radar
Member of DD Central
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Post by radar on Aug 29, 2021 6:37:50 GMT
Well the last two energy companies I choose via MSE went into administration with a credit balance on my account !
So the hassle of recovering monies owed and getting transferred from the designated provider to my new preferred provider somewhat outweighed any cost savings.
Now have smart meters and have moved to Octopus Agile tariff which subject to avoiding running appliances at peak time should be a cost saver.
Unless you are selling your surplus SOLAR to OCTOPUS through SEGS Then AGILE is not the cheapest Octopus tariff by a long way, if I was you I would look into one of the GO or GO FASTER tariffs if you do not have panels, anyone not on Octopus can also get referal at the same rate as BULB
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Mike
Member of DD Central
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Post by Mike on Aug 29, 2021 7:06:53 GMT
To the OPs point: you can keep swapping providers but the basic bottom line is gas prices have risen a lot (more than 10%) recently, and gas is what gets burnt for the incremental unit of electricity. I expect electricity to double in cost at least over the next few years, perhaps more if the govt can introduce a stealth tax on it (probably through levying duty on the gas under a anti-"carbon"/green guide) in order to replace petrol income www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-data-and-research/data-portal/wholesale-market-indicators
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2021 10:14:54 GMT
Certainly there are strong pressures on to introduce a western world carbon tax which will be putting up gas prices. So if any of you have failed to put solar on your roof, now is the time to step up and get it installed. I pay nothing for the energy I use in my house as the income from the solar easily covers the cost of the additional gas and electricity I have to buy in. If I had an electrical car it would cover that as well but actually I have a FF car which I barely use.
Carbon tax is coming, disconnect from it now.
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keitha
Member of DD Central
2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
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Post by keitha on Aug 29, 2021 10:20:53 GMT
Now have smart meters and have moved to Octopus Agile tariff which subject to avoiding running appliances at peak time should be a cost saver.
I assume you have the octopus watch App. oh and for anyone on OCTOPUS go and sign up here octopus.energy/powerhour/ ok I know one free hour every month is 1/730 of a month, but if you have dishwasher, washing machine, oven etc all coming on for that hour you can save a chunk of cash. me ill have those 3 will use the kettle and hoover, and possibly set the battery to charge. When wholesale prices swing by big amounts during the day then Agile is indeed great, especially for the likes of me with a battery, because I can shift consumption using the battery, But I've been on Agile since December 2019 and the prices are pants at the moment. Honestly I believe the days of the cheap overnight charging for EVs could be coming to an end taking today as an example. the wholesale price never drops below 9p per kWh last winter it was regularly 1-2P even at 11:30 am the wholesale rate is 12.75p in the peak it hits 18P.
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dead-money
Rocket to the Moon
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Post by dead-money on Aug 29, 2021 10:31:16 GMT
Well the last two energy companies I choose via MSE went into administration with a credit balance on my account !
So the hassle of recovering monies owed and getting transferred from the designated provider to my new preferred provider somewhat outweighed any cost savings.
Now have smart meters and have moved to Octopus Agile tariff which subject to avoiding running appliances at peak time should be a cost saver.
Didn't you get automatically moved to another provider that honoured the contract of the failed provider until the end of the term? That is what happened when our provider went bust and the credit/debit situation was all sorted out in the switch totally hands off. No the new provider puts you on their 'best' tariff, which was no where near as good as the failed Tonik or Yorkshire tariffs, and no I didn't want to stay with Scottish Power! Getting the credit balances from the administrators passed to Scottish Power and then paid out to myself took months of chasing, literal 'the cheque is in the post' run around..
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keitha
Member of DD Central
2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
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Post by keitha on Aug 29, 2021 10:35:44 GMT
Certainly there are strong pressures on to introduce a western world carbon tax which will be putting up gas prices. So if any of you have failed to put solar on your roof, now is the time to step up and get it installed. I pay nothing for the energy I use in my house as the income from the solar easily covers the cost of the additional gas and electricity I have to buy in. If I had an electrical car it would cover that as well but actually I have a FF car which I barely use.
Carbon tax is coming, disconnect from it now.
Unfortunately my roof is aligned almost the worst it could be with the ridge running almost north south, The battery lets me run almost free from early March to Mid October The inverter doesn't always respond quick enough to demand from kettle etc. But to give some context I have my DD set to £40 a month for gas and electricity. My gas usage is about 11000kWh for the year and electricity import is < 900kWh. my Electric export is about 2,200kWh.
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mikeb
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Post by mikeb on Aug 29, 2021 15:25:37 GMT
They're also responsive to lowering their algo-derived utilisation forecasts which are applied to the monthly DD. I tried doing similar with Scottish Power some years back and even though I was in some significant credit, all I got from SP was: "Sorry. Computer says no." Same problem with First Utility (Now Shell) -- credit balance increasing month to month, tried to reduce monthly DD a number of times, it can't be done -- "based on your usage you will end up with a shortfall." -- this went on for some time, with no sign of this "shortfall" happening in winter. They even attempted to increase the DD when I was in clearly credit, which I had to refuse ... In the end, after some comment on Martin Lewis' TV programme about suppliers doing this, I contacted them and demanded repayment of the credit balance (as they refused to lower the DD), and even then they wouldn't return ALL of it -- I got £500 back, and a further approx £250 when I switched away from the incompetents at the end of the contract period. Their computer is broken, and does not seem to take notice of my actual usage and payments vs. the direct debit amount. Nothing to do with estimated vs actual readings, they had all the readings, just couldn't connect billing amounts to payment amounts.
