Are we all now asking our electricity providers to reduce our monthly payments?

Mstty

I would say it was more the failure of the regulator of these tin pot energy suppliers but there you go. Fixed DD's have been the norm wince I got my very first flat but it didn't go down the toilet until recently. 

Some people need this option to budget, they spend every penny that is left after their DD's go out and it certainly isn't their fault for the higher bills.

Mstty

Anyway back to topic we aren't going to change our direct debit we have a debt on our account hung over from Symbio and then the time it took to setup the DD with Eon Next so this will flatten our curve meaning after one year (Oct 3rd) with Eon Next we should be a massive £30 in credit woohoo. 

The £400 grant will then mean come end of March 2023 we should be roughly £0 on the bill.

Ultrasonic

t0rt0ise said:

It's people having huge credits with bust companies that is one of the reasons we are all paying higher bills now as they have to be repaid. Supply companies are not savings banks. This idea of using them as such is ridiculous and ultimately expensive for the rest of us. Open a savings account and put the extra there where it belongs.

Have you seen any estimate for the proportion of the SOLR costs that were associated with credit balances? My guess is that covering the costs of forcing the new suppliers to sell energy for less than it cost them is the more significant contribution but I've not seen any data on this (or looked for it).

Credit balances at the start of winter make sense for those who prefer uniform DD payments through the year, but obviously there is a limit to how large these need to be.

QrizB

Ultrasonic said:

Have you seen any estimate for the proportion of the SOLR costs that were associated with credit balances? My guess is that covering the costs of forcing the new suppliers to sell energy for less than it cost them is the more significant contribution but I've not seen any data on this (or looked for it).

I don't think we'll find out this sort of info until Ofgem publishes the details of the claims made by the SoLR's.

pete-20-11

I’ve been gradually dropping mine down via the octopus website. Now at half the recommended DD level.

part of that reason is 2x sign up payments, thus exited winter with a high-ish credit balance.

will probably have to reduce it further to account for the £400 and I’m using more of my solar this year as I’ve recently had a battery & inverter installed.

t0rt0ise

Ultrasonic said:

t0rt0ise said:

It's people having huge credits with bust companies that is one of the reasons we are all paying higher bills now as they have to be repaid. Supply companies are not savings banks. This idea of using them as such is ridiculous and ultimately expensive for the rest of us. Open a savings account and put the extra there where it belongs.

Have you seen any estimate for the proportion of the SOLR costs that were associated with credit balances? My guess is that covering the costs of forcing the new suppliers to sell energy for less than it cost them is the more significant contribution but I've not seen any data on this (or looked for it).

Credit balances at the start of winter make sense for those who prefer uniform DD payments through the year, but obviously there is a limit to how large these need to be.

They don't seem to give a complete breakdown but in 2018 there was £1.4 billion held in customers' credit, which averages at £64 per customer. The amount that the SoLR system has cost us now as an addition to the electricity standing charge is £68 per customer. That's as far as I could get with a quick google search. It's interesting in an academic sort of way.

It seems that the first to claim SoLR expenses in January claimed for £200 million for repaying credit balances. Apparently we are going to be paying for the 2021 failed companies next year too as more claims are made.

Ultrasonic

t0rt0ise said:

Ultrasonic said:

t0rt0ise said:

It's people having huge credits with bust companies that is one of the reasons we are all paying higher bills now as they have to be repaid. Supply companies are not savings banks. This idea of using them as such is ridiculous and ultimately expensive for the rest of us. Open a savings account and put the extra there where it belongs.

Have you seen any estimate for the proportion of the SOLR costs that were associated with credit balances? My guess is that covering the costs of forcing the new suppliers to sell energy for less than it cost them is the more significant contribution but I've not seen any data on this (or looked for it).

Credit balances at the start of winter make sense for those who prefer uniform DD payments through the year, but obviously there is a limit to how large these need to be.

They don't seem to give a complete breakdown but in 2018 there was £1.4 billion held in customers' credit, which averages at £64 per customer. The amount that the SoLR system has cost us now as an addition to the electricity standing charge is £68 per customer. That's as far as I could get with a quick google search. It's interesting in an academic sort of way.

Interesting. Lots of variables at play obviously but I think that suggests that credit balances represent a relatively small proportion of the total costs then, since it's only a relatively small proportion of total households that transferred energy providers via the SOLR process last year. 

Sea_Shell

I don't think "blaming" people for making use of cashback or interest on credit balance offers is constructive.  We don't make the rules!!