When we were checking ours it was saying we were over the budget but yesterday we were going away so we put our boiler in holiday mode and anything else not needed.
One nice thing about having the smart meter installed is that the wiring at the meter is checked. Our main fuse housing was found to be out of date and the tails leading to the consumer unit were undersized by todays standards. This gets reported to the national grid.
In response we have had, free of charge, an up to date fuse unit and master switch assembly fitted, the tails were left but they fitted a smaller rated fuse than usual. But it is still more than enough for our needs.
As they were there. I got them to remove a couple of redundant tails to tidy things up. They told me that the national grid are using the smart meter reports to update older properties.
John
In response we have had, free of charge, an up to date fuse unit and master switch assembly fitted, the tails were left but they fitted a smaller rated fuse than usual. But it is still more than enough for our needs.
As they were there. I got them to remove a couple of redundant tails to tidy things up. They told me that the national grid are using the smart meter reports to update older properties.
John
You can change your budget levels on the Remote reader, but always wise to turn everything down or off if going away, have a good time.
So far been to Barnard Castle and the meal at a pub and gave myself a treat a pint of lager but so far having a great time
Your bill will include a daily charge for the meter. You will need to check your tariff to see what this is.
Octopus are very good at dealing with queries so if you are still puzzled ask them. Saw this morning they have been voted the Which number one supplier by a clear margin for the sixth year by Which and their query answering is part of it.
Octopus are very good at dealing with queries so if you are still puzzled ask them. Saw this morning they have been voted the Which number one supplier by a clear margin for the sixth year by Which and their query answering is part of it.
Today finally.ly spoke to Bulb and got answer to why my Smart is saying one figure but when my statement comes in it is nothing like it. It only shows what you are using not what the final cost of ituso for me it is pointless watching it. In these type of months I have it on for eight hours of the 24hrs , then only 7am till 9am when it is warmer. Of course that only is the heating, The rest of it is running usual appliances in the house , for cooking etc we only have electricity.
I am still with Bulb, and have just checked my last three statements and payments to Bulb are about £5 higher than which the remote reader shows. Not a great deal in the long run.
I thought Bulb was taken over by Octopus.
I was with Coop energy. (Who gave great service). They didn't go bust but decided to stop doing it about 5 years ago, so they did a deal with Octopus and we transferred over on the same terms. My account still shows the Coop tariff. (but I imagine my tariff is standard Octopus).
John
Not all Bulb customers have been transferred over to Octopus as yet. Maybe it's a slow process.
Here’s an update on Bulbs takeover by Octopus. The possibility of a judicial review by external parties seems to have gone quiet.
Out of the BIG Six suppliers BGAS, EDF,EON, Npower,Scottish Power and SSE only one is British owned as all the rest are owned by foreign companies.
Generally small suppliers buy from one of the BIG Six, but with Octopus buying SSE's retail arm they have moved up the ladder and are probably now able to buy direct from the "pool" to which previously they did not have the funds to access.
We are looking forward to the day when we can switch suppliers and get away from BGAS even though of the Big Six it is the only British owned supplier!
Generally small suppliers buy from one of the BIG Six, but with Octopus buying SSE's retail arm they have moved up the ladder and are probably now able to buy direct from the "pool" to which previously they did not have the funds to access.
We are looking forward to the day when we can switch suppliers and get away from BGAS even though of the Big Six it is the only British owned supplier!
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Whilst a slight diversion I read this weekend that the Centrica Rough storage site may be again taken out of use for next winter. Centrica and HMG haven’t come to an agreement on funding and now that gas prices are lower, and may drop further the business case isn’t good without additional funding. The other five big players don’t want to participate saying there’s no shortage of gas, and security of supply isn’t a problem. But UKs storage as a percentage of daily consumption is by a large measure the lowest in Europe.
Having a smaller gas storage option than other countries is not necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on the security of supply from the source. The UK has control over much of its gas sources, and as they are unlikely to all go off line together, it therefore does not need as much of a buffer compared to the likes of Germany or other landlocked countries.
It's like "Just In Time " manufacturing, where as long as your suppliers keep the track side delivery schedules, an assembly plant can continue to run very happily, without incurring the cost of large goods inwards warehousing.
What I can't tell you is how much storage is needed, so whether the facility is necessary is obviously open to debate, but from Centrica's perspective the question is "is it an asset or a liability?" I don't know but I suspect when Centrica took over the British Gas business, the facility had contractual covenants that required the facility to remain available as a national strategic element. As such Centrica probably cannot completely decommission it. When its not being used, its a liability with costs associated with it.
Theoretically, Centrica could sell the facility, but who would want to buy it? If as seems likely it has to be maintained for "rainy day", with no guarantee of it ever being used again, it would be a high cost purchase with no prospect of generating any income to cover the purchase or running costs. Not exactly a good business plan.