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mogish
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Post by mogish on Aug 29, 2021 19:31:17 GMT
Thanks for all the responses. Some interesting alternatives, and the ones to avoid. It seems bulb is still competitive although I might try Octopus again as I switched from them to bulb. Self generated power with batteries storage is surely the way forward if you and on staying in the same house for the long term.
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Post by crabbyoldgit on Aug 30, 2021 7:05:54 GMT
They're also responsive to lowering their algo-derived utilisation forecasts which are applied to the monthly DD. I tried doing similar with Scottish Power some years back and even though I was in some significant credit, all I got from SP was: "Sorry.ii.Computer says my enegy useage does not fit the standard seasonal curve due space heating with log burner in winter and swimming pool heating with gas in summer. Most energy company programs cant get this and charge an expected winter gas use of my summer use times the normal custumer difference between seasons.As a result my calculated derect debit is always miles off, getting it changed is a waste of time as the computer just trys to put it back up after the next months meter readings.
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archie
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Post by archie on Aug 30, 2021 7:28:18 GMT
my enegy useage does not fit the standard seasonal curve due space heating with log burner in winter and swimming pool heating with gas in summer. Most energy company programs cant get this and charge an expected winter gas use of my summer use times the normal custumer difference between seasons.As a result my calculated derect debit is always miles off, getting it changed is a waste of time as the computer just trys to put it back up after the next months meter readings. Ovo give interest on credit balances above the direct debit amount (e.g. DD is £100/mth, balance is £250, interest would be paid on the £150 difference). Minimum 3%, rising to 5% after three years. Interest rewards
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Post by bracknellboy on Aug 30, 2021 10:22:22 GMT
I'm currently with Igloo. I have historically been a rate tart for utilities, mainly being on fixed rates and always shopping around. I've been signed up to MSEs Cheap Energy Club for quite a few years as well, and always use it to do comparisons (contrary to what someone else said higher up about comparisons, it does include standing charges in producing comparisons for your particular usage scenario). However last time I swapped (18 months ago ? off of Ovo IIRC) I went to Igloo who have a single variable tariff, and did so because they seemed to have a reputation of staying competitive over the longer term. I typically don't go to the small / new suppliers unless MSE shows them as having a decent reputation for customer service - for which they also need to have been around a bit and have enough customers. Having had a total b*lls ache with another (large) supplier in the past that had dire CS, I don't want to be with anyone that hasn't demonstrated a half decent track record just for the sake of a few pounds.
My payments with Igloo have gone up significantly recently: partly because of underpayment and partly like everyone else because of increased wholesale prices. This thread prompted me to again check with MSE, and they are only showing one small supplier that would save me money compared with Igloo, and that was about £5 pa. Given the post above about other suppliers that surprised me.
I may have missed a trick a few months ago to lock into a fixed rate which would have save some real money. But then part of the point of my moving to Igloo was to not have to move around so much going forward if their reputation was one that was well earned.
They also pay 3% interest on in credit balances.
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mogish
Member of DD Central
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Post by mogish on Aug 30, 2021 12:13:31 GMT
just tried MSE energy club. The savings are minimal for potyential hassle factor. I do like the fact some providers give interest on balances, currently ours is around £60 in credit with bulb so might be worth taking this into account when comparing. Also checked bulb for fixing for 6m , unfortunately this costs another £3 per month , this suggests another increase is probably due early 2022, no doubt right before the usual April increases! Candles and coats at the ready.
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Post by bracknellboy on Aug 31, 2021 15:37:16 GMT
I'm currently with Igloo. I have historically been a rate tart for utilities, mainly being on fixed rates and always shopping around. I've been signed up to MSEs Cheap Energy Club for quite a few years as well, and always use it to do comparisons (contrary to what someone else said higher up about comparisons, it does include standing charges in producing comparisons for your particular usage scenario). However last time I swapped (18 months ago ? off of Ovo IIRC) I went to Igloo who have a single variable tariff, and did so because they seemed to have a reputation of staying competitive over the longer term. I typically don't go to the small / new suppliers unless MSE shows them as having a decent reputation for customer service - for which they also need to have been around a bit and have enough customers. Having had a total b*lls ache with another (large) supplier in the past that had dire CS, I don't want to be with anyone that hasn't demonstrated a half decent track record just for the sake of a few pounds. My payments with Igloo have gone up significantly recently: partly because of underpayment and partly like everyone else because of increased wholesale prices. This thread prompted me to again check with MSE, and they are only showing one small supplier that would save me money compared with Igloo, and that was about £5 pa. Given the post above about other suppliers that surprised me. I may have missed a trick a few months ago to lock into a fixed rate which would have save some real money. But then part of the point of my moving to Igloo was to not have to move around so much going forward if their reputation was one that was well earned. They also pay 3% interest on in credit balances. so 24 hours after I posted this I get a message from Igloo that my tariff is increasing by 14%.....
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Post by bracknellboy on Aug 31, 2021 15:46:04 GMT
I use igloo was one of the cheapest but put the prices up 11% and still are cheaper then most but it is not a fixed tariff so may well go up again they just have.....
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Post by bracknellboy on Aug 31, 2021 15:47:09 GMT
how many reading this thread do or have used Avro and what is your feedback ?
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