Ofgem - Suppliers and Direct Debits

Sea_Shell

Sadly, many customers want (or need) their DD, today, to be as low as possible.  Accurate or not.

They'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. ☹️

GingerTim

Sea_Shell said:

Sadly, many customers want (or need) their DD, today, to be as low as possible.  Accurate or not.

They'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. ☹️

Quite - I'm not sure it's entirely positive for Greg Jackson to proudly proclaim that Ofgem are concerned that too many of his customers have their direct debit set at too low a rate...

MWT

GingerTim said:

Sea_Shell said:

Sadly, many customers want (or need) their DD, today, to be as low as possible.  Accurate or not.

They'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. ☹️

Quite - I'm not sure it's entirely positive for Greg Jackson to proudly proclaim that Ofgem are concerned that too many of his customers have their direct debit set at too low a rate...

One might assume that Octopus are well placed to judge if those customers are building up debts as a result of the low current settings, and to what extent they are exposed to changes in the standard variable tariff...

Also the initial reaction from Greg is more in response to the original trigger for this review which was the claim that many suppliers were dramatically increasing the DD payments required without reasonable cause...

Ofgem continue to view everything through the lens of the capped standard variable tariff and do not take enough account of the affect of fixed tariffs, both in terms of the dramatic and genuine increases in DD experienced by those ending an old cheap fixed rate, and the lack of impact the next cap changes will have on those who have already fixed for the next winter...

[Deleted User]

MWT said:

GingerTim said:

Sea_Shell said:

Sadly, many customers want (or need) their DD, today, to be as low as possible.  Accurate or not.

They'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. ☹️

Quite - I'm not sure it's entirely positive for Greg Jackson to proudly proclaim that Ofgem are concerned that too many of his customers have their direct debit set at too low a rate...

One might assume that Octopus are well placed to judge if those customers are building up debts as a result of the low current settings, and to what extent they are exposed to changes in the standard variable tariff...

Also the initial reaction from Greg is more in response to the original trigger for this review which was the claim that many suppliers were dramatically increasing the DD payments required without reasonable cause...

Ofgem continue to view everything through the lens of the capped standard variable tariff and do not take enough account of the affect of fixed tariffs, both in terms of the dramatic and genuine increases in DD experienced by those ending an old cheap fixed rate, and the lack of impact the next cap changes will have on those who have already fixed for the next winter...

I agree. Ofgem doesn’t have a body of accountants and I very much doubt that its investigation was very detailed. Having been stung over SoLR and consumer credit protection costs, I can well see that Ofgem doesn’t want to see overly inflated consumer credit balances. However, given that the CEO of Ofgem had to admit earlier this week that his previous CAP forecast was out by a wide margin, I suspect that no one really knows what the next 12 months will bring.

Having said that, it would be useful if Ofgem would list the assumptions that suppliers are required to use to modify a DD payment. For example, for those who elect to stay on the a CAP, is it a rolling 12 months cost with an assumed increase/decrease next April? Are suppliers required to take the £400 Government support package into account and so on. At the moment, Ofgem just looks like an organisation that is running to standstill.

zharrt

Does anyone know how "safe" credits are with Engergy providers? I have built up a two month cushion with Octopus as I know payments will rise in the future, is this bad advice? Should I be keeping the money in an account I have creater control over?

t0rt0ise

zharrt said:

Does anyone know how "safe" credits are with Engergy providers? I have built up a two month cushion with Octopus as I know payments will rise in the future, is this bad advice? Should I be keeping the money in an account I have creater control over?

Credit is safe. As we see from the 20 plus companies that went bust, we are all paying back those credits with higher standing charges. 

QrizB

bristolleedsfan said:

QrizB said:

bristolleedsfan said:

https://twitter.com/g__j/status/1547204283191492608

For those who aren't among the Twitterati:

What is difference between your reply post and post of mine that you were replying to ?????

On my laptop last night, and ony phone now, all I see from your post is the link:

That's in Firefox on both devices.

MattMattMattUK

zharrt said:

Does anyone know how "safe" credits are with Engergy providers? I have built up a two month cushion with Octopus as I know payments will rise in the future, is this bad advice? Should I be keeping the money in an account I have creater control over?

They are safe in that you will not lose your money, however that is covered via the SoLR process, which is costing us all around £65 per year at the moment. 

k_man

Just test Firefox, same as you. Must be an 'embedded page' type of security control.

Worth knowing, at least for those that include clever links.
That said, clicking on the link works (in this case), even without being logged in to Twitter.

brewerdave

I'm vaguely surprised that BG get a tick !!
Since being SOLR'd from Neon Reef  the level of my DD has been set by a 3 year old with a toy abacus!
Firstly far too low then just right ,then reduced too low again, then set too high and if I hadn't objected earlier this month, extremely high!
With only leccy from them, they don't seem to understand that I have a relatively even distribution of usage across the 12 months as they appear to be trying to get me to build up an unneeded winter buffer even tho I'm on a fix.