Consequently, it's in Centrica's interests to be arguing for it to be used as that will generate an income, but if the other suppliers don't see it as necessary, why should they take on an uncontracted cost?
After a long chat BGAS were unable to explain why our DD would increase by over £175 a month. Using their figures on costs and consumption we eventually got the Dd set to £200 which although higher than what is required hopefully we will be well in credit by next winter even if the government hand out is stopped.
BTW on the news last night there was an article about some energy company paying for their employees to have a holiday in the Maldives. Seems that energy suppliers will soon be posting their biggest profits ever!
Utility Warehouse is not just an energy company it provides a wider range of services. If the employees have been successful in signing up new customers why shouldn't they be rewarded.My SIL has used them now for several years and praises their service and prices. When I moved across into the private sector I got performance bonuses, cash and shares. It's the Maldives bit that some find unacceptable..... better than Eastbourne though, and probably cheaper too.
Utility Warehouse is not just an energy company it provides a wider range of services. If the employees have been successful in signing up new customers why shouldn't they be rewarded.My SIL has used them now for several years and praises their service and prices. When I moved across into the private sector I got performance bonuses, cash and shares. It's the Maldives bit that some find unacceptable..... better than Eastbourne though, and probably cheaper too.
I have no idea which energy company sent their employees off to the Maldives at the expense of customers. Just to add that for the past year it has been nearly impossible to transfer to another supplier unless your current supplier went bust and you were allocated to another supplier.
We have been wanting to move from BGAS since March last year and it has been impossible so not sure how utility Warehouse managed to find new customers in the energy market? However by the same token UW would have been bottom of the list if we did have a choice.
Why would you want to move to BGAS. In the recent Which report they were found to be one of the worst for service and as all the companies charge about the same, the best bet has to be the ones at the top with Octopus the clear leader. BGAS seem to be appalling, with them breaking into peoples homes and fitting prepayment meters on a large scale and this has happened even when people were in credit according to newspaper reports.
Just looking at the headline profit a business makes does not tell you anything useful or whether its unreasonable or not. You have to look at a wider range of data to be able to give a fairer assessment.
It's essential for every commercial organisation to make a profit, otherwise they will ultimately fail, but whilst if a sole trader posted a £10M pound profit it might seem suspicious, if British gas only posted £10M profit that also would look suspicious for being too low!.
You need to look at turnover and other factors to be able to make a more balanced conclusion rather than doing what the media does which is to sensationalise the ordinary. Generally in simplified terms the companies try to set an operating process that generates income at a percentage margin over costs. Break even isn't an option as every plan needs to consider inflationary pressures, so profits need to be greater than the rate of inflation, and to consider extraordinary factors such as in the case of energy ther forward cost projections needed to be able to purchase the raw materials over the next year.
With those perfectly legitimate factors taken into account, the energy companies will have had bigger turnover figures which in turn will generate bigger potential profits, but as a proportion of turnover the rate of profit may be no bigger than in previous years.
It's essential for every commercial organisation to make a profit, otherwise they will ultimately fail, but whilst if a sole trader posted a £10M pound profit it might seem suspicious, if British gas only posted £10M profit that also would look suspicious for being too low!.
You need to look at turnover and other factors to be able to make a more balanced conclusion rather than doing what the media does which is to sensationalise the ordinary. Generally in simplified terms the companies try to set an operating process that generates income at a percentage margin over costs. Break even isn't an option as every plan needs to consider inflationary pressures, so profits need to be greater than the rate of inflation, and to consider extraordinary factors such as in the case of energy ther forward cost projections needed to be able to purchase the raw materials over the next year.
With those perfectly legitimate factors taken into account, the energy companies will have had bigger turnover figures which in turn will generate bigger potential profits, but as a proportion of turnover the rate of profit may be no bigger than in previous years.
Not sure if you are referring to my post, but we are clearly trying to move away from BGAS!
Few commented on the extremely large write downs suffered by Shell and BP as a result of withdrawing from Russian activities, nor were the media shedding tears on losses affecting energy companies during two years of covid. At least we have reliable gas, electric and fuel supplies albeit more expensive than we are used to having. Compared to many in Ukraine, Turkey and Syria we aren’t doing too badly.
Just making a cup of coffee for SWMBO about 15 minutes ago, and noticed a little message envelope flashing on the Remote reader. "Welcome to Octopus "
So just been on the website and made sure everything is as it should be.
And a little Snippet from their website, when Octopus are bored they throw sea shell at each other for play. 😃
You can now (or shortly) download the app, gives info on usage in kw/h. will be more useful when history is developed.
John
As I said the smart shows average of about £7 a day but on the statement it is around £10. As I know now the Daily charge etc has to be added..
The daily charge isn't that much - with Octopus it's about £22 per month if you have both electric and gas - so about 75p a day.
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