The state intervention should have been keeping all the energy companies afloat; I said at the time that since we limited their profits and forced them to take losses that the taxpayer should also act as their guarantor but it seems I missed something out:
In an interview on GM Britain Martin Lewis said the electricity standing charge has had to jump up immensely because of all the supplier changes and subsidies given to the bigger firms who are being forced to take on all these smaller companies clients. As this puts pressure on the network etc (and isnāt based on usage), they moved it to the standing charge.
Iām sure I can speak for everyone in saying that if we knew that letting them go under would still cost us a good portion extra, weād have rather opted to keep the competition around instead of reverting back to the Big 6 + it still costing us as much as keeping them afloat would
I didnāt even know this billing option existed until I migrated from Pure Planet to Shell last month. I 100% agree with you. Smart meters and paying for what you actually use seems like a great idea to me.
Hard disagree. The majority of suppliers who went bust were offering fixes on prices without adequately hedging supply. Underwriting losses of companies who were basically gambling on the wholesale price falling does not sound to me like a satisfactory use of treasury funds at all.
The whole āmarketā is a total joke as it is with without wild gambling debts being settled by the state.
That hike is but a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of underwriting c.2 million consumers of failed suppliers on mostly fixed price tariffs, many at less than 10p per kWh of electricity, through to all those tariffs naturally concluding.
Yup, and itās my view that anyone who has smart meters installed, should probably pay for exactly what theyāre using on a month by month basis. Some folks wonāt though because they just want to pay that single fixed amount every month, though as things stand, I just canāt see that as the most sensible option. At least as I said before, I know Iāll never build up an in credit balance and I know Iāll never be underestimated on a bill. There are many people who just pay the estimated bill when it comes in and rarely or sometimes never bother to provide an actual meter reading, that is until one day a meter reader turns up and does the job for them, and that can reveal either a massive underpayment or a significant credit.
I think the subject of meter calibration popped up in another thread somewhere too. The old style meters, some of which have been installed in peoples houses for 20, 30 or 40 years, well theyāre never checked for accuracy from what I understand. Yes, a meter reader is or was required to read meters once every two years, but that was about the extent of it as far as I know, there was no actual meter safety or calibration checks. At my last property, I was there for 18 years and the old style meters were there from build for 16 of those years. We had a meter reader come round from what I remember, just for or 5 times, that was it, they were never checked for accuracy or safety save for when the boiler was serviced and the gas service engineer carried out a leak back safety test, but that was completely independent of the energy provider. Letās face it, some people never even bother to have their boiler serviced, that is until it breaks down.
But back to the monthly cost of energy, Iāve read horror stories that depending on the size of house and the number of family members resident, the annual energy bill may well top over Ā£3000 a year, which means some families may well have to find Ā£280 a month just to cover their energy useage. That is a truly horrendous and frightening prospect for many I imagine.
Each meter model has a ācertified lifeā which is amended by in-service surveillance/monitoring to ensure they still meet the relevant accuracy standards by the Office for Product Safety and Standards.
This means some older meters may have lifespans of 25 years+ etc depending on the make and model.
As smart meters havenāt been in service for that long, I believe most currently only have a certified life of 10 years.
Indeed. I was informed by two British Gas engineers that the gas smart meters have to be replaced anyway at 10 years because they have a non replaceble internal battery in them.
Absolutely. In fact my mother (who really feels the cold) would be paying almost Ā£4000 a year on the fix she was offered when her existing one came to an end. I told her to do nothing and automatically drop onto the variable tariff, which is bad enough.
Fortunately sheās reasonably well off so can afford it but there will be many who canāt
And by and large, the vast majority of folks out there, arenāt. The only reason my Wife and I arenāt struggling is because we donāt have kids, even grown up ones and we both have a job and I also have a pension on top. We still have all the other things to deal with though, including a mortgage and a personal loan, but our money management sense is pretty good, so we should be able to weather the energy price storm, even if it means not putting the heating on next winter. Thankfully, living in the South West on the coast, we do have it slightly warmer in the winter than other places in the U.K, itās certainly been warmer this winter where we are now than where we were previously in the Midlands.
I prefer a fixed DD throughout the year, rather than paying a little in the summer and a massive amount in the winter. At the end of the day, whichever way you do it, youāre only going to pay for the energy you use.
In an ideal world, Iām guessing that would be great if the fixed monthly amount actually covers your total energy useage over 12 months. If youāre not on smart meters, you have to rely on accurate bills to make that fixed monthly amount work, either by submitting monthly meter readings at the very least, or allowing your energy provider to calculate your energy useage based on previous bills, but even that isnāt an exact science. I used to be with Npower a few years ago, and they got their calculated annual figures often spectacularly wrong. The rows I used to have with them over what my fixed monthly direct debit should be as opposed to what they thought it should be, varied massively, but it was me who was always correct! They really did just want to fleece me for as large a monthly direct debit as they could. It was an absolute joy when I finally got rid of them.
