Unreasonable demand for ££

prowla

I do find it a bit galling that my energy company seems to want to hold my account 2-3x my monthly bill in credit.

molerat

prowla said:

I do find it a bit galling that my energy company seems to want to hold my account 2-3x my monthly bill in credit.

Go to variable DD like I have done.  The only slight downside is that my Dec & Jan bill payments will be 1.5 times a fixed DD of 1/12 EAC, Apr and Oct at the DD amount and Jun, Jul & Aug at 65% of that figure.  I have just started and paid nothing for Oct and will pay about 25% of the DD amount for Nov to finish off the credit built up.

At this time of year though if paying by budget DD you should be in credit to balance out over the high use period.  Not being in credit will mean the debit will only get deeper over winter meaning a massive hike at next review to pay off the debt.

Albermarle

prowla said:

I do find it a bit galling that my energy company seems to want to hold my account 2-3x my monthly bill in credit.

If it is done properly and fairly, then the account should only be around 3 months in credit around this time of year. It should then go down over the coldest months ( usually Dec/Jan/Feb) and eventually reduce to max one month or less and stay flat over Spring, Then over the Summer it starts to build up again.
As a lot of people are poor at budgeting, it makes sense for many.
However the supplier should not abuse the system.

GadgetGuru

I was £570 in credit at one point, so asked them to send me £500 back to my bank account. Took 3 phone calls to chase but got there in the end!
You could pay the requested amount, and then after a month request a refund of the credit balance maybe? That's assuming you have the money up front of course......