Octopus are actually really good when it comes to being in credit. They show you on the dashboard how much credit you have, they tell you what they recommend your balance should be based on expected annual consumption, and they allow you to enter how much you’d like returning to your bank account.
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That’s refreshing!
That’s not clear to me at all. In fact, according to Citizens Advice the only additional ‘hoop’ a supplier can ask you to jump through is providing a meter reading (i.e. so a supplier can know exactly how much credit a customer actually has).
As others have said Octopus are very transparent and speedy about the entire process.
As for lost interest, at the moment Santander are paying 4% cashback on payments via Santander 123 (+ Lite). That’s higher than the interest I’d get if that same money were sat in my 2.75% eSaver for an entire year; and of course it won’t be that long before that is spent on energy (even with my fixed tariff).
To be fair reading Amazon_Parcel’s post, it appeared to me it’s not so simple, but I may have interpreted that incorrectly.
All I’m saying is, if you’ve got over £500 or any other substantial amount sat in your energy account and yore using far less energy than the overall amount you’re shoving into it, then it should in my opinion be a simple case of phoning your energy company and asking for a significant refund that very day by bank transfer if you just happen to need the money. Of course that may come across as entirely unrealistic or to some readers, unreasonable.
Also if you’re on working smart meters, you shouldn’t have to provide any meter reading when calling because they already have access to that information.
At the end of the day different customers have different ways and ideas about what is best for them about how they pay their energy bills, I just find it odd however, that some folks deliberately choose to funnel hundreds of pounds in overpayments to their energy providers when they could be making it work for them elsewhere. It seems though that some folks do find it difficult to budget any other way.
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It’s not just about budgeting though, it’s about maximising the value from every £ spent. Rarely is the maximum value possible extracted by simply saving every penny and only ‘spending’ at the last moment possible; even with improving interest rates.
I was asked the question just other day by a relative of mine about why I choose to pay by variable monthly direct debit i.e. just paying exactly every month for the energy we use instead of paying a fixed amount every month.
I explained that it was mostly about me being in control of my energy spend, not relying on my energy provider to guesstimate my annual energy consumption based on previous data. I mentioned it before, years ago, I had horrible problems with Npower when they attempted to ‘fix’ my monthly direct debit using what I can only deduce as flawed data. I’m sure folks will tell me that this just wouldn’t happen these days, but when I read of customers having their ‘fixed’ direct debits raised because their actual usage is more than was predicted, it sort of twists the ‘easier to budget’ aspect. Yes, one has to pay for the energy used at the end of the day, so the argument will always lean to that it all works out in the end any way.
My stance on paying by variable direct debit, is that I can more easily and readily see where my energy usage is and take action earlier in reducing my consumption because of course, I’m effectively paying as I go. We’ve already benefited from this by identifying electrical items that were needlessly on. It may all come across as fuzzy logic, but ultimately I feel far more in control of my expenditure. The plus is, I’m never overpaying and I can use money that would otherwise be idling in British Gas bank accounts for other purposes, like putting food on the table.
All this aside, after much number crunching and looking at last winters electricity use, the fact we don’t use electric for heating or car charging and we’ve identified real savings by switching off items around the home, our Government through their wonderful rebate scheme, are effectively giving us free electricity for the next few months, so there’s no complaints from me!
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You missed the asterisk after free 
Likewise our electricity is less than £66/month (@18p kWh, until Nov 23) through the winter. Actually summer electricity usage tends to be highest for us as that’s when we have nights with A/C (worth every penny!). Gas is another story, of course.
If you give meter readings every month your annual estimates would be fine lol
Fixed direct debits work okay. I’ve never had an issue when I’ve paid that way before.
I don’t need to give monthly meter readings, my smart meters work just fine!
Indeed as above, I don’t even need to be concerned about my electricity spend for the next few months because it’ll cost us nothing 
As for gas and heating, well thankfully being in a well insulated new build home in a mild part of the U.K, it doesn’t cost much to heat and keep warm anyway.
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Our future selves / our children are giving us free electricity….
Super selfish comment coming - not my children, I don’t have any 
But yes you are of course right, I’ll end up paying for it somewhere down the line.
So, in the end, money is transferred from the government to energy generation companies’ shareholders, and you (we) will be paying for it.
Be interesting to see who’s in Government when it happens, but heck, that’s another whole thread
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Price cap now expires in April. Couldn’t make this stuff up.
Starmer and Labour will love that!
Dear, oh dear! 
Liz Truss must be the most powerless Prime Minister in British history, surely 
Totally undermined in all of her policies / promises / intentions.
See how the Markets respond to this 
Currently £:$ 1.1304 as I type (per BBC)
Was £:$ 1.1288 at 11:00, prior to speech, as a benchmark.
Trash the economy then remove the one bit of support that actually made a difference!
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Literally the Government in a nutshell right there
Realistically, I never for one moment thought this support package would last anywhere near two years and I’m surprised that anyone believed it actually would. It’s just too damned expensive for any Government to carry off. I learned long ago to literally take with an enormous pinch of salt, anything that erupted from any politicians gob.
Perhaps I should actually feel guilty that I’m getting ‘free’ electric for the next few months? but sod it! I don’t feel guilty at all, especially after all the incompetence and U turns of late.
I almost feel sorry for the poor sods who end up in power after the Tories lose the next election because they’re likely to end up being a one term Government unable to sort the mess out. It’ll just be one huge pot mess after another for years to come. Not much to look forward too 
I know everyone’s usage is different, but what are people paying per day for electricity? I came downstairs at 8:00am and our smart meter was already at £2.50 for electric usage. We are paying £6 a day, I’m at a loss to explain it.
Over night the only that will have been on is the fridge and freezer, and I don’t see how those two alone can use £2.50 of energy.
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