Energy Prices

[Pepper]

21 hours ago, scottsdad said:

Wee story to give some of you The Fear. 

Years ago I was with Scottish Power. I had major billing issues with them, and as a result downloaded all my statements. I went to the ombudsman eventually, and decided enough was enough and left them. 

I was £300 in credit with them when I pulled the trigger. They sent me a bill saying I owed £900. How had they done this?

Simple. They moved me to a higher tariff, then recalculated the previous two years' usage at the new tariff. Hey presto, a £1200 swing. Oh, and they deleted all my statements from the online system. 

Lucky I still had the statements, made another claim against them with the ombudsman etc. Got my money plus a goodwill gesture of £50. 

What I am trying to say is - download and keep all statements. I wouldn't trust any of these companies not to do this again and recalculate your past usage at the current rate. 

Scottish Power came along and fitted a smart gas meter to my flat.

Problem was I wasn't a Scottish Power customer, it was supposed to be for my downstairs neighbour.

I never found out about this until I was due to move house two years later.

I had been paying British Gas (my actual supplier) by direct debits based on their smart meter readings until it went quiet, and they just decided to switch me to estimates after ir stopped sending readings. They never bothered to tell me and I didn't notice as for the previous 8 years everything had been fine. 

What makes it worse it that because BG were using estimates for my gas for over two years they had sent someone out to get an actual reading from my meter (it is a legal requirement) and even then,  when they noticed the readings were totally out of whack, they didn't bother to tell me. All they did was revert to the estimates that they knew were wrong.

As you can imagine, unravelling this whole mess was a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anybody. The term "computer says no" has never been so apt.

Never received any sort of apology from Scottish Power either. c***s. 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Pepper

[19QOS19]

Genuinely fizzing I went back. But the little c**t at the door suckered me in. I said I needed rid of a prepayment meter and he said they do it for free so I signed up. Phoned up later to arrange to get it shifted and they tell me they aren't taking new gas customers, just leckie. Annoyingly the leckie price was cheaper than my old provider so if I left I would just be cutting my nose.

As soon as this all dies down I'll be away from the shower.

[Leith Green]

6 minutes ago, jakedee said:

I'm with bulb, have a smart meter, so shouldn't really have to take meter readings. The option to add meter readings is on their app.
 

 

6 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Do nothing seems to be the advice.

https://bulb.co.uk/blog/questions-about-bulb-in-special-administration

Aye, my wife has added the meter readings, was more thinking....................will they be a viable power co ongoing? Post above seems to suggest sitting tight, so we might just do that.

[19QOS19]

Wee question, I'm on a prepay dongle thing, any benefit of putting a rake on it today? I'm I right in thinking no matter what I put on it, tomorrow when it goes up it will use it at the new rate anyway?

Martin Lewis said the other week that you should load up before the 1st.

[HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows]

25 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

28 minutes ago, HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows said:

Wee question, I'm on a prepay dongle thing, any benefit of putting a rake on it today? I'm I right in thinking no matter what I put on it, tomorrow when it goes up it will use it at the new rate anyway?

Martin Lewis said the other week that you should load up before the 1st.

Who's he?

Eta - just read his article, nice one man, cheers!

Edited March 31, 2022 by HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows

[jakedee]

Aye, my wife has added the meter readings, was more thinking....................will they be a viable power co ongoing? Post above seems to suggest sitting tight, so we might just do that.

I decided at the time to stay with them. Seen nothing since to make me change my mind.

[Left Back]

56 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

59 minutes ago, HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows said:

Wee question, I'm on a prepay dongle thing, any benefit of putting a rake on it today? I'm I right in thinking no matter what I put on it, tomorrow when it goes up it will use it at the new rate anyway?

Martin Lewis said the other week that you should load up before the 1st.

 

34 minutes ago, HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows said:

Who's he?

Eta - just read his article, nice one man, cheers!

Not necessarily true.  Was on that Watchdog programme (I think) last night contradicting him and saying it depends on your provider whether they'll charge you the old rate or new rate.

[doulikefish]

2 minutes ago, Left Back said:

 

Not necessarily true.  Was on that Watchdog programme (I think) last night contradicting him and saying it depends on your provider whether they'll charge you the old rate or new rate.

Yip basically they can do what they want

[Aufc]

Getting an agreed contract until October 23 is certainly one of the best things I ever did. This was agreed back in October 21

[jakedee]

Martin Lewis said the other week that you should load up before the 1st.

The unit rate will change from tomorrow, although I'm no Martin Lewis, I can't see how pre loading your meter will somehow make the unit rate cheaper.
I believe it will just mean less power for what you've prepaid.
Although not having a smart meter may be a benefit in this case.

