Octopus have adjusted my direct debit

Exiled_Tyke

kingstreet said:

Got my email with the £67 reduction to DD.

Made a one-off payment of £67 by debit card. Credited immediately.

I just went into my account and revised my payments back to the pre-rebate figure.

Steve_79_P

@Exiled_Tyke That's exactly what I did too. Rather be in credit if needs be and keeps my budgeting the same.

Can totally understand that for others, the £66 for 6 months reduction will be handy for those who may be struggling week to week, but it is crucial that their usage estimates are accurate or it's just a case of delaying the inevitable for them til April 

zharrt

I am trying to work out what to set my DD at as the crystal ball mode on the octopus website suggests a yearly total of £7000!

At the moment I pay £225 a month with a unit price of 27.35p/kWH for electricity and 7.28p/kWh, against a consumption of ~£160 a month

I have been lucky enough to be in a position to over pay and am in credit by £694

Like many I got notification that my DD will drop by £66 from 1st October, I've upped this back to £225

As I understand it the unit price will now be capped at ~34p/kWh for electricity and ~10p/kWh for gas

Octopus recommend when I set my DD to pay £235 (£2832 a year), is this an accurate forecast based on the prices from 1st October? Or will it be somewhere between the £2832 and the £7000 and if so when I will I get a more accurate estimation?

[Deleted User]

zharrt said:

I am trying to work out what to set my DD at as the crystal ball mode on the octopus website suggests a yearly total of £7000!

At the moment I pay £225 a month with a unit price of 27.35p/kWH for electricity and 7.28p/kWh, against a consumption of ~£160 a month

I have been lucky enough to be in a position to over pay and am in credit by £694

Like many I got notification that my DD will drop by £66 from 1st October, I've upped this back to £225

As I understand it the unit price will now be capped at ~34p/kWh for electricity and ~10p/kWh for gas

Octopus recommend when I set my DD to pay £235 (£2832 a year), is this an accurate forecast based on the prices from 1st October? Or will it be somewhere between the £2832 and the £7000 and if so when I will I get a more accurate estimation?

We can't tell from what you have put.  You need your consumption in kWh, not in £.

zharrt

Deleted_User said:

zharrt said:

I am trying to work out what to set my DD at as the crystal ball mode on the octopus website suggests a yearly total of £7000!

At the moment I pay £225 a month with a unit price of 27.35p/kWH for electricity and 7.28p/kWh, against a consumption of ~£160 a month

I have been lucky enough to be in a position to over pay and am in credit by £694

Like many I got notification that my DD will drop by £66 from 1st October, I've upped this back to £225

As I understand it the unit price will now be capped at ~34p/kWh for electricity and ~10p/kWh for gas

Octopus recommend when I set my DD to pay £235 (£2832 a year), is this an accurate forecast based on the prices from 1st October? Or will it be somewhere between the £2832 and the £7000 and if so when I will I get a more accurate estimation?

We can't tell from what you have put.  You need your consumption in kWh, not in £.

Electricity

Estimated Annual Usage 6368.2 kWh

Gas

Estimated Annual Usage 11265 kWh

Going on https://octopus.energy/blog/how-the-energy-price-guarantee-works/

My logic is.....

Electric (6368.2 units * 33.03p) + (49.55p * 365) = £2284
Gas (11254 units * 10.28p) + (28.49 * 365) = £1262

£2284 + 1262 - £694 (credit) /12 = £237 so within the rounding error of the £235 Octopus suggests (before any government assistance)


Sometimes I just need to work the numbers though!

[Deleted User]

Correct logic and accurate calculation as far as I can see.

What an unusual usage pattern - gas pretty close to average and electricity nearly 2.5 times the average!

zharrt

[Deleted User] said:

Correct logic and accurate calculation as far as I can see.

What an unusual usage pattern - gas pretty close to average and electricity nearly 2.5 times the average!

Kids with every electronic device under the sun running when ever they are awake, and I control the Nest thermostat!

Exiled_Tyke

zharrt said:

[Deleted User] said:

Correct logic and accurate calculation as far as I can see.

What an unusual usage pattern - gas pretty close to average and electricity nearly 2.5 times the average!

Kids with every electronic device under the sun running when ever they are awake, and I control the Nest thermostat!

I can't see this usage being from electronic devices unless you've a large number of children with a large number of devices.  

Appliances with heating elements are more usually the culprits (especially if the energy use goes up in winter).  Are there opportunities to be gained from cutting down use of such appliances:  washing machine, tumble drier (avoid using unless it's a modern one with an ASHP), dishwasher, immersion heater, electric fan or convection heaters?   

zharrt

Exiled_Tyke said:

zharrt said:

Deleted_User said:

Correct logic and accurate calculation as far as I can see.

What an unusual usage pattern - gas pretty close to average and electricity nearly 2.5 times the average!

Kids with every electronic device under the sun running when ever they are awake, and I control the Nest thermostat!

I can't see this usage being from electronic devices unless you've a large number of children with a large number of devices.  

Appliances with heating elements are more usually the culprits (especially if the energy use goes up in winter).  Are there opportunities to be gained from cutting down use of such appliances:  washing machine, tumble drier (avoid using unless it's a modern one with an ASHP), dishwasher, immersion heater, electric fan or convection heaters?   

5 kids!

I know a large portion of the consumption will be my own doing as I run a home server, but have started to downsize this to something a bit more energy efficient 

Just doing some basic maths, power consumption with server running 692w, down to 520w without it so thats about £500 a year of the total

kingstreet

Exiled_Tyke said:

kingstreet said:

Got my email with the £67 reduction to DD.

Made a one-off payment of £67 by debit card. Credited immediately.

I just went into my account and revised my payments back to the pre-rebate figure.

I thought I'd leave the DD for now and will use the two "free" council tax months to boost the balance in Feb & March.