Things I Don't Like

[Lenny]

Just now, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Lol, comparing energy bills will turn out to be an even bigger can of worms than comparing mpg, but that's more than double ours at this time of year even though we've been at home 24/7 over the last 3 months for some reason.........😷

Meanwhile in @TomsFocus attic 🤣

 

[jmurray01]

31 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

On the subject of energy...just submitted this month's meter readings...£63 for a summer month electric bill!!

Don't know where it's gone tbh, no heating on now...surely the extra laptop charging and TV use during lockdown can't cost that much!  Need to wait for the new bill to be 'made' to see what the unit price is now but I can't believe that can be correct.

That doesn't sound right Tom, I'm using about £30 per month max and that's for a 3 bedroom house!  Albeit I am parsimonious so I use as little as possible, but if all you're using is laptop and television then that doesn't make sense.

Who's your supplier?

[TomsFocus]

9 minutes ago, Lenny said:

Meanwhile in @TomsFocus attic 🤣

 

Well where else would I grow tomato plants?

 

You've reminded me though...I do have some broken appliances currently.  An oven that heats more of the outside than the inside (so has to be on for much longer than normal) and an over-pressurised water tank that's broken the hot tap and the shower so both leak considerably!

I just want to be out of here asap but can't find anywhere suitable atm.   Was meant to be moving in March but Corona stopped that one.

[TomsFocus]

18 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Lol, comparing energy bills will turn out to be an even bigger can of worms than comparing mpg, but that's more than double ours at this time of year even though we've been at home 24/7 over the last 3 months for some reason.........😷

Hmm, is this another thing that's more expensive down south I wonder?  Or do you have gas/oil for water heating?  Double seems an awful lot more!! 

[jmurray01]

2 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Hmm, is this another thing that's more expensive down south I wonder?  Or do you have gas/oil for water heating?  Double seems an awful lot more!! 

I have a gas boiler and cooker but the cooker costs hardly anything and I haven't had the heating on so the boiler has only been fired up for the hot water as and when (combi-boiler).

If you're all electric then you're only paying one standing charge so it shouldn't be that much unless you have an immersion heater that is on?  That can consume a fair bit.

[Stoney871]

Meanwhile in [mention=58818]TomsFocus[/mention] attic [emoji1787]
 

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[Nick Y]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

On the subject of energy...just submitted this month's meter readings...£63 for a summer month electric bill!!

Don't know where it's gone tbh, no heating on now...surely the extra laptop charging and TV use during lockdown can't cost that much!  Need to wait for the new bill to be 'made' to see what the unit price is now but I can't believe that can be correct.

£63 for a summer month? 
You should see my latest 3 month bill. It was £360 so that's double what you used in a month. 
Are you on a variable tarrif or fixed because that can make a difference. 
I'm on a capped tarrif (as set by OfGen) so my unit rate is lower than other tarrifs and is capped at that price. The standing charge is also capped. 

Also, when using comparison rates on sites, some include VAT and some don't. I know that if I look at the tarrif comparison on my bill, it's slightly lower per unit becaue it doesn't include VAT, yet on the bill, the ppu includes VAT. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

23 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Hmm, is this another thing that's more expensive down south I wonder?  Or do you have gas/oil for water heating?  Double seems an awful lot more!! 

Yes, we have gas for that but I only allow the Mrs to have heat in December and January, though we do have a bath annually whether we need it or not 😃 No seriously, hardly use any in summer anyway.

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, jmurray01 said:

I have a gas boiler and cooker but the cooker costs hardly anything and I haven't had the heating on so the boiler has only been fired up for the hot water as and when (combi-boiler).

If you're all electric then you're only paying one standing charge so it shouldn't be that much unless you have an immersion heater that is on?  That can consume a fair bit.

I had to Google the word parsimonious!

I tend to live frugally too though, especially with electricity which is why this is a bit annoying.

It is the the immersion heater that uses most of the electric.  It's such an inefficient system. It's 3kW and has the potential to be on for 10 hours a day, but only switched by the thermostat when the tank cools.  I mentioned the leaky shower earlier though, I reckon that's wasting a huge amount of hot water.

Standing charge is just under £10 a month.

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, Nick Y said:

£63 for a summer month? 
You should see my latest 3 month bill. It was £360 so that's double what you used in a month. 
Are you on a variable tarrif or fixed because that can make a difference. 
I'm on a capped tarrif (as set by OfGen) so my unit rate is lower than other tarrifs and is capped at that price. The standing charge is also capped. 

Also, when using comparison rates on sites, some include VAT and some don't. I know that if I look at the tarrif comparison on my bill, it's slightly lower per unit becaue it doesn't include VAT, yet on the bill, the ppu includes VAT. 

Wow...how do you manage to use that much!?  Was that a picture of your loft above?   

I'm not allowed to change tariff here.  Hopefully this will all be irrelevant when I finally move lol.  I'm on Eon Assist after getting the WHD one winter but not sure how it compares to the standard or fixed tariffs.  I'm on Economy10 which isn't shown on comparison sites.

