Acceptable credit amount on energy account

FarmersFour

Evening all,

apologies if this has already been posted. I just wondered what was considered an acceptable amount of credit to be in on an energy account?

im currently over £400 in credit and expect to be more so at the end of this month, I don’t plan on disputing this in the slightest as I understand a good credit amount is needed to make sure winter dd’s don’t go up.

But just wondered what the general opinion is on this?

thanks

[Deleted User]

Depends on your annual usage and billing frequency.  I'm nearly £700 in credit at the moment with an annual usage lower than average - 10200kWh gas and 2300kWh electricity - my fixed DD is £250 each month.

uksitebuilder

Really depends on your gas/elec usage. Obviously wit hthe winter months looming, you will use more for heating and so I would suspect that credit amount to decrease over the next 7 months or so

sienew

FarmersFour said:

Evening all,

apologies if this has already been posted. I just wondered what was considered an acceptable amount of credit to be in on an energy account?

im currently over £400 in credit and expect to be more so at the end of this month, I don’t plan on disputing this in the slightest as I understand a good credit amount is needed to make sure winter dd’s don’t go up.

But just wondered what the general opinion is on this?

thanks

That depends how much your direct debit and usage is. Most people at this time of year seem to be at least 2-3 months in credit to help cover the higher usage in winter.

Brewer21

I've enough credit to just about cover 3 months payments, for this time of year I've got around £230. When they want more than I've got credit for I can make a separate payment, or increase my DD.
I've never had too much credit built up with any company, if so in the past I asked for it back or reduced my DD. I'm with Eon.Next, they say you can make top up payments at any time, currently my DD is set at £99.

ariarnia

our credit is currently about £900. we're on a good (pre-april) fix so when it ends in march next year our rates are going to be hugely higher than they are now (even if the government introduces some kind of cap tomorrow). 

what we did was work out what we thought our annual bill was going to be next year based on our usage and the forecast rate. then we increased our dd to that rate. that means we are now getting used to the increased payments (before we absolutely HAVE to) and we'll leave the fix with a good 4-six months of cushion. ovo also pay us 4% interest on our balances, so it also means ovo is currently paying our vat each month. 

TheBanker

Based on my estimated usage (my estimate, not the supplier's estimate), my current level of credit + the government £400 + my monthly direct debit suggest my balance will be zero by March/April. In doing these calculations I have factored in the October and predicted January price cap rises. Obviously actual usage depends on the weather, how effective my 'cutting back' measures are, and how much time I spend at home.

On the face of it, my credit balance looked excessive but the sums say it's not, when you take into account the future price rises.

Obviously when we hear from the Government about what extra support is available, I will need to re-do my calculations and can probably reduce my Direct Debit. 

facade

Octopus have an energy predictor called "view my balance forecast" which predicts what your balance would be each month, taking into account your DD and likely usage.

Having said that, it is broken this morning!

However, my DD is £220 and I have £700 credit, the predictor showed this dropping to £200 minimum, I forget whether it was February.

Anyway, that means I probably have £200 too much as of toady, so it looks like around 3 months worth of DD would be about right for today.

I left it as is, to give me a head start on the next price rise, but I could have taken back the extra £200

BUT!!!!!!!

As prices were shooting up every 3 months, all of this would continually change for the worst.  Now we might get some stability it might be worth re-assessing.

wild666

facade said:
Octopus have an energy predictor called "view my balance forecast" which predicts what your balance would be each month, taking into account your DD and likely usage.

My Octopus balance forecast isn't working maybe they're recalculating the figures for the October increase? 

facade

wild666 said:

My Octopus balance forecast isn't working maybe they're recalculating the figures for the October increase? 

Yes I said it is broken. Likely they have pulled it until The Big New Plan is unveiled in all its glory today.

[Deleted User]

TheBanker said:

Based on my estimated usage (my estimate, not the supplier's estimate), my current level of credit + the government £400 + my monthly direct debit suggest my balance will be zero by March/April. In doing these calculations I have factored in the October and predicted January price cap rises. Obviously actual usage depends on the weather, how effective my 'cutting back' measures are, and how much time I spend at home.

On the face of it, my credit balance looked excessive but the sums say it's not, when you take into account the future price rises.

Obviously when we hear from the Government about what extra support is available, I will need to re-do my calculations and can probably reduce my Direct Debit. 

Sounds like a very sensible approach.  Do you know how your supplier is dealing with the £400? Most expect the DD to not include this at all but just get a cash refund. (So if your calc expects the money to end up in your energy account you will be short)