Where's my £66?

Bimbly

Direct debit went out today. It's supposed to be reduced by £66 because of the government scheme. It was not.

I'm with Octopus. Recommended DD for me is £200, but I put it up to £250 a week or so ago to try to build up some credit.

Astria

Bimbly said:

Direct debit went out today. It's supposed to be reduced by £66 because of the government scheme. It was not.

I'm with Octopus. Recommended DD for me is £200, but I put it up to £250 a week or so ago to try to build up some credit.

So £250 was taken by DD?

How much was actually credited to your account?

Janey51

I'm with Octopus and my DD was reduced by the £66 which would have made it £183 but I increased it back to £250. I was obviously a bit late for this month's DD as they took £183 but says £250 from next payment.
Did you not get the email explaining it all?

Swipe

No £66 from EDF yet either

Brie

Not sure a week is long enough lead time to amend the DD so possibly it was still the £200 that was taken.  There should be something on your account to show when the initial £67 will be either refunded or deducted.  

molerat

I suspect people changing their DDs all over the place has totally confused the computers.  Putting the DD up to £250 has likely set the system to £250 actually taken plus £66 credit when the correct thing to do was likely set the DD to £250 - £66 so that £184 was taken and the DD will increase to £250 in April.

funny.money

Swipe said:

No £66 from EDF yet either

My DD to EDF went out today,  no reduction, still £170. I thought I read somewhere that EDF's policy was to refund the £66 into bank accounts? Have I got that right? If so that didn't happen either.

Is that the best thing to do? People will be paying less for their energy,  in theory £104 will have gone from my bank account,  but unless I pay that £66 back into my energy account how is that helping with the increased costs, incurring debt?

Some people will spend that money on other things, necessary things,  like food.

molerat

https://www.edfenergy.com/for-home/energy-bills-support-scheme

Is that the best thing to do? People will be paying less for their energy,  in theory £104 will have gone from my bank account,  but unless I pay that £66 back into my energy account how is that helping with the increased costs, incurring debt?

Whichever way it was done 50% of the population would complain about it.  This way is treating people like adults, £66 of their energy bill is being paid for them for 6 months and they can choose what they want to do with that money.

MWT

Bimbly said:

Direct debit went out today. It's supposed to be reduced by £66 because of the government scheme. It was not.

I'm with Octopus. Recommended DD for me is £200, but I put it up to £250 a week or so ago to try to build up some credit.

The credit will arrive shortly.

... and re the DD it sounds like your increase to the DD may have happened after their decrease, or conflicted with their decrease, but either way you have full control so just set it where you want it to be, the £66/67 will arrive in your account each month regardless... 

Bimbly

Thanks everyone. I agree, it looks like my decision to increase my DD to £250 has confused Octopus.

Yes, the whole £250 was taken. I was surprised because that was not what was supposed to happen (should have been £250 -£66 (£184)).

To answer a question above, my account says that the £250 DD credit is pending. 

I imagine it will come out in the wash. It will be interesting to see if my bank account or my Octopus account gets credited with that £66.

I'm not going to complain to them - unless the £66 doesn't turn up by the end of the month - I'm sure it's all a bit of a nightmare at their end.

MWT

The £66 will appear in your Octopus account, the 'pending' bit for the DD payment is normal as the banks have a few days during which they can reverse the DD if there are insufficient funds in the customer account, so Octopus wait for that period to elapse before considering the payment as made.

The reduction in the DD payment was implemented by reducing the level it was set to, not by taking less than was shown on the account DD settings, so what you have experienced is 'correct', just waiting for the £66 to credit now...