Smart Meters...Discussion

[tobyjugg2]

For those who still doubt, An early example from 2 months ago (wait until the practice gets more established to see BIG peak charges)

 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jan/03/green-energy-uk-launches-first-time-of-day-electricity-tariff

"Green Energy UK said its TIDE tariff is the first to offer residential customers an electricity price based on the time of day, although the idea will be familiar to anyone on an Economy 7 or Economy 10 tariff.

Under the deal launched this week, customers will pay

4.9p per unit of electricity on weekdays from 11pm-6am,

but five times as much between the peak weekday hours of 4-7pm.

The average price of electricity in the UK is around 14p per unit.

 

Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert said the deal looked good on his first analysis, though the gas price of 3.59p per unit was expensive.

 

“If you are a medium to heavy user who uses far more electricity than gas and you could shift your usage overnight, then this will be a winner.

 

If you’ve got storage heaters, timers, a smart home and you put your dishwasher, washing machine and storage heaters on [overnight], then it’s not a bad deal, he says”

[maroondevo52]

Keeps a lot of Royal Mail Relay guys in a job

[tobyjugg2]

Try working out comparisons between suppliers with these - especially once the times start moving.

Any spare QT mathematicians around to see if I can get a better deal elsewhere?

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

Have you had a look at Robin Hood Energy?

[tobyjugg2]

Have you had a look at Robin Hood Energy?

 

They dont need smart meters, they want monthly readings so they can charge you straight away anyway even if you are not on prepay

 

but yes

https://robinhoodenergy.co.uk/home-energy/smart-pay-as-you-go.

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

We are with RH and have found them to be on the ball, So far we have saved over £300.00 the last 12 moinths. the gas bill used to cause us grief. We have fixed for another 12 months and do not use DD. pay on bill. At least i know what to expect each month and no more bills over £450.00 for six weeks supply of electricity as happned with SSE. Massive mistake on their part and took ages to resolve, and to get them to admit it was their fault.

[tobyjugg2]

We are with RH and have found them to be on the ball, So far we have saved over £300.00 the last 12 moinths. the gas bill used to cause us grief. We have fixed for another 12 months and do not use DD. pay on bill. At least i know what to expect each month and no more bills over £450.00 for six weeks supply of electricity as happned with SSE. Massive mistake on their part and took ages to resolve, and to get them to admit it was their fault.

 

I am also temporarily with them.

I signed up expecting the same amount to go out each month as has been the case with all my prior suplliers - even npower even if they did keep notifying me that they would be increasing the DD without justification and when I was already in large credit.

 

Robin Hood Energy just take it.

 

They have chased and chased for monthly meter readings and then taken out every penny thats owed via variable DD amounts every month rather than the fixed monthly amount I had been expecting.

Budgeting over the year is impossible. Its as near to pay as you go as you can get.

 

They better not end up owing me anything via their errors or planning while I remain with them.

 

NOT recommended.

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

This is why i will NOT have a DD ever set up again on my bank account. i pay when they send the bill after the readings have been given. I keep a spreadsheet of the readings and the cost. I understood if you set up a DD they took what was owed, not a fixed sum each month.

 

The spreadsheet also helps to see the monthly consumption. it certainly helped with budgeting this winter. My bills for Dual fuel were no more than £60.00 a month.

[tobyjugg2]

That would be very irresponsible as the customer may be using life supporting medical equipment so unlikely to happen. Besides the supplier is obliged to send several letters first and then get a warrant from a magistrates court which needs to be shown to the householder when the meter operator disconnects.

 

What about a customer with prepay token meters?

 

Npower swears they sent the letters and more besides

 

The warrant is to enter the property, NOT disconnect the supply. With remote access to smart meters (their property) no warrant required.

Its you that will have to take them to court and prove they did something wrong.

[tobyjugg2]

This is why i will NOT have a DD ever set up again on my bank account. i pay when they send the bill after the readings have been given. I keep a spreadsheet of the readings and the cost. I understood if you set up a DD they took what was owed, not a fixed sum each month.

 

The spreadsheet also helps to see the monthly consumption. it certainly helped with budgeting this winter. My bills for Dual fuel were no more than £60.00 a month.

EDF were bang on for years only once was I a little over £100 in credit (I;m a lot more energy efficient now) after I submitted a meter reading and they refunded without asking. and the little monitor I have enables me to see whats happening just as well as a smart meter.

