Shell’s recommended monthly DD too high!

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] said:

armistice said:

[Deleted User] said:

Why do people keep insisting that the answer to every DD query is “move to variable DD”?

Because people keep complaining their DD is too high / more than their usage.  If they don't understand why that's the case moving to variable DD (paying for actual monthly usage) solves those complaints.

And then creates the “why does the supplier keep changing my bill” and “why is my bill so much this month” complaints.

Plus the “I can’t afford these huge bills, what do I do” right the way through winter.

I could not have put it better. 

In my experience the consumers who appear to have the most problems with estimated readings are those on 6 month billing, or those who fail to provide monthly meter readings to their supplier. The more customer readings that a supplier gets: the more accurate the annual estimate will be.

I am with Octopus and I have had smart meters now for over 3 years. The estimates provided are usually well within acceptable tolerances.

FishInGlass

I agree Shell don't have a clue about estimating usage. I was in credit by £166 after my bill in early September. I increased my direct debit from £100 to £104 get me level in 12 months based on the £66 being taken off the direct as per the information Shell gave to MSE. However this has been credited to my account instead with the full direct debit amount to be taken later this month. As a result I am now £285 in credit and wanted to reduce my direct debit to £70 per month to take all this into account.

When I go to my account (which is due for review in 4 months) It suggests I increase my payment to £134 per month and won't allow me to reduce it.

It comes up with a predicted monthly usage of £189. My last years usage was 5470kwh  for gas (£672pa) and 1784kwh for electricity (£786pa). At the October rates that comes to monthly figure of £121.50 or £88.17 with the £400 rebate. I have even estimated my new 4 months usage in total before rebate to be approx £650, even that is lower than their predicted usage.

Even stranger is the personal projection on my latest bill of £790 for electricity and £285 for gas which ties up with neither of the above. I am on smart meters for gas and electricity so there should be even less chance of getting things wrong.

The only reasons for not going onto whole bill direct debit before were a) I was with two reliable companies before they were SOLRd and b) the account I use for direct debit payments is run on a tight ship with little cash left over each month. However I think I need to revisit this.

I would need to make sure I didn't go overdrawn but I would hope that there is sufficient time between the bill generation and the subsequent payment to prevent this occurring.

PS I do like a lot of the information provided by Shell such as their usage graphs. However their estimating capabilities leave a lot to be desired.

I have just found the refund page and I can get £181 back which I have requested. Maybe time to let the dust settle and repeat next month.

ariarnia

FishInGlass said:

I agree Shell don't have a clue about estimating usage. I was in credit by £166 after my bill in early September. I increased my direct debit from £100 to £104 get me level in 12 months based on the £66 being taken off the direct as per the information Shell gave to MSE. However this has been credited to my account instead with the full direct debit amount to be taken later this month. As a result I am now £285 in credit and wanted to reduce my direct debit to £70 per month to take all this into account. 

i would suggest waiting a little bit. i don't know if it's because its the first month but some companies have been being slow sending money back or changing the dd's. could be that they'll automatically take 66 from your account and send it back to you in the next few days then your reduced dd might not be enough to cover next month. we're letting the dust settle and having a look again at our projections (our own that we do in a spreadsheet) around chrismas time. 

FishInGlass

Thanks for the advice. My direct debit is due on the 20th so we will see then.