Standing Order to replace Direct Debit

lsur02

I have recently cancelled the direct debit with my energy supplier and set up a standing order units place. I have email replies from the company saying they are ok with this. I pay a bit over the amount used monthly and it shows as going through both on my bank account and the company payment page. Is this of interest to other consumers? A SO means you pay what you choose rather than allow the company to take what they want with a DD.

lsur02

'in its place'

kaMelo

The problem with a standing order is that it puts the onus on you to send the money on time rather than being on the company to collect it.
Regardless of that, the biggest problem is most people have no idea how much energy they use how much each unit of energy costs. They'll know what a pint of milk costs, a litre of petrol or a loaf of bread but ask them what a unit of electricity costs and most will not have a clue. Do a straw poll, ask people you know how much electricity and/or gas they use a year and what it costs, I'd be amazed if more than one in ten could answer accurately,  The vast majority will quote £xx.xx per month which on it's own means absolutely nothing.  

The easiest way is to set up a variable DD. That means no under/over charging as you pay only for what you use when you use it.

grumbler

lsur02 said:

 Is this of interest to other consumers? A SO means you pay what you choose rather than allow the company to take what they want with a DD.

I think many companies still offer a discount for paying by a DD.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

Bigwheels1111

That’s a good idea, easy with electric but my gas meter is in ft3 I think and one unit is about 7 billed units I think.
I give a reading once a month, Pay £75 Direct debit.
Told Octopus to like it or lump it.
Im £149 in credit as of yesterday’s reading and bill.
They called and wanted to up it to £135 a month.
I said ok I will cancel the Direct debit now and you can send me paper bills and I will send you a cheque each month.
Of corse I will forget to sign one of the cheques and forget the stamp on another envelope etc.
Back to the good old days.

MDMD

kaMelo said:

The easiest way is to set up a variable DD. That means no under/over charging as you pay only for what you use when you use it.

Depends on the supplier. Mine does not allow me to pay as I use it, I have no option but to pay their suggested amount.

I used to have an option to pay by SO but they stopped that too

Zanderman

lsur02 said:

I have recently cancelled the direct debit with my energy supplier and set up a standing order units place. I have email replies from the company saying they are ok with this. I pay a bit over the amount used monthly and it shows as going through both on my bank account and the company payment page. Is this of interest to other consumers? A SO means you pay what you choose rather than allow the company to take what they want with a DD.

It makes no difference really - you still owe them what you use.

If your DDs take too much then you'll get it back.

A DD that buffers the winter/summer use is sensible, taking more than you actually owe in summer to buffer winter costs. You can always ask for the DD to be altered to a lower figure if you want.

Using SOs instead seems of little value to me, and more hassle, but each to their own. 

elsien

Bigwheels1111 said:

That’s a good idea, easy with electric but my gas meter is in ft3 I think and one unit is about 7 billed units I think.
I give a reading once a month, Pay £75 Direct debit.
Told Octopus to like it or lump it.
Im £149 in credit as of yesterday’s reading and bill.
They called and wanted to up it to £135 a month.
I said ok I will cancel the Direct debit now and you can send me paper bills and I will send you a cheque each month.
Of corse I will forget to sign one of the cheques and forget the stamp on another envelope etc.
Back to the good old days.

I worked out my likely useage with the increased prices going on last years readings. Octopus accepted the lower amount that I suggested. 

You can also not have a direct debit and generate a monthly bill online so you pay exactly what you’ve used. There’s no need to be faffing around with paper bills and cheques. 

Ebe_Scrooge

I have to agree with Zanderman - I'm struggling to see the advantage of an SO in this scenario.

lsur02 said:

A SO means you pay what you choose rather than allow the company to take what they want with a DD.

But ultimately you have to pay for what you use.  If you underpay then you'll have to pay a big lump sum at some point.  If you overpay, that's just pointless.  Yes, DD's are not perfect, but they are generally calculated to average out over the year - and the supplier will re-calculate if you're over-paying or under-paying.  Can't really see any advantage to an SO.

Daliah

Ebe_Scrooge said:

 If you overpay, that's just pointless.  

Depends who your supplier is. Ovo pay 5% interest on positive balances up to £1,000. As this is over twice as much as you can get in an instant access account, it may well be worth overpaying a bit.

Thrugelmir

lsur02 said:

 A SO means you pay what you choose rather than allow the company to take what they want with a DD.

Do you go into a supermarket for your shopping and at the till only offer to pay for so many ofthe items........