My electricity bill has just tripled: how about yours? Alternative suppliers?

[Elpenor]

Picked this up for £83 today from Argos, claims to run at £0.17 / hr so more efficient
for warming my office. Sort of an oil filled radiator but not actually filled with oil.

Not the most stylish but seems to be ok so far if my cashback etc tracks successfully the effective price is £73.

 

[gentlegreen]

View attachment 354401
Picked this up for £83 today from Argos, claims to run at £0.17 / hr so more efficient
for warming my office. Sort of an oil filled radiator but not actually filled with oil.

Not the most stylish but seems to be ok so far if my cashback etc tracks successfully the effective price is £73.

More efficient than what ?
So you're not using the CH ?
It costs 17p per hour because it's only averaging 500 watts.
Gas watts are much cheaper.

 

[Elpenor]

More efficient than what ?
So you're not using the CH ?
It costs 17p per hour because it's only averaging 500 watts.
Gas watts are much cheaper.

It warms up the small office quicker than the GCH. Also provides resilience if an issue with GCH as my boiler is approx 19 years old.

 

[cupid_stunt]

<snip>

Since then, though, they haven’t been taking direct debits. But they have been crediting us with the government rebates. We are proving readings every month on the requested date, plus again the extra one when the cap rose. This might seem good. But I’m worried that a huge bill awaits us at some point. It could be that we overpaid up to September and are still in credit. I honestly would have no way of knowing: the “paper” trail is chaos and makes no sense. (One of my issues was I wanted paper bills because the figures in the app and on the website would actually change! But they haven’t been forthcoming).

Should I prod them or keep quiet? What would you do?

Coming back to this, danny PM'ed me some details, and I've done the calculations, so he now knows what he's used over the last 3 months, so to answer those questions, I see two options.

Put whatever you owe them into a savings account, topping it up monthly, so when they do finally bill you, you have the money to pay it, but have earnt a little interest along the way. With luck it could go on for over a year, and IIRC they can't bill you for more than 12 months back-dated.

Or, put the money to one side and send in a formal complaint by e-mail or a 'signed-for' letter addressed to the head of their complaints department, demanding they issue back-dated monthly bills for the last three months, and monthly bills henceforth, tell them they have 8 weeks to resolve the matter after which you'll take the complaint to the energy ombudsman. If you end up involving the ombudsman, you should get at least £100 as a goodwill payment.

 

[danny la rouge]

You’re a star, cupid_stunt Thabks for your help.

 

[danny la rouge]

AnnaKarpik also sent me her spreadsheet. So now that I’ve a better idea what to record, from Cupid’s workings, I should be able to keep a record of gas and electricity spending.

I’m currently thinking I’ll put the money aside rather than make a complaint.

 

[cupid_stunt]

You’re a star, cupid_stunt Thabks for your help.

No problem.

Even though I had originally worked all of it out at the new tariffs, and had to go back and do it all again.

As I said in the PM, I blame my brother for my hangover.

 

[danny la rouge]

AnnaKarpik also sent me her spreadsheet. So now that I’ve a better idea what to record, from Cupid’s workings, I should be able to keep a record of gas and electricity spending.

I’m currently thinking I’ll put the money aside rather than make a complaint.

I have to admit I still have no idea what I’m doing.

To explain: I don’t use XL, I’ve never understood spreadsheets, I don’t know what the columns are doing, and I thought adding a column for gas readings would be easy but it seems to get populated by figures from somewhere else entirely.

If I’ve ever been faced with an XL document in the past I’ve transferred the data into a table in word and added the figures up myself. (This doesn’t always work because I usually haven’t seen that the XL file has tabs with stuff hidden in them).

(I also utterly hate people who use XL for stuff that isn’t sums. Like words. What the fuck is that about?)

So, yeah. I thought I’d get it but I don’t.

 

[gentlegreen]

(I also utterly hate people who use XL for stuff that isn’t sums. Like words. What the fuck is that about?)

Like the test and trace people we paid 36 billion to who tried to use an ancient version to process an unreasonably large amount of data.

After retiring I had to move to Libre Office which is a bit clunkier, but yes, I will paste screengrabs of info alongside spreadsheets

To insert a new column, select a column and choose "insert whole column".
If you select a section of column you are offered the choice to just expand that part of the sheet ...

I've never been a sophisticated user - I've barely moved on from Multiplan I taught myself to use in the 80s. ... I have one for finances, and another for health - like weight, blood pressure etc ...

 

[danny la rouge]

Like the test and trace people we paid 36 billion to who tried to use an ancient version to process an unreasonably large amount of data.

After retiring I had to move to Libre Office which is a bit clunkier, but yes, I will paste screengrabs of info alongside spreadsheets

To insert a new column, select a column and choose "insert whole column".
If you select a section of column you are offered the choice to just expand that part of the sheet ...

