Account Balance too high?

MP1995

First it's doom and gloom doom mongering with China, Israel,Russia, Trump, Korea, covid and plague and everything else. Slaps face and sighs.

Now it's attacking the most successful supplier to enter the market and that they won't continue to innovate (they are making profit now by the way)

These smart meter nay sayers really need to take a leap off the conspiracy step.

It surprises me on a money saving site that they still shout from their roof tops supporting old technology that costs the people that come here more money.

mk2112

Eon just asked us to increase our monthly direct debit and make a one off top up despite our account being £305 in credit.  Our current DD is £142, the new DD was to be £172 and supplementrd by a one off payment £22 (this itself seemed an overly complicated way of adjusting our payments?!).  Based on our energy usage I wrote to them and said this was unreasonable and that our account would still be £300+ in credit in 12 months time.  I requested they keep our DD as it is and that we could review the payments in 6 months time.  Happily, we received a quick reply confirming they would do so, but why do we need to challenge the increases at all, it's not hard to work out and verging on being a scam imo.  

powerful_Rogue

waterman10 said:

I did a comparison on the Cheap Energy Club site and, given that I don't want a smart meter, the top result for fixed tarrifs is £47 (3%) EXTRA.  The best variable rate is with Home Energy and it's saving £37 a year.  I must admit I'm pretty confused about all this so I'd be grateful for any advice.  Would you suggest going with the fix even though it's more expensive or going with the variable one?

I'm guessing that's £47 extra per year?

You're certainly missing out on some of the best tariffs by not wanting a smart meter.

Gerry1

MP1995 said:

First it's doom and gloom doom mongering with China, Israel,Russia, Trump, Korea, covid and plague and everything else. Slaps face and sighs.

Now it's attacking the most successful supplier to enter the market and that they won't continue to innovate (they are making profit now by the way)

@MP1995 IF that jibe is aimed at me, it suggests you haven't been paying sufficient attention either to the news or to my previous posts.

• World events brought about the energy crisis and the massive rise in consumer prices.  Hardy scaremongering to consider the possibility that such events might continue.

• Similarly, you've obviously failed to notice that I'm a big fan of Octopus and that I've recommended/defended them scores if not hundreds of times.

EssexHebridean

MP1995 said:

First it's doom and gloom doom mongering with China, Israel,Russia, Trump, Korea, covid and plague and everything else. Slaps face and sighs.

Now it's attacking the most successful supplier to enter the market and that they won't continue to innovate (they are making profit now by the way)

These smart meter nay sayers really need to take a leap off the conspiracy step.

It surprises me on a money saving site that they still shout from their roof tops supporting old technology that costs the people that come here more money.

I’m not sure where on the MSE Site they are “supporting old technology” - while people still have old style meters, and in some cases have a long wait to get a smart meter, it would be irresponsible of the MSE Team not to let those folk know about their options, plus not even every smart-meter household wants to take the plunge on to a fully smart tariff - there can be all sorts of reasons for that too, not everyone who is not currently using Agile or tracker is a conspiracy theorist, you know! 

Sarahspangles

waterman10 said:

I've got an account balance of £288 with Octopus Energy.  The tariff is Octopus Flexible and it's dual fuel.  I'm just wondering if this is too high and I should request a refund or a reduction in my monthly payments?

I know that you build up some credit in the summer and it gets used up in the winter but I'm wondering if this balance is too high? Thanks for any advice.

We’re in a similar position.

As a rough and ready calculation I looked at the max and min balances last year. Our highest balance was early October, and lowest early April. The range was from approx +£220 credit to -£110 owing. We’re on track for a slightly lower credit balance next month. 

If we had requested £55 refund at the end of the summer last year, then the range would have been +£165 to -£165. The £55 might earn us (or our supplier) £2.75 interest. So it’s not a high priority to pursue a refund. I’d probably pay that just to avoid a discussion with a supplier!

silverwhistle

FreeBear said:

Or if you want to risk a real scary roller coaster, there's the Octopus Tracker & Agile tariffs.

Yep, that's what I'm on - Agile for electricity and Tracker for gas. Currently £240 in credit with a £50 a month DD which also covers my motoring fuel as I have an EV.

Needs a bit more planning and flexibility but not a great deal, so to give an example the electricity prices at the moment are a bit high but I reckon on charging the car towards the end of next week when it'll be windy.

My average unit price for August was 6.96p a unit (to 2 decimal places) and so far for September 9.31p. This last week so far is at 19.72p (which is still below SVR). So as FreeBear says, it can be variable but works for ME.

As others have pointed out, everybody's circumstances are different.. I've highlighted my experience for a different perspective.

pearl123

Octopus lets you adjust the dd down on their site.