British Gas Variable Monthly DD and £400

PennineAcute

As I pay my full bill monthly by DD, I expected (like BG said for DD payments) to pay my bill and then have £66 reimbursed into my  bank account.

Today, I have had the £66 credited to my electricity account, so sadly I will not see the benefits until my November DD, and has slightly messed up my budgetting this month.

Just a few words of caution to anyone who is on BG's Variable DD.

The_Fat_Controller

Exactly the same with EDF and their DD Whole Amount Monthly, £66 credit applied to account today.

100% in line with EDF's communication, not sure what BG said in theirs.

Astria

Ahhh you mean they've DDd you the full amount outstanding and then credited £66 to your account, rather than reducing your bill by £66, got me confused then for a moment

MWT

PennineAcute said:

As I pay my full bill monthly by DD, I expected (like BG said for DD payments) to pay my bill and then have £66 reimbursed into my  bank account.

Today, I have had the £66 credited to my electricity account, so sadly I will not see the benefits until my November DD, and has slightly messed up my budgetting this month.

Just a few words of caution to anyone who is on BG's Variable DD.

Which dates did the bill you have just paid actually cover?

molerat

It looks like BG have used the "standard credit" box for the repayment which effectively you are but paying by DD (but not monthly DD) rather than cheque etc. It was also fairly clear that any credit was going to be after you had paid them.

MuckChucker

I wish I could tell what was happening with my bill. T'was supposed to be generated yesterday but the site still says "Sorry, your plan balance and status are currently unavailable." .

For supposedly the biggest provider their site is pathetic.

PennineAcute

molerat said:

It looks like BG have used the "standard credit" box for the repayment which effectively you are but paying by DD (but not monthly DD) rather than cheque etc. It was also fairly clear that any credit was going to be after you had paid them.

Yes, it does.  Maybe my fault for assuming.

I bugetted knowing thinking that a few days after my direct debit went out, I would have £66 paid into my account.

MWT said:

PennineAcute said:

As I pay my full bill monthly by DD, I expected (like BG said for DD payments) to pay my bill and then have £66 reimbursed into my  bank account.

Today, I have had the £66 credited to my electricity account, so sadly I will not see the benefits until my November DD, and has slightly messed up my budgetting this month.

Just a few words of caution to anyone who is on BG's Variable DD.

Which dates did the bill you have just paid actually cover?

My latest bill was created on 3 October - £67.56 elec and £28.59 gas.  Period 1/9/22 - 1/10/22.  This will be taken by DD on 17 October.

44candles

This was an obvious omission in British Gas's communications about the £400 payments - they just talked about DD customers, without splitting between fixed and variable DDs.  It's almost as if BG don't want people to know that variable DDs exist...

I'm on variable DD (officially quarterly, despite many requests for this to be changed to monthly -  so I just request a manual bill two months out of every three via the online chat).  I too was credited the £66 into my account today. 

To the original poster - what is the date of your bill, and when is the DD being taken out?  If the DD has not yet been taken, I would hope that BG would take into account the existing credit in your account as part-payment of the bill, and the DD will be reduced appropriately. 

MWT

PennineAcute said:

My latest bill was created on 3 October - £67.56 elec and £28.59 gas.  Period 1/9/22 - 1/10/22.  This will be taken by DD on 17 October.

This one could go either way.

The bill is for your September use, not October so arguably that one should be taken in full, but on the other-hand the credit is on your account now so when the DD is taken it will probably deduct that from the DD amount it takes.

PennineAcute

MWT said:

PennineAcute said:

My latest bill was created on 3 October - £67.56 elec and £28.59 gas.  Period 1/9/22 - 1/10/22.  This will be taken by DD on 17 October.

This one could go either way.

The bill is for your September use, not October so arguably that one should be taken in full, but on the other-hand the credit is on your account now so when the DD is taken it will probably deduct that from the DD amount it takes.

On the other other-hand, and with regards to 'normal' monthly DD, what does someone's monthly payment cover - past, current or future use?

MWT

PennineAcute said:

MWT said:

PennineAcute said:

My latest bill was created on 3 October - £67.56 elec and £28.59 gas.  Period 1/9/22 - 1/10/22.  This will be taken by DD on 17 October.

This one could go either way.

The bill is for your September use, not October so arguably that one should be taken in full, but on the other-hand the credit is on your account now so when the DD is taken it will probably deduct that from the DD amount it takes.

On the other other-hand, and with regards to 'normal' monthly DD, what does someone's monthly payment cover - past, current or future use?

Future in general.

Most suppliers will aim to take a payment before or right at the same time as you open a new account with the objective of always keeping the account balance high enough to cover the next months use.

It gets a bit blurred though over time as people can change their DD date and sometimes their billing dates.

Also keep in mind that those payments are covering 1/12th of the predicted annual use, so at various times of the year the account may be covering a longer future period, especially going into winter...