Increasing monthly Direct Debit, when they refund you,Gas/Electric

They did get in touch with me ages ago about a smart meter that does that. Sadly I can't do that given that the supply cabling for electricity is very old. I had to get the national grid to it and they refused t touch it, suggesting there was possible asbestos in it and its positioning was too difficult to assess.

Not the energy providers fault mind you, and frankly, given other issues, it's not something I've looked to push for the last 18 or so months.

 

Just had my renewal email from Eon....

going from....

Unit rate Electricity 16.617p per kWh
Gas 2.806p per kWh
Standing charge 15.125p per day
15.080p per day

to....

Unit rate Electricity 20.076p per kWh
Gas 3.983p per kWh
Standing charge 26.824p per day
26.123p per day

That's if I accept the renewal offer. If I don't click accept and don't move (just checked and nothing cheaper) then I will be put on the same plan but the cost will be....

Unit rate Electricity 21.147p per kWh
Gas 4.195p per kWh
Standing charge 31.545p per day
30.783p per day.

I pay quarterly on receipt of my bill....no DD...can't stand em.

AND the possibility the cap will rise in April so may go higher !

Great news on the back of having £20 a week UC taken off me and thousands of others

Welcome to the Tories Brexit Britain.

 

See an earlier post from me regarding BBC news reporting Utility companies increasing their quarterly charges on top of whatever is going up to

 

To be fair, the low standing charges were part of the offer when I signed up last year.....can't remember the discount off their standard but they were just more than half what I was paying with SSE.

 

I was with SSE.
A couple of months ago I got a nasty letter from them saying my gas usage had gone up 395%.
Now I live on my own and no way did my usage go up 395%.
Phoning them was a nightmare and pointless.
I told them that no way was my usage up 395% but it was their charges. I asked them to check it out. They didn’t and fobbed me off.
Well I just left and went to Octopus.
Obviously I’m expecting higher bills but hopefully not ripped off like I felt I was by SSE.

 

I'm with ovo. Not sure what the rates are, but I've been with them over 10 years and my account is £1888 in credit. As they are paying me 5% interest on that it can stay where it is

 

You're keeping them afloat in all probability!

 

Ecotricity, Dale Vince the man behind Forest Green Rovers. Have a look at them I like their ethos. They only have one tariff so everyone pays the same even if your on pre-payment meters. Ok I know, few on pre payment will be with ecotricity, but as I say, good ethos. They also generate their own green electricity and soon green gas comes on stream, this from anaerobic digestion of grass. Dale reckons this rather than heat pumps is the way to go for the country. Anyway have a look see what you think
https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/

 

Thank you for two things.

1) Taking my mind of the stadium and 2) posting about a decent firm.

I'll look into all the suggestions made.

You say they just have one tariff ... I like this. Why don't all companies simplify like this?

If it's down to profiteering (which I suspect it is) the directors and owners should be banned for life from owning companies.

In my opinion, and going on a bit of a tangent, it also has the added benefit of making things simpler for their support staff. If things are simpler, less can go wrong, their staff and therefore, you, get a better understanding, so you get fewer complaints. You get fewer complaints, so you get a good reputation, so you grow and get more customers. You get more customers, so you earn more profit. In my view, it really is that simple.

 

I've just got round to looking at some of the suggestions.

ecotricity are doing maintenance, so I need to check back Tuesday. Fair enough.


Octopus, on entering my post code say ...


You need to know this
Right now, energy prices are at record highs, and most homes will be better off staying with their current energy supplier for the winter.

If your fixed term is coming to an end, don't choose a new tariff or switch supplier.

Instead, let your supplier automatically move you to their default tariff, so your prices are protected by the Government's Energy Price Cap.

Would you like an email when prices fall?

Yes, please email me

I *LOVE* THEIR HONESTY.

 

I work in the energy industry and to anyone looking at changing their supplier at the moment, just don't. If you are on a variable tariff just look at it as though you are now on a 6 month fixed price as it can't go above the price cap. The cheapest fixed price tariffs out there at the moment is around £500 per year more expensive than the price cap

 

I'm with Octopus and to be fair, they've just refunded me £400 no questions asked, no change of DD and I've still got 9 months left on my fixed deal. The wheel of fortune is a load of b@llax though.

 

Thanks for that.

 

Good advice.
The price cap should be exactly that. The idea that companies can charge at a fixed rate that is higher than the cap feels wrong to me.

 

All part of the ..Green new deal.. mate. Turn everything off. And when you do turn the heating on, to cook you're mealworms on toast (no meat for you, got to kill all the farting cows). your smart meter will recognise, and penalise.

 

I saw a post on facebook the other day about someone using storage batteries and utilising Octopus's agile tariffs. Basically the guy had an all electric house, no gas, and was buying electricity when it was cheap or even less than zero and storing it in batteries for use in more expensive periods. When the price is less than zero, you get paid to use electricity.

Food for thought if you can afford the set up costs.

https://octopus.energy/agile/
https://www.energy-stats.uk/lux-batteries-and-octopus-agile-integration/

 

Was with GNE. 88 a month and they went bust (not surprised)

Was auto switched to EDF, who kept the existing contract.

They then within 2 days of expiry upped my DD to 195 per month

Told them to ballax, and said you can have 120. Which they accepted.

My smart meters still don't work 12 months after installation.

I took the wrong move and switched tariff and fixed it. But at least it's fixed until September 2024.

So at some point I should be winning with that length of a fixed contract