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

[Chz]

Smart meters can go get fucked. They're not for your benefit, they're for the benefit of the energy companies. They want more information out of you that they can then monetise. All the energy company actually needs from the customer is how much energy they're using, and any relevant billing information resulting from that. They don't need to know anything else, and I certainly don't want any "help" from the greedy fucking cunts in managing my own consumption.

It's already essentially required if you have an electric car, to take advantage of off peak pricing. Once they hit their target rollout (which may not be by 2025 like they hope), that's going to be extended to other things like washers, dryers, etc. You can stay on an old meter at that point, but like refusing to pay by DD it's going to cost you to do so. They'll be happy to make money off you by charging you more instead of using your data. This is the power companies we're talking about - you're going to lose either way.

 

[what]

British Gas has sent me an email advising me to raise my Gas DD from £95 to £163 pm (they've recently cut my leccie one from £115 to £95) Unlike last time when they just unilaterally raised it from £95 to £198 and I had to spend a couple of hours on the phone getting arsey before they lowered it again this is a suggestion not a demand. I probably could do with raising my gas DD a bit (to £120 maybe) but I'm not sticking it to £163 that's too big of a jump.

Weirdly I got an email from shell saying I was paying to much and I should lower my DD.
I worked out that £80 a month was what I should pay to get through the winter. Went on the website to change and they will not let me pay more than £50 a month even though I tried to pay £80 a month.
Is this a first?

 

[geminisnake]

Smart meters don't always work either, my neighbour has one, it's been broken for about the last 2/3 yrs, his supplier doesn;t seem interested in fixing it. A smart meter won't work at our house, we don;t get tv, radio or mobile recpetion very well either

 

[Elpenor]

Letter from octopus saying their unit cost will drop by 8% but my DD will rise by approx 50%

What wonderful logic

 

[Chz]

After drying off with a damp towel, it's time to turn the timer on the towel rail back on. I reckon it burns 12p/day, but totally worth it for dry towels.

 

[moochedit]

Smart meters don't always work either, my neighbour has one, it's been broken for about the last 2/3 yrs, his supplier doesn;t seem interested in fixing it. A smart meter won't work at our house, we don;t get tv, radio or mobile recpetion very well either

My mum's smart meter broke and she told them and they ignored it for ages until eventually they realised she was using "zero" gas

 

[kabbes]

Letter from octopus saying their unit cost will drop by 8% but my DD will rise by approx 50%

What wonderful logic

Yeah, I got that too. They no longer explain their calculation for recommended DD but they used to have it on the app. Back then, I noticed that it included an element for gas, which is how they got to their surprisingly high total. Trouble with that is that I’m not even connected to the mains gas supply, let alone get it from Octopus!

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Regarding economy 7, pretty certain this is only an option if you don’t have a gas supply and of course you need storage heaters or equivalent to benefit from it really.

i used to have economy 7 but had gas - the central heating was a warm air unit, so didn't do hot water as well, that was on immersion heater.

it may vary by region or they may have changed the rules - that was a few years ago now

 

[MickiQ]

Smart meters can go get fucked. They're not for your benefit, they're for the benefit of the energy companies. They want more information out of you that they can then monetise. All the energy company actually needs from the customer is how much energy they're using, and any relevant billing information resulting from that. They don't need to know anything else, and I certainly don't want any "help" from the greedy fucking cunts in managing my own consumption.

What information are you concerned they're getting from you? The only information it sends home is how much energy is being used. It just sends it a lot more frequently and without someone coming round to read the meter. They can of course figure out some information from that such as the fact that I used more in the day than at night but they could probably guess that anyway.
It doesn't report what I've used it for, there's no way to tell between someone heating a swimming pool, charging an electric car or growing weed.

 

[NoXion]

What information are you concerned they're getting from you? The only information it sends home is how much energy is being used. It just sends it a lot more frequently and without someone coming round to read the meter. They can of course figure out some information from that such as the fact that I used more in the day than at night but they could probably guess that anyway.
It doesn't report what I've used it for, there's no way to tell between someone heating a swimming pool, charging an electric car or growing weed.

It doesn't matter what the additional information is. The point is that whatever it is, it's more than they need, so I have no interest whatsoever in giving it to them.

 

[MickiQ]

It doesn't matter what the additional information is. The point is that whatever it is, it's more than they need, so I have no interest whatsoever in giving it to them.

