£400 rebate

[Thedreamer]

Does anybody know if the £400 rebate will still be applied if you have an account in credit?

 

[kommando]

It's universal, not means tested so you will get it regardless of account balance.

[ProDave]

I will repeat my advice again.  Reduce your monthly payment NOW by £40 per month.  That reduced payment should still cover summertime usage.  Then the £400 will get credited to your account over 6 months starting in October so that should cover the extra winter usage.  you will need to review your monthly payment again in 10 months time, if not sooner if you are not on a fixed tariff so get another big rise in October.

[Thedreamer]

I'm on a good tariff fixed in June 21, for two years with Octopus. I think I will request for my credit balance to be paid.

 

My electricity bills are about £65 a month on average during the year, so if all goes to plan, I should have free electricity for six months.  

 

Hopefully prices will come down by next summer when my deal ends.

[SteamyTea]

So far this year, which includes the coldest 3 months, I have used 1,900 ish kWh.

If I can get away with 3,250 kWh for the year (a little lower than my lowest ever year) and I use my usual 80% on night rate and 20% on day rate, then my bill will be around £580 for night rate and £230 for the day, standing charge is going to be high at £212.

So with VAT ~£1100, way higher than I have ever paid.

But once the £550 (£150 as I live in a scummy house and £400 as I live) is taken away, that is £550 for the year, or 17p/kWh.

I can live with that.

[TonyT]

Lowering direct debit is easier said than done, Shell want to put me up to £480 per month.

currently £290  per month.

can’t talk to anyone.

can’t email them.

check the account every other day, to make sure they don’t increase without my permission..

[ProDave]

9 hours ago, TonyT said:

Lowering direct debit is easier said than done, Shell want to put me up to £480 per month.

currently £290  per month.

can’t talk to anyone.

can’t email them.

check the account every other day, to make sure they don’t increase without my permission..

Change to Octopus.  They are much more flexible and the user ability to set their monthly payment is just one of the nice things.

 

PM me for a referral code which will give you £50 credit when you switch to them.

[Gone West]

9 hours ago, TonyT said:

Lowering direct debit is easier said than done, Shell want to put me up to £480 per month.

currently £290  per month.

can’t talk to anyone.

can’t email them.

check the account every other day, to make sure they don’t increase without my permission..

We were several hundred pounds in credit with SSE and they still kept increasing the monthly direct debit. I got fed up with trying to sort it out so cancelled the direct debit, got a refund of the credit and set up a quarterly direct debit which just pays off the bill.

[Ferdinand]

9 hours ago, TonyT said:

Lowering direct debit is easier said than done, Shell want to put me up to £480 per month.

currently £290  per month.

can’t talk to anyone.

can’t email them.

check the account every other day, to make sure they don’t increase without my permission..

 

Shell imo are a bargepole job. I know multiple people with very bad experiences.

 

Escape.

 

[joe90]

22 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Change to Octopus. 

My daughter tried that but they were not taking on more customers when she tried!!!!

[Ferdinand]

Just now, joe90 said:

My daughter tried that but they were not taking on more customers when she tried!!!!

 

I think they have a queue.

[ProDave]

30 minutes ago, Gone West said:

We were several hundred pounds in credit with SSE and they still kept increasing the monthly direct debit. I got fed up with trying to sort it out so cancelled the direct debit, got a refund of the credit and set up a quarterly direct debit which just pays off the bill.

Ofgen have already warned suppliers not to do this, but it appears they still are.  If you cannot manage to communicate with your supplier over this issue, then Ofgen would be my next contact point.

[RobLe]

13 hours ago, ProDave said:

I will repeat my advice again.  Reduce your monthly payment NOW by £40 per month.  That reduced payment should still cover summertime usage.  Then the £400 will get credited to your account over 6 months starting in October so that should cover the extra winter usage.  you will need to review your monthly payment again in 10 months time, if not sooner if you are not on a fixed tariff so get another big rise in October.

Why do you suggest to do this?  I'm with OVO, they pay 3% interest on any balance, so why not stay in credit?  We've been with them for 10 years, the DD bounces up and down as their "algorithm" tries to figure out what we will use over the year, I just let them "manage" it. 

[ProDave]

8 minutes ago, RobLe said:

Why do you suggest to do this?  I'm with OVO, they pay 3% interest on any balance, so why not stay in credit?  We've been with them for 10 years, the DD bounces up and down as their "algorithm" tries to figure out what we will use over the year, I just let them "manage" it. 

