The consumer pays for all the costs of a business!
They like to know they are getting money to spend rather than risk you not paying when the bill arrives and them having to borrow to cover your debt and pay the collectors, etc.
The actual rate of interest they can earn on your cash is quite low compared to the costs if you don't pay.
Maybe you could get a better deal by paying 3 months in advance? Or how about a smart meter and paying daily or by the unit?
+1
It is even more obvious that it is a fiddle to benefit the utility companies as this sort of "direct debit" is effectively nothing more than a standing order. Yet the companies will not allow you the reduced tariff associated with direct debit by accepting a standing order instead. All that is needed is a balancing payment once a year - either debit or credit - so you only pay for the energy you actually use.
Of course, it doesn't matter if you overpay by £10 a month does it? You don't really don't miss interest on that £10 as the interest rates are so low. Now multiply that by a million for the total number of customers the company has, and that £10 million can generate a nice amount of interest for them.
But surely the companies don't set up monthly fixed DDs for smart meter customers, do they? I assumed they would simply deduct the correct amount from your account each month as they have an accurate energy use reading.
You can change them anyway so you don't run up credit.
The problem with all of this is that are they absolutely sure this time that they are unhackable and reliable on all tarrifs? Also if anyone in your area has a blind resident, make sure they ask for one of the talking remote units that offgen told me are readily available but EDF say they cannot buy. Brian
My arse. Or do you still believe in 'trickle-down' economics?
How many have switched to a smart meter tariff?
You can't.
What you don't have a stat so it comes on and off by the clock, that's just stupid. Oh its you.
Yes they told me that they were not bothered if i did not have one as their main target were dual fuel users. So what happens if you are a dual fuel user and suddenly want to buy gas from another company?
Brian
Someone should ask the idiot which physical device in a smart meter can be made to explode using software, he won't know. H e has seen too many hollywood movies where things explode when a hacker does something.
Long gone are the days when setting the wrong refresh rate could overload a monitor which was about the only household item you could get to "explode".
The EoN meter I have uses the mobile network. There is no reason to install another network and there aren't any bandwidth licenses available for them to use anyway.
You have all these people saying how easy it is to hack a smart meter when they don't even know how they are connected. It makes you wonder about the education in the UK.
You appear to be ignoring or discounting the fact that many people (perhaps on lower incomes than you or with less interest in advance budgeting) like to pay the same every month rather than (usually) significantly less in summer and more in winter.
Jeff Layman pretended :
Of course there is at least one company, which pays you interest on any over payment. More than the interest you would get from the best bank account.
Robin expressed precisely :
I am not one of those, but I find it simpler to know what can expect to have to fork out each month. As we are still at the beginning of the warmer, low consumption period, I am in slight energy debt - around £150 at the last check I made. I don't think any company will be gaining by the fixed direct debit method of paying, it balances out over a year.
Martin Barclay used his keyboard to write :
Are you an adult?
On Tue, 12 Jun 2018 12:40:06 +0100, David wrote:=
I would never touch EON with a barge pole. They were in the papers for = =
taking someone to court for non-payment who wasn't even their customer. = =
And they phoned me FIFTEEN times on a mobile number they shouldn't have = =
had to persuade me to change to them. They eventually desisted when I =
yelled at them with many swearwords. The previous fourteen calls I'd hu= ng =
up.
As for smart meters, I simply block any number that calls me to persuade= =
me to get one. I don't have to get one, so I'm not having one.
I guess that, in general, those starting an energy account at the start of winter might benefit from a fixed payment every month, but they could equally do that by standing order rather than direct debit. If they started in early summer, they would be best paying quarterly and have a surplus when the time comes for the heavy bills in winter.
Direct debits are for those who are content to let someone else run their financial affairs, by abrogating control of their bank account to a third party. In theory, they are fine; in practice, there can be problems. Just do a Google search on "direct debit" and "problems". Unfortunately, the DD guarantee doesn't cover loss resulting from withdrawal of too much money leading to insufficient funds for other purposes.
There is only one reason for foisting smart meters on us and that is to make more money for the suppliers
It's to allow the industry to avoid building new power stations (because people are so greenwashed to not understand why a windmill in the next country can't power the entire UK grid) by conning people into thinking they need less electricity. With the added bonus that they will be able to simply cut people off remotely without any need to prove a reason. (If they *can* they *will*).
If they were serious about such things, then they would have delivered "smart meters" (they're not smart btw) which had *2* feeds. An uninterruptible standard tariff, and an interruptible lower tariff (cf Economy 7). Then the householder could configure their home to the most economic/efficient setup.
Instead we're getting interruptible for the price of uninterruptible. Trebles all round !
Also it doesn't work at all in mobile phone not spots.
I see the same guy coming to read meters in the same (branded car) but with a different hat on on several different days. We don't have mains gas but our village hall is on British Gas electricity because it was the cheapest for the usage pattern even without dual fuel.
That only happens if you don't pay attention to their "estimated" readings if you are out which are invariably high or very high.
+1
It's summer, we are using about 25 kWHr/day = £90/month. In winter we use about 75 kWHr/day = £270/month.
Variation of £180, that is a very significant amount. Much easier to budget with a fixed monthly payment. And these days you can normally and easily adjust your DD amount (within limits) online to avoid a large overpayment. Note overpayment not credit balance...
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