Standing Order means lower bills.

John464

[Deleted User] said:

I am always amazed at the number of my generation that stand outside the PO each week to collect their pension in cash.

Thats not necessarily for financial reasons.
My mum does that despite having no need to. 
She has 2 private pensions paid into her bank account, and all her bills online on direct debit which she leaves me to manage. Just the state pension she goes to collect in cash every week.
She says she does it to support the village Post Office.
I think she just likes the outing to the Post Office to talk to all the others she meets there. 

EssexHebridean

[Deleted User] said:

Perhaps the mods could do some moderating and close this thread down. I cannot believe that it has reached 9 pages. 

That is sometimes the effect when an awful lot of people are trying desperately to set someone straight, and at the same time ensure that that person is not also misleading others into making mistakes with their own energy accounts. 

Trynsave2

lsur02 said:

If you pay energy bills by Direct Debit, change to paying by Standing Order. You then control how much you pay monthly and can change this as you usage changes every few weeks.
Get the company's sort code, account number and your customer reference.
Companies are taking advantage of the Direct Debit system. Standing Orders give you control over payments.
I have done this for 5 months with Bulb with no problems. Look into it to reduce payments!

The OP has made some factually correct statements eg 'change to paying by Standing Order. You then control how much you pay monthly and can change this as you usage changes every few weeks.' and 'Standing Orders give you control over payments.' 

The key however is that the OP has been practicing this for the last 5 months, ie from March as the weather started to warm and in only paying for current usage no cushion has been made for when usage inevitably increases.

Assuming my annual energy bill was £2400, wishful thinking, and assuming the same rate per kWh was charged regardless of method of payment, I for one would rather opt pay £200 for each month than £50pm Apr to Sept and £350 pm Oct to March. The total amount paid is the same, but the impact on my budget over the colder months is harder to manage.

What people on here have been trying, and spectacularly failing, to convince the OP is that we know we are paying over what we use for half the year. That is the whole point. However we also know that because of those overpayments we will be paying less than we actually use in the colder months.

If the OP doesn't forfeit any incentive for paying by direct debit, is saving hard for winter usage or has high discretionary income so they can cover the higher costs, and is more comfortable with not holding a credit balance with a company who may fail, then all power to their elbow. Unfortunately, many will be charged a higher rate for not paying by direct debit and many won't get around to saving enough to cover winter usage. Therefore for most people the idea of paying for month on month usage is foolhardy and to suggest it to those as a way to navigate astronomical price rises is at best reckless and at worst life threatening. 

Please, please people. Don't try this at home unless you really know what you are doing!!

Trynsave2

I should have added that the reason why people have objected to the thread's title is because method of payment has no impact upon energy used and therefore money owed ie the bill. In fact, for many, paying by standing order will actually increase unit rate and therefore amount owed.

Sounds obvious, but the only thing that can affect the amount you owe is how many things you plug in and how long you plug them in for. Some things use little energy, eg electric toothbrush charging whilst other things, usually those that heat stuff up, are energy hungry. Try to reduce heating, ironing, hairdrying, tumble drying etc to reduce your bills. Don't change the way you pay your bills.

EssexHebridean

No - the reason people are objecting to the title is because in fact for most people paying by SO* means HIGHER bills - you are literally charged at a higher rate for using this payment method. So the OP’s title is not only wrong, it risks misleading people into going down a route that will actively cost them money. As this site is not called “money wasting expert” that’s not what most of us feel is needed here! 

The irony is that there is a perfectly good way to do precisely what the OP thinks they’re doing without it costing most people any more - that is variable DD. The majority of energy suppliers offer this (there are a few exceptions, in the same way that the OP’s supplier is a rare exception in not charging more for non DD payments) and it does exactly the same but without the manual input (and risk of forgetting to amend a payment and so paying a bill short and finding yourself in debt) that the OP is currently putting in each month. 

The other red flag for people deciding to switch to any payment method where the whole bill amount is cleared each month is highlighted in the first of the two replies immediately above this - “ the impact on my budget over the colder months is harder to manage” - the ONLY way of taking on this method is to ensure that each month the same as an accurate 12 monthly average amount is set aside - but even that relies on starting at the right point in the year, For people looking at switching to variable now for example, they’re not going to have the same “cushion” build up ahead of the December > February bills as someone who has been planning for these since the spring. With the right budgeting, and scrupulous attention to that budgeting, there is no greater impact on the monthly budget in any one month. Without that attention, it’s going to be nightmarish. And throw another price increase in January into the mix and for many disaster will follow as they find themselves simply unable to pay a bill. 

Edited to address the previous typo highlighted "kindly" by Dolor... 

