Energy Prices - are they taking the piss???

joemcdokes said:
Energy companies stick direct debits up by ridiculous amounts, way above what they should be, it's happened for years.
It's nothing new.

Even when increases weren't high, Npower sent me a letter saying they were increasing it by what equated to 50%.
I got on the phone and told them quite bluntly what I was going to pay not what they wanted.

The daughter did exactly the same recently, let's say her bills went up 42%, they increased the DD by 86%, you wouldn't go to fill the car up and give them £20 extra for next time.

What's even more ridiculous is those that will now be paying fixed rates at levels that are way and beyond standard tariffs, absolute idiots.
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I've never had that problem as on the online accounts you can check usage & manage DD's yourself.
 


droppedshoulder said:
I disagree.
If you go down this route it shouldn’t be household income, but household disposable income. An exaggerated example:
Family 1: income £100k, but costs including mortgage repayment of £80k
Family 2: income £40k, but living costs of £10k.
Family 1 have arguably the bigger need for support, though if based purely on income as you suggest, Family 2 would receive the support.
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Could easily fiddle figures on disposable income , If someone on a big income has overstretched by moving to a house with a massive mortgage , then , IMO , they shouldn’t get same help as someone on low income struggling to Make ends meet
 
joemcdokes said:
Energy companies stick direct debits up by ridiculous amounts, way above what they should be, it's happened for years.
It's nothing new.

Even when increases weren't high, Npower sent me a letter saying they were increasing it by what equated to 50%.
I got on the phone and told them quite bluntly what I was going to pay not what they wanted.

The daughter did exactly the same recently, let's say her bills went up 42%, they increased the DD by 86%, you wouldn't go to fill the car up and give them £20 extra for next time.

What's even more ridiculous is those that will now be paying fixed rates at levels that are way and beyond standard tariffs, absolute idiots.
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You can of course change from DD to actual bills and only pay what you use.
 
Dave Herbal said:
I know exactly what they cost, seeing as they live with me 3 days a week, and it’s a long way short of 800 a month I can tell you .

I’m not on my own though am I? I have two teenagers who leave every light and appliance on and demand the house to be of reasonable temperature. Oh and don’t forget the school clothes that they give you to wash and dry the night before so that the dryer has to be on for about 4 hours.

But apart from that, it’s not really 400. 120 of that is car charging (until I get onto a cheap off peak tariff) and the other 280 is artificially high as I’ve been paying the same amount since before it went up, so I’m 350 in debit.

But if you want to compare usage, I’m doing about 400 units of leccy a month, another 400 car charging and about 1800 gas on average.
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Was going to ask how you are being charged £400 a month, but most of what you’ve said explains it.
Dave Herbal said:
You can of course change from DD to actual bills and only pay what you use.
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That’s what I do now, never pay by DD any more. Just put the monthly readings in and pay what the bill is.
I’m still waiting for a refund from Avro and they went bust ages ago !!
 
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JL1985 said:
I pay for what I use month to month via my debit card. How does the £400 get returned to someone like me?
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Similar for me I pay mine quarterly by debit card because I was sick of the direct debits going up by crazy amounts. Much rather be in control of my money myself
 
Just had solar pv installed with battery, yesterday for first full 24 hours, electricity charges were 18p (plus standing charge), that includes immersion heater on for 1 hour, 3 loads washing, 1 load in dishwasher, 1 hour tumble dryer, oven for tea plus tv, lighting etc and also exported 4 units to grid. That would normally be about £1.5 approx. Gas use also tumbled as didn't use boiler for hot water, just hobs for tea. Have app on my phone and can see what system is doing. Unfortunately don't get paid yet for my export to grid, have to get network approval then sign up with energy company to buy it from me, unfortunately FIT disbanded and SEG rates poor but I suppose better than nowt.
 
cfg said:
Just had solar pv installed with battery, yesterday for first full 24 hours, electricity charges were 18p (plus standing charge), that includes immersion heater on for 1 hour, 3 loads washing, 1 load in dishwasher, 1 hour tumble dryer, oven for tea plus tv, lighting etc and also exported 4 units to grid. That would normally be about £1.5 approx. Gas use also tumbled as didn't use boiler for hot water, just hobs for tea. Have app on my phone and can see what system is doing. Unfortunately don't get paid yet for my export to grid, have to get network approval then sign up with energy company to buy it from me, unfortunately FIT disbanded and SEG rates poor but I suppose better than nowt.
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Are your solar panels heating the boiler too? I have a separate solar thermal Panel for that.
 
HellsBells said:
Are your solar panels heating the boiler too? I have a separate solar thermal Panel for that.
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I'm just starting, I intend getting an 'eddy'? I think you call it fitted once I've worked it all out for hot water. I'm also looking at an air source heat pump down the road, my garage will be full of energy saving gear before I'm finished.
 
cfg said:
Just had solar pv installed with battery, yesterday for first full 24 hours, electricity charges were 18p (plus standing charge), that includes immersion heater on for 1 hour, 3 loads washing, 1 load in dishwasher, 1 hour tumble dryer, oven for tea plus tv, lighting etc and also exported 4 units to grid. That would normally be about £1.5 approx. Gas use also tumbled as didn't use boiler for hot water, just hobs for tea. Have app on my phone and can see what system is doing. Unfortunately don't get paid yet for my export to grid, have to get network approval then sign up with energy company to buy it from me, unfortunately FIT disbanded and SEG rates poor but I suppose better than nowt.
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and this is what everyone should be doing (if your home/roof/garden allows of course)

its also what the Government should be legislating and subsiding

instead of £400 or whatever people might end up getting it should have been a massive Gov campaign of fitting renewables to peoples homes - even 3 or 4 250W+ solar panels would be enough to run your base loads (fridge, freezer, lights, tv, computer) from sun up to sun down (even in cloudy weather)

and the best thing is that having solar, batteries, etc focuses your mind on how to be as energy efficient as possible - for ex my generator is just finishing a run to fill the batteries back to 90% SOC - as soon as it started it was get dinner sorted, dishwasher running, washing machine on, dryer on
 
Spam Javelin said:
Was going to ask how you are being charged £400 a month, but most of what you’ve said explains it.


That’s what I do now, never pay by DD any more. Just put the monthly readings in and pay what the bill is.
I’m still waiting for a refund from Avro and they went bust ages ago !!
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Something wrong there mate, I got mine a few months ago.
 
Scotty said:
and this is what everyone should be doing (if your home/roof/garden allows of course)

its also what the Government should be legislating and subsiding

instead of £400 or whatever people might end up getting it should have been a massive Gov campaign of fitting renewables to peoples homes - even 3 or 4 250W+ solar panels would be enough to run your base loads (fridge, freezer, lights, tv, computer) from sun up to sun down (even in cloudy weather)

and the best thing is that having solar, batteries, etc focuses your mind on how to be as energy efficient as possible - for ex my generator is just finishing a run to fill the batteries back to 90% SOC - as soon as it started it was get dinner sorted, dishwasher running, washing machine on, dryer on
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It certainly does focus your mind, with energy prices the way they are its a no brainer. There is a shortage of invertors and batteries now, I believe up to 12 months for powerwall, TESLA and Sonnen didn’t even respond when I enquired.
 

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