Energy suppliers going bust

The said:
Symbio have given me some insane estimates, I’ve had about 3 months free due to them overestimating and the building management firm giving me readings as often as the planets align. Yeah smart meters are meant to. Hopefully we get put with octopus, I’ve been with them before and they were trouble free.
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When I moved from Bulg to Igloo a few months ago, I had to start giving meter readings again. It previously had a day and night rate, but Igloo would only take a total figure. They seemed to solve this, but asked me regualrly for readings. So not sure what the point of the smart meter is. It's a bit dense.
 


Madchester Mackem said:
When I moved from Bulg to Igloo a few months ago, I had to start giving meter readings again. It previously had a day and night rate, but Igloo would only take a total figure. They seemed to solve this, but asked me regualrly for readings. So not sure what the point of the smart meter is. It's a bit dense.
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Do you have smart meter version 1 or 2? Version 1 was useless because if you moved supplier the new one wouldn’t get readings iirc.
 
lurker said:
No, you’re making it hard to plan your finances in future, lessening the chance that you start getting bills for another 100 quid a month.

Put some cash aside in there as we don’t know how long these prices will be around.
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Why keep it in their account though?

Put it in your own savings. You can monitor your bills and access it if/when required. If your supplier goes bust you may not see a credit balance for months. Or if you choose to switch you need to wait as well (SSE are due me money, as are Vodafone). You may then have to pay to use an overdraft because you're short on cash while effectively giving a free loan to your energy supplier.

If it is in your account it is in your control.
 
Edinburgh Black Cat said:
Why keep it in their account though?

Put it in your own savings. You can monitor your bills and access it if/when required. If your supplier goes bust you may not see a credit balance for months. Or if you choose to switch you need to wait as well (SSE are due me money, as are Vodafone). You may then have to pay to use an overdraft because you're short on cash while effectively giving a free loan to your energy supplier.

If it is in your account it is in your control.
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It’s protected, and you could end up having a bad credit rating.
 
yamar1 said:
Tough. So do i.

Got to be done. Only a fool would leave a dd open with a supplier who has gone bust.
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They can’t take any money that isn’t owed to them. If they steal from you you could send them to prison, so my advice is to leave the direct debit open.
 
lurker said:
They can’t take any money that isn’t owed to them. If they steal from you you could send them to prison, so my advice is to leave the direct debit open.
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Why would you possibly want to leave it open when the supplier has gone bust?

A dd that is already set up could still be taken so why leave it open and take the risk, when it is a 10 second job to cancel it.

The new supplier will take my dd details when required. No risk taken, simple.
 
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yamar1 said:
Why would you possibly want to leave it open when the supplier has gone bust?

A dd that is already set up could still be taken so why leave it open and take the risk, when it is a 10 second job to cancel it.

The new supplier will take my dd details when required. No risk taken, simple.
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This. Took me seconds to cancel then seconds to setup with Octopus. I'd rather not have Avro on my list anymore. Easy enough and Ofgen did say I could cancel DD if so, as new supplier will ask for details as and when ready. They have my meter readings and will know my usage from September which is fine and I'll be charged whatever to the correct trading company.
 
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Hulkster said:
So imagine having a load of fixed contracts to sell something for say £3 per pop, and the price of buying it in goes up from £2 up to £7.

How do you avoid catastrophic losses in that situation?

You've gone from a £1 profit to a £4 loss for every single sale you make, and you are contracted to keep selling as much as the consumer wants at the loss making price

Ok you can hedge to a certain extent to protect against rising prices, but not when the price rise has been so dramatic.

Even where people aren't on fixed term contracts, suppliers are prevented by law from raising their prices beyond to price cap.

I'm unsure how they can be expected to survive in this situation?


So all we need to do is replace the entire housing stock then?

Simple!

I mean I'm sat in a house that was built only a year ago and it certainly still needs plenty of gas and electric mind you, so there must be some absolutely enormous technological leaps forward just around the corner. And I've no idea where I'm going to fit the heat pump or find the £20k to install it.
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There's not a debate to be had between

Increased expense to power humanity

Or

Existence

Just going to have to toughen up a bit flower, these are the times we're living in
 
GordonMuchallNo1Fan said:
This. Took me seconds to cancel then seconds to setup with Octopus. I'd rather not have Avro on my list anymore. Easy enough and Ofgen did say I could cancel DD if so, as new supplier will ask for details as and when ready. They have my meter readings and will know my usage from September which is fine.
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The obvious, risk free choice.

Of course they will, the new supplier will need a new dd mandate.
 

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