Electric bill (UK)- help with basics.

[Zoot]

Hi chaps,

embarrassed to ask on my hifi forums, if I could ask on here instead: I think it would be friendlier tbh!

Ok I don't understand the basics of an electricity bill. I have an elderly (97) bedbound friend, lives alone (carers drop in), whom I try my hardest to help in any way: electric bills though, & well I've never understood them (I just pay DD, basically, so I don't need to look).

The thing I find impossible to understand, is that I have an "account "balance". With my BT phone bill I pay for my useage- I'm never informed that I have an "account balance": so why do I for my electric Co?

Secondly, is that this figure seems to vary, not by a little, but varies wildly.

Thirdly are the two finance words ascociated/ always used: "debit" & "credit". These words do not compute with me.

Fourth: is whether this figure, if in debit, means that I'm liable at that point intime, to owe the electricity Co this sum.

Fifth: is this estimated & actual readings. Why there's two: I mean if I use something, water for eg, it isn't complicated by having an "account figure", nor further complicated by having two avenue methods of useage. If I use a gallon of water... I'm billed for it. I use 2 gallons next month... I'm billed for it. Why this massively complicated totally different electricity situation?? Their both utilities Co's after all.

Lastly Sixth: is why when I do enter a meter reading (online), which I do almost always, am I billed the -same- figure each month?? A same figure, would imply to me, that a similar ammount of useage is being denoted that I have used. And that in turn, implies an estimation. Are my numbers I type in, being acknowledged??.... or ignored??

I am absolutely lost, exhausted trying to understand. I've tried to ask my electric Co a few times, but I'm bombarded with finance terms & just cannot understand anyone ( I even ask if they could kindly explain as slowly as possible, as if I was a child, & I still can't understand). I'm trying to help my old friend.

If anyone can help. Thanks, Zoot

 

[SRGTD]

@Zoot - I’ll have a go at answering your questions;​

• There are two types of energy supply accounts for domestic customers - pre-payment and credit. With pre-payment, customers pay for their energy before they use it and have to physically top up their account using a top up card or key. They take the card or key to the Post Office or shops that offer the top up facility and once the card / key is topped up with cash, those funds needs to be loaded onto the electricity meter by inserting the card / key into the meter

As you’re paying for your energy by direct debit, then you have credit account, meaning you pay for your energy in arrears - i.e. you pay for it after you’ve used it.​

• Monthly variation of account balance; With most - if not all - credit accounts for energy supply where payment is by direct debit you pay a fixed monthly payment, the amount of the payment being based on your actual or estimated energy usage for the year. I think monthly payment of the same amount each month is the norm and IMHO makes it easier for customers to budget for the cost of their energy usage.

No one uses exactly the same amount of energy each month, so some months your payment will exceed your actual energy usage costs (typically during the summer months) and in other months your energy usage costs will exceed your monthly payment (typically during the winter months). That is why your account balance will vary month by month. However, over the course of a complete year, what you pay should be broadly equal to the cost of the energy you’ve used - assuming your monthly payments have been set at the correct level to reflect your actual annual energy usage.​

• Credit and Debit; When you have a credit balance on your account you have paid more to your energy supplier than the cost of energy you have actually used. Conversely, when you have a debit balance on your account, you have paid less to your energy supplier than the actual cost of energy you have used. As you’ve said above, an account that’s in debit means the customer owes the energy company the debit amount. Your energy supply company should monitor your monthly energy payments against your actual energy usage on an ongoing basis and if they feel your payment needs to be increased they should let you know so you avoid ending up with a large debit balance on your account.

• Estimated and actual readings - it’s important that a customer provides their actual meter readings at the required (monthly or quarterly) frequency so the energy company can monitor the customer’s true energy usage and cost against what the customer is paying. If actual meter readings aren’t supplied, then the energy company will use their ‘best estimate’ of the customer’s energy usage for billing purposes and for setting the monthly amount the customer needs to pay. Estimated readings could mean the customer ends up paying too much or too little for their energy and potentially moving into a significant credit or debit balance situation. I have a smart meter for my energy supply where meter readings are sent automatically to my energy supplier, so I don’t have to physically read my meter and my energy supplier always gets an accurate reading.

• Being billed the same amount each month after sending a meter reading online; This suggests that your energy company considers your monthly payments are are sufficient to cover your energy usage. I doubt your readings are being ignored - if you check your energy bill, the meter readings you supplied should have been used in the calculation of your energy costs for the billing period in question.

