How that works depends on the supplier. Some are reducing the Direct Debit by £66, but some are leaving the DD at its original amount and paying the $66 back as a credit to the customer's bank account. The later seems an odd approach but I guess it's down to how easily they can change their systems. The net result is the same of course.
Important to remember that the £2,500 is not really a cap. It's what the 'average' household will pay under the new prices. I mention this because I have seen a couple of people elsewhere assume their annual bill will not be more than £2.5k regardless of how much energy they use.
I am managing my usage quite well, monitoring daily spend on electric and gas (and looking at the impact of the gas now the heating has been on a bit this week). I will be below my current monthly payments until it gets
really cold, and I'm also in credit quite a bit right now (around £200, after my latest bill). For two months in a row I've overridden the 'suggested' direct debit increase Shell has notified me of (and if I don't do anything will automatically happen). I have to keep going in to adjust my payment back to what I want it to be - or else I'll be caught out.
I'd imagine they can quite easily reduce people's debits with this Government money, but have clearly opted to sit on that money and let some people be in even more credit - and paying more than they have to. I am not sure what Shell intends to do, but think I saw something on their website that suggests it will be a credit on the account - so I guess that means I will need to adjust the debit again.
People do need to keep a closer eye on their spending.. and on Facebook there are still many people who actively refuse a smart meter and claim they know what power they're consuming so don't need one. Others are, as you say, of the opinion that their usage is simply what they pay per month - so they seem unaware that the bills vary based on what you use, not the £100, 200, £300 or whatever you pay. And all this damn talk about price caps and a figure based on some arbitrary household scenario really does not help one bit.
People are getting told their debit is going up by £50 or £100 per month and they're assuming that's the new rate of energy. They're totally clueless about the fact that your debit is NOT your usage! If you think that, you risk either ending up with the energy company ending up with a huge credit (they assume a certain increase in the autumn regardless of your usage now) or a big debt because you get carried away and think 'no problem - I can't go over the cap'.
I really, really wish more people - even Martin Lewis - would spend some time explaining this because I don't think we can fully appreciate just how much people don't understand. Even before this energy crisis, people changed provider based on what they were told they'd pay each month - not what the service charge and unit charges were.
I've already seen people elsewhere comment that there's no need to cut back on energy usage now they know their bill is capped at £2.5k.
I work for a bank - if we said mortgages were capped at £1,000 a month when we actually meant the average customer pays £1,000 a month, we'd rightly have the Financial Conduct Authority on the phone to our Compliance department within minutes! It amazes me that a regulator and the government are using such misleading language.
It's quite terrifying. Some people are simply not doing anything to reduce their usage because they seem to be of the opinion that their bill is like council tax - and isn't linked to actual usage. It seems crazy that people might actually think that, but social media is proof that an AWFUL lot of people think it.
Okay, so maybe there's a case for some sort of average figures based on specific household examples - but, you absolutely must also show the service charges and unit costs as well. Then, explain clearly what they mean.
It seems energy companies are also quite clever in making this data quite hard to view on your account. Sure, it will be on your bill, and within some sub-menus on your account page - but it does seem like everyone tries to avoid talking about the most important thing.
It's a bit like mobile networks that will show the free data/text/call allowances on a tariff but try very hard to hide the out-of-bundle charges, service charges and other fees.