EBSS Finished - April 23 Direct Debits - Have you been advised of yours?

Spoonie_Turtle

woeestme said:

MultiFuelBurner said:

woeestme said:

British gas just sent me the new figures for elec. 

Kwh rate reduced by 1p, SC up by 5p!  Net result: 1.9% reduction in overall bill.

So, how can the Govt end the EBSS scheme end when there's no significant reduction in the rates?

Unless of course I can move to a cheaper provider?

I'm on UC and have a debt arrangement with BG. 

I believe the original plan is that it would go up £500 a year from 1st April so the fact it's remained the same from 1st April is actually a result.

No, the supposed reason given for withdrawal of EBSS was because prices would go down as the lower wholesale prices would enter into the retail market.

But instead you're telling me that no change in the price is a good result?

If there's no meaningul reduction in the overall rates, why is Gov.uk withdrawing the EBSS?

Are there cheaper deals with other providers?

The EBSS was only ever intended to support people over the worst months - 6 monthly payments for what were likely to be the highest usage months. 

As it turns out prices stayed the same instead of increasing as the original intention, otherwise it would have been a double whammy of support removed/reduced.

MultiFuelBurner

woeestme said:

MultiFuelBurner said:

woeestme said:

British gas just sent me the new figures for elec. 

Kwh rate reduced by 1p, SC up by 5p!  Net result: 1.9% reduction in overall bill.

So, how can the Govt end the EBSS scheme end when there's no significant reduction in the rates?

Unless of course I can move to a cheaper provider?

I'm on UC and have a debt arrangement with BG. 

I believe the original plan is that it would go up £500 a year from 1st April so the fact it's remained the same from 1st April is actually a result.

No, the supposed reason given for withdrawal of EBSS was because prices would go down as the lower wholesale prices would enter into the retail market.

But instead you're telling me that no change in the price is a good result?

If there's no meaningul reduction in the overall rates, why is Gov.uk withdrawing the EBSS?

Are there cheaper deals with other providers?

I would say no change in the price (small reduction) is a very good result yes as without it you would be paying 53p per kWh.

The EBSS was only setup for the worst 6 months of energy usage over the winter and not forever.

There is not an endless pot of money to keep handing out. There isn't even a pot.

Cheaper deals we have looked at over the last 6 months involve a smart meter and switching to Octopus for one of their innovative tariffs and also getting a referral bonus but as we don't currently pay for our electricity we won't move until that all comes to a head.

Nebulous2

Nebulous2 said:

Sea_Shell said:

Nebulous2 said:

Sea_Shell said:

We are with Eon.     For us, they dealt with the EBSS, by reducing our DD by £66/£67 a month, but crediting the whole amount to our account.


We previously paid £160pm (overpaying).    We're still on a fix, so our rates aren't changing just yet.

After applying the EBSS, they were collecting £93 by DD for the last 6 months (Oct-Mar)

These payments have obviously now finished, HOWEVER, they have just emailed to confirm (as they do every month) our next DD, but that they'll collect £93 on 3rd April.


I thought it would revert back to the £160 automatically?   

This is probably going to cause confusion, not to mention some potential underpayment on peoples account.

What have others had from their suppliers?


I'm going to wait and see what actually happens, and what shows on the next bill, but this might mean that we'll have to manually request that our DD be raised back to it's pre EBSS amount.

I'm with Sainsburys Energy, which is a white label for Eon Next, and have exactly the same as you. Almost identical figures, received the email today, had built my hopes up that there might be another £66 winging its way here! 

I have quite a bit of credit, so underpaying for a month is no issue, other than the impact on my Santander 123 lite. 

It's not impossible that the email is wrong and they go ahead and take £160. 

Well, they didn't.    They took £93, as promised.  

I'm going to log on now, and see if it will let me manually put it back to £160 for May.   


ETA - Just logged on and when I clicked on update payment, it actually said that they "recommend" that our DD is £160.

Well, der, yes I know!!!   

Duly changed.   

My payment went out at £93 as well. March was a heavy month fuelwise, as it has been really cold here. 

I'm about £400 in credit, with reduced usage on the way, so I'm going to wait at least another month to see if it reverts itself. 

Well for anyone still interested in this - I've just had an email from Sainsburys Energy, saying that my DD will be taken at £93 again in a few days. They must be dealing with them on a case-by-case basis. 

I'm fairly relaxed about it, as I'm still well in credit. This is likely to have been a bigger month than I expected though, we've had hailstones in the last two days. 

[Deleted User]

cm4ever said:

Just recently moved away from the monthly fixed DD merry-go-round of constantly being in credit.

Combined with a relatively recent move to Octopus, we've now switched to variable DD payments - bye bye credit balances 

It's taken over 20yrs to see the light 

What light is that? I have been with Octopus for over 5 years. I set whatever monthly DD payment that I like. As my account always has enough credit in it to pay my next monthly bill, Octopus has never cried foul. As I am now getting solar export payments, my monthly DD is down to £10 a month. Energy bills are what they are. Paying on demand is not great for those on limited income who have to budget.

oldagetraveller1

To answer the original question - yes. However, it was when my fix with Eon ended in February. They advised of the new monthly DD, for NextFlex, but in March they took the whole DD without deducting the £67 final EBSS payment.

An e-mail to them sorted that out with a £67 credit to my bank account. Effectively reducing the DD that was taken.