If I switch to fixed tariff do I have to pay the stated direct debit amount or can I change it

Mstty

Alnat1 said:

Unfortunately there's a section of society who get all their media coverage through social media and they've decided it's a great idea not to pay at all.

By a great deal do you mean the 7000 people that had signed up last time I looked?

Maybe that number has increased?

Alnat1

I never mentioned numbers but I'd guess there's a few more who might follow the idea, signing up might be a bit complicated for them 

pochase

I would not sign up on their web site if I planned to participate.

Their site allows to locate people down to street level.

matelodave

Going back to the original question - it would be sensible to work out your energy consumption for the year in kwh - not money (based on what you've used in previous years) and multiply that by what you might think the cost of energy will be over the next year. Then divide that by 12 to get a monthly DD estimate. Do your own sums rather than just rely on the guesstimates of the energy company

If you've got gas and leccy from the same supplier then make sure you do the calculation for both fuels. TBH there's no big advantage in reducing your DD's to below the calculated figure (assuming that its based on previous consumption, rather that a guess) because you'll end up with a ginormous bill at the end of the period which will either have to be paid off in a lump or added to your future direct debits.

For example, I use on average 7500kwh a year leccy (no gas) - if the cost per kwh is 45p plus 50p.day standing charge then I'll expect to pay 7500 x 45p = £3375 plus 365 x 50p = £182.5 which equals £3557.50, divided by 12 gives a DD of £296.46. That's the figure I'd be expect my supplier to work out and if he didn't then I'd challenge him or change it.

The benefit of DD's is that they can smooth out your payments over the year. I know that I'll use around 70% of my energy in five months between November and April which would cost around £500 a month so I'd be around £1000 in debt come April, however the next seven months would average out at around £150 month so I'd be contributing around £150 a month to pay off the debit. At the end of 12 months my account would balance out to around zero.

There'd be no benefit in reducing my DD's knowing that I could be a grand or more in debit without enough coming out to balance the debt over the year. Likewise I've got a good idea of what I'll be using in the winter so I'm happy to build up some credit in the summer to cover it.

My alternative would be a variable direct debit which means I could end up with paying  nearly £600 in December & January  and £130 in July & August - it's OK if you can budget that way but I reckon a smooth monthly direct debit works best for a lot of people

victor2

Totally agree with @matelodave. I monitor my electric and gas usage and always know what my last 12 months usage has been. I use this to predict my own usage and costs. I adjust my DD with a rough target of hitting a zero balance at the end of my fixed tariff. Suppliers have always been happy with my adjustments if I couldn't do them online. I don't adjust every month, if my DD is within £10 of my calculation, I leave it alone. Bit trickier if you're on a variable rate, where you have to make your own estimate of the rate increases, or just cost it to the next cap increase with today's rates.

Sea_Shell

As they say "knowledge is power"!

wild666

My supplier, Octopus, are saying that I should pay £68.47 a month even though I have £256 credit. This estimate will likely increase to around £85 a month come October, I won't be changing my DD from £55 until my credit is almost zero. This could be next year some time, even if the prices per kWh increase to between 43p and 45p per kWh for electric and 17p per kWh for gas.

I monitor my electric and gas usage and in any month it rarely goes above 150 kWh per month in winter and as low as 35 kWh in the summer months that's 1100 kWh of gas and electric is a between 1350 kWh and 1680 kWh depending on what I'm using. My supplier is estimating my usage at 2100 kWh but so far this year, in 7 months I've used 870 kWh which at present usage will be 1492 kWh of electric and if the prices increase by 77% in October, £3500, then it will be less than 1492 kWh. In the case of gas I'm aiming for less than 800kWh this year to December 2022, having only used 385kWh so far this year. 

Before Avro went under I regularly used 195kWh per month of electric and 150kWh of gas each month, more in winter. 

Alnat1

Simply change to paying variable DD monthly on receipt of bill. You've been told that several times before but seem to enjoy causing agro rather that choosing the simple option.