The days of people just paying estimated bills for instance, surely must be coming to an end because the bill shock for some, would be too much to bear I would have thought. It wonāt of course happen to me because I am on smart meters, but if I were paying for instance a fixed Ā£160 a month on direct debit on an assumed energy useage from the utility company or from information only supplied by a customer once every 12 months and at the end of it suddenly discovered I was Ā£1k short, that would be catastrophic for some folks. Similarly, I wouldnāt want to be hundreds of pounds in credit either because that just doesnāt make any sense whatsoever.
No argument there whatsover! As Iāve already stated, Iām happy to be on smart meters and paying exactly for what I use every month, never too little, never too much.
I do have smart meters, though before that I always used to submit a reading on the 1st of the month. Previous providers have admittedly been terrible at estimating annual usage, though since moving to Octopus theyāve been spot on.
Incidentally, thatās exactly how much I pay (Up from Ā£90/month pre-increase.)
Well Iām on countdown now, itās two months to go and my current fixed deal with BG comes to an end. Gas useage has dropped down to Ā£15 a month now the heating is off, so only showering/cooking racking up the gas bill there. Itās the electric Iām worried about. Currently paying Ā£42 a month almost to the penny every month for the last few months, and of course thatās 100 percent accurate. I have of course no idea just how much that Ā£42 a month electric will increase by, I wonāt know until my July payment. Irrespective, Iāll just continue to pay for the energy we use courtesy of the smart meter reporting.
Iāll be happy if Iām only paying Ā£65 a month for both gas and electric, bearing in mind our gas useage drops significantly for 7 months of the year with no heating on. To put our gas useage in perspective, pre massive price increases, during the summer, our total montly gas bills never amounted to more that Ā£8 a month from April to the end of October. I canāt wait to see how much that 8 quid a month will increase by with the same useage
So, my electric current rate is 17.935p per kWh and we use just about 186 kWh every month, so pretty consistent. The daily standing charge is 22.972p per day.
Gas current rate is 3.276p per kWh and the standing charge is 25.331p per day.
For the last several years, our annual combined energy bill on dual fuel (at our previous property), rarely topped Ā£670 per annum. We of course donāt have a full year here yet.
Iām assuming at the moment, that all suppliers capped SVTās are currently identical? with probable differences in standing charges?
As things stand, I have no intention of moving away from British Gas at the end of my current deal because Iām assuming it just wonāt be worth moving to any other supplier as theyāll all be charging pretty much exactly the same?
I suppose one of the perks of living in a brand new build property, is its energy efficiency. Plus there is only me and the Wife, so we havenāt got the issues of kids spending hours glued to gaming stations, TVās on all over the house and all of the other guff that families end up having to deal with. One of my neighbours, theyāve got four kids and the washing line is just full of washing 7 days a week, I can only imagine just how much leccy theyāre chomping through on a daily basis with the washing machine going half the day every day.
I am now actually looking at changing the TV. I have a six year old Hisense 55 inch flat screen that by 2022 standards, eats more electric, but is it worth scrapping a TV I paid Ā£550 for back in 2016 that is functioning perfectly ok, or do I spend Ā£499 on a brand new 55 inch Samsung QLED with allegedly a lower overall power output?
Iād say it is very rare to be able to make a financial case for changing anything purely on the basis of reduced running costs. There are lots of other reasons to change an old TV, and reduced running costs can be part of the decision, though.
Depending on your region youāre going to see about 12p added to your electric unit rate and 20p added to your standing charge.
Your gas unit rate will more than double to about 7.5p and your standing charge will go up by a couple of pence.
Be prepared for electricity unit rates approaching 40p/unit and gas rates of 12-15p in the near future, and have these in mind when British Gas send you a fixed tariff offer.
You are unlikely to see any substantive savings by changing to the capped tariff with any other provider. Flexible Octopus is a tiny bit cheaper if you can convince them to switch you to it.
You certainly wonāt make up the cost of a Ā£500 telly in any reasonable amount of time unless it is on literally all the time and the cost of energy continues to rocket. The money saving option is almost always to use your current one until it is no longer useful and then factor in energy cost when purchasing a replacement.
I wonāt be moving away from BG thatās pretty much a given. Iāll just have to suck up whatever happens in the next few years. Iām just glad I no longer live up North and have to suffer the harsh winters we so often used to get. Itās been wonderful this last winter not having to see snow on the ground.
Thatās just the financial running cost to you. Thereās also the environmental cost of the manufacturering process and transport of the new telly (and potentially the transport, disposal, recycling and landfill of the old one).
(Up from Ā£90/month pre-increase.)
