DD rules on deemed tariffs

LindsayT

@MWT, although mine is not about SoLR, I had already posted about £80 on thread about "will Octopus keep their word".
This is now copied from the email:
You don't currently have a Direct Debit set up, which adds significantly to the admin and costs of supplying energy to you. You could typically save an extra £80 a year simply by paying with Direct Debit.

bristolleedsfan

Several customers posted about this on  twitter yesterday evening, not seem any replies from Octopus as of now.

I would also be interested to see how £100 cheaper than EPG adds up

https://twitter.com/thespudman/status/1572332360535793665

Chrysalis

Yeah this is interesting, was going to say someone posted about it on my Octopus communication thread, but its here now as well.

Hopefully they reply to that tweet.

MWT

LindsayT said:

@MWT, although mine is not about SoLR, I had already posted about £80 on thread about "will Octopus keep their word".
This is now copied from the email:
You don't currently have a Direct Debit set up, which adds significantly to the admin and costs of supplying energy to you. You could typically save an extra £80 a year simply by paying with Direct Debit.

Thanks, hopefully Octopus will comment on Twitter, or elsewhere, so watching for a response...

MattMattMattUK

fivegoldstars said:

I was moved to Octopus from Avro as a supplier of last resort and as its classed as a deemed tariff, I paid DD rates despite having no DD in place. I remember at the time seeing that this was part of Ofgems rules, and it was something ML publicised quite heavily back in the day. 
I've continued to get DD rates through the last couple of rises, as my tariff is still Avro variable, but my letter this time round quotes non DD unit rates and says I'd save with a DD. Are Octopus pulling a fast one?

What the system will be going forward with Octopus and different rates for different payments appears to be in flux due to the nature of the EPG. However in answer to the OP's question, no they are not pulling a fast one, if they have been forced to switch over due to the EPG then if you want the Direct Debit rate you will need to pay by Direct Debit. 

[Deleted User]

MattMattMattUK said:

fivegoldstars said:

I was moved to Octopus from Avro as a supplier of last resort and as its classed as a deemed tariff, I paid DD rates despite having no DD in place. I remember at the time seeing that this was part of Ofgems rules, and it was something ML publicised quite heavily back in the day. 
I've continued to get DD rates through the last couple of rises, as my tariff is still Avro variable, but my letter this time round quotes non DD unit rates and says I'd save with a DD. Are Octopus pulling a fast one?

What the system will be going forward with Octopus and different rates for different payments appears to be in flux due to the nature of the EPG. However in answer to the OP's question, no they are not pulling a fast one, if they have been forced to switch over due to the EPG then if you want the Direct Debit rate you will need to pay by Direct Debit. 

A change of DD policy would mean that Octopus would lose one of its USPs. That said, I can see why suppliers will want consumers to remain on scheduled DD payments: particularly, if what they are allowed to recover from the Government takes the lower cost of handling DDs into account. A few% on many £Bns adds up to a lot of taxpayer money.

Alnat1

There's always the option of variable DD instead of fixed DD. Octopus automatically put me on that when I switched to them, so they are perfectly happy for customers to pay that way.

bristolleedsfan

MattMattMattUK said:

fivegoldstars said:

I was moved to Octopus from Avro as a supplier of last resort and as its classed as a deemed tariff, I paid DD rates despite having no DD in place. I remember at the time seeing that this was part of Ofgems rules, and it was something ML publicised quite heavily back in the day. 
I've continued to get DD rates through the last couple of rises, as my tariff is still Avro variable, but my letter this time round quotes non DD unit rates and says I'd save with a DD. Are Octopus pulling a fast one?

What the system will be going forward with Octopus and different rates for different payments appears to be in flux due to the nature of the EPG. However in answer to the OP's question, no they are not pulling a fast one, if they have been forced to switch over due to the EPG then if you want the Direct Debit rate you will need to pay by Direct Debit. 

It might be due to high number of people cancelling direct debits, easy to have a policy that makes them  look good when by default everybody signing up online via long standing quote page has had to set up a direct debit.

"you'll never be penalised with different rates if you choose another payment method."

https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E210GB691G0&p=never+meaning

"at no time in the past or future; not ever"

fivegoldstars

I think that people are misinterpreting Octopus' claims about DD discounts and charging everyone the same. Imo, that applies pre-cap when they would set their own unit rates. They didn't offer discounts to DD payers. With the price cap, they can charge DD and non-DD rates - they're still not giving a discount to DD payers, they're just applying the Ofgem mandated charges.
My unit rates up to October are pretty much spot on for the East Mids DD rate, less a small discount from Octopus. My October unit rates are higher than the DD cap, despite Octopus claiming to offer a discount of 4%. This means that they are charging me the pay on bill rates. 

[Deleted User]

bristolleedsfan said:

MattMattMattUK said:

fivegoldstars said:

I was moved to Octopus from Avro as a supplier of last resort and as its classed as a deemed tariff, I paid DD rates despite having no DD in place. I remember at the time seeing that this was part of Ofgems rules, and it was something ML publicised quite heavily back in the day. 
I've continued to get DD rates through the last couple of rises, as my tariff is still Avro variable, but my letter this time round quotes non DD unit rates and says I'd save with a DD. Are Octopus pulling a fast one?

What the system will be going forward with Octopus and different rates for different payments appears to be in flux due to the nature of the EPG. However in answer to the OP's question, no they are not pulling a fast one, if they have been forced to switch over due to the EPG then if you want the Direct Debit rate you will need to pay by Direct Debit. 

It might be due to high number of people cancelling direct debits, easy to have a policy that makes them  look good when by default everybody signing up online via long standing quote page has had to set up a direct debit.

"you'll never be penalised with different rates if you choose another payment method."

https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E210GB691G0&p=never+meaning

"at no time in the past or future; not ever"

It's not being penalised if that's what the cap says to do.

Just for some numbers - cap rates for each payment method, Yorkshire region:

Direct Debit    - £1139
Cash/cheque - £1240
Prepayment   - £1129