Hopefully the above is useful and provides some clarity on the points you’ve raised in your post.

 

[Zoot]

@SRGTD

Really appreciate that. That's as best I can hope fir in terms of explanation- far far better than speaking on the phone, where I panic at not understanding, & the person gets impatient with me no5 understanding.

Saying that, I still don't understand the majority of the billing system though. I'll re-read your reply numerous times & hopefully more will click.

I've been in touch with an Energy Representative at EDF, whom I simply requested she could please -call- my dear old friend, in a pickle with his bill. And she did so. And he as a result is happier. But I asked one simple Q to her, twice, to which she didn't answer (rather she bombarded me with everything else xyz & abc which was like a deluge).

That Q being thus: if my old friend, has for some reason, become in debit (why is the financial word debt.. debit with one vowel, absent?? Anyway..) to the tune of "minus £750": is he liable/ is it warranted/ is it normal, for him to write a cheque there & then for £750 to EDF??

Or is it a situation whereby he -leaves- that payment unpaid, & carries on, until I don't know.. some better "balance" figure establishes itself? He didn't get a 'summons' for this debit figure by EDF, but feels obligated, to pay the "outstanding ammount".

I said to him to hang on, because I don't think you are oblidged to pay that/ that your balance "goes up & down during the year, this figure although denoting when your most 'down' let's say, doesn't though signify a bill to pay".

Am I right??

Why is it just me that finds this complicated???? I never hear of anyone else in my boat- makes me feel extremely alone tbh.

Thanks. Zoot

 

[SRGTD]

@Zoot; you’re welcome.

Be aware that this is just my opinion and I’m in no way qualified to give legal advice. However, I think it’d be worth doing some further investigation to understand more about what lead to the large debit balance, especially if it was unexpected. You’ve not said if your friend pays for their energy by monthly direct debit or if they still get an old style ‘traditional’ quarterly bill and then pay on receipt of the bill.

If your friend pays by monthly direct debit, and if the £750 has built up gradually over a long period of time - say 2-3 years or more (worth checking previous bills - if available - to see if this is what’s happened), it tends to suggest either a) the monthly direct debit payments have been set too low, b) energy consumption is higher than it was initially expected to be or c) a combination of the two. It’s worth noting that Ofgem - the industry regulator - has mandated that energy suppliers must regularly review customer direct debit payments to ensure they are sufficient to cover the energy used and that the customer isn’t suddenly hit with a large ‘catch-up’ bill. If the energy supplier is in breach of Ofgem’s mandated requirements then it would be worth investigating further to see what rights and remedies, if any, might be available to your friend; maybe speak to Citizen’s Advice in the first instance?

Alternatively, if your friend’s energy consumption has suddenly increased unexpectedly to generate a £750 debit balance, then it might be due to one or more of the following;

• an incorrect meter reading may have been provided
• there’s a recent problem with the meter and it’s over-reading. You can ask the energy supplier to test the meter for accuracy, although I believe that if the test results show it’s accurate, there may be a charge for the energy company arranging / carrying out the test.
• an unscrupulous neighbour has somehow tapped into your friend’s electricity supply! (apparently it can happen, according to some of the consumer programmes on TV).

I do hope you’re able to get this sorted. Please update the discussion topic with developments. Good luck!

 

[Zoot]

@SRGTD

That's very kind of you again. I'll either fwd this thread, to my friend (can rcv emails still at 97), or read it to him next time I visit: I live 100m away or I'd pop over with it asap.

He'll most likely understand more of it than I do (I still can't really understand the fundamental reasoning of why it's done in this ridiculously complicated way, if a meter with 5 numbers on it, is as simple in principle to provide: & therefore if Ive used a bit more one month vs last month, just bill me a bit more: why can't it be this simple??! Why this infuriating & to me completely counterintuitively illogical need for any "account" situation, whatsoever??!).

[I'm only throwing that question/ rant out as rhetorically- I don't expect you to answer it SRGTD].

I am though, still not understanding (as I think possibly my old friend is a bit confused about too), whether when a debit figure materialises in your account... what the implications are, in terms of an owing/ a payment situation with it.

My friend it seems to me, is taking this minus £750 figure, as being a sum that he thinks he is being summoned for, by his EDF electricity Co.

This is the question I've twice asked a person within EDF via email. First outlining my old friend's a bit confused, by a few things (one of which I assume might be why this debit figure, is so high). She just doesn't reply to it though, rather deluging me with figures for his account. Which just bamboozles my head, when I'm trying to ask a pretty simple Q (with basically a Yes or No answer afaict).

