Standing Order means lower bills.

PennineAcute

So work out your estimated annual usage and go onto monthly variable direct debit (cheaper rates).  If your monthly bill is lower than your estimated monthly cost, top up the difference.  If not, just pay the bill.  Exactly the same as fixed direct debit and (if started in the summer) you can avoid the problem you say you have now.

t0rt0ise

xeny said:

lsur02 said:
Is that just energy companies or all DD payments (council tax, water, etc)?  'Up to 7%' seems a bit optimistic as it will likely vary with the company. I think the title is fine - the bill is what you pay and wth a SO it is reduced.

It is definitely with energy companies, and certainly it does vary with the company - typically between 6 &7%. At this point the title is a lie - pay by SO and overall your energy will cost you more per unit is the truth. Or are you too embarrassed to acknowledge you've probably cost yourself money?

The OP is with Bulb who don't charge more for any payment method. 

The OP is however right that Bulb do try to set the DD too high. I'm with Bulb and back in January they emailed me to explain how they set the DD. I so wish I'd kept that email because it made no sense. They wanted me to have £400 odd credit and the maths to get to that amount was very interesting. That's when I told them "no" and changed to paying by variable DD.

TheBanker

I pay by fixed Direct Debit. I like paying the same amount each month for budgeting reasons. I fully understand that this means I pay for more energy than I use during the summer months, so that I can pay for less energy than I use during the winter months.

The logic of the OP's suggestion seems to be that by paying by Standing Order, your monthly payment can reflect the actual usage during that month and therefore currently, when usage is lower because it's summer, they are 'saving money'.

By the same logic, they will be paying more than me in December when it's cold because I'll be using the credit I've built up. So does that mean I'm 'saving money' in December? 

When I log into my Bulb account, they are suggesting I reduce my DD. This may be because my usage is lower this year because I've made an effort to cut back, and I've not been working at home as often since January. I have decided not to reduce the DD at the moment, because it will only need to increase again when the next round of price increases takes effect. But I am happy knowing I have a small cushion to see me through the winter, and that I don't need to budget for a huge bill in January.

lsur02

TheBanker said:

I pay by fixed Direct Debit. I like paying the same amount each month for budgeting reasons. I fully understand that this means I pay for more energy than I use during the summer months, so that I can pay for less energy than I use during the winter months.

The logic of the OP's suggestion seems to be that by paying by Standing Order, your monthly payment can reflect the actual usage during that month and therefore currently, when usage is lower because it's summer, they are 'saving money'.

By the same logic, they will be paying more than me in December when it's cold because I'll be using the credit I've built up. So does that mean I'm 'saving money' in December? 

When I log into my Bulb account, they are suggesting I reduce my DD. This may be because my usage is lower this year because I've made an effort to cut back, and I've not been working at home as often since January. I have decided not to reduce the DD at the moment, because it will only need to increase again when the next round of price increases takes effect. But I am happy knowing I have a small cushion to see me through the winter, and that I don't need to budget for a huge bill in January.

I also have a cushion and will pay more as my usage changes. My issue with Bulb is that they set a minimum payment under DD which is twice what I use and do not allow that to be reduced. I think you will find you cannot pay that much less under DD with Bulb.

EssexHebridean

lsur02 said:

TheBanker said:

I pay by fixed Direct Debit. I like paying the same amount each month for budgeting reasons. I fully understand that this means I pay for more energy than I use during the summer months, so that I can pay for less energy than I use during the winter months.

The logic of the OP's suggestion seems to be that by paying by Standing Order, your monthly payment can reflect the actual usage during that month and therefore currently, when usage is lower because it's summer, they are 'saving money'.

By the same logic, they will be paying more than me in December when it's cold because I'll be using the credit I've built up. So does that mean I'm 'saving money' in December? 

When I log into my Bulb account, they are suggesting I reduce my DD. This may be because my usage is lower this year because I've made an effort to cut back, and I've not been working at home as often since January. I have decided not to reduce the DD at the moment, because it will only need to increase again when the next round of price increases takes effect. But I am happy knowing I have a small cushion to see me through the winter, and that I don't need to budget for a huge bill in January.

