Octopus playing the increase DD game.

born_again

TroubledTarts said:

born_again said:

So had a email from them last week stating that my £150 a month DD would be increasing to £ 166.01.

We continually review your account balance and monthly payments to help keep your account on track, and it looks like your current payments might not be enough to keep your account healthy, so we’re suggesting an increase to your monthly payments.

Looking back through my account history. After DD is added.
No estimates, all either smart or user readings, so billing is 100% accurate.

Oct 8th £479.19
Nov 8th £490.63
Dec 8th £478.11
Jan 8th £451.74
Feb 8th £398.69

OK last month bill's was £50 more than DD, but with a week of sub zero temps. Even taking that into account, so far since November I have only dropped £91.94 in credit balance.🤷‍♀️

I can not see my usage increasing to a point where the £398.69 credit is used up in the next 3 to 4 months. Before usage is well below the DD credit each month

I thought more of Octopus with their better systems & customer care 🤷‍♀️Seems like they are slipping back to meet the rest in the monthly DD's game.
But at least unlike others. It does not reject a change to DD. 😍
Back to £150 a month it has gone.  

Prices expected to rise 10% this year so that's all in line imo

As others have suggested you can change it to whatever you like.

Which I did as stated in OP 🤷‍♀️

Thing is if I spend the same as last month for the next 3 months I am still going to be £200 in credit in May. Where you are fully expected to be using far less than monthly DD.

I get prices may go up, just seems odd to do this when clearly on my usage history, that I'm going to be no where near a low balance come May.🤷‍♀️

username

I had a loosely similar scenario with Octopus and I asked why there was the need to keep tinkering with the figures, and apparently they explained in their email to me was "The reason for the proposed increase is due to our payment adequacy process, which we conduct every 3 to 6 months as required by Ofgem. This process aims to predict your bill based on seasonal changes."

What_time_is_it

Every time Octopus propose an increase to my monthly direct debit I go into the app and move it back down to the lowest possible allowable setting.

As it stands I have a debit balance approaching £1,000. I’m happy to owe them and have them chasing me rather than the other way round. The bigger the (interest free, repay on favourable terms) debt, the better as far as I am concerned. 

Also, if you really want to pay less I think that a phone call should allow for negotiating even lower monthly payments if you want them. For better or worse, the amount you pay per month against your energy debt is a negotiation and the terms are not fixed.

EssexHebridean

The beauty of Octopus is that once you show you are competent at managing your account, they are willing to extend trust on that basis. I tend to run in credit all year - my DD is currently set at £80 a month and my credit balance in £263 - that will drop a little before we get fully into the warmer weather in the spring but that's fine - I expect that through the summer we will build again, and I would also be surprised if we don't find a couple more referrals to bolster the coffers  before next winter as well. 

Personally i can't imagine now going back to one of the suppliers that wants to micro-manage everything!