Shell Energy AI

lulunix

Shell are trying to increase my DD needs to £302 over the next 14 months they have already tried to automatically change it

they constantly over estimate my usage each month by over £100 even though my smart meter sends you messages every 15mins.

My current dd is £250 add in the governments £66 a month = £316 I also have a huge surplus.

I have written a complaint to them this morning, this could be terrifying for others.

A couple of questions, why over 14 months? am i in the wrong?

ariarnia

first if we can just work out how unreasonable the suggested dd is? it might be it needs to go up a bit but not as much as they say so you can suggest a lower amount and there system will accept it.

to do that we would need your annual usage (if you know it) or 2 meter readings from 12 months apart. and to know your current credit balance (about).  

GraceF125

Yes, Shell have just done the same to me. I currently pay £226 a month and am over £600 in credit, which I hoped combined with the government's £400 would see us through the winter months if and when we put the central heating on. But they have increased my DD to £345. Every month their suggested DD seems to vary between 200 hundred and something and 400 hundred and something so I don't take their estimates seriously. However this time they have changed it to their latest suggestion. So I've manually reduced it to the lowest their system will let me - which is £260 a month so still an increase but more manageable for the moment.

[Deleted User]

lulunix said:

Shell are trying to increase my DD needs to £302 over the next 14 months they have already tried to automatically change it

they constantly over estimate my usage each month by over £100 even though my smart meter sends you messages every 15mins.

My current dd is £250 add in the governments £66 a month = £316 I also have a huge surplus.

I have written a complaint to them this morning, this could be terrifying for others.

A couple of questions, why over 14 months? am i in the wrong?

I cannot speak for Shell but my supplier, like many others, is discounting the monthly DD by £66 but adding the full amount of credit to the energy account. If my DD was £302 per month, then I would only pay £236 per month from September through to March. £302 per month would be added to my energy account. Whether your DD is fair or not depends on your usage in kWh/year not £s per month. 

Your smart meter does not send meter readings to the supplier every 15 minutes. Think of the communications hub as a mobile phone. Your supplier calls the communications hub once every 24 hours and it instructs the meters to send data. If your meters are set up for 30 minute profiling, then the meter returns an index reading with an XML file which contains the 30 minute usage data.

liz_bartun

Same for me, they've put it up from £150 (was the minimum they'd let me pay though they wanted £195) to £274 from 1st December. That's before £66 reduction. The lowest they'd let me set it to was £218. So I changed my payment to variable direct debit. I've been saving the extra £45 per month they originally wanted, in case I used more - I haven't yet. I'm also currently in credit by £260, although the bill is due tomorrow so that will go down.

Re the 14 months, OP, were you with Pure Planet before Shell took over? For me that takes it to the anniversary date of the switch. I presume it's because they know we can't really go anywhere else at the moment.

pensionpawn

Same here. Even though I've told them a number of times that I have solar panels so although in the winter I'll be using gas (switched off April - Sep) and more electricity they conveniently forget and try to bump up my DD. I used to email them however I now just turn down the DD again on the website.

GraceF125

It seems like Shell don't take into account the credit built up in your account from previous over-payment? Does anyone know if that's the case?

It makes no sense otherwise and I might look into just paying for my actual usage - my actual bills have only been around £110 a month since I've been with them (was switched to them from Green). Yes, they'll likely double when/if the central heating goes on but that's why I've built up the credit - and the government payment will also help towards those increased winter bills.

lulunix

liz_bartun said:

Same for me, they've put it up from £150 (was the minimum they'd let me pay though they wanted £195) to £274 from 1st December. That's before £66 reduction. The lowest they'd let me set it to was £218. So I changed my payment to variable direct debit. I've been saving the extra £45 per month they originally wanted, in case I used more - I haven't yet. I'm also currently in credit by £260, although the bill is due tomorrow so that will go down.

Re the 14 months, OP, were you with Pure Planet before Shell took over? For me that takes it to the anniversary date of the switch. I presume it's because they know we can't really go anywhere else at the moment.

Got moved to Shell when my other energy supplier got bust 🙄

ariarnia

GraceF125 said:

It seems like Shell don't take into account the credit built up in your account from previous over-payment? Does anyone know if that's the case?

It makes no sense otherwise and I might look into just paying for my actual usage - my actual bills have only been around £110 a month since I've been with them (was switched to them from Green). Yes, they'll likely double when/if the central heating goes on but that's why I've built up the credit - and the government payment will also help towards those increased winter bills.

no one can really answer that question without first knowing your annual usage. if you can share that or two meter readings about 12 months apart then we can work out how sensible or unreasonable the suggestion actually is. 

daaave

I’m with Shell and they were playing similar games with me. I changed to “variable direct debit” in the end, which has solved the problem. I just pay for the energy I use, like how it used to work.

Shell is taking the mickey with their estimated future usage, imo.

If you’re good at budgeting, the “variable direct debit” option makes sense.

GraceF125

Thanks daaave, yes, I didn't realise how easy it was to change to Variable dd with Shell so I think this looks like the way to go. If I change it to that does anyone know what will happen to my Credit balance - will they use that to fund the next couple of bills instead of taking a DD? Or do I need to claim the credit back from them?