I found that averaging the yearly bill over the 12 months was very useful for budgeting with honest and capable suppliers (unlike npower, and BG/sainsburies and Scottish Power )

 

Its more irritating than pressing for me as a low usage person with led lights and an efficient digital fridge freezer + efficient boiler - but could be a blow for more heavy users during cold spells for example

[Guest]

i had thought that utilities wldn't take more a mth than the mthly dd amount (as adjusted). unless perhaps it was re a final bill.

 

a new kid (with some background substance, eg wind farms) on the block is octopus energy. which seems, on its face, maybe ok?

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

When I signed up to RH I understood if a DD was setup for the account, this was to pay for energy used that month. I know I could never budget for something like this.

 

My income varies because of exchange rates, (money is paid from overseas paid in dollars, then exchanged to Euros to Citibank, Ireland and then Citibank exchanges Euros to sterling to bank in England) this is another objection to a DD, also the money never is deposited on a certain date, it can vary by as much 10 days each month.

[tobyjugg2]

When I signed up to RH I understood if a DD was setup for the account, this was to pay for energy used that month. I know I could never budget for something like this.

 

My income varies because of exchange rates, (money is paid from overseas paid in dollars, then exchanged to Euros to Citibank, Ireland and then Citibank exchanges Euros to sterling to bank in England) this is another objection to a DD, also the money never is deposited on a certain date, it can vary by as much 10 days each month.

 

I dont recall seeing that at all when i signed up although I did see some blurb about them preferring monthly meter readings.

 

I also had to fill in all the estimated usage stuff etc,

 

As all DD's are set up as variables Ford, they can all do this, but RH is the first one |I have experienced that does do it. If ther is no extra charge for none DD and I stay with them a while, I will cancel the DD and pay when a bill comes - just because I feel cheated.

 

Its especially irritating as I moved over just as I've had probably the 2 heaviest use periods 2x and 1.5x my long term average, so if they do change it to a monthly amount and calculate it based on thaose, my monthly payments will be about 1.75 times what they should be.

Very irritating.

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

RH is non profit making and owned by Nottingham Council. I have found the lighter summer payments certainly balance out the winter payments, but all in all I have saved a lot of money.

[tobyjugg2]

RH is non profit making and owned by Nottingham Council. I have found the lighter summer payments certainly balance out the winter payments, but all in all I have saved a lot of money.

 

but they took out large loans to set up the business that they are paying interest on and a number of suppliers come out cheaper on the comparison sites

eg Sainsburies/BG and Scottish power (Npower used too) ......

 

but they are possibly the cheapest PAYG supplier

[tobyjugg2]

RH is non profit making and owned by Nottingham Council. I have found the lighter summer payments certainly balance out the winter payments, but all in all I have saved a lot of money.

 

and prices now going up absolutely STUPID amounts

 

Unit rate 11.29p per kWh -> 15.40p per kWh

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

16.51per Kwh in our area for SSE so fixed at 13. with RH is still saving moiney for me and a lower standing charge, still saving money. we are Eastern Area

[ericsbrother]

my gas has gone up by 20%, leccy hardly at all. Greenstar.

[tobyjugg2]

16.51per Kwh in our area for SSE so fixed at 13. with RH is still saving moiney for me and a lower standing charge, still saving money. we are Eastern Area

 

Strange

As my bill says I am still on their best tariff

- not sure if its reflecting their new prices yet though - probably not

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

Toby I have the latest bill to hand and this is on the old V2 rate that came to end 3 march 2017 Electricity 394.4kWh @10.4571 p/kWH £41.24 Standing Charge 28 days @25.24 p/day £7.07 Online dicount CR£1.54 VAt at 5% £2.33 £49.00

 

Gas 1146.9kWh @ 3.0019 p/kWh £34.43 Sranding charge 28 days @27.97 p/day £7.83 Online Discount 28 days CR £1.64 VAt @5% on £40.63 £2.03 £42.65

 

I am now fixed on V6. Did the new Fix back in January, so the next bill will be on the new rates. i think new fixes are on the V7 or Evergreen.

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

I don't know those birdies have come from

[unclebulgaria67]

It is because you used @ before information, so CAG settings think it is a Twitter account

[Guest Mrs Hobbit]

Thanks for the explanation unclebulgaria.