Thanks, Zoot

 

[Tell]

Hi chaps,

embarrassed to ask on my hifi forums, if I could ask on here instead: I think it would be friendlier tbh!

Ok I don't understand the basics of an electricity bill. I have an elderly (97) bedbound friend, lives alone (carers drop in), whom I try my hardest to help in any way: electric bills though, & well I've never understood them (I just pay DD, basically, so I don't need to look).

The thing I find impossible to understand, is that I have an "account "balance". With my BT phone bill I pay for my useage- I'm never informed that I have an "account balance": so why do I for my electric Co?

Secondly, is that this figure seems to vary, not by a little, but varies wildly.

Thirdly are the two finance words ascociated/ always used: "debit" & "credit". These words do not compute with me.

Fourth: is whether this figure, if in debit, means that I'm liable at that point intime, to owe the electricity Co this sum.

Fifth: is this estimated & actual readings. Why there's two: I mean if I use something, water for eg, it isn't complicated by having an "account figure", nor further complicated by having two avenue methods of useage. If I use a gallon of water... I'm billed for it. I use 2 gallons next month... I'm billed for it. Why this massively complicated totally different electricity situation?? Their both utilities Co's after all.

Lastly Sixth: is why when I do enter a meter reading (online), which I do almost always, am I billed the -same- figure each month?? A same figure, would imply to me, that a similar ammount of useage is being denoted that I have used. And that in turn, implies an estimation. Are my numbers I type in, being acknowledged??.... or ignored??

I am absolutely lost, exhausted trying to understand. I've tried to ask my electric Co a few times, but I'm bombarded with finance terms & just cannot understand anyone ( I even ask if they could kindly explain as slowly as possible, as if I was a child, & I still can't understand). I'm trying to help my old friend.

If anyone can help. Thanks, Zoot

On the fifth they need a smart meter so there are no estimates since the readings are passed back. You don't get the silliness of actual and estimate if a reading isn't taken.

Octopus still produce a bit of a weird statement but if you use their free apps / associated apps they price up consumption in real time. You agree to the smart meter being read hourly or what have you and can apply for that free box which feeds the meter data into the apps in real time. I mention that box on EV threads here. Since I have solar I balance the direct debit payments against the five sunny months in the year keeping the credit just right then step up payments during winter months. That's how I do it with solar, you got your usage minus the solar income. Analyse by month and chump the direct debit accordingly.

The free magic box that generates your priced up usage data that you can look at in the Octopus app, Octopus Watch or Octopus Comparison.

Meet the Octopus Home Mini

The Octopus Home Mini is a brand new, cutting-edge bit of tech that makes understanding your energy usage easier than ever before.

octopus.energy

All Smartmeter data is available by API so if you aren't with Octopus you can get at your own data. What people do that have solar, batteries etc. Their little energy farms. I've only got 11 panels... baby in comparison with some and use Agile pricing on the usage. Get paid to use sometimes.

 

[tracktoy]

@SRGTD nice reply.

I would also say that some different energy providers actually (via smart meter) just charge you for usage so you get you bill and then DD Payment outstanding balance - 0.00

 

[Tell]

Most providers like to keep a buffer three times something or other. This is where one energy provider was having ago at Octopus. One big boy verses the other big boy. The R4 guy... err had them on a podcast being nice to each other even though he'd been bitching... Google to follow . The Bottom Line podcast the arch enemies.

This one says you need 2.5 month credit in your account

Energy credit and debit explained

Why do you build up credit? Can you refund your money if you think there's too much in your account? In this blog, we'll help you make sense of the direct debit cycle and why your balance varies throughout the year when you pay by fixed Direct Debit.

octopus.energy

Bulb had something similar, they were taken over by Octopus. With solar it can soon get out of control since their forecasting model may not take account of your income from solar.

The balance rule enables the provider to buy in advance the energy for it customer base. Not enough credit in the company accounts then it may go out of business. Hence why they make it difficult at times to ask for your credit back setting limits. That bit is annoying when you have too much credit but they set limits.

Anyhow without solar if they are doing their forecasting correctly the direct debit should be about right but with Octopus you ask for it back. Solar I trim the payments. Last five summer months my electricity debit was just £5 a month, now £20 this year. They slashed the income you earnt selling on by 20% plus the unit price of electricity bought went up.