400ixl

lsur02 said:

I have the yearly  figure but not to hand first thing on a bank holiday morning .  More relevantly, I know the monthly amount because I read the meter and Bulb confirms the amount used in the monthly statement.  That's what I pay month by month.

You have been dodging answering this question for far longer than just a bank holiday morning. Would it undermine your whole argument by any chance.

Happened to be speaking to a friend yesterday who is with Bulb, they had a notification of their DD going up, they provided Bulb with their calculation of annual usage at the new October rate and the guesstimated 23 rate and were able to set it at the level they wanted, no questions asked.

funny.money

John464 said:

[Deleted User] said:

I am always amazed at the number of my generation that stand outside the PO each week to collect their pension in cash.

Thats not necessarily for financial reasons.
My mum does that despite having no need to. 
She has 2 private pensions paid into her bank account, and all her bills online on direct debit which she leaves me to manage. Just the state pension she goes to collect in cash every week.
She says she does it to support the village Post Office.
I think she just likes the outing to the Post Office to talk to all the others she meets there. 

Also it's her 'cash' in her purse. Our generation still like to have that.  My husband was self employed and some of his earnings was paid in cash.  Therefore until he retired neither of us had any need to use ATMs. Which a lot of us oldies also dislike.  I only do it once a month,  take out the maximum and that does us fine till the next time.  Which seems to come around ever more quickly!

[Deleted User]

EssexHebridean said:

No - the reason people are objecting to the title is because in fact for most people paying by DD means HIGHER bills - you are literally charged at a higher rate for using this payment method. 

Over the years, I have been with EDF; NPower; Iresa; Ovo; Zog  and now Octopus and not one of them has put me on to a more expensive tariff because I paid by a ‘fixed’ monthly DD.

You claim ‘most people’ will end up paying higher bills which by definition means 50% or more. To put this to bed for once and for all can I ask you to provide some evidence in support of your claim.

Before you go looking, like 9800 others, my gas supply was transferred from Zog to EDF under SoLR terms. Initially, EDF put all ex Zog customers onto their pay on demand tariff with the provisio that if customers set up a monthly DD plan by the end of January they would be put onto a cheaper DD tariff. I eventually had to take EDF to The Energy Ombudsman because of an incorrect billing CREDIT that it applied to my account for the tariff change - and I won my case.

chris_n

[Deleted User] said:

EssexHebridean said:

No - the reason people are objecting to the title is because in fact for most people paying by DD means HIGHER bills - you are literally charged at a higher rate for using this payment method. 

Over the years, I have been with EDF; NPower; Iresa; Ovo; Zog  and now Octopus and not one of them has put me on to a more expensive tariff because I paid by a ‘fixed’ monthly DD.

You claim ‘most people’ will end up paying higher bills which by definition means 50% or more. To put this to bed for once and for all can I ask you to provide some evidence in support of your claim.

Before you go looking, like 9800 others, my gas supply was transferred from Zog to EDF under SoLR terms. Initially, EDF put all ex Zog customers onto their pay on demand tariff with the provisio that if customers set up a monthly DD plan by the end of January they would be put onto a cheaper DD tariff. I eventually had to take EDF to The Energy Ombudsman because of an incorrect billing CREDIT that it applied to my account for the tariff change - and I won my case.

Based on the rest of the answer I suspect there is a not missing between people and paying.

EssexHebridean

[Deleted User] said:

EssexHebridean said:

No - the reason people are objecting to the title is because in fact for most people paying by DD means HIGHER bills - you are literally charged at a higher rate for using this payment method. 

Over the years, I have been with EDF; NPower; Iresa; Ovo; Zog  and now Octopus and not one of them has put me on to a more expensive tariff because I paid by a ‘fixed’ monthly DD.

You claim ‘most people’ will end up paying higher bills which by definition means 50% or more. To put this to bed for once and for all can I ask you to provide some evidence in support of your claim.

Before you go looking, like 9800 others, my gas supply was transferred from Zog to EDF under SoLR terms. Initially, EDF put all ex Zog customers onto their pay on demand tariff with the provisio that if customers set up a monthly DD plan by the end of January they would be put onto a cheaper DD tariff. I eventually had to take EDF to The Energy Ombudsman because of an incorrect billing CREDIT that it applied to my account for the tariff change - and I won my case.

Typo - should be SO instead of DD of course. (I'll return to the post and edit, and note the alteration) Surprised that wasn't relatively straightforward to work out TBH allowing for my previous input into the thread, and really not convinced that the attitude apparent in your reply to me was necessary.... 

The evidence in support of "my claim" once the obvious typo is taken into account is that almost every supplier had a discount for payment by Direct Debit - and that discount will not be applied in the payments are made by other methods. So yes - if "most people" start paying by standing order as per the OP's thread title it WILL mean higher bills....