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

[Puddy_Tat]

Why is this a controversy?

according to the daily fail, middle class people doing anything remotely left wing is terrible and they ought to know better. working class people doing anything remotely left wing is also terrible and they ought to know their place...

 

[alex_]

according to the daily fail, middle class people doing anything remotely left wing is terrible and they ought to know better. working class people doing anything remotely left wing is also terrible and they ought to know their place...

They are organised but they are a rabble….

 

[existentialist]

Minor Twitter controversy about who is behind The Don’t Pay Campaign .

 

[The39thStep]

Haven't a clue who these weirdos are or how they ended up in my timeline but here you go:

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

storm in a twee cup?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Front page of The Times today, quoting a yougov poll.



That's going to add pressure on the new PM to do more than they probably would like to do, not sure if it will result in a complete U-turn, but nothing is impossible.

Both the Tory leadership contenders — Truss, the foreign secretary, and the former chancellor Rishi Sunak — have rejected freezing bills completely.

YouGov polling for The Times suggests a public appetite for more radical measures, with only one in eight people saying that they can afford rising energy bills without reducing their standard of living.
Seventy-five per cent support fixing the cap on energy bills even if it means more government borrowing, with 8 per cent opposing. This includes 75 per cent of those who voted Tory in 2019, with 12 per cent opposed. Big majorities in all parts of the country and all age groups back the plan, with little difference between Leavers and Remainers.

Full article - archive.ph

 

[platinumsage]

I'm not surprised, because Labour's plan is funded by scrapping current measures to help the poorest. It will help the better-off far more than the Tory's current or mooted future plans:

 

[cupid_stunt]

I'm not surprised, because Labour's plan is funded by scrapping current measures to help the poorest. It will help the better-off far more than the Tory's current or mooted future plans:

According to all the reports I've heard & read, that's not the case, only the universal £400 off everyone's bills will be included in their grand plan.

 

[MickiQ]

There were stories over the weekend that Loopy Lizzie was considering scrapping the £400 bung for those that don't really need it.
Which means me to be honest however there is a difference between stopping my bung to give it to those who need it more which might peeve me a bit but I could understand and even agree with and stopping my bung just to keep the Treasury's bill down

 

[Elpenor]

Means testing is notoriously expensive and it’s almost always cheaper to just make it a universal payout

It isn’t ideal in that for the rich it’s money they don’t need or deserve but to slice the data by household would mean referring to huge blocks of data

 

[teuchter]

This guy has the solution.

 

[seeformiles]

I’ve seen this round Robin thing but wonder how much truth there is in it:
Instead of refusing to pay your energy bill in October, you can make a stand and hurt your energy supplier without getting into debt or damaging your credit rating:

1. Cancel your Direct Debit and either set up a standing order for what you can afford, or simply pay for what you use each month.
2. Write a letter of complaint about the bill to your energy supplier. Once that complaint has been raised, your energy supplier can't take any debt collection action on your account, so they can't pass your details to the credit reference agencies, etc. That bill gets put on hold while they try to resolve your complaint. The energy company might offer you a small reduction - don't accept it. Keep the complaint open & keep your nerve.
3. Eventually, they will send you a letter of 'Deadlock', saying they've gone as far as they can with your complaint & can't go any further, so your only option now is to take it up with the energy Ombudsman.
For every complaint the Ombudsman has to investigate, they charge your energy supplier £500.
4. The energy companies have limitations on how many complaints they're allowed to have open, and there's a limit also on turnaround time - how quickly they must respond to a complaint & get it closed. If they don't respond quickly enough, don't resolve a complaint, or if they have too many complaints open, the energy firm will be fined by the Ombudsman.
This will also put them in breach of their licensing conditions and put their ability to trade at risk.
So if you want to fight these extortionate price hikes
1. Raise complaints
2. Do NOT close them
3. Take them to the Ombudsman

Should you want to cause them even more grief, you can submit a “subject access request” at the same time as the above. The energy company has a legal obligation to provide you with every piece of information they have on you, including telephone conversation transcripts, past bills, everything. This is time-consuming and is a huge hassle for them, however they are legally bound to comply within one month.

 

[weltweit]

It used to be that £50.00 would last 5 weeks.

The last £50.00 I put on the meter lasted just 2 weeks.
And there was nothing special electrically in that period.

 

[two sheds]

I’ve seen this round Robin thing but wonder how much truth there is in it:
Instead of refusing to pay your energy bill in October, you can make a stand and hurt your energy supplier without getting into debt or damaging your credit rating:

1. Cancel your Direct Debit and either set up a standing order for what you can afford, or simply pay for what you use each month.
2. Write a letter of complaint about the bill to your energy supplier. Once that complaint has been raised, your energy supplier can't take any debt collection action on your account, so they can't pass your details to the credit reference agencies, etc. That bill gets put on hold while they try to resolve your complaint. The energy company might offer you a small reduction - don't accept it. Keep the complaint open & keep your nerve.
3. Eventually, they will send you a letter of 'Deadlock', saying they've gone as far as they can with your complaint & can't go any further, so your only option now is to take it up with the energy Ombudsman.
For every complaint the Ombudsman has to investigate, they charge your energy supplier £500.
4. The energy companies have limitations on how many complaints they're allowed to have open, and there's a limit also on turnaround time - how quickly they must respond to a complaint & get it closed. If they don't respond quickly enough, don't resolve a complaint, or if they have too many complaints open, the energy firm will be fined by the Ombudsman.
This will also put them in breach of their licensing conditions and put their ability to trade at risk.
So if you want to fight these extortionate price hikes
1. Raise complaints
2. Do NOT close them
3. Take them to the Ombudsman