So any big credits you request back subject to the 2.5 rule which I think is fairly universal. Us solar guys trim the DD to stop large buffers building up. I look at about £95 being the buffer. Divide by 2.5 might be in their ball park. I also check their suggestions. Ignore and reset them. Got those two maths degrees . They drop you an email saying we have adjusted the DD. You do your sums by looking at the app and reset it back yourself to stop large balances building up.

Basically if your electricity consumption is say £60 a month then good practice as far as they are concerned is a balance of 2.5x£60. It's that 2.5 multiplier that was causing the one of the CEOs to claim Octopus was running below sensible credit limits in their recent bitching. It's that balance figure they don't like to loose, place hurdles for you to reduce it and you don't want to get above it too far. Keep to that figure and all parties should be happy.

& all of that was if you are on a direct debit scheme, if not then you pay extra for the privilege of not providing the electricity company with a float plus put into the category on non payers and delayed payers waiting for the final bill to come in. What I use to tell mother . "Oh your brother and I only pay for what we use".... "yes but you are grouped into the non payers and delayed paper so your electricity unit price is more". The answer was "oh".

Then you got the "poor people" that have to feed the meter with credit (Smart Pay As You Go meter). The next extreme of paying over the odds for electricity. They can't trusted to pay their bills and pay over the odds for that. Those Smart meters are now multi purpose so can be switched from a normal smart meter to a pay as you go one, remotely. Causing some moans and resistance to smart meters. Realm of populism and smart meters and electricity. What more can you want but that.

 

[Loadmaster748]

Our current dual fuel (lecky and gas) supplier is EDF and has been that way for some years now.

If your friend has an online account with them, coupled with a smart meter, it should all be fairly straight forward. Keep on calling their customer services if or when you need to - with them being in the UK it's much easier to understand them instead of having a (trying to) chat and understand someone half way around the world somewhere!

 

[Tell]

For older people getting them to move onto direct debit is a big step and not having a meter reader / doing your own readings . I'd had enough with ENSTROGA but I can't remember what they did to annoy me . A fairly useless company. Bulb were good but not viable. Octopus are very good. I came from E.ON. ENSTROGA were Which recommend, then the wheels dropped off.

The ones that went bust:

Which energy suppliers have gone bust? | The Energy Shop

Find out the which energy suppliers have gone bust. We include the number of customers affected plus the chosen supplier of last resort.

www.theenergyshop.com

 

[Zoot]

On the fifth they need a smart meter so there are no estimates since the readings are passed back. You don't get the silliness of actual and estimate if a reading isn't taken.

Hi Tell,

apologies but I'm not nearly in a position to understand really anything further than the question I'm trying to seek an answer to. This is the question Ive twice asked my EDF Energy Representative person (who didn't answer it)? And I've tried to ask on this thread too.

At this juncture, smart meters, estimated/ actual, I have yet to understand: so I'm leaving that for the time being: & also myself, I don't have a smart meter; & don't want one if it's going to add complication to the way I do my readings (I look at a meter, see a 5-digit number, type this number into a box on a page: tbh why anyone would want to upset this simplistic task.. is utterly beyond me; furthermore I read many stories of people fed up with these devices, sometimes having been forced upon them).

All I'm trying to establish, for now, is what the significance is of having a debit ammount in one's account is.

IE, it seems to me, that my old friend, cannot understand what exactly "minus £750" means, in terms of whether or not he owes this figure. At this very moment in time. IE he has just established that that is what his "balance" currently is. So he feels obligated/ worried/ inclined/ to write a cheque to EDF to the tune of £750.

Now, I don't think (or rather I have a vague notion I may be correct) that he IS oblidged to write a cheque, now, for tbis ammount. That he just has to wait, for his "balance" (whatever that actually is, I have still have no idea whatsoever) to dip back into a more reasonable figure. That is for some reason, swings wildly from a debit figure in one section of the year, to a credit figure in another (why it does so.. is still way beyond my understanding).

Can anyone at the least say they understand my question-? I may be making things completely illegible, via typed words in a box. I don't know.

Thanks, Zoot

 

[Tell]

Hi Tell,

apologies but I'm not nearly in a position to understand really anything further than the question I'm trying to seek an answer to. This is the question Ive twice asked my EDF Energy Representative person (who didn't answer it)? And I've tried to ask on this thread too.

