Energy Bills (Cancel your DD)

If you're overpaying your bill in summer which I agree most people probably should do, then you should be able to buy the gas in advance, at those current rates. You're investing in them, so they should let you invest in energy at the current rate.

Could be sort of like a "futures" deal, buying futures now wouldn't be great as we know prices are going up, but I expect some will have had a fair amount of credit built up from times when they were not expecting them to go that high.

Overpaying in summer is good for those who are poor at budgeting, we know there will be loads of people spending every penny they have now on things they don't need and won't have a spare bean come winter, even more so with Christmas etc.

Overpaying is probably not so good for people who don't have a spare bean now to overpay, they probably budget quite well, effectively as they're forced into it, but they're going to be in big trouble come winter :cry:

Taking a higher DD in summer is not that much different to a pre-payment meter though, these should not be charged at different rates.

No way on earth should someone who is absolutely skint, and forced onto a pre-payment meter be charged a higher rate than those who have more money, that's an absolute abomination. Those who have more should be subsidising that, if anything, but the system would need to ensure that people more well off were not just getting a pre-paid meter just to get discounted rates (not many would do this because of the hassle I expect).
 
I think for me, paying for exactly what I use will make me more aware of what I'm using.
Inturn make my bills less, only time will tell.
 
SmallTown said:
No. The point wasn't the earning interest. The point was insulating (sorry) yourself from the winter fuel costs. The fact you earn a trifling interest, rather than the energy company earning it, is a bonus
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Yes, I understand this. Of course it's right.

The timing of when you switch tariffs or suppliers determines the pattern. If you switch in the autumn or winter, you build up a debit balance, which then corrects the following summer. Switch in the spring or summer and you build up a credit balance until the following winter. I know the energy companies try to get you to increase the DD if you switch in the winter but (if you have the numbers) you can easily protest and stick.
 
Boro_Interlinked said:
they would build in Fridays 80pc increase, Jan 20pc increase and possibly a further 20pc increase in April into a blended figure for the next year
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Not if you're on a fixed tariff. Which I suppose is another issue altogether.

I pretty much know how much I'm going to spend over the next 24 months. I'd rather pay that in equal payments each month as it is easier for me to budget that way.
I suppose I could pay the actual amounts each month (or quarter) and put the summer difference in a savings account. But I can't see the point, unless interest rates are so high it is worth saving something like £90 per month for 4 months.
 
I
Rofesleg said:
Not if you're on a fixed tariff. Which I suppose is another issue altogether.

I pretty much know how much I'm going to spend over the next 24 months. I'd rather pay that in equal payments each month as it is easier for me to budget that way.
I suppose I could pay the actual amounts each month (or quarter) and put the summer difference in a savings account. But I can't see the point, unless interest rates are so high it is worth saving something like £90 per month for 4 months.
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If you have a smart meter and only pay for what you actually use, you will be more aware of your usage and hopefully inturn use less.
ISN'T THIS WHAT SMART METERS WERE ORGINALLY DESIGNED FOR , SO WE ALL USE LESS AND HELP CLIMATE CHANGE.
ITS NOT LIKE WE HAVE HAD REALLY BAD WINTERS , THIS LAST ONE WAS 2010
 
borgelite said:
I
If you have a smart meter and only pay for what you actually use, you will be more aware of your usage and hopefully inturn use less.
ISN'T THIS WHAT SMART METERS WERE ORGINALLY DESIGNED FOR , SO WE ALL USE LESS AND HELP CLIMATE CHANGE.
ITS NOT LIKE WE HAVE HAD REALLY BAD WINTERS , THIS LAST ONE WAS 2010
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Why are you shouting at me?
Smart meters help you understand how and where you are using your energy. How you use that info is up to you, but hopefully it will help reduce consumption over time.
How and when we pay for it is a different issue.
If you prefer to pay actual amounts each month then fine. But that is not the best advice for everyone.
 
Rofesleg said:
Why are you shouting at me?
Smart meters help you understand how and where you are using your energy. How you use that info is up to you, but hopefully it will help reduce consumption over time.
How and when we pay for it is a different issue.
If you prefer to pay actual amounts each month then fine. But that is not the best advice for everyone.
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Wasn't meant to come across like that.
Surely smart meters ultimately are to reduce consumption.
 
jeff_potato said:
They automatically adjust with renewals on things, but I think it's only energy companies who take such large variations.

A few years ago I switched from Ovo to someone else. Just 48 hours before the deadline passed for them to ask, they sent me a letter in really pally, super friendly tone essentially saying that they had undercharged me from day one, telling me the wrong figures, so I had to pay them for their error... Which was almost a grand over the course of the whole tariff.

