Can you overpay to your gas/electricty supplier in advance

Romeo5793

I'm with EON on their standard/market cap. My monthly DD is £390 - which is too little but that is all I could budget for when they put it up to what I had been paying for years - approx. £140 per month. I realise I am underpaying and I'm currently £500 in debit (down from £980, somehow). I'm in a position with a work bonus to clear this before everything goes insane in October.  My question is should I overpay and pay £1000 in, which I am lucky enough to be able to do right now, before my DDs have to go up even more? Can/should you?

The current existing customer fix they are offering me is coming out at £598 per month - which I simply will not be able to afford on a monthly basis.

Alnat1

If the company are not demanding more then it's a personal choice. Would you feel better heading into winter if you didn't have the debt?

Also might be worth looking at ways to cut energy use or spend some of it to insulate the house.

QrizB

Romeo5793 said:

My question is should I overpay and pay £1000 in, which I am lucky enough to be able to do right now, before my DDs have to go up even more? Can/should you?

If you can trust yourself not to spend it, the extra £500 (above and beyond your -£500 balance) is better off in your bank account than E.ON's.

The current existing customer fix they are offering me is coming out at £598 per month - which I simply will not be able to afford on a monthly basis.

Even allowing for the £500 debit, you seem to be paying a lot. The "average customer" will probably be paying around £250 a month from October. Is there a good reason for you to use far more energy than the average household? Can you cut back anywhere?

Mstty

What is your actual energy usage in a year in kWh for elec and gas(if you have it)  we know your account is in debit to the tune of £500.

Romeo5793

5 person household, 3 teenagers, 2 adults working from home, online all day, 4 bed detached house.

According to EON our usage is:

Elec - 7,223kWh

Gas - 31,298kWh

I personally think that their elec usage is a bit high - according to my Loop smart meter app it's closer to 6000kWh, gas prob about right.

In the Cheap energy club I have it as (from my last annual statement from a different provider):

Elec - 5800 kWh
Gas - 31800 kWh 

Have a Nest thermostat, electricity is tumble dryer, dishwasher and two electrical showers plus hot water.

Mstty

Wow your energy usage for a 4 bed house is off the chart.

You regularly state can't afford so that begs the question

Do you want to cut down your energy usage? If so do you know how?

QrizB

Romeo5793 said:

5 person household, 3 teenagers, 2 adults working from home, online all day, 4 bed detached house.
According to EON our usage is:

Elec - 7,223kWh

Gas - 31,298kWh

Both of those numbers are huge; the average is 2900kWh/yr for electric and 12000kWh/yr for gas. You've got a bigger home and a bigger household than average, but not 2.5 times bigger.

Currently, on the SVT, you're looking at an energy bill of around £4600/yr, £385/month (pretty much what you're paying now).

Come October that's likely to increase to £7200/yr, £600/month (close to the fixed rate you say you can't afford).

Anything you can do to reduce that usage to a more reasonable level is worth doing.

EssexHebridean

An easy win on the electric would be to switch from electric showers to ones run from the boiler - do you have the facility for this? It could be worth considering what the costs might be to get the showers changed, in fact - particularly if your three teenagers are stereotypically teenager-ish in their use of said showers! 

Your gas use is enormous though - that HAS to be able to be reduced. what level do you have the thermostat set at? And are you currently heating rooms where people also have windows wide open "for fresh air"? 

Your debit balance is falling currently because of the time of year - come October though it will start going the other way again, and fast. 

Personally I'd say yes, as long as your supplier can cope with manual payments, pay the full £1000 across to them - normally I'd agree with it being better earning you some interest but it sounds like you might be safer just getting it moved to where it needs to be. 

markin

The £500-1000 may be better spent on loft insulation or upgrading any single glazed windows, Use the gas shower if you can, and lower the thermostat in the day.

Is the last months gas usage low with it just being hot water? 

If you have a hot water tank, make sure the Immersion heaters not on.