Should you want to cause them even more grief, you can submit a “subject access request” at the same time as the above. The energy company has a legal obligation to provide you with every piece of information they have on you, including telephone conversation transcripts, past bills, everything. This is time-consuming and is a huge hassle for them, however they are legally bound to comply within one month.

I'd seen it elsewhere but apparently a scam

Is this for real?

I saw this on Facebook. Is it real or made-up? I can't see the point of it if it is a scam but just wondered?

forums.moneysavingexpert.com

 

[cupid_stunt]

I’ve seen this round Robin thing but wonder how much truth there is in it:
Instead of refusing to pay your energy bill in October, you can make a stand and hurt your energy supplier without getting into debt or damaging your credit rating:

1. Cancel your Direct Debit and either set up a standing order for what you can afford, or simply pay for what you use each month.
2. Write a letter of complaint about the bill to your energy supplier. Once that complaint has been raised, your energy supplier can't take any debt collection action on your account, so they can't pass your details to the credit reference agencies, etc. That bill gets put on hold while they try to resolve your complaint. The energy company might offer you a small reduction - don't accept it. Keep the complaint open & keep your nerve.
3. Eventually, they will send you a letter of 'Deadlock', saying they've gone as far as they can with your complaint & can't go any further, so your only option now is to take it up with the energy Ombudsman.
For every complaint the Ombudsman has to investigate, they charge your energy supplier £500.
4. The energy companies have limitations on how many complaints they're allowed to have open, and there's a limit also on turnaround time - how quickly they must respond to a complaint & get it closed. If they don't respond quickly enough, don't resolve a complaint, or if they have too many complaints open, the energy firm will be fined by the Ombudsman.
This will also put them in breach of their licensing conditions and put their ability to trade at risk.
So if you want to fight these extortionate price hikes
1. Raise complaints
2. Do NOT close them
3. Take them to the Ombudsman

Should you want to cause them even more grief, you can submit a “subject access request” at the same time as the above. The energy company has a legal obligation to provide you with every piece of information they have on you, including telephone conversation transcripts, past bills, everything. This is time-consuming and is a huge hassle for them, however they are legally bound to comply within one month.

My concern with that, is it would crash the ombudsman system, and having used it myself for a genuine complaint, I can say they are already under a lot of pressure, it took almost 8 weeks before a case handler was assigned, so I wouldn't want to see them unable to deal with other genuine complaints.

That reminds me, OVO has until the end of next Tuesday to have completely resolved my complaint. <taps watch>

 

[teqniq]

Somebody with principles? Maybe.

Ofgem board director Christine Farnish quits over energy price cap

Non-executive board member says regulator ‘gave too much benefit to companies at expense of customers’

www.theguardian.com

 

[NoXion]

This guy has the solution.

Shawn is a cunt with shit ideas.

 

[AmateurAgitator]

Wasn't exactly sure where to post this but it is related . . .


Pigs at the trough - These greedy, venal cunts, telling us we're not working hard enough, that we're asking for too much, and that we should respect politicians

 

[cupid_stunt]

Wasn't exactly sure where to post this but it is related . . .

View attachment 338258
Pigs at the trough - These greedy, venal cunts, telling us we're not working hard enough, that we're asking for too much, and that we should respect politicians

Doesn't surprise me, if they live outside London, they can claim expenses on a second home, which clearly would include energy bills.

 

[CH1]

Doesn't surprise me, if they live outside London, they can claim expenses on a second home, which clearly would include energy bills.

including heating the horses in their riding school stables apparently.
Chancellor Zahawi took care of his horses, meanwhile Truss looks alarmingly like Joan of Arc in visionary bliss - except that she has the political sense of Marie Antoinette ("Let them eat cake"). The guillotine surely awaits in the end!

 

[MickiQ]

Just had an email from British Gas about how they are going to pay The Energy Bills Support Scheme (aka Rishi Rich's electoral bribe). It seems that starting from October for 6 months they will pay £67 into my bank account a few days after they have taken my DD (22nd in my case).
Whilst I'm one of those who doesn't really need it to manage, extra money is of course always welcome. This by coincidence is almost exactly the same amount I donate each month to the local foodbank. The Govt is giving me back the money I spend doing their job because they aren't doing it. I am most likely the only person involved in this who realises the incredible irony of it.

 

[weltweit]

£10 a week to £25 a week is a 2.5 times increase. Hopefully it won't go up any more. But I have no price per unit to compare to, I have no idea how many units my pounds are buying, and no idea how many units I am using, though by keeping an eye on the meter I can see how many pounds I am using.