I also have a cushion and will pay more as my usage changes. My issue with Bulb is that they set a minimum payment under DD which is twice what I use and do not allow that to be reduced. I think you will find you cannot pay that much less under DD with Bulb.

A response above clarifies something I was wondering about. OP - ask to be switched to “Variable direct debit” - that way you pay exactly the amount of your use each month. Problem solved. (And PLEASE amend your thread title here - if just one person switches to SO as a result of your thread and ends up storing up trouble for themselves as a result that will be one too many - please don’t be the cause of that!) 

pochase

Maybe you can just tell us what your annual usage is, and what the DD is set to?

lsur02

pochase said:

Maybe you can just tell us what your annual usage is, and what the DD is set to?

I don't have the yearly figure to hand. I am being charged twice as much as for what I currently use by Bulbs DD minimum.

If I use more I will pay more. I don't trust the companies not to increase the DD minimum further rather than leave it the same, if it is genuinely meant to cover a yearly average. Company estimates are usually excessive anyway so I prefer to read the meter myself.

I wonder if those commenting here actually know their energy usage anyway? It seems there continues to be a lot of trust in company figures and charges. I personally don't trust them at all.

EssexHebridean

lsur02 said:

pochase said:

Maybe you can just tell us what your annual usage is, and what the DD is set to?

I don't have the yearly figure to hand. I am being charged twice as much as for what I currently use by Bulbs DD minimum.

If I use more I will pay more. I don't trust the companies not to increase the DD minimum further rather than leave it the same, if it is genuinely meant to cover a yearly average. Company estimates are usually excessive anyway so I prefer to read the meter myself.

I wonder if those commenting here actually know their energy usage anyway? It seems there continues to be a lot of trust in company figures and charges. I personally don't trust them at all.

If it helps to reassure you, we used 4500 kWh electric and 270 kWh gas last year. With the day/ night split on the electricity being 25/75%. You’ll find that the regular posters here - and indeed most of those who have tried to explain to you where you are getting confused do indeed know their use down to the last kWh - and indeed know the subject matter at hand extremely well also. 

As previously suggested, it is really important that you work out your actual annual use - simply repeating “they’re charging me double” when it’s already been confirmed that you are confusing DD amounts and energy charges isn’t helping anyone, and especially not you! The risk now is that come January/February you are going to receive terrifyingly high bills and you will simply not have the money in the bank to pay the required amount by SO those months,  what is your plan to ensure that this doesn’t happen? 

Even variable DD as I suggested above does require a high level of proficiency both on budgeting and in terms of predicting what those bills are going to be - at the moment I think it would be safe to say that your thread is not exactly inspiring many of us with confidence that you are ticking either of those boxes, and for the many who post here because they genuinely want to help people manage their money and their bills better, that’s a concern. The fact that you are quite happy to leave your misleading thread title unchanged in spite of the fact that it has been repeatedly explained to you how harmful it is rather underlines this.

[Deleted User]

There's nothing wrong with you choosing to do things that way.

My salary is the same each month, my other outgoings are similar each month, and I don't really fancy having my payment to the energy supplier quadrupling in the winter.

Leave off with the comments about people who disagree just not knowing enough though - there are many knowledgeable people come on here to help others and it's offensive for you to essentially be accusing them of being corporate shills.

victor2

lsur02 said:

pochase said:

Maybe you can just tell us what your annual usage is, and what the DD is set to?

I don't have the yearly figure to hand. I am being charged twice as much as for what I currently use by Bulbs DD minimum.

If I use more I will pay more. I don't trust the companies not to increase the DD minimum further rather than leave it the same, if it is genuinely meant to cover a yearly average. Company estimates are usually excessive anyway so I prefer to read the meter myself.

I wonder if those commenting here actually know their energy usage anyway? It seems there continues to be a lot of trust in company figures and charges. I personally don't trust them at all.

Get your actual annual kWh figures billed from previous statements, or just get your readings from as close to a year apart as you can and work it out. Then cost that on your current tariff, including the standing charge for a year and divide the total by 12. That's a realistic monthly figure to spread the cost evenly through the year.

Alternatively, as has been said many times, switch to a variable DD and you will only pay for what you have actually used. You'll be paying in arrears, so are actually getting the utilities before you pay for them.