At this juncture, smart meters, estimated/ actual, I have yet to understand: so I'm leaving that for the time being: & also myself, I don't have a smart meter; & don't want one if it's going to add complication to the way I do my readings (I look at a meter, see a 5-digit number, type this number into a box on a page: tbh why anyone would want to upset this simplistic task.. is utterly beyond me; furthermore I read many stories of people fed up with these devices, sometimes having been forced upon them).

All I'm trying to establish, for now, is what the significance is of having a debit ammount in one's account is.

IE, it seems to me, that my old friend, cannot understand what exactly "minus £750" means, in terms of whether or not he owes this figure. At this very moment in time. IE he has just established that that is what his "balance" currently is. So he feels obligated/ worried/ inclined/ to write a cheque to EDF to the tune of £750.

Now, I don't think (or rather I have a vague notion I may be correct) that he IS oblidged to write a cheque, now, for tbis ammount. That he just has to wait, for his "balance" (whatever that actually is, I have still have no idea whatsoever) to dip back into a more reasonable figure. That is for some reason, swings wildly from a debit figure in one section of the year, to a credit figure in another (why it does so.. is still way beyond my understanding).

Can anyone at the least say they understand my question-? I may be making things completely illegible, via typed words in a box. I don't know.

Thanks, Zoot

Looks like you need an accountant. If it's like accountancy, a debit means they have taken it off, the question is after they have taken this off, is it still negative ?, did it go down, if it went down that's a credit column you are looking at. Credits which would be payments should be positive and adjust the line up. If the figure is paid off then it should come down. Just like a bank statement. So the question is, is that column a credit column like a bank statement. Debits is paying out. If the behaviour is reversed then its what is owed.

Reckon you need one of those Citizens advice centres to fathem out the bill. They are free.

You put your postcode in:

Citizens Advice

Online free advice from Citizens Advice to help you find a way forward, whatever the problem. Our research enables us to campaign on issues affecting people's lives.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

On Smartmeters. No they have been turned into silly nonsense subjects by the far right to manipulate voting intentions. On reliability the installation is subcontracted out so it depends how good the team is in your area. Scotland has been undergoing a transfer from the system implemented in North England and Scotland to the one used in England and Wales. Mobile phone system. Scotland and North England was some weird radio system other than based on 4g.

England and Wales were originally on Smartmeter 1, that was over taken by Smartmeter 2. Thats only installed now. You can change your electricity provider with that, easily and remotely. Smartmeter 1 they needed to change the meter. SMET1 and 2.

History:

Smart meter - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

For an EV you wont get 3.5 p or 7p per kwhr charging on an ordinary meter. So going EV means you have to move over to Smartmeter unless you want to pay over the odds to charge the car. EVs, home charging and Smartmeters work hand in hand.

The other recent disturbance is the overnight radiator something or other 7 (Economy 7) which is being discontinued. Another Farage moan. You got to have a Smartmeter to take advantage of dynamic pricing which is what the old GPO did on peak rate, local calls etc. Almost as old as the hills.

Octopus Energy FAQs

What is an Economy 7 meter and tariff?

octopus.energy

Smartmeters radio in the reading when polled. They also have the ability to use "ziggy" (zigbee). Your home IHD device that gives you the reading without going under the stairs, cupboard, outside can also link to your gas meter via ziggy. So indoors a ziggy network is set up between you gas and electricity meter then one radios out the signal. It does beyond that. In difficult situations they can ziggy out between households so the one that can get the signal to the tower sends that out plus your neighbours. Don't think that one is too common thou.

That's your zigbee mesh that is set up by the Smartmeter and the display and any other Smartmeters added like gas plus that Octopus purple box if you use that.

Zigbee - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

(Your Amazon Blink cameras outdoor also also uses the zigbee protocol back to the base station)

At smartmeter installation they check the signal strength and give the thumbs up that it's talking to the mobile phone tower. All that data gets passed back to a central clearing service tested by GCHQ for security since a foreign actor could turn ever bodies electricity off. Just as well we trust civil service .

EVs drivers have their Smartmeters set to send data at 30 minute intervals / subdivided into that then passed on. If you want smart tartifs you toggle that data on. Its a requirement over and above people who just have smart meters but don't use smart tariffs.

 

[Zoot]

@SRGTD

Ok I've re-red your first reply, in which you kindly went over the basics. I am though effectively stumped from the off, when you say the AREARS bit.

Right, I -can- understand when you say that I pay each month (DD) for what I have used. Not beforehand.

