BristolUK

I'm going to try to make this not seem an "it worked better in the UK" thing, but it's quite hard to escape that conclusion.

The idea of equalised payments is that the company estimates your gas/electric consumption for the forward year based on the past year and divides that by 12.

At the end of the year there's either a balance due or credit.

You pay a rate that's more than you use in summer and a rate that's less than you use in winter and over the year it more or less balances out. If the company has done it accuratey.

Essentially if there's a big credit you're paying too much and if there's a big amount due you're not paying enough. Your payment is likely to go up or down accordingly.

For gas and electric that's exactly how it worked over many years back in Bristol, with my payments barely changing.

Over here we've had enormous variation from one year to the next, understandable when we first moved in as we were four and not the two who were here before. But less understandable once a pattern emerged.

After some time we swapped to paperless bills.

After my wife died and I transferred it into my name I noticed the monthly email bill notices were asking for a lower amount than I'd been paying. Turned out this was the new EPP but there hadn't been a notice about it.

So I lowered the payment.

Then, last year, I noticed an email asked for a lower amount again (by $70!!) but a very specific figure instead of a rounded one.

It didn't seem right...it was almost as if they'd taken me off the EPP. I paid the usual amount.

Then another email said not to make a payment. I queried it and they said there was such a big credit it was best not to pay. So I didn't.

Then the next time it gave an amount to pay but less than the arranged EPP so I paid that. I asked for an explanation and it sort of made sense.

But now I have a settlement bill for $150 more than the EPP.

Had I stuck at the arranged EPP figures I'd be about $70 in credit.

Had I paid the amounts they'd asked for over the last 6 months, I'd owe more than $300 rather than the $150.

Because I 'underpaid' but not by as much as they wanted to be underpaid, the payments are increasing for the new year by the amount underpaid.

If I'd carried on paying the original rate and ignored their requests for lower amounts, I'd be in credit and the payments from now on would have gone down.

It's almost as if they are just guessing.

Perhaps with winters being far more extreme than the UK, it's more difficult to tell.

But why ask for less if it means then asking for more? It defeats the object doesn't it? Am I being unkind?

not2old

we are on EBP (EPP) for natural gas. The rate or amount is set on each September billing.

Since its been a warmer winter, the EBP) over the past three months has fluctuated as much as $10. Current bill is $7 less than the set EBP of September of 2016.

I haven't looked into the details, or if the gas charges have increased or decreased - just that the EBP charges are varying.

In July as well as August 2016, I had to pay a top-up on the EBP from the rate set at September 2015, maybe because we used more gas or the per/unit rate increased.

I don't worry about it because I have no control over the rate charges. The only thing I can do is try to use less gas & less 'on peak' electricity which is double the cost 'on peak' compared to 'off peak' here in Ontario

scrubbedexpat142

We have "equalised" payments in Hungary - & it seems to work very well. We had a large refund for our gas last year, due to a new & much more efficient boiler & a small uplift to our electricity due to our "extravagant" (but not disputed) use. The difference compared to the UK was that, in the case of the gas, the Meter was read on a Monday, on the following Friday we received a credit note & on the Monday after the postman handed over our cash refund (approx £ 225) - without us having to do anything!

withabix

I think it works better here than it did in the UK.

I found that most of the utility companies in the UK tried to set your payment level so that you were ALWAYS running a (usually significant) credit balance.

Over here, you are generally in deficit all year. There is (certainly in BC) also a facility to increase or decrease your payments during the year if you think that you are going to end the year with a large balance either way.

Obviously it will depend a bit on when your billing year end is...

Rather in my bank account than theirs.

BristolUK

Certainly I remember people routinely waiting for a red/reminder bill using that very same argument.

The counter, of course, is/was that if the utility companies are incurring additional admin costs (the cost of producing red bills) and not getting the money when they expect it, then their costs go up and that's passed on to the consumer. Heads they win, tails you lose.

I guess it depends on one's finances. If what I describe happened to someone of limited means but who had budgeted for last year's monthly payments well enough, they might have been very happy to have paid less for a couple of months and used the extra cashflow for something else that was needed. Or paid off some other debt.

But that person would now have to find $150 more than usual for the settlement plus their monthly payment goes up by $13.

scrubbedexpat091

I gave up on equal payment plan. The estimates BC Hydro uses have always been way off resulting in a fairly large difference due come the end of the 12 month billing period, so we went back to paying the full bill each month.

Except for colder then normal winters like the most recent, the bill rarely exceeds $60/month in winter, and $35 or so in summer.

Teaandtoday5

We also gave up. Any variation in our month to month bills (we don't use electric heating)is much easier to cope with than sudden demands for (usually very high) top-up payments. It seems ridiculous that with remotely read meters they can't manage their system better.

cheeky_monkey

this is true..when i left the UK Npower sent me a check for nearly 400 notes that is how much i was in credit on a 2 year plan.

scilly

I don't understand the problems so many of you are having with equalised payments!

Our heat and hot water is gas, so we have accounts with both the gas and electricity company

We've had equalised payments with both BC Hydro and Fortis Gas (once BC Gas) since 1972.

Our settlement month is June, and then the monthly payment changes by a small amount (usually around $10-15) up or down depending on how cold the winter has been OR whether there have been mandated changes in the price of or delivery of the gas or electricity.

There have been changes (increases) in our monthly payment on only a couple of occasions during those 40+ years.

I refuse to have automatic deductions from our bank account, I still get a paper invoice that I check very carefully for usage information and charges, and then pay through the bank.


This yea (June 2016-2017), my monthly payments are $71 for gas and $67 for hydro. Last year (June 2015-2016) they were $71 for gas (ie no change!) and $55 for hydro.

I am currently in debt to the companies but amounts due and paid should be very close by the time June rolls around.

BristolUK

That being relative in your part of Canada
Fair enough.
Ours can change by as much as $30 or $40 and it seems the settlement whereby I owe them only arises where they told me to pay less than the EPP amount.
That's my preferred method and the way I do it other than an email invoice rather than paper.
It was always important to me as my income was always dependent on tenants paying their rent on time. If they were late, then an automatic deduction could be a problem so controlling the date of payment was safer for me.

The issues are probably a bit more noticeable when the amounts are higher like closer to $300 a month.

not2old

all of the above

Same here in Ontario

scrubbedexpat091

I think the biggest issue for us is lack of long term data on use.

We move on average every 12 to 14 mos since we rent and long term rentals are hard to find so hydro doesnt have long term use history wise.

Live in the same house for years and hydro can build long term data.