I've never been a sophisticated user - I've barely moved on from Multiplan I taught myself to use in the 80s. ... I have one for finances, and another for health - like weight, blood pressure etc ...

Thank you but although the individual words carry meaning, when put together they no longer do for me.

 

[2hats]

(I also utterly hate people who use XL for stuff that isn’t sums. Like words. What the fuck is that about?)

People who use Excel everywhere because it's the only thing they know, it never occurs to them that there are simpler, more portable and appropriate options, and tools like genuine databases and higher level data analysis languages frighten them. See also: people who refer to delimited separator format text files as 'spreadsheets'.

 

[two sheds]

I fucking love spreadsheets I wrote one years ago to calculate my accounts and it has saved me shitloads of money with accountants and shitloads of time adding up figures that don't quite balance twelve times a year and then hugely don't balance at the end of the year. I even enjoy trying to correct mistakes because that will make it easier next year.

Plus calculating energy use. I'd like to make more use of those figures because I must have 15 years of data and the columns just stretch off into the distance and when it comes to it I can never work out exactly what I should do with them.

 

[gentlegreen]

Difficult to know where to start ...
For myself, though no maths or Business studies person, I immediately found spreadsheets very useful and will often "doodle formulae in a spare corner if I have more than a few figures to calculate.

 

[gentlegreen]

I

Plus calculating energy use. I'd like to make more use of those figures because I must have 15 years of data and the columns just stretch off into the distance and when it comes to it I can never work out exactly what I should do with them.

I always cringe when I see this guy recording his data on paper.
I know he's off-grid, but there are so many things and creatures competing to eat paper...

 

[two sheds]

My peak was the long 'if' statements in each of the columns to separate out the different expenses and also calculated vat when I was registered. I'd not know what other sort of formulae to use though.

And there are indeed no words to describe people who refer to delimited separator format text files as 'spreadsheets'

 

[Pickman's model]

People who use Excel everywhere because it's the only thing they know, it never occurs to them that there are simpler, more portable and appropriate options, and tools like genuine databases and higher level data analysis languages frighten them. See also: people who refer to delimited separator format text files as 'spreadsheets'.

in 2001 i spent a week temping at a publishers just off caledonian road. they wanted details of their author contracts put into an excel spreadsheet. but their contracts were in such an awful state, some of them said the authors would be paid in three tranches and only named the amounts to be paid in two. so i had to point out a lot of this to the person in charge of the project. i also pointed out as you have that there are databases for things like this. anyway, the second week, monday morning i'm there bright and early only to be told 'didn't your agency contact you? we're doing it inhouse now'. and as any self-respecting person does when they're sacked i went off to the pub,the alma on chapel market, which in those days opened really early for the market stall holders. got chatting to someone in there and came to the realisation that i'd been dispensed with because i was trying to do a good job. since then i've realised that excel is useful for quick and dirty databases, eg lists of journal articles. but i still wouldn't put details of contracts in an excel file.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I have to admit I still have no idea what I’m doing.

To explain: I don’t use XL, I’ve never understood spreadsheets, I don’t know what the columns are doing, and I thought adding a column for gas readings would be easy but it seems to get populated by figures from somewhere else entirely.

If I’ve ever been faced with an XL document in the past I’ve transferred the data into a table in word and added the figures up myself. (This doesn’t always work because I usually haven’t seen that the XL file has tabs with stuff hidden in them).

(I also utterly hate people who use XL for stuff that isn’t sums. Like words. What the fuck is that about?)

So, yeah. I thought I’d get it but I don’t.

Ditto mate, give me Adobe InDesign and I can produce a magazine ready for print, and I get on with the xero accountancy software for my wee business, but excel just freaks me out. Although the screen shots I sent you were from excel, I had only added figures up using the 'sum' icon in excel, the multiplications I did myself on a calculator and entered the answers in manually, which somewhat defeats the object of excel.

My advice is go with KISS*, just work it out monthly when you report meter readings and I assume their system shows you the kWh's used for both electric & gas, multiply them by the current tariffs for each, likewise with the two standing charges for the number of days in that billing period, add the four elements together + 5% for VAT, and jobs a goodun.

* KISS - keep it simple stupid.

Or, get smart meters, relax & feel smug.

 

[JimW]

I translate some really hokey online game content that gets sent to me in Excel file format, weird fantasy stuff involving mystic half dragon races and whatnot

 

[danny la rouge]

Ditto mate, give me Adobe InDesign and I can produce a magazine ready for print, and I get on with the xero accountancy software for my wee business, but excel just freaks me out. Although the screen shots I sent you were from excel, I had only added figures up using the 'sum' icon in excel, the multiplications I did myself on a calculator and entered the answers in manually, which somewhat defeats the object of excel.