But right here, is the crux of why I have such trouble understanding (& my old friend is, coincidentally, in the same boat, to a degree.. which is why I was using his £750 debit figure as almost a useful real-time example).

If I have a basic meter with 5 numbers on, & I am asked each month to put the current 5 numbers into a box on a page, prior to a bill being generated.. this much, so far to me, all seems logical.

It is when I am presented with a figure to pay though (just a few days after the meter number request is asked of me) that my understanding becomes nil. It all becomes incomprehensible, totally 100% illogical.

What my logic says, is that if I'm asked to put meter numbers in, these numbers are A) a determination of what my electric useage has been, relative, to what my last set of numbers I told them was. And B) they will determine whether I have used more (or less) than the previous month. And as a consequence of A & B... my slightly different useage each month.... will innevitably (because I cannot possibly use the exact same ammount- that's just irrational).... produce a different ammout to pay, as a result.

But instead, each month, I am bewilderingly presented with an identical figure to pay. EH??? Added to this bizarre situation (which always leads me unable to know of my meter readings were even acknowledged at all) I have instead some "balance" situation.

So as a result of not understanding this, when I see a figure of "minus £X" in my "balance"...... I have no comprehension of what this signifies. Does it signify that I am being somehow gently summoned for an ammout that I owe?? If I leave this be, will I get a firmer letter of demand?? If I leave this, will my electricity get cut off??

Conversely, when my "balance" shows a credit figure of "plus £X".. does this mean I should be demanding -I- am owed a sum by my electric Co?

This -I think- is roughly where my old friend is. Maybe at 97 (& I'd assume so, being a financial adviser in his working life, all this is child's play to him up until now) he's forgetting the basics. And as a consequence, is coincidentally exactly where I have always been in terms of understanding.

You see I think that my old friend, is panicking, & paying out a grand figure (written via cheque in his case to the tune of £750).............. because he is concerned, worried, by this "minus big figure" looming unnervingly at him, in his "balance". He is worried that he might have his electricity cut off. I think.

Thanks. Zoot

 

[Zoot]

@Tell

Apologies I cannot understand what you mean by "sounds like you need an accountant". So I am not in any position there on, to understand anything beyond: I could rack my brains for hours thinking why you chose to type this sentence. But my head just explodes.

I really just need the basics, boiled down, to absolute fundamental building blocks. As if I was a 6 year old child. Seriously.

Or.. does anyone know

1) should my old friend should be writing a £750 cheque (having just seen his "balance" is this figure) or not??

2) if I can possibly just be billed for the electricity that I use, per month (not one that is identical, but then with added complicated 'credit' & 'debit' account numbers that I struggle to understand forced on me)??

Thanks. Zoot

 

[Tell]

Citizens advice. They are free and use to this stuff.

You can work out your own stuff by taking away the two monthly figures to give usage. Usage times unit price. Plus service charge. Daily figure. Plus vat which is lower than the normal figure. 5% if the they didn't include Vat. Should tally with the price that they have debited off the account... just as well I ran my own business for 18 years and did the accounts as well and paid Vat and did the work... bit surprised myself these days. Dangers of being a mathematical modeller.

 

[SRGTD]

Citizens advice. They are free and use to this stuff.

You can work out your own stuff by taking away the two monthly figures to give usage. Usage times unit price. Plus service charge. Daily figure. Plus vat which is lower than the normal figure. 5% if the they didn't include Vat. Should tally with the price that they have debited off the account... just as well I ran my own business for 18 years and did the accounts as well and paid Vat and did the work... bit surprised myself these days. Dangers of being a mathematical modeller.

@Zoot - as @Tell has suggested, it would probably be best to contact Citizens Advice. As @Tell has said, they will be used to helping people gain a better understanding of how to interpret their energy bills and why your direct debit payment stays the same each month when your energy usage changes month on month. Rest assured you won’t be the first person to speak to them on energy billing and payment matters.

 

[tracktoy]

This may help explain but again it will be easier to talk with Citizens Advise (Either face to face or over the phone).

 

[Tell]

Reckon each provider presents the bill differently. Like my DD isn't on the last month for this month they take it after settlement date (this has two in it, time to clear ). So the figures go all over the place. Getting the float at the level I want is the target. My solar income on this . We like that. Keeping that £98 figure is what I target. If it goes too low they play a game of increasing the DD, I chop it back down. Then there is the request refund I stab when the float is too high. Using the 2.5 times rule the float should be £50 at this point. Come winter I'll be paying more so just aim for that.