Especially when home energy use over the Christmas/New Year period can be exceptionally high even for winter with more people at home more of the time, so an exceptionally big monthly bill would arrive just when funds are low. (I can just about remember when planning for Christmas included extra shillings in the jar for the meter.)
True. Until installing that meter prevents you moving supplier. As was once the case. Can all suppliers read a smart meter remotely now? If so, I'll think about getting one.
And that's the thing isn't it. Many will often 'shop about' for consumables, going to one shop for some stuff and another for others (we don't, we CBA) and certainly when buying bigger things, like cars and houses.
As it would me / us because we aren't interested (as in a hobby or interest) them so don't log / track them.
<snip>;-)
My Mum (also 90+) still has her 'marbles' and was mostly managing her own finances after Dad died but we help her our when she asks and are gradually moving her stuff online to make it easier all round (without giving her (and she doesn't want) online access herself). ;-)
We still haven't done anything about moving from our 'std' duel-fuel tariff and I couldn't even tell you who it's with or what we are paying (other than it's likely more than we could, if we were bothered to do something about it). But it's discussions / stories like these (and others re smart-meters etc) that leave us with the feeling that we might be happy to pay the extra for not having the bother.
After all, someone has to fund the rate tarts or we would all be in the same position eh? ;-)
Now, if there was a tariff that didn't contribute to the FIT theft ...
Cheers, T i m
p.s. A mate used to often get the calls re saving money on is utilities, phone or broadband contracts and he use to tell them he's more than happy to pay what he was. Given his annual saving might only be the same as his flying cost per hour, you can see why. ;-)
Similar to the DG cold calls offering a free holiday, and which of these destinations would you choose, or if you could have n free DG windows ... and me saying 'none'.
Be isn't that likely only the case for those who were going to work and now don't have 'those' bills, like rail / bus fares, fuel or buying expensive food / coffee 'out' when working from home?
Obviously anyone impacted financially because they have lost their jobs are another issue.
If you are pensioners then the chances are you are still living 'cheaper' than you were when driving to visit family, treating them / kids to stuff etc?
We would probably put 20 quids worth of petrol in the car every couple of weeks but that last time I added any fuel was probably last year!
I can remember doing that at my grandparents, never at any of our houses (and daughter is now on pre-pay meters in her rented flat).
My problem being mostly at home is eBay ... but the excuse being that with the home automation and PIR controlled lights, we may end up saving money (assuming we live long enough). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
I am not aware of a smart meter ever stopping a consumer switching to another supplier. It was true that the new supplier might not be able to use it as a smart meter. The odds of that were vastly reduced with SMETS2 meters now fitted.
But certain tarriffs made it difficult the other way, like users of Economy 10 (are there still any of them?).
Symbio as mentioned were, until recently, not members of the DCC. That means that, having got a smart meter installed by the previous supplier because the meter was in a very awkward place, I still had to submit monthly readings. Unfortunately the smart meter desktop unit couldn't provide the Economy 7 readings needed, so I still had to climb to the awkward place to read the actual meter.
Symbio faced Ofgem sanctions for not joining the DCC, so now they have. I don't know if that means they support smart meters properly. They're saying customers can request a smart meter from Q1 2021, but that could be out of date.
Theo
What a strange statement to make from someone who doesn't know who his energy supplier is, what his energy usage is, or what prices he's paying, and who CBA to switch suppliers; there's no logic to such an attitude.
Probably take two attempts to get that right.
In article snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk>, "Dave Plowman (News)" snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk> writes
Yes. Smets 2
The more competent supply companies take out long term wholesale contracts.
What tends to happen in the supply market is that start ups want to attract customers and they do so by getting themselves to the top of the price comparison charts with the cheapest rates. Then they are swamped with new customers and their customer services can't cope. Their wholesale supply contracts are then inadequate and their prices go up but they are committed to supply contracts with their customers and they go broke. The moral of this story is to be wary of taking the top of the list on comparison sites.
Is there any risk for the customer though? My parents recently had this happen, but prices cannot be increased during a fixed price deal and if the company go bust, the customer is assigned to another company, but can choose to move to another one if they prefer. I don't know if that is universal, but it was certainly the case for my parents.
That is the way it works. The regulator will automatically transfer all business to a new supplier with the option that you can change without penalty within 40(?) days. It's up to the new supplier to refund any credit you may have built up but equally no debits are forgotten - all of it is transferred across.
Steve Walker snipped-for-privacy@walker-family.me.uk> wrote in news:s19a29$v9l$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
I recall quite a few reports of the failed energy companies being slow to reconcile credit balances causing problems with subsequent switches and customers stuck with Ofgem's deemed equivalent tariff providers that were actually less favourable until it was all resolved. (From recollection of reliable news source reports but a search is failing to find examples right now).
This happened to me. Took quite a bit of time to get the refund - over a year. Bet they'd have been quicker collecting any debt.
One good reason to have a bill (paper or on-line) for your own records rather than just relying on the DD amount which you suggested was adequate.
I believe that after a few of the early energy supply company failures, where some had some poor record keeping, the regulator has seriously tightened up the checking of existing companies and the vetting of new companies.
Eh? There was no question of what was owed. Just the time taken to pay out. No type of bill would have made any difference to that.
Do all energy companies send you an actual bill (on paper or email), or are there any that say 'we sent you a bill by secure message, you can login to your account to read it'? When the website shuts down the moment they go bankrupt and you can't see your balance or meter readings.
Theo
It's their business model. Offer cheap rates, but make you use DD's which then allow them to collect more money per year than you need to pay for usage. This means they have your money in their accounts before they pay their wholesale suppliers and extra as a free loan. This means the cheap rates that you thought you were getting are not quite such a bargain. Quarterly credit accounts mean you have their energy befre you pay for what you used and no more.
A loan that I would have got only pence in interest!
The cost of quarterly billing is already built into the higher priced deals.
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