My advice is go with KISS*, just work it out monthly when you report meter readings and I assume their system shows you the kWh's used for both electric & gas, multiply them by the current tariffs for each, likewise with the two standing charges for the number of days in that billing period, add the four elements together + 5% for VAT, and jobs a goodun.

* KISS - keep it simple stupid.

Or, get smart meters, relax & feel smug.

That makes sense to me. I’ll do that. Probs in a paper notebook!

 

[2hats]

I fucking love spreadsheets I wrote one years ago to calculate my accounts and it has saved me shitloads of money with accountants and shitloads of time adding up figures that don't quite balance twelve times a year and then hugely don't balance at the end of the year. I even enjoy trying to correct mistakes because that will make it easier next year.

Plus calculating energy use. I'd like to make more use of those figures because I must have 15 years of data and the columns just stretch off into the distance and when it comes to it I can never work out exactly what I should do with them.

Entirely appropriate for doing your personal accounts or tracking household utility metering. Not appropriate for handling millions of records of multi-dimensional data (as PHE/UKHSA embarrassingly found out), or complex data objects, text analysis, etc.

I once watched a friend who worked in telecoms struggling to process and analyse international billing data, buried in thousands of Excel spreadsheets. A few hours of work with pandas led to around an order of magnitude reduction in effort.

Anyway, veering heavily off topic.

 

[AnnaKarpik]

I fucking love spreadsheets I wrote one years ago to calculate my accounts and it has saved me shitloads of money with accountants and shitloads of time adding up figures that don't quite balance twelve times a year and then hugely don't balance at the end of the year. I even enjoy trying to correct mistakes because that will make it easier next year.

Plus calculating energy use. I'd like to make more use of those figures because I must have 15 years of data and the columns just stretch off into the distance and when it comes to it I can never work out exactly what I should do with them.

I also love spreadsheets; I'm a bookkeeper, couldn't live without them, though I have heard of people who don't get on with them

 

[Elpenor]

I love spreadsheets but agree they’re only for simple things really, fortunately my needs personal and work are simple enough.

 

[Ranbay]

View attachment 354401
Picked this up for £83 today from Argos, claims to run at £0.17 / hr so more efficient
for warming my office. Sort of an oil filled radiator but not actually filled with oil.

Not the most stylish but seems to be ok so far if my cashback etc tracks successfully the effective price is £73.

nicked one from work, and just take room to room now

 

[Elpenor]

nicked one from work, and just take room to room now

Been considering doing that myself

 

[Leafster]

The results are in on my last 'month's' consumption.

I used 27% less gas than the same period last year and the average outside temperature has been 1°C higher (8.7°C instead of 7.7°C).

Worryingly, I've used 19% more electricity though - about 10kWh/day instead of 8.5kWh/day. I suspect this is a result of me using the dehumidifier for long periods as it's been so damp and also using the fan heater to boost the temperature occasionally when I haven't been using the Central Heating as much. I'll have to cut that out!

I suspect there's also a trade off resulting from me having lower heating levels and increased damp.

 

[MickiQ]

nicked one from work, and just take room to room now

It's not nicking, It's extended field testing under a wide variety of conditions in order to fully assess the product.

 

[Chz]

It seems we qualify under somewhat nebulous rules as having a "vulnerable" person in the house (in this case, a perfectly functioning autistic child in the house). So OVO are sending us an Internet of Shit thermostat and a free boiler check. Woo.
I already have a wireless thermostat (edit: the specific glow-worm one for our boiler, not a fancy internet connected thing), so I'm not sure what to do with the damned thing. I'm sure it provides more functionality, but I don't need that.

See here: OVO Customer Support Offers - Free Boiler Service, Smart Thermostat and 20% off new A-Rated boilers for in-need customers @ Ovo Energy | hotukdeals

 

[cupid_stunt]

E-mails concerning my mother's energy come to me, just opened one from EDF, her annual use for dual fuel at the new rates is just over £2,000, I had expected it to be more as she runs her heating at 23-25c.

Luckily she's getting over £1,000 in government support.

 

[donkyboy]

I've ordered a small terracotta pot and gonna try this hack. its not going to make much difference, but I'm intrigued. Haven't done any such experiment since secondary school in the 90s. Before anyone mentions its dangerous etc. yes I am fully aware. Its not like I'm gonna go to bed or go outside with it left on.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

I've ordered a small terracotta pot and gonna try this hack. its not going to make much difference, but I'm intrigued. Haven't done any such experiment since secondary school in the 90s. Before anyone mentions its dangerous etc. yes I am fully aware. Its not like I'm gonna go to bed or go outside with it left on.

let us know know how your measurements stack up