How much does Octopus earn from interest on utilities credit balances?

gaiteiro

Does anybody know how much Octopus earns from all our money that they're holding in the bank?

Octopus charges me a fixed sum in monthly direct debit based on my average utilities bills. They tell me this is to help me balance my bills over the year, but it's actually an interest-free loan from me to them.

Imagine if I asked to "balance my bills" by paying 6 months later, instead of 6 months in advance...

The utilities firms must be making a fortune this way... someone should investigate.

Tony5896

I can't comment on how much they earn in interest, however from my perspective they are very quick to proactively reduce my DD amount if I am more than 2 months DD in credit ..  

Gerry1

Just phone Octopus and ask to pay by Monthly Variable Direct Debit.  You'll pay only for the energy used in the previous month plus standing charges.  Obviously higher bills in winter and lower bills in summer.

powerful_Rogue

gaiteiro said:

Does anybody know how much Octopus earns from all our money that they're holding in the bank?

Octopus charges me a fixed sum in monthly direct debit based on my average utilities bills. They tell me this is to help me balance my bills over the year, but it's actually an interest-free loan from me to them.

Imagine if I asked to "balance my bills" by paying 6 months later, instead of 6 months in advance...

The utilities firms must be making a fortune this way... someone should investigate.

Write to your MP then.

As suggested above, change to a monthly variable direct debit  - problem solved. Or go proper old school and pay cash or cheque. It's not as if they don't give you a variety of options on how to pay.

https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/what-payment-methods-do-you-offer/

etienneg

I'm with Octopus and have been surprised at how flexible they are regarding payments. Online (maybe by other methods, too?) you can ask for a refund where you have built up too much credit and vary your own direct debit monthly amount to what you want (presumably within reason!). You can also make supplementary payments (I used credit card) when you think you are behind. From what's been said above, variable direct debit is also available. What more can you ask for?

So, no need to write to your MP - just use the facilities available to you already.

Gerry1

gaiteiro said:

The utilities firms must be making a fortune this way... someone should investigate.

If dozy Ofgem were any good they would have required all suppliers to offer Monthly Variable Direct Debit, preferably as the default option.

born_again

gaiteiro said:

Does anybody know how much Octopus earns from all our money that they're holding in the bank?

Octopus charges me a fixed sum in monthly direct debit based on my average utilities bills. They tell me this is to help me balance my bills over the year, but it's actually an interest-free loan from me to them.

Imagine if I asked to "balance my bills" by paying 6 months later, instead of 6 months in advance...

The utilities firms must be making a fortune this way... someone should investigate.

Unlike normal people who will shift balances to savings accounts to make a penny or two interest. large business do not do that. So if they did make any interest in is next to nothing.
Not forgetting even if they did make millions, that all goes to keeping costs down for consumers & paying to run the business.

superkoopauk

Also they have to ringfence 20% of it as per Ofgem rules

Ildhund

Energy suppliers held about £3.7Bn of DD customer credit balances at the end of June. At the same time, the sum total of customer debt and arrears (owing for more than three months) was ... about £3.7Bn. That doesn't look to me like a money-making situation for the suppliers.

TheElectricCow

gaiteiro said:

Octopus charges me a fixed sum in monthly direct debit based on my average utilities bills. They tell me this is to help me balance my bills over the year, but it's actually an interest-free loan from me to them.

Fortunately with Octopus, if you’d rather do the bill balancing yourself, you can. Simply log into your online account and you should be able to amend your Direct Debit to whatever value you’d prefer. Alternatively, ask to pay by a variable Direct Debit and the bill will be paid in full each month with no credit balance being retained by Octopus at all.

Octopus are one of the very best suppliers for flexibility in payment methods, you generally won’t find others offering all of the same options they do in this area.

luvchocolate

Octopus have been amazing to me,  after loosing WFA and not eligible for pension credit, they credited my  account with £278 ..thank you