We hardly use electricity, a few lights, a computer, charge a couple of phones, one electric cooker which I use on and off and a microwave which also isn't used that often.

I am a bit fed up with it, it is completely opaque, I have no idea what is coming next.

 

[two sheds]

Just had an email from British Gas about how they are going to pay The Energy Bills Support Scheme (aka Rishi Rich's electoral bribe). It seems that starting from October for 6 months they will pay £67 into my bank account a few days after they have taken my DD (22nd in my case).
Whilst I'm one of those who doesn't really need it to manage, extra money is of course always welcome. This by coincidence is almost exactly the same amount I donate each month to the local foodbank. The Govt is giving me back the money I spend doing their job because they aren't doing it. I am most likely the only person involved in this who realises the incredible irony of it.

They pay a few days after they take your dd? So anyone who's only just in credit is going to be hit with bank charges?

 

[MickiQ]

They pay a few days after they take your dd? So anyone who's only just in credit is going to be hit with bank charges?

I would imagine so yes, also £67 is a maximum not a set figure, if I understand it correctly if your DD is less than £67 then you only get back the amount you pay not the full £67.
Only just got back from the pub with Middle Q's soon to be in-laws and Paddy's Dad is downstairs cracking open the bottle of whiskey he brought with him so don't want to keep him waiting.
Will be busy tomorrow with the whole daughter's wedding thing but on Sunday I will edit out any identifiable info and upload the email so you can read it yourself

 

[Cerv]

Email from Octopus this morning. That 4th bullet point - odd thing to boast about. Hardly inspires confidence that they're sticking around and not going to go the way of Bulb & all the other bankrupts.

 

[platinumsage]

Well they made a 91 million gross profit and a 24 million net profit last year, so that's not strictly true, although they'll probably claim they're setting that against a previous year's loss, and that the shareholders haven't gotten back their investment yet.

 

[alex_]

Email from Octopus this morning. That 4th bullet point - odd thing to boast about. Hardly inspires confidence that they're sticking around and not going to go the way of Bulb & all the other bankrupts.
View attachment 338770

If they are fully hedged they will be fine - they are right it’s generators - in particular any with fixed input costs not related to gas or oil prices who are making out like bandits in this crisis.

That’s nuclear and renewable generators in particular.

 

[Karl Masks]

Wasn't exactly sure where to post this but it is related . . .

Everywhere

 

[muscovyduck]

British Gas are finally shifting me onto monthly direct debit if they think they're using me as a piggybank they can fuck off

 

[not a trot]

I would imagine so yes, also £67 is a maximum not a set figure, if I understand it correctly if your DD is less than £67 then you only get back the amount you pay not the full £67.
Only just got back from the pub with Middle Q's soon to be in-laws and Paddy's Dad is downstairs cracking open the bottle of whiskey he brought with him so don't want to keep him waiting.
Will be busy tomorrow with the whole daughter's wedding thing but on Sunday I will edit out any identifiable info and upload the email so you can read it yourself

I received the same email.​ Hello xxxxxxxx​ We know times are really hard at the moment, with rises in living costs putting pressure on your budget. And some of our customers may find it difficult managing their energy bills. As you may have seen in the news, your energy prices are likely to rise in line with the new price cap, which we are expecting to be formally announced at the end of this month. We understand this is difficult news. Once Ofgem release more information we’ll be in touch to let you know exactly what this means for you. We’re contacting you to let you know that, regardless of your circumstances, more support is on the way. The government has recently announced the new Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS), which will give households a £400 discount off their energy bills from October. You can find out more about the scheme and how it will work on our website.​

Find out more ​

The Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS)​ The EBSS is part of the government’s wider support to help households with the cost of living. It’s open to all domestic households who use electricity.​

How much will I get?​ Every household will get £400, paid over six months starting from October 2022. So you’ll get the following each month:​

Month​ Amount​ October 2022​ £66​ November 2022​ £66​ December 2022​ £67​ January 2023​ £67​ February 2023​ £67​ March 2023​ £67​

If your electricity bills are less than £66/£67 a month, you’ll still get the same amount. You can carry on using the discount to pay for your electricity after March 2023 (until all the £400 is used up).​

How do I apply?​ You don’t need to do anything – every household will automatically get the discount. You don’t need to repay the discount and it won’t affect your credit rating in any way.​

How do I receive the discount?​ For Direct Debit customers, we’ll send the discount straight to your bank each month – like a refund – once your Direct Debit has gone through. For example: If your Direct Debit is £100 a month, you’d pay that as normal. Then a few days later, £67 will be paid in to your bank account. If your Direct Debit is less than £67 a month, say £50 for example, £50 will be refunded to your bank account and the remaining £17 will be applied as credit to your energy account.​

​ Beware of scams​ The discount will be applied automatically – you won’t be asked for your bank details at any time. Please beware of potential scams and report any unusual activity to report@phishing.gov.uk. You can find other examples of recent scams on our website.

Find out more​ For further information about the government discount, see our website.​

Need more help with your energy bills?​ ​

If you're struggling with your energy bills, we can help. The British Gas Energy Trust can also provide you with energy debt advice, grants and further support.

Thanks, The British Gas Energy Team​ ​