Fair enough if you don't want one no reason why you should. However I imagine they will eventually get forced on those who don't want them, they can just make it a condition of you switching supplier or changing tariff. Or as Chz pointed out charge you more for the inconvenience to them of you having one plus they probably don't make non-smart ones anymore so at some point they will just run out of them.
I got one because all the cheaper tariffs were conditional on me having a smart meter, I quite like all the information being at my fingertips though I don't check it anywhere near as often as I used to.

 

[StoneRoad]

Always wondered with the advent of smart meters if the companies were hoping to slid domestic users onto an equivalent system to the "max demand" tariff used by certain manufacturing / processing plants.
The sort of opposite to Economy7 ...

{a bit like the charge more for a pint when it is busy schtick some pub chains have been [quietly] implementing}

 

[Chz]

Always wondered with the advent of smart meters if the companies were hoping to slid domestic users onto an equivalent system to the "max demand" tariff used by certain manufacturing / processing plants.
The sort of opposite to Economy7 ...

{a bit like the charge more for a pint when it is busy schtick some pub chains have been [quietly] implementing}

They absolutely will. But the reverse is also true. Overall it should be a net gain as household usage is low during the daylight hours when prices are high due to... well, the world being in motion. I expect that the 1700-1900 time frame will make your eyes bleed (pound coins), but it should let you run all the appliances overnight without suffering the full blow of Eco7 day rates.

 

[Elpenor]

i used to have economy 7 but had gas - the central heating was a warm air unit, so didn't do hot water as well, that was on immersion heater.

it may vary by region or they may have changed the rules - that was a few years ago now

Warm air was a big thing in Bracknell, assume it was en vogue at the time a lot of the estates were built?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Here we go again, someone at EDF has been sniffing the glue again.

View attachment 391838

Here's the bill they have just sent me for my mum's place, the issues I have with it are -

1 - The refund of £835.30 was on the 18th May, for the balance of £785,30 PLUS a £50 goodwill payment for their cock-ups up until that point, but that £50 is not shown in these figures, it does show on their website, and on the statement they sent when the £50 was credited and the whole refund was made. Since than there's been 3 monthly DDs of £25, to cover standing charges, and therefore the 'so you bring forward' figure should be £75 not the £25 they are showing.

2 - They are fully aware the property is empty, no electric or gas is being used, which is why her smart meters are not reporting usage, it took six e-mails to get that into their thick heads, the last e-mail was on the 10th May (see below), and that triggered the goodwill payment, full refund, and the DD being reduced to £25pm. So, why have they gone back to estimating usage, when there is none.



There's been 127 days since the full refund, standing charges of 44.96p (E) + 27.72p (G) per day, plus VAT, so £92.23 - £75 (3 months DD for £25) = £21,23 owed, not £361.59.

I can see myself getting the round-around from the idiots again now, still I've got the sniff of another £50 goodwill payment coming my way.

Adding that to the £150 goodwill payment from OVO earlier this year, the pervious £50 from EDF, the £50 referral credit from Octopus for switching and another £30 goodwill payment from them because of the number of e-mails it took to get the £50 referral payment, I'll be up by £330 from the energy companies this year, equal to over 4 months of my DD payments!

As Bruce Forsyth used to say, 'good game, good game'.

Just had EDF on the phone to sort this out, despite me informing them that mum had passed away, which resulted in this demand for £361.59, he thought he had solved the problem, thinking mum was still in a care home.

Anyway, sorted that out, bill being re-issued just for standing charges, he asked if I was happy with that, I said no and I wanted another goodwill payment as this whole situation was both distressing and frankly unbelievable.

He offered £20, I said that's insulting, I am going to contact to Martin Lewis, I am sure he'll agree, and I am not agreeing to close my complaint, because I am sure the ombudsman will also agree.

He soon agreed to £50.

#don'tletthebastardsgetawaywiththisshit!

 

[WouldBe]

Just had EDF on the phone to sort this out, despite me informing them that mum had passed away, which resulted in this demand for £361.59, he thought he had solved the problem, thinking mum was still in a care home.

And you've run an extension cable from her house to the care home.

 

[cupid_stunt]

cupid_stunt - that is remarkably polite, in the circumstances.

Are you running a book on how long it takes them to find their arses ?

Well, they still haven't found their arses yet, I've got a revised bill from EDF, and it's still wrong!



That goodwill payment on 18/5/23 of £50 is still missing from the bill, which is why it's still showing 3 credits of £25 = £75, but only brings forward £25.



So, they think the account is £30.31 in debit, when it's £19.69 in credit.



It just beggars belief.

 

[StoneRoad]

EDF can be clowns at times ...
cupid_stunt - I do hope that your a/c gets sorted out to your satisfaction.

I know you've got the ombudsman to fall back on if they still can't find their arses with an extra hunting dog or two.

