British Gas doubled direct debit!

k_man

xzibit said:

Genuine question, why do people opt to pay by dd? Just get them to send you a bill every quarter based on your actual usage, pay. No loaning of your money. Only paying for what you’ve used. You can always put money away each month to cover the bills if you struggle with budgeting. 

With most providers, not paying by DD increases the cost, unless you mean variable DD rather than fixed DD?

For some of us, paying monthly gives us cashback, which is capped per month (so would miss out if paying quarterly). The cashback is significantly more than interest earned by keeping in savings.

And I think your last statement is a bit of a self contradiction, as anyone that can put money away monthly, is unlikely to be someone that struggles with budgeting.
For many, fixed monthly payments (assuming the calculated values are right), means they don't have to work out usage during the year, with changing unit costs and changing per month usage.

xzibit

But is the saving enough to warrant them
demanding any amount of money they see fit? This case being a prime example. Surely paying for actual usage is better than paying money for possible usage. 

Mstty

xzibit said:

But is the saving enough to warrant them
demanding any amount of money they see fit? This case being a prime example. Surely paying for actual usage is better than paying money for possible usage. 

I am sure the OP has already sorted this paying by variable DD.

They keep all the discounts attributed to paying by DD and only pay for what they use monthly.

That's the best way under the current systems for those that want to opt out.

QrizB

xzibit said:

But is the saving enough to warrant them demanding any amount of money they see fit?

For the average customer, DD payment is about £120/yr cheaper than cash/cheque/card.

Mstty said:

I am sure the OP has already sorted this paying by variable DD.
They keep all the discounts attributed to paying by DD and only pay for what they use monthly.
That's the best way under the current systems for those that want to opt out.

Yes, exactly this.

witchwood

QrizB said:

xzibit said:

But is the saving enough to warrant them demanding any amount of money they see fit?

For the average customer, DD payment is about £120/yr cheaper than cash/cheque/card.

Mstty said:

I am sure the OP has already sorted this paying by variable DD.
They keep all the discounts attributed to paying by DD and only pay for what they use monthly.
That's the best way under the current systems for those that want to opt out.

Yes, exactly this.

I was wondering the same thing. I know by paying DD it is cheaper ( my dad still pays cheque despite us trying to get him to change) but I was totally unaware of the option of paying by variable dd. I don't think the companies want you to do that really as it doesn't benefit them. I can see it from both ways. Fixed monthly dd you know exactly what's going out each month and its easier to budget. But for me personally its easier and better to pay for what I use rather than be told what I might use and pay up front effectively. It will be more of an effort to make sure we have put enough by, but it will also encourage me to keep a closer eye on usage and notice any problems/savings etc earlier.

YBR

witchwood said:

 But for me personally its easier and better to pay for what I use rather than be told what I might use and pay up front effectively. 

This is my gripe - being told what I might use and not being able to correct it to what I predict I might use. My records are much better than the energy company's because I've been in the house longer than I've been with any energy company, and I also know what changes I've made and when (double glazing, Electric car, removing storage heaters and so on).

Octopus insisted on setting the DD based on the previous energy bill.
The previous energy bill was highly inflated by BG and had not been corrected as I was only with them the few months it took to administer SoLR and get my credit refund from TE, I'd not yet clocked up a full year with TE, and the previous supplier was another sort-lived SoLR ...

Mstty

YBR said:

witchwood said:

 But for me personally its easier and better to pay for what I use rather than be told what I might use and pay up front effectively. 

This is my gripe - being told what I might use and not being able to correct it to what I believe I might use. My records are much better than the energy company's because I've been in the house longer than I've been with any energy company, and I also know what changes I've made and when (double glazing, Electric car, removing storage heaters and so on).

But there is no gripe to be had a simple call and boom variable DD as long as you have no debt on your account👍

The concern is not for people who can plan financially it's for those that can't. At the moment usage is low so for us £60 a month but we know with the October price rises and energy use up in winter the dreaded post Christmas January energy bill could be £300-450. We prefer to pay £177.70 a month because it's easy and we track our usage.

wild666

Our smart meter tells us we use between 2.50-4.40 a day

This is where I took the information from the OP 

k_man

wild666 said:

Our smart meter tells us we use between 2.50-4.40 a day

This is where I took the information from the OP 

I assumed that was that meant £2.50 - £4.40 (as most users initially look at costs rather than usage).

Albeit we know prices on IHDs are not always accurate anyway.

oldagetraveller1

Totally off on a tangent "Occasionally fan heater on in bathroom".

I sincerely hope this heater has a suitable IP rating for use in a bathroom?