British Gas overestimating our gas usage

FreeBear

randolghmactavish said:

If you tell them how much you should be paying they will change it. 

One or two suppliers might do this. But most will take the annual estimated usage, divide by 12, and use this as the basis for the monthly DD. The supplier should recalculate each year to make sure that the customer is not over or under paying.

Octopus is one of the few suppliers that is proactive in monitoring the monthly DD and will recommend an increase or decrease if usage is greater/less than estimated.

Chrysalis

FreeBear said:

randolghmactavish said:

If you tell them how much you should be paying they will change it. 

One or two suppliers might do this. But most will take the annual estimated usage, divide by 12, and use this as the basis for the monthly DD. The supplier should recalculate each year to make sure that the customer is not over or under paying.

Octopus is one of the few suppliers that is proactive in monitoring the monthly DD and will recommend an increase or decrease if usage is greater/less than estimated.

Octopus do seem to use the estimated annual consumption, the problem is estimated annual consumption is just that, an estimate.  So it still likely has DD's set too high or too low for a bunch of customers.  On top of that customers successfully negotiating payments that dont come close to covering their bills.

MattMattMattUK

Chrysalis said:

FreeBear said:

randolghmactavish said:

If you tell them how much you should be paying they will change it. 

One or two suppliers might do this. But most will take the annual estimated usage, divide by 12, and use this as the basis for the monthly DD. The supplier should recalculate each year to make sure that the customer is not over or under paying.

Octopus is one of the few suppliers that is proactive in monitoring the monthly DD and will recommend an increase or decrease if usage is greater/less than estimated.

Octopus do seem to use the estimated annual consumption, the problem is estimated annual consumption is just that, an estimate.  

Octopus use a rolling estimation, so they recalculate that average every month and weight it based on where in the year it is as well as against historical data if they have that and averages for that property if the customer is new, or dwelling size if a new build etc., they then update the customer's Direct Debit every quarter.

Chrysalis said:
So it still likely has DD's set too high or too low for a bunch of customers. 

It will be for some, but fairly low numbers and by a lower margin than other suppliers and over a period of a year or so those anomalies will largely be ironed out.

Chrysalis said:
On top of that customers successfully negotiating payments that dont come close to covering their bills.

One does not need to negotiate with Octopus, they will let the customer set their monthly Direct Debit at pretty much whatever level one chooses. Lots on here set it to £1 then pay via card with cashback/rewards. If a large credit or debt builds up then they will adjust the Direct Debit but the customer can, to a point change it back, although there is a threshold where Octopus lock the Direct Debit payment. Any time a customer changes a Direct Debit payment on fixed they get a warning and explanation, so if they lower their payment and build up a debt that is entirely on them.