[Left Back]

4 minutes ago, doulikefish said:

Yip basically they can do what they want

If it was me I wouldn't bother checking.  If I had spare cash I wouldn't miss I'd load it up and hope for the best.  If you don't get charged the old price you've not really lost anything.  Sod wasting god knows how much of my day trying to speak to someone to check whether it's worth it or not.

 

ETA Martin Lewis also says it's not guaranteed the providers will charge you the old rate.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/03/martin-lewis--warning-the--top-up-prepay-meters-before-april--tr/

If you can top up you have to then use all the prepaid energy before you top up again as that would then trigger the new rate.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/prepay-for-your-energy--you-could-keep-today-s-cheaper-rates-for/

Edited March 31, 2022 by Left Back

[scottsdad]

2 minutes ago, Aufc said:

Getting an agreed contract until October 23 is certainly one of the best things I ever did. This was agreed back in October 21

I'm locked in until August. Just hoping that the world energy price drops dramatically in July. 

Also hoping to enjoy an afternoon in a hot tub with the Brazilian ladies volleyball team. Not sure which scenario is most likely. 

[doulikefish]

5 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

I'm locked in until August. Just hoping that the world energy price drops dramatically in July. 

Also hoping to enjoy an afternoon in a hot tub with the Brazilian ladies volleyball team. Not sure which scenario is most likely. 

The Brazilian  ladies beach volleyball team practice about 100yards in front of the digs I used to stay in Rio and there was a hot tub on the roof so next time you are in the Barra Bahai area give me a shout 

[101]

17 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

I'm locked in until August. Just hoping that the world energy price drops dramatically in July. 

Also hoping to enjoy an afternoon in a hot tub with the Brazilian ladies volleyball team. Not sure which scenario is most likely. 

The October rise will have the Russian invasion factored in, I think the best thing we can hope for is that things settle down between October and April 2023.

[DA Baracus]

1 hour ago, 19QOS19 said:

As soon as this all dies down I'll be away from the shower

[Bairnardo]

The October rise will have the Russian invasion factored in, I think the best thing we can hope for is that things settle down between October and April 2023.

Even if things settle down on a global scale, we are going to have to hope that any savings made by the suppliers on wholesale are passed back on to consumers, and let's face it, in Britain who the f**k is going to push for that.

We pay what we pay now forever IMO. This will be the new floor.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

3 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Even if things settle down on a global scale, we are going to have to hope that any savings made by the suppliers on wholesale are passed back on to consumers, and let's face it, in Britain who the f**k is going to push for that.

We pay what we pay now forever IMO. This will be the new floor.

Exactly this. Power companies will continue to utterly shaft consumers, consumers will do absolutely nothing about it, and indeed will probably happily trot along and vote for more of the same sort of general shite. 

[Left Back]

4 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Even if things settle down on a global scale, we are going to have to hope that any savings made by the suppliers on wholesale are passed back on to consumers, and let's face it, in Britain who the f**k is going to push for that.

We pay what we pay now forever IMO. This will be the new floor.

errm Ofgem?  The price cap is based on wholesale prices so if they fall the price cap will fall (set by Ofgem).

Once the wholesale costs come below the price cap you'll also see competition being re-introduced as the providers try and entice customers away from other providers with new tariffs and things will go back to how they were just with fewer providers.

[101]

8 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Even if things settle down on a global scale, we are going to have to hope that any savings made by the suppliers on wholesale are passed back on to consumers, and let's face it, in Britain who the f**k is going to push for that.

We pay what we pay now forever IMO. This will be the new floor.

Have to agree sadly. Would have been good if Sunak could have went further, I'd hope the loan he has devised is either turned into a grant or made optionally because I don't want it if I have to repay it.

Also frustrating to hear the Tories today going on about reliance of importing hydro carbons and if Cambo was on stream now (impossible) then we wouldn't be in this mess. They seem to either over look or be ignorant that we are exporting oil and gas right now and not keeping it all for the domestic market. I'll be kind and assume they are thick rather than being untruthful.

[Left Back]

8 minutes ago, 101 said:

Have to agree sadly. Would have been good if Sunak could have went further, I'd hope the loan he has devised is either turned into a grant or made optionally because I don't want it if I have to repay it.

Also frustrating to hear the Tories today going on about reliance of importing hydro carbons and if Cambo was on stream now (impossible) then we wouldn't be in this mess. They seem to either over look or be ignorant that we are exporting oil and gas right now and not keeping it all for the domestic market. I'll be kind and assume they are thick rather than being untruthful.

We have no choice because we have very little oil & gas storage facilities left.  Worst in Europe I believe.