Think yourself fortunate - a chap I know has taken "early" retirement from EDF - last time I heard they still hadn't made a single correct pension payment after several months and his "lump sum" is lost somewhere in the system. It's not a small amount, either ...
What he was calling their HR / pension / and finance departments isn't repeatable in polite company.
Before you ask, he speaks enough French for dealing with this, and the staff concerned are supposed to be fully bilingual if they deal with people the other side of La Manche

 

[cupid_stunt]

I know you've got the ombudsman to fall back on if they still can't find their arses with an extra hunting dog or two.

I've sent them a e-mail, with those attachments above, I'll wait for them to correct it, then I'll cheekily ask for an addition goodwill payment, I doubt they will go for it, but if you don't try, you'll never know.

 

[20Bees]

I was with Bulb until Martin Lewis first suggested they might be heading into difficulty two years ago. As my fixed deal was expiring I switched to EDF Energy on a 2 year fix at a very reasonable £52/ month, which expires next week. EDF have just reviewed and increased my DD to £64/ month from 1 Sept, which I haven’t argued because I am about to look at other options.

I live alone, no gas in the village, oil boiler usually on for 30 mins each morning for the day’s hot water, electric immersion only used if the boiler breaks down. Electric cooking.

Yet to hear from EDF regarding the end of this 2 year fix but having just read some of MSE’s recent articles, it’s looking fairly horrifying!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I was with Bulb until Martin Lewis first suggested they might be heading into difficulty two years ago. As my fixed deal was expiring I switched to EDF Energy on a 2 year fix at a very reasonable £52/ month, which expires next week. EDF have just reviewed and increased my DD to £64/ month from 1 Sept, which I haven’t argued because I am about to look at other options.

I live alone, no gas in the village, oil boiler usually on for 30 mins each morning for the day’s hot water, electric immersion only used if the boiler breaks down. Electric cooking.

Yet to hear from EDF regarding the end of this 2 year fix but having just read some of MSE’s recent articles, it’s looking fairly horrifying!

If you find a good leccy deal with Octopus PM me for a referral code as we'll both get £50.

 

[20Bees]

Oh - I have heard from them, there’s a message in the app about the end of this fixed tariff. Possibly had an email and overlooked it.

Standing charge almost doubling, unit rate almost half as much again.

Dog needs a walk, then, oh joy, an evening on comparison websites.

Thanks #farmerbarleymow I’ll bear that in mind.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Oh - I have heard from them, there’s a message in the app about the end of this fixed tariff. Possibly had an email and overlooked it.

Standing charge almost doubling, unit rate almost half as much again.

Dog needs a walk, then, oh joy, an evening on comparison websites.

Thanks #farmerbarleymow I’ll bear that in mind.

Just checked and the unit rate for mine is 28.51p per kWh, and the standing charge is 47.4p per day.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Just checked and the unit rate for mine is 28.51p per kWh, and the standing charge is 47.4p per day.

I am with Octopus, and mine is 28.10p per kWh and SC is 45.57p per day.

Good to see they are charging you northern monkeys more than us civilised people on the south coast.

​

 

[rubbershoes]

Shell energy is transferring its customers to Octopus soon. No idea if my bills will go up or down

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I am with Octopus, and mine is 28.10p per kWh and SC is 45.57p per day.

Good to see they are charging you northern monkeys more than us civilised people on the south coast.

​

They're taking pity on you southern morons.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

well if anyone wants to switch to everyones unfavourite supplier eon I have a code for £50 backhanders both ways, my bill is going down by £26 over the next year with the latest tariff reduction, the standing charge is not oing up but unit price is going down. single fuel user in the big smoke.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Come to think of it mine is a 100% green tariff cupid_stunt which might account for the slightly higher cost - I guess yours is the 'carbon intensive who gives a fuck about the death of humanity' tariff

 

[cupid_stunt]

Come to think of it mine is a 100% green tariff cupid_stunt which might account for the slightly higher cost - I guess yours is the 'carbon intensive who gives a fuck about the death of humanity' tariff

Mine is also 100% renewable electricity.

There's always been regional differences in charges, standing charges are depending on what your regional distribution company charges, and tariff rates depends on how near to the generation sites you are, and how much is lost in the 'pipe' getting it to you.

Being 100% green electric, we have shedloads of offshore windfarms down here, including a big one off the Worthing & Brighton coast.

 

[Chz]

Shell energy is transferring its customers to Octopus soon. No idea if my bills will go up or down

Probably no difference to bills, but Ovo was once great at customer service and they're now one of the worst after eating up SSE.