 

[Nick Y]

13 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Wow...how do you manage to use that much!?  Was that a picture of your loft above?   

I'm not allowed to change tariff here.  Hopefully this will all be irrelevant when I finally move lol.  I'm on Eon Assist after getting the WHD one winter but not sure how it compares to the standard or fixed tariffs.  I'm on Economy10 which isn't shown on comparison sites.

 

I think I'd know about it if it was my loft, lol. 
No, my loft is a big void. It holds heat in summer and lets too much cold through in winter. The insulation aint upto much either. 

Don't ask me how I use that much but everything is electric in my flat. If I have to have my large 2k heater on, that bumps up my usage by quite a lot. My TV, playstation, laptop and some lights/lamps are always on. Still doesn't justify £1500 a year (minus £140 for whd). 

Economy 10 no longer exists. Most of the economy tarrifs have gone now and most suppliers only have standard or fixed price, fixed term tarrifs. 

I think as a tenant you are allowed to change supplier and tarrif but you must notify the landlord you are doing so and which supplier you are with. They cannot refuse to allow you to change without good reason. Changing tarrif doesn't affect the landlord at all as they aren't the ones paying for the power usage. 

[TomsFocus]

The landlord does have to pay for energy usage when the flats are empty, as well as their own usage (stairwell lighting etc) so I guess it makes it easier for them if everyone in the block stays with the same supplier.

I'm probably the only one left on E10 though, most of my neighbours have smart meters now, some are just single tarrif, later ones are E7, but as you say they don't do them for E10 or I'd have gladly had one.

Just got the new bill.  Checked against last June's bill, I've used an extra 20 units per day, and 60 overnight, this June...  The immersion heater is hard wired to the night supply so I can't blame it all on that!

[RAIDER32]

 I don't like being wakened by the en suite toilet starting to fill at 7am 😡 the arm for the float valve had broken,
unfortunately this top floor toilet was never fitted with a stop valve, but I managed to shut it off using a shoe lace.
The part was only £4.98 from B&Q so I thought it wasn't worth calling someone out and waiting (covered for water issues),
Took longer than it should have to fit, but once assembled it works fine, I have also bought a cut off valve which I'll fit later.

[Tdci-Peter]

On 6/29/2020 at 7:51 AM, TomsFocus said:

Checked against last June's bill, I've used an extra 20 units per day,

That is quite a big chunk of power.

People worry about small loads like TVs, computers, low energy lighting etc, quite a lot, but they really don't add up to much. I use 10 to 12 units (kWh) per day, summer and winter. That is for 2 old computers (one on 24/7), TV, various electrical test equipment, fridge-freezer, oven, CH pump, lighting, etc etc, And the house is occupied 24/7 for at least 51 weeks a year! It is an old, poorly insulated house also.

All my heating is gas (or wood), both water and CH, and the hob is gas. So it is really only room heating and water heating that consumes large amounts of power. A thermostatic electric radiator or fan heater can easily clock up 20 units a day.

I am glad I have gas, electricity is now over 4 times the price of gas, 4.8 times to be exact on my tariff (Bulb Energy). The price of electricity is rising fast, I suspect heavily subsidised solar installations have something to do with this. My gas use is massive, over 80kWh per day in Winter, about 18,000 kWh per year. But it still only costs about the same per year as my electric.

 

[TomsFocus]

14 minutes ago, Tdci-Peter said:

That is quite a big chunk of power.

Gosh, that was poorly worded!  I meant 20 extra daytime units over the whole month!  

So it's not that much really...it's actually only 12 pence per day.  Or about the same cost as 1 mile of diesel!  But the other way to look at it is about 30% more than usual during the day!

I do hope to have gas at the new property as that seems far more efficient for water and heating.  Also, if any of you have never used an old style electric hob, they're unbelievably slow and pretty uncontrollable.  It takes a good 15 minutes to get a pan of water boiling!

[V6 Lover]

On the subject of energy...just submitted this month's meter readings...£63 for a summer month electric bill!!
Don't know where it's gone tbh, no heating on now...surely the extra laptop charging and TV use during lockdown can't cost that much!  Need to wait for the new bill to be 'made' to see what the unit price is now but I can't believe that can be correct.

Wierd this...that is the exact amount i pay a month, was paying £85 a month but was paying way too much, got re-imbersed with about £250 and my monthly payments lowered to...£63 a month...EON..

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[V6 Lover]

Meanwhile in [mention=58818]TomsFocus[/mention] attic [emoji1787]
 

Hahahahaha...so your sneekingly growing tomatoes, what are a key of tom's going for these day's[emoji1787][emoji1787]

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[TomsFocus]

2 hours ago, V6 Lover said:

Wierd this...that is the exact amount i pay a month, was paying £85 a month but was paying way too much, got re-imbersed with about £250 and my monthly payments lowered to...£63 a month...EON..

Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk
 

I don't pay monthly DD as I don't trust them to take 'just' enough.  I put in meter readings each month and just pay for what I use, so it's well over £100 in winter but should be less than half in summer.  5 years ago when I moved here it was only £30 for June!  Everything else is direct debit, I just don't trust Eon...as your experience proves!

 

[jmurray01]

On 6/28/2020 at 8:15 PM, Nick Y said:

I think I'd know about it if it was my loft, lol. 
No, my loft is a big void. It holds heat in summer and lets too much cold through in winter. The insulation aint upto much either. 

Don't ask me how I use that much but everything is electric in my flat. If I have to have my large 2k heater on, that bumps up my usage by quite a lot. My TV, playstation, laptop and some lights/lamps are always on. Still doesn't justify £1500 a year (minus £140 for whd). 

Economy 10 no longer exists. Most of the economy tarrifs have gone now and most suppliers only have standard or fixed price, fixed term tarrifs. 

I think as a tenant you are allowed to change supplier and tarrif but you must notify the landlord you are doing so and which supplier you are with. They cannot refuse to allow you to change without good reason. Changing tarrif doesn't affect the landlord at all as they aren't the ones paying for the power usage. 

It does exist unfortunately, pain in the back side though as generally only one supplier in each MPAN area supports it.  Standard or fixed price relates to the unit rates and standing charges, hence you can have Eco10 on a standard (variable) or fixed tariff, although the available tariffs may be limited depending on supplier.

[jmurray01]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

I don't pay monthly DD as I don't trust them to take 'just' enough.  I put in meter readings each month and just pay for what I use, so it's well over £100 in winter but should be less than half in summer.  5 years ago when I moved here it was only £30 for June!  Everything else is direct debit, I just don't trust Eon...as your experience proves!

 

DD is cheaper with any supplier, but if you don't trust them then I don't blame you!  I pay £80 a month to EDF which I know is probably double what I need to pay, but then I just get a refund nearer Christmas and I know I'm never in debt.

[TomsFocus]

49 minutes ago, jmurray01 said:

DD is cheaper with any supplier, but if you don't trust them then I don't blame you!  I pay £80 a month to EDF which I know is probably double what I need to pay, but then I just get a refund nearer Christmas and I know I'm never in debt.

I was living on a shoestring until very recently.  The cheaper bills in summer free'd up some money to use for other things.

Oddly, it's barely any cheaper to go DD for me, possibly because of the assist tariff.  It was literally about a fiver a year last time I looked!

 

 

[Lenny]

5 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I was living on a shoestring until very recently.  The cheaper bills in summer free'd up some money to use for other things.

Oddly, it's barely any cheaper to go DD for me, possibly because of the assist tariff.  It was literally about a fiver a year last time I looked!

I will never go direct debit with my electricity bill because if they get the estimate way wrong the wont ever refund you; just leave your account in credit; my Bill's were estimated for months and then two months ago I thought I'd submit a reading 🤣 good to see the most recent bill is now considerably cheaper than the previous; seems changing all bulbs in the house to LED has finally started to show a saving. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

8 hours ago, Lenny said:

I will never go direct debit with my electricity bill because if they get the estimate way wrong the wont ever refund you; just leave your account in credit

A mate of mind switched suppliers for what he claimed was a huge saving. He has a smart meter and also gives extra readings himself, but his DD is way in excess of his actual consumption, building up a big credit balance, and they only refund annually. Seems to me his "huge saving" is just providing funding for the energy company!😃

[zain611]

I can't believe it's been 3 and a half months since lockdown and these restrictions came in place. Haven't gone to uni or my two hospital placements since. Just been at home since making sure my mental health is in check and thinking of what physical activities I can do to keep busy and not overthink about stuff. Dad is thinking of selling sisters car as she hasn't driven her car in months and the neighbour across the road is happy to keep it in her driveway but it feels rude when her family have to park in front or somewhere else. 

Might clean her car and take pictures of it to give to dad to put for sale. Might get a Peugeot 107 again for her well really for me and dad to use as a second car 😆. 

Also busy applying for jobs which I need to do first before doing other stuff. Happy the careers advise team in my uni removed the 3 appointments per term cap. Also booking my appointments with this particular lady who has been helping me which currently at the moment is via zoom calls. 

Might also clean the car as I think I missed 2 months. 

[jmurray01]

17 hours ago, Lenny said:

I will never go direct debit with my electricity bill because if they get the estimate way wrong the wont ever refund you; just leave your account in credit; my Bill's were estimated for months and then two months ago I thought I'd submit a reading 🤣 good to see the most recent bill is now considerably cheaper than the previous; seems changing all bulbs in the house to LED has finally started to show a saving. 

I work for an energy supplier who has a pretty bad reputation but even we issue refunds on demand when the customer is in credit!  That should be the norm, any company that won't should be investigated by Ofgem.