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Dec 2023
1:18pm, 14 Dec 2023
16,096 posts
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jda
"And to me £500 is a lot of money and I suspect it is to most people. It would affect me greatly if my energy retailer had £500 of my cash in their bank account."
I'm sorry to hear of your predicament, and you may well be right about "most people", but even if you are, telling people who clearly don't care, that they ought to care, seems a particularly futile endeavour to me. What are you hoping to achieve through it? Even if you convinced me and some others to care, what difference would it actually make to you?
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Dec 2023
1:20pm, 14 Dec 2023
2,838 posts
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Muttley
£600 in a 5% savings account would generate £30 a year so that's the sum at stake, not £600. Whether that makes it worth the time and effort to manage the fluctuating sums to pay bills on receipt is a personal choice, I guess.
My credit was £600, accrued when interest rates were near to zero so it didn't matter. I prefer a steady monthly DD and will be looking to maintain a smaller credit as this one runs down.
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Dec 2023
1:21pm, 14 Dec 2023
21,195 posts
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rf_fozzy
Actually a correction. The one time I did a DD, they massively underestimated our useage (student house and way before smart meters) for several months, we then had to pay a large bill and settle it, they adjusted our DD to match the real usage to that date and it just went up and up and up and up.
When we gave them our meter reading at the end of the tenancy, they didn't believe it and it took something like 3months to get the cash back.
Never going to trust an energy retailer with my cash again!
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Dec 2023
1:25pm, 14 Dec 2023
21,196 posts
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rf_fozzy
Muttley, but that's the thing for me
What practical difference does it make if the money comes out as an SO to a savings account or a DD to the energy retailer. It's still a smooth, fixed sum.
It's just you are in charge, not the energy retailer.
JDA - if you don't care, then why post? Feel free to ignore this.
I've said above, it genuinely baffles me that the prevailing wisdom is that a monthly DD in advance and the energy retailer managing your cashflow is better than doing it yourself.
And I say this as someone who is not always great at managing their money. But trying to get better.
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Dec 2023
1:37pm, 14 Dec 2023
26,083 posts
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Bazoaxe
It’s probably not even £30 a year as your balance goes down when you pay a bill
Great that you have the time to do this fozzy. Right now it’s not for me and there are other higher priority tasks I have in managing finances that are more beneficial.
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Dec 2023
1:41pm, 14 Dec 2023
27,336 posts
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TROSaracen
Nothing wrong with folk posting advice about how they do things, we can either ignore or if not doing and the method chimes then maybe take it up.
It's just that Fozzy goes on and on and on and on.....with a slightly condescending air.
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Dec 2023
1:47pm, 14 Dec 2023
21,197 posts
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rf_fozzy
I won't bother posting again. Because apparently £500 isn't a lot of money and we don't need to worry about it.
It's amazing that most of you bother to post on here at all given that £500 isn't a lot of money and energy bills rarely if ever change by that amount.
In future, if you don't want me going on, then simply explain. I am still baffled that people want to allow energy retailers to have their money. But they probably don't care as £500 is nothing.
Enjoy your expensive Christmases.
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Dec 2023
2:28pm, 14 Dec 2023
48,894 posts
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Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr)
I don't think fozzy means to be condescending. Somewhat insistent perhaps! 
But yes, we are all coming from different places. So, because I am much older than you fozzy, I have probably both more income AND much higher debts than you. So a number which is large to you, is relatively smaller to me.
I recently said to my mum, when offered an amount of money from my 90 year old aunt who sent money to my my mum, "no thanks, you use it." It was about £1,500. To me that is nothing - honestly, you should see the size of my debts and bills. My wife can bill me for £5,000 of fencing or £2,000 of vet bills on a random wet Wednesday afternoon. So £1,500 doesn't help me much. But my mum lives on a pension, in an ex council house, month to month +/- £100 probably. So £30 extra on her heating bill is a big deal. And conversely, a gift of £1,500 gives her luxury and comfort for months, and is incredibly welcome and kindly received. To me, it would just be a drop into my debts.
So, perspective and all that. I'm sure fozzy's tips on managing money to pay energy companies were well intentioned. That for some of us they are not terribly relevant doesn't make them any less well intentioned. Imho. Love and peace and all that.  G
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Dec 2023
2:48pm, 14 Dec 2023
4,202 posts
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Pou Pou LePhoõk
I amend my DD on the utilities app every so often, so keep it close to (or ideally just below) zero.
I also sharpened my pencil and did the maths. Saving £100 a month at 5%, then taking out £300 every three months, gives an annual interest of about £15.
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Dec 2023
4:07pm, 14 Dec 2023
6,138 posts
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Windsor Wool
I'd say something but kittens and all that......
Anyway, Octopus Saving Session this evening 5 -> 6pm. They must be a bit short in a forecasted high demand period. That's a surprise to me tbh given that it's not that cold and I would have thought that everyone was out on their works Xmas piss up this evening.
G - if you've that sort of money knocking around then you could be retired rather than talking about it to retirees on another thread!
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