Energy bills

[TheOstrich]

Perhaps more of a Cafe topic than News, but feel free to move it, Kaz, if necessary.

Just a general question - do any of you deliberately overpay your gas and electric bills so you have a credit balance as a buffer going into the winter months, or do you leave it to your supplier to set your monthly direct debits?

EonNext are possibly a bit unusual in giving you free rein to set your own DDs (within parameters, obviously ) as you want. So I tend to set our payments at more than they recommend to avoid any winter shocks, be it price rises or snowy weather.

Recently, they've got a bit cross with me and arbitrarily reduced my monthly payments to what they think, rather than what I'd like to pay.
The reduction's not a lot, in pratice, £10 off gas and £10 off the electric.
(I'll probably give it a couple of months at the reduced rate then bang it up again just to annoy them. )

It did come up on Moneybox recently and it was said that oldies like me do prefer to "pay up front" and run credit balances if they can, but really it's not a good idea. I appreciate a credit balance means the dosh is in Eon's pocket and not mine, but at least I feel comfortable that I've got that winter buffer.

Any thoughts? Do any of you do similar?

[saundra]

I'm an oldie who would rather be in,credit than debt
don't do direct debit
But I actually like to pay my account the day they arrive if possible

[Workingman]

I pay monthly on-the-spot on my debit card. I will not use DD as the repayments offered do not reflect what I use. I have spreadsheets.

The idea of building up credit in summer is tosh, it's a con. Why should my money be in their account earning them credit when it can be in mine earning me credit? Wake up, you are being conned!

Think about it... One million customers all £20 in credit for the summer months earning them interest is a tidy sum for them. In your bank you could get your share. Do they give you a discount...?

[jenniren]

We're with Eon too Ossie. Tbh we do tend to stay with their recommended DD which doesn't put us much in credit. I do keep an eye on it, happy so far,

[victor]

EDFsuggested I should raise my DD to£90 a month instead of the £37 i have been paying,bit high I said and the guy replied that he would look again and came back with a figure of £70 whereupon I said I would raise it to £50 and I will pay any debit due as and when

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[Workingman]

I really do not understand why people just do not pay a variable bill as they would at a supermarket, petrol station or hairdresser's. We would not do a DD or SO for them.

If I get an email for water, gas and electric I go to the links, pay, and it's sorted. No overpayments nor underpayments, no credits or debts. Job done.

People are so lazy these days. They do DDs or SOs because they are easy and then bitch if they are not right; its modern "budgeting"; sign up and forget. For fixed rate things such a home insurance or health insurance etc. they are fine, but for variables...?

.

[TheOstrich]

People are so lazy these days. They do DDs or SOs because they are easy and then bitch if they are not right; its modern "budgeting"; sign up and forget. For fixed rate things such a home insurance or health insurance etc. they are fine, but for variables...?

Well, howzabout a 5% discount off both my leccy and gas for starters .....

[cruiser2]

I am with Octopus. They wanted to nearly double my DD. I said I would continue paying the same amount which they agreed.

I owe them but they are making huge profits so i am not altering my payments. Why should I subsidise their shareholders?

[meriad]

People are so lazy these days. They do DDs or SOs because they are easy and then bitch if they are not right; its modern "budgeting"; sign up and forget. For fixed rate things such a home insurance or health insurance etc. they are fine, but for variables...?.

That's a bit harsh Frank.... whatever can be on direct debit I have on direct debit; and it's nothing to do with me being lazy. I work full time, get a gazillion emails and am worried I may miss one and then end up with a bad credit rating or whatever. I don't check my emails all the time, I just don't have the time to do that; not all of us are lucky to be able to be at home all day - sorry!

Ossie, to answer your question, I personally prefer to be in credit same as you. Admittedly it's a very high credit at the moment, but come the new July tarriff I'm going to be moving supplier so will get all my money out. I'm currently with Sainsbury's energy who are supplied by EonNext, and my DD went from just under £90 to just under £40

[Workingman]

Ria, I did not mean lazy-lazy but I do accept your wrist slap. I'll be more careful in future.

As for emails (general info for all)... I download them to a client on my laptop, and there are rules. The client loads as the laptop boots so I do not have to turn it on. Important emails go straight to their own folders - Scottish Power, Yorkshire Water, NHS, Banks and Council. Any unread emails within them stay highlighted in bold until I read them. The other stuff goes to the main folder for me to pick and choose what to keep and what to delete. I only check a few times a day - morning, noon and night. What I am now finding is that many places are vigorously and ruthlessly going paperless so email is the only way to go, for me, and that's my system.

Even the banks have gone paperless. I get emails to say that new statements are ready but I have to login to view them then save them as a .pdf in order to keep a copy.

As for this general buffer idea. My buffer is in my current account where it is earning interest for me rather than it being in Scottish Power's account earning money for them.