I shouldn't, I say why not?? It's not like the miniscule amount of interest those credit balances would produce would buy more than a loaf if that and might pay more depending on the energy supplier

I am with you here. While I have switched to the variable direct debit that is more that I hate that EDF only bills every 6 months if you are on the FMDD.

What is really the problem if I am borrowing £200 to the energy supplier? What could I get here in interest, almost nothing if something at all.

It seems to be that the reasoning is more that people don't want to have the supplier some cash upfront than that they are losing out by not having it.  Take aside the problems with the suppliers that lived only on upfront money.

oliverbrown

I'm not really sure why people are writing posts as if I suggested FMDD should be withdrawn altogether. FMDD should remain an option.

Section62

pochase said:

What is really the problem if I am borrowing £200 to the energy supplier? What could I get here in interest, almost nothing if something at all.

It seems to be that the reasoning is more that people don't want to have the supplier some cash upfront than that they are losing out by not having it.  Take aside the problems with the suppliers that lived only on upfront money.

It is Ok for the people who can afford to give their energy supplier money up front, but a lot of people who struggle with money - and are often encouraged to build up energy credit in the Summer - potentially have debts elsewhere attracting high rates of interest... e.g. credit cards at 20%+, or circa 40% on overdrafts.

If the energy account credit is being funded through borrowing at 39.9% then it really doesn't make much sense.

Ultrasonic

oliverbrown said:

I'm not really sure why people are writing posts as if I suggested FMDD should be withdrawn altogether. FMDD should remain an option.

I'm not really sure anyone has. You point was about stopping it being the default and many have stated they think it should stay as it is (including me). If you want to talk options then a VMDD is an option for most suppliers. If it isn't with all then I could get behind and argument that it should be.

Gerry1

Ultrasonic said:

oliverbrown said:

I'm not really sure why people are writing posts as if I suggested FMDD should be withdrawn altogether. FMDD should remain an option.

I'm not really sure anyone has. You point was about stopping it being the default and many have stated they think it should stay as it is (including me). If you want to talk options then a VMDD is an option for most suppliers. If it isn't with all then I could get behind and argument that it should be.

It certainly wasn't an option with all suppliers when we had around 70 of them.

I always asked for Variable DD but was seldom successful, most insisted that all DDs had to be fixed.

It may be that the few remaining suppliers all offer VMDD, but it should be mandatory for all suppliers to offer it as an option.

theoretica

Variable does have the strength that it is much more responsive to someone trying to cut down on energy use - or messing up and using more.  Turn the heating down to save money and it can take months or even a year for it to work through into the DD unless you actively chase it and are persuasive. 

Personally, I would like to see prepay much more flexible - and not more expensive.  PAYG has many of the advantages of a variable DD, with even less risk of running up an unexpected high bill by leaving something on. It could be funded manually, or by DD. With imagination and a bit of programming/technology, might it be possible for someone to choose to limit and control their own power use - eg cut off or ask for an additional top up after £X daytime use, always allow £Y nighttime use...  another way to put people in control of their own power and spending.

Ultrasonic

Gerry1 said:

Ultrasonic said:

oliverbrown said:

I'm not really sure why people are writing posts as if I suggested FMDD should be withdrawn altogether. FMDD should remain an option.

I'm not really sure anyone has. You point was about stopping it being the default and many have stated they think it should stay as it is (including me). If you want to talk options then a VMDD is an option for most suppliers. If it isn't with all then I could get behind and argument that it should be.

It certainly wasn't an option with all suppliers when we had around 70 of them.

I always asked for Variable DD but was seldom successful, most insisted that all DDs had to be fixed.

It may be that the few remaining suppliers all offer VMDD, but it should be mandatory for all suppliers to offer it as an option.

To be fair I should have said VMDD is available with some suppliers there and that if it isn't available with all that I could get behind an argument that it should be. I've honestly no idea what proportion of current suppliers offer VMDD but it's clear from posts here that some do. It's not something I've ever asked for and wouldn't use even if I knew it was an option (as it would be worse for me from a Santander 123 Lite accout cashback perspective).

oliverbrown

Ultrasonic said:

You point was about stopping it being the default and many have stated they think it should stay as it is (including me).

But most of the arguments were to say that they personally prefer FMDD, and not giving any real justification as to why FMDD should be the default.