Can you imagine a knock on the door from someone in a Tesco uniform because they forgot to charge you correctly for your shopping three years ago, and being legally backed up to do that?
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That can happen. Not with Tesco as it's goods at point of sale, but you can be overpaid by an employer for example and have to pay it back.

They didn't charge you for something you didn't use, so although its annoying and inconvenient, they've essentially just corrected your bill and you've paid what was due.

Tesco would chase you down in the car park if you left without paying at self checkout due to a machine error for example.
 
borgelite said:
Wasn't meant to come across like that.
Surely smart meters ultimately are to reduce consumption.
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Yes they are.
But as I said, how and when you pay for that consumption is a different matter. Everybody's situation us different.

I prefer to pay equal monthly amounts, but still keep a close eye on my consumption with regular meter readings.

You prefer to pay for actual usage which helps you monitor consumption.

Both options are valid and down to personal preference. To advise everyone to cancel their DDs is not appropriate.
 
Rofesleg said:
Yes they are.
But as I said, how and when you pay for that consumption is a different matter. Everybody's situation us different.

I prefer to pay equal monthly amounts, but still keep a close eye on my consumption with regular meter readings.

You prefer to pay for actual usage which helps you monitor consumption.

Both options are valid and down to personal preference. To advise everyone to cancel their DDs is not appropriate.
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Yes it maybe not for everyone, again I wasn't meaning that everyone should do it.
But people need to try something unless nothing will change.
 
borgelite said:
I'll take £10 a month to stop them taking way over the odds and holding my money, I'll see how the winter pans out.
Climate change equals milder winters anyway and we've all been constantly told for along time to turn the heating down and reduce our carbon footprint.
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I thought current thinking was that climate change was actually going to make Northern Europe colder due to the gulf stream being disrupted by melting ice?
 
Nzedred said:
I thought current thinking was that climate change was actually going to make Northern Europe colder due to the gulf stream being disrupted by melting ice?
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May be so but the last really cold winter we had with proper snow that stayed was 2010
 
borgelite said:
Yes it maybe not for everyone, again I wasn't meaning that everyone should do it.
But people need to try something unless nothing will change.
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I'm not sure that cancelling your DD and paying for your monthly consumption will change anything. But if it does change anything surely it will be a more expensive non DD tariff.

I can't see in any scenario why cancelling your DD (on the proviso that your company allows you to set your own DD rates, as mine, Shell Energy, do) has any benefit other than to make you poorer.
 
Nzedred said:
I thought current thinking was that climate change was actually going to make Northern Europe colder due to the gulf stream being disrupted by melting ice?
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It might, but from what I understand that could take 400 years or whatever. The timing is difficult as it just becomes a when, not if, but hard to model that far ahead and hard to know when it starts to accelerate, and how long it will go on for.

The initial problem is a massive variance in weather, massive droughts, massive storms overwhelming what they were designed for etc, massive heat, massive cold. Places like here which are extremely weather safe could have big problems which they're not used to. Hotter places could get hotter in summer, some cold places could get colder in winter and hotter in summer.

The big issue is if the hotter places get hotter, then most of the current livable world could effectively become a desert, which means no crops and moving billions of people.

But yeah, once we get passed a certain point (which we're very near, or maybe even passed) it will start an unstoppable chain reaction, that's when sea levels start rising quickly and start flooding coasts etc.

Once all the ice has melted I expect the sea would heat up again and then probably normal service resume, except still with the higher temps and higher extremes.
 
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MolteniArcore said:
I'm not sure that cancelling your DD and paying for your monthly consumption will change anything. But if it does change anything surely it will be a more expensive non DD tariff.

I can't see in any scenario why cancelling your DD (on the proviso that your company allows you to set your own DD rates, as mine, Shell Energy, do) has any benefit other than to make you poorer.
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OK, EDF set our tariff which that's my original point, I had just short of £800 in credit, I don't need to use them as a savings account
 
borgelite said:
Yes it maybe not for everyone, again I wasn't meaning that everyone should do it.
But people need to try something unless nothing will change.
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I'm a bit confused as to your point now. What do you want to change?

Your initial posts seemed to be about the energy companies holding onto your money which you objected to.

It now seems to be about global warming and reducing consumption.

Two separate things.
 
Rofesleg said:
I'm a bit confused as to your point now. What do you want to change?

Your initial posts seemed to be about the energy companies holding onto your money which you objected to.

It now seems to be about global warming and reducing consumption.

Two separate things.
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Well there not are they
1 use less
2 Cheaper bills
3 Better for environment

Surely all goes hand in hand
 
Provide your supplier with exaggerated reads. You will then over pay on a lower tariff and underpay on the higher tariff.
 
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