Direct debit - Octopus

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But I suppose you could argue that's why you get cheaper rates for paying by DD.

You still get the cheaper DD rates if you switch to monthly variable direct debit.

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https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82183156#Comment_82183156

If you are already in credit, as you should be at this time of year, any amount due on your bill will be deducted directly from your account balance until it is used up. If you immediately start to pay the new amount they have requested into your savings account each month, I don't see why you shouldn't switch in that situation, especially if you also add a little extra to your savings account just for contingency.

Arunmor

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82183660#Comment_82183660

Ah, those were the days.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82183157#Comment_82183157

So you pension is fraud? Same as all your insurances?

Plenty of things you pay for in advance and get the goods/service at a later date. Your energy consumption isnt flat so the only way flat bills could work is either you build a credit during low months and then erode it in high months or you get into debt in high months and repay it during low months. For a whole host of reasons, energy companies arent lenders and therefore require the credit and erode than the debt and repay model.

Scot_39

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82183683#Comment_82183683

The Op in this case is only £36 in credit - and that may not include many days of unused energy and standing charges due at next billing point - just iin others words be what is currently showing as the account balance.

Which only brings me back to my main point is that you dont have the credit or cash to cover this winters higher bills - in the OP's case pretty minimal credit for this time of year - in your suggestion bung say £2-300 into a separate account - its best to put off switching to MVDD.

Its worth remembering that it's estimated 25% of adults in UK have <£200 savings, and 1 in 6 - 16% have zero savings - folk largely living paycheck to paycheck.

This MSE forum tends to live within a bubble - where people have cash to spend when necessary to save - or own their property in order to make it worth while doing so.

I doubt many comfortably off to do so would be concerned about a £36 credit - in fact more of I suspect would be very concerned it was far too low - and angry with the supplier for not increasing our DDs earlier.

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@Scot_39 I was talking about switching to VDD at this time of year if you are comfortably in credit in your account. If the energy supplier is not allowed to let a customer to go into debt then they have already done the sums for you in the requested monthly amount but I would advise to also do your own calculations to double check they are correct. I already commented on what the OP should do in their case to switch to VDD. They have not mentioned that they couldn't afford it, but rather they resent Octopus holding on to their money

Switch to Variable Direct Debit and put a few hundred quid into a savings account and then start paying what you would normally pay for the DD into it monthly. Then you have full control of your money.

debitcardmayhem

The best choice for the OP is to choose pre-payment

J63320

I’m with Octopus, and when they raised my DD - which was expected, because I’d just started a new fix - they told me they’d added £10 towards my “target balance”. I read through the Ts and Cs and there was no reference to a target balance, so not something I had to have. It looked like a wheeze to get me to give them more money so it could sit in their bank instead of mine i.e. not My target balance but Theirs, so I reduced the amount by £10 and they seem to have accepted it.

Clive_Woody

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82183157#Comment_82183157

Presumably you read these T&Cs before agreeing to a contract with Octopus? In future if the terms of the contract are unclear it makes a lot of sense to ask questions before signing to avoid misunderstandings like this.

This is in no way fraud, it is simply a way of smoothing payments over a 12 month period, obviously price increases within that period can also impact this. You pay for your holiday before you actually go on holiday - is that also fraud?

EssexHebridean

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82183896#Comment_82183896

Surely that would still be fraud in their book though - as they would have to put the credit on the meter before actually using the energy?

Octopus wanted to put my DD down by close to 50% recently. I didn't bother making a song and dance about it - just went into the app and adjusted it back to where I wanted it again. If I have excess credit come the spring, then I'll claim some back. This is the beauty of being with Octopus and managing your DD & balance sensibly I've found - there is a degree of trust, they won't quibble about that change, any more than they quibbled earlier in the year when they wanted to put the DD up and I adjusted it back again.