How does monthly whole bill DD work with Octopus

jennifernil

As we had built up a lot of credit, and bills can be unpredictable as we have solar panels,  metered export , and frequent trips away in our caravan, we moved to whole bill DD with Octopus a few months back.  

Each month the bill reduced our accumulated credit and now the November bill is about £50 more than the remaining credit.   Before the bill was visible in our account we had an e mail from Octopus saying an amount, which turned out to be the whole amount, would be taken in 7 days time.

Am I correct in thinking that they will first use the outstanding credit on the account, and then take the remaining £50 odd by DD from our bank account?

Swipe

Yes, you are correct in thinking that.

pseudodox

That just happened to me with EDF.  I pay MVDD but thanks to a large credit for having smart meters installed plus a generous compo payment for an error I have not had a DD taken since April.  October usage was higher than my remaining credit balance so whilst the bill is for £x, they have deducted that credit balance & are taking the difference of £y by DD this week.  If Octopus take the full bill amount by DD you can use the bank guarantee to challenge it & claw it back.

Qyburn

pseudodox said:

That just happened to me with EDF.  I pay MVDD but thanks to a large credit for having smart meters installed plus a generous compo payment for an error I have not had a DD taken since April.  October usage was higher than my remaining credit balance so whilst the bill is for £x, they have deducted that credit balance & are taking the difference of £y by DD this week.  If Octopus take the full bill amount by DD you can use the bank guarantee to challenge it & claw it back.

Strictly the DD guarantee wouldn't apply if Octopus take the amount they've said they'll take.

Swipe

This is all hypothetical as their billing system is programmed to use any credit balance first.