How much credit should I have in my energy account?

tomp2494

I have £339 in there at the moment, I am a low end energy user, using below average in gas and electricity. This months use will come out in a few days, so my real credit is probably around the £290 mark. I currently pay £85 per month via DD

pochase

You are only saying what you are paying, not what you are using. What is you energy use over a 12 months period?

Brie

It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string?" type question.

If you are on a fixed tariff that's going to continue for another year and you're likely to not use a lot of energy over the coming winter then you might want to ask for a refund.  If you are on a variable one or are going to be by the time the prices go up in a couple of months you might want to leave things as they are.  

Will you have problems paying significantly higher DDs in the future?  

for what it's worth we are currently £600 in debt but I'm just letting that continue and for some reason so is our energy provider.

Mobtr

It will depend on when you were last billed. Some companies only bill every 6 months so if you had a bill 5 months ago you would expect to be in credit now, however, once you are billed you will quickly see the credit disappear 

tomp2494

pochase said:

You are only saying what you are paying, not what you are using. What is you energy use over a 12 months period?

1240 electric
5256 gas 

[Deleted User]

DD payments are not a good way of calculating anything. You need to sit down and calculate your annual cost based on your present tariff and your usage in kWh/year for both gas and electricity. You then need to factor in any increase for this coming October. 

I am a 1000kWh/year user for electricity and my estimated annual cost has just increased from £172 to £762 per year. The standing charge has increased from 25p to 47p day.

If you believe that you can ask for some of your credit back and keep your payments at £85/month, I fear that you might be disappointed.

Brie

tomp2494 said:

pochase said:

You are only saying what you are paying, not what you are using. What is you energy use over a 12 months period?

1240 electric
5256 gas 

And what does that cost on your current tariff?  Basically - does the £85 a month cover the full cost of the energy over the course of a year?  

tomp2494

Brie said:

tomp2494 said:

pochase said:

You are only saying what you are paying, not what you are using. What is you energy use over a 12 months period?

1240 electric
5256 gas 

And what does that cost on your current tariff?  Basically - does the £85 a month cover the full cost of the energy over the course of a year?  

I'm on the Octopus Tracker for gas and electric so the pricing is all over the place. I think 85 per month should just about cover my use

Brie

tomp2494 said:

I'm on the Octopus Tracker for gas and electric so the pricing is all over the place. I think 85 per month should just about cover my use

So it's back to the idea of what you are comfortably able to afford.  Can you afford to suddenly have your DD at £300 a month if the tariff increases that much?  Obviously having more credit now will lessen the need for a huge increase come October.  But if £300/month is pocket change then I'd ask for a refund and worry about the big increase when it happens.  

[Deleted User]

tomp2494 said:

Brie said:

tomp2494 said:

pochase said:

You are only saying what you are paying, not what you are using. What is you energy use over a 12 months period?

1240 electric
5256 gas 

And what does that cost on your current tariff?  Basically - does the £85 a month cover the full cost of the energy over the course of a year?  

I'm on the Octopus Tracker for gas and electric so the pricing is all over the place. I think 85 per month should just about cover my use

Hi,

to help we need to know unit price and standing charge, and actual annual usage.

pochase

If I remember correctly the caps for electricity are 40p and 11p for gas. Not sure about standing charges but they were also quite low.

So worst case scenario living at the cap would be £103



That is if Octopus is not increasing the caps for tracker, which seems unlikely, but not impossible.

So the £85 is completely sufficient taking into account your credit, and there will be even the £400.