Submit a meter reading today

[Sam Vimes]

So you think Scottish Power are good!

We submit readings at the end of the month. The bill is raised by SP on the 6th of the following month. The payment is taken on the 7th.

At the end of September after we submitted a reading and they took the money, we were surprised to see we were £111 in credit and no amount of calculation could we see how they arrived at this figure as they haven't produced a bill yet.

This morning we were in credit to the sum of £177 pounds, which includes £66 from the government scheme. It should be £67.

Then we receive an email saying the £66 has been credited back to our bank account.

I have no idea what the real situation is.

As soon as it's settled down I will consider switching to another provider, though most are reluctant to take on new customers. It won't be for a cheaper deal but in the hope of better customer service.

A quick look a couple of days ago revealed that as far back as 2015 SP were always at the bottom of the league for Customer Support.

 

[RogerL]

So you think Scottish Power are good!

We submit readings at the end of the month. The bill is raised by SP on the 6th of the following month. The payment is taken on the 7th.

At the end of September after we submitted a reading and they took the money, we were surprised to see we were £111 in credit and no amount of calculation could we see how they arrived at this figure as they haven't produced a bill yet.

This morning we were in credit to the sum of £177 pounds, which includes £66 from the government scheme. It should be £67.

Then we receive an email saying the £66 has been credited back to our bank account.

I have no idea what the real situation is.

As soon as it's settled down I will consider switching to another provider, though most are reluctant to take on new customers. It won't be for a cheaper deal but in the hope of better customer service.

A quick look a couple of days ago revealed that as far back as 2015 SP were always at the bottom of the league for Customer Support.

The government scheme gives £66 in October and November with £67 in December, January, February and March - making up the £400.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I stand corrected. Just not in the mood to let them off with anything 😉

 

[Ern]

I stand corrected. Just not in the mood to let them off with anything 😉

If you see an interim balance, it may include payments you have made but may not include charges for energy+daily charges. It's misleading, but SSE is our supplier, and they do it that way.

 

[Buckman]

Not sure if this is a joke? Got email from BGAS stating the following;

If you pay a fixed amount each month - the Energy Bills Support Scheme payment will be paid into your bank account within ten days of your monthly Direct Debit going out. If your monthly Direct Debit is lower than the £66 discount, we’ll refund the full amount of your Direct Debit into your bank account and the remaining balance will be applied to your electricity account. If your Direct Debit doesn’t go through, we’ll add the payment as a credit to your electricity account.

Instead of complicating things, why don't they simply add the £66 to your BGAS account instead of crediting it to your bank account so that you pay it back to them anyway?

Just to add they have already credited my bank account with the £66 a couple of days ago so email is a bit later anyway.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Confusing init!

My account currently has a credit which is not believable and a suggested increase in my DD, which I think is not right but since they haven't issued a bill yet I can't really tell. The £66 has supposedly been sent to our bank account. First it was a credit in the SP account now it's not.

Can't contact anyone to find out what's going on. Presumably they're all out having parachute practice in prep for installing our Smart Meter🙄

 

[Jcloughie]

I think and hope that Octopus are simply adding the government payments to my Octopus account credit. If my credit grows too much it is easy for me to adjust or take a payment break.

I agree with Buckman. why overcomplicate things? KISS

John

 

[Hutch]

My government £66 went straight into my bulb account. No problems.

 

[otherclive]

My BIL has just come off a BG fixed contract and on to standard rate. Their letter estimated that based on last years bill his next annual gas bill will be £364. Yes £364. Electric estimate not dissimilar. Which proves to me that despite putting central heating in a couple of years ago he doesn’t use it. Like banging your head against a brick wall trying to get him to look after himself. It’s been a long day today, but the drives up and down the Fosse compensated as the trees were beautiful, and Cotswolds petrol was cheap at 161.9

 

[Hutch]

My BIL has just come off a BG fixed contract and on to standard rate. Their letter estimated that based on last years bill his next annual gas bill will be £364. Yes £364. Electric estimate not dissimilar. Which proves to me that despite putting central heating in a couple of years ago he doesn’t use it. Like banging your head against a brick wall trying to get him to look after himself. It’s been a long day today, but the drives up and down the Fosse compensated as the trees were beautiful, and Cotswolds petrol was cheap at 161.9

I have a friend, 70 years young, he seldom comes out, has Led battery lights for the house, lives on Cereals and has one warm meal a day. Myself and others try and get him out, but he is turning into a total hermit. When we try and get him out he claims that he has a delivery. We have eventually got him into radio controlled aircraft but with winter coming he is reclusing.
We know he can afford to come out but maybe the mental set is hitting many more people than we think.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I think COVID may have had some influence on people's habits about going out and they're finding it hard to go back to normal.... whatever that is.