I only suggest it as most people probably don't understand what and how this grant is being paid, will do nothing, and then will be in credit by £400 at the end of the winter.  That's fine if they are happy to do that, but I prefer not to have a big credit in my utility providers account, too many stories of suppliers going bust and the customers having a long hard fight to get the credit back.

 

If your supplier pays interest (mine doesn't) and you trust them not to go bust, then carry on.

 

I prefer to manage my monthly payment myself, sometimes these "algorithm's" make daft decisions.

[markc]

7 minutes ago, RobLe said:

Why do you suggest to do this?  I'm with OVO, they pay 3% interest on any balance, so why not stay in credit?  We've been with them for 10 years, the DD bounces up and down as their "algorithm" tries to figure out what we will use over the year, I just let them "manage" it. 

I’m with Octopus and always stay in credit and never fix, probably why I get a big discount on standing charges and a good rate.

asked to add another account for another place I bought and they put me straight onto same rate so I’m a advocate of staying in credit especially when having the cash in my account would make pennies at best

[Temp]

What's the situation with an empty flat due to a bereavement?  It's currently exempt from Council tax and the Electric is standing charge only. 

[TonyT]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Shell imo are a bargepole job. I know multiple people with very bad experiences.

 

Escape.

 

My supplier went bust, and She’ll were the new nominated supplier.

 

[TonyT]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

Change to Octopus.  They are much more flexible and the user ability to set their monthly payment is just one of the nice things.

 

PM me for a referral code which will give you £50 credit when you switch to them.

The last time I looked 4/5 weeks ago they weren’t taking on new customers

[andyscotland]

Just to say @ProDave kindly gave me a code for Octopus today. The website does look like they're not taking/are discouraging new customers.

 

However if you click the "I know I want to save money, I want to switch anyway" you get through to the option to phone up.

 

I phoned this afternoon, got through pretty quick and spoke to an extremely helpful & friendly agent. Call took about 15 mins all in including holding & a bit of chat.

 

He was able to set me up over the phone - prices on the variable tariff basically the same as Shell (standing charge about 0.2p cheaper) as I'd expected.

 

He also added the referral code to my account, worth £50 each for me and @ProDave so worth having!

 

Less than an hour after dialling the number I've had the email to provide Octopus with closing meter readings so although the official switch isn't till next week I've used my last Shell-supplied units which feels brilliant 🤣

 

[gaz_moose]

what rates did they give you? 

[andyscotland]

@gaz_moose

 

Electric

Unit rate 27.84p per kWh
Standing charge 49.38p per day

 

Gas

Unit rate 7.33p per kWh

Standing charge 27.22p per day

 

This is for Edinburgh

[Ferdinand]

These are mine. Went to Octopus last autumn when Avro went bust.

 

The Flexible Avro tariff was defined to be a little below the cap.

 

I already get a "loyalty bonus". For some reason. The "Loyal Octopus" bonus is taken off the Electric Standing Charge, and reduces it by ~30% or 13.15p a day (= £48 pa) on my tariff. 

 

The offered fix rate is still imo way out for me, given that my plan aspiration is to reduce gas usage next winter by 50-70%.

 

[Ferdinand]

Copied from another thread.

 

If you get into a Smart Meter, watch the process carefully.

 

This looks dramatic, but at this stage I don't expect a problem and expect the gas number to self-correct. Having just read the meter, my usage since the new meter went in is 0.413 m3 - which suggests I am not sure what.

 

----------------------------------

It is now 10 days since the Octopodule Smart Meter went in.

 

Elec is great, but gas has yet to connect - despite moving the Smart Display to within a few feet of the meter for some hours.

 

It also lists 2 gas meters, and is telling me my use is up by 1600 times since last week. Kinks to be ironed out, and I think I need to talk to them after the 2 week allowed from connection has expired.

 

 

Ferdinand

[ProDave]

I thought meter readings had to go through some sort of algorithm check to validate them and make sure they are plausible readings?  If so that gas reading should fail as completely absurd and not a correct reading.

 

I would definitely speak to Octopus sooner rather than later.

[PeterW]

36 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I thought meter readings had to go through some sort of algorithm check to validate them and make sure they are plausible readings?  If so that gas reading should fail as completely absurd and not a correct reading.

 

I would definitely speak to Octopus sooner rather than later.

you would be surprised what gets through ..! Had a smart meter install and the meter installer transposed Day and Night reads when he closed off the old meter and Bulb took it as correct despite one dropping by 2,000 units and the other increasing by the same !!!