Double Check DD Adjustments

condoghost

If like me you are with Octopus then I strongly suggest you double-check the email sent by Octopus where they lower your DD by the amount of the £66/month energy bills support payment.

Octopus advise

• it has now reduced all DD in October in line with the first installment of £400 energy bill support payment, and notified customers that this has happened
• it will be reviewing all customers' DDs shortly to check whether they need to change following the rise in prices under the energy price guarantee from 1 Oct
  

As Octopus is lowering the DD by the amount of the £66/month energy bills support payment before the rise in prices under the energy support price guarantee from 1 Oct there is every possibility the DD will have to be changed again to cover that rise in prices 1 Oct

• Before 1 Oct Prev balance £300cr, DD £120, bill £120, new balance £300 cr.

Lower DD by £66/month, it now looks

• Before 1 Oct Prev balance £300cr, DD £54, bill £120. new balance £234cr already eating up a 'credit balance' in a 'warm month'.

Better not to change DD now - if Octopus have changed it, change it back.

Wait and see what-is-what after the rise in prices 1 Oct have been applied in our Oct Bill to see what change is needed - and manage our understanding of that as it is more complex with all the levels of support being provided.

I strongly feel that reducing all DD in October in line with the first installment of £400 energy bill support payment was/is way to premature given the DD will then more than likely have to be changed again following the rise in prices under the energy price guarantee from 1 Oct.

It's all a 'juggling act'. I know my DD is lower than my usage in these 'warm months' so does not cover my usage across the year through colder months but then at the same time my balance is £597cr with other support continuing down-the-road.

I could drop my DD by the £66/month energy bills support payment but then more likely than not that 'Balance cr' will get eaten-up much much faster in the colder months usage and I'll be 'advised' to change it back to a much higher amount than now come January whereas my objective is for a much higher amount than now to happen after April 2023.

Best of luck everyone 'balancing our books' 'tightening our belts' 'pulling up our socks' 'battening down our hatches' 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' whilst governments sit-back and allow such gouging to happen blaming everything but themselves for this situation to exist.

At least in the '50s/'60s we had an open coal fire to heat the living room and provide us hot water - especially for the tin-bath in the living room and hot water bottles inside our beds.

[Deleted User]

It’s a good point that some people haven’t noticed yet, that DDs might have to go up to cover higher unit rates even with the government rebate.

But why the sudden need to get political at the end of your comment?  The government have both given you ‘free’ money and have capped the price you will pay - that’s not exactly “sitting back and allowing gouging”

What workable solution would you suggest that they have missed, that doesn’t rely even more on the magic money tree, would work for more than a month or so, and doesn’t need to do twenty years worth of investment in six months?

pochase

condoghost said:

• Before 1 Oct Prev balance £300cr, DD £120, bill £120, new balance £300 cr.

Lower DD by £66/month, it now looks

• Before 1 Oct Prev balance £300cr, DD £54, bill £120. new balance £234cr already eating up a 'credit balance' in a 'warm month'.

Are you sure about your credit been reduced?

You are paying the £120 bill with your DD of £54 plus the £66 from the government, so your credit will stay the same.

Alnat1

OP has missed the fact that £66 from the government will be credited to their energy account as well as the £54 DD.