 

[Raywood]

Nothing has arrived in our account so do not know what you did that I missed.

 

[Buckman]

Oh dear as we thought the price of a kwh would be fixed for the next 2 years, we moved from the fixed tariff to a variable tariff as the variable was cheaper. I wonder if anyone else has been caught out?

 

[otherclive]

Oh dear as we thought the price of a kwh would be fixed for the next 2 years, we moved from the fixed tariff to a variable tariff as the variable was cheaper. I wonder if anyone else has been caught out?

I must admit I felt that a two year promise was extremely rash, and blatant electioneering.

 

[RogerL]

Oh dear as we thought the price of a kwh would be fixed for the next 2 years, we moved from the fixed tariff to a variable tariff as the variable was cheaper. I wonder if anyone else has been caught out?

Your fixed tariff would have come down to the guarantee level if you'd done nothing - or at least should have.

 

[RogerL]

I must admit I felt that a two year promise was extremely rash, and blatant electioneering.

"blatant electioneering" makes it sound as though they knew what they were doing!

 

[Buckman]

Your fixed tariff would have come down to the guarantee level if you'd done nothing - or at least should have.

My original contract was to end of July 2023 and BGAS was the supplier that advised that we would be better off on the variable tariff and recommended that we move across to the variable tariff. Maybe they knew something the general public did not know?

 

[otherclive]

My original contract was to end of July 2023 and BGAS was the supplier that advised that we would be better off on the variable tariff and recommended that we move across to the variable tariff. Maybe they knew something the general public did not know?

I don’t think so as the suppliers are required to advise customers if there’s a cheaper tariff. Until yesterday’s announcements by the new Chancellor support was expected until 2024, so I don’t think BG were being mischievous as putting you on the cheaper standard tariff costs them money.

Next financial shock? Triple lock abolished or downgraded 😢

 

[Buckman]

I don’t think so as the suppliers are required to advise customers if there’s a cheaper tariff. Until yesterday’s announcements by the new Chancellor support was expected until 2024, so I don’t think BG were being mischievous as putting you on the cheaper standard tariff costs them money.

Next financial shock? Triple lock abolished or downgraded 😢

It was a bit tongue in cheek as no one expected the change to the energy supplement. However unless there is a huge change in circumstances overseas it probably does mean that we can expect a massive jump in the cost of a kwh next April.

 

[RogerL]

It was a bit tongue in cheek as no one expected the change to the energy supplement. However unless there is a huge change in circumstances overseas it probably does mean that we can expect a massive jump in the cost of a kwh next April.

Martin Lewis used Cornwall Insight to get best predictions of energy prices - using their figures I'm anticipating a 70% rise in April 2023. Jeremy Hunt has said that more targetted help for those in need will be made but that may indicate that working people not on benefits - AND - pensioners not on other benefits, won't get any extra help - winter 2023/24 could be very grim indeed - I just hope I'm wrong.

Edit - Martin Lewis has just been on TV predicting a 73% rise in April !!!!!

 

[RogerL]

While researching campsites for next year, I've noticed an increasing number using metered electric, albeit with 5/10/15 units/day included in the pitch price - I think we'll see this trend increasing.

One site stated that the average consumption in the September shoulder period was 8 kwh per day so a 10 kwh allowance in the pitch price seems reasonable

 

[Buckman]

While researching campsites for next year, I've noticed an increasing number using metered electric, albeit with 5/10/15 units/day included in the pitch price - I think we'll see this trend increasing.

One site stated that the average consumption in the September shoulder period was 8 kwh per day so a 10 kwh allowance in the pitch price seems reasonable

Is that 10kwh per day or for the complete stay?

 

[RogerL]

Is that 10kwh per day or for the complete stay?

Per day, as I posted

 

[Hutch]

While researching campsites for next year, I've noticed an increasing number using metered electric, albeit with 5/10/15 units/day included in the pitch price - I think we'll see this trend increasing.

One site stated that the average consumption in the September shoulder period was 8 kwh per day so a 10 kwh allowance in the pitch price seems reasonable

I also think this will become the normal. With a lot of new vans having solar panels they could go off grid, but if you have paid high prices for new vans, with self levelling and air-conditioning etc, then maybe the cost of electricity is not that high a priority.
Edited for correction of grammar

 

[ProfJohnL]

Wow Hutch!

I've never even thought about Air conditioning needing to be levelled.

Which van has "self levelling air-conditioning "