adrianc
Member of DD Central
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Post by adrianc on Jan 21, 2023 13:22:11 GMT
There should be a law against it! Working link - inews.co.uk/news/prepayment-energy-meter-warrants-ministers-magistrates-2077936That article doesn't say they aren't following the correct legal processes, though. It just says that magistrates are nodding through lists of names, without going into every single one individually. British Gas alone did nearly 25,000 last year. Is it realistic to expect the overloaded court system to go into each one in depth? I'd suggest not. Should the court system be less overloaded? Absolutely! having read the article lets say there were 300 cases on the list 1 minutes per case would take 5 hours. Indeed. Clearly unrealistic. But what defence would they enter? They're in arrears. They haven't cleared those arrears despite warnings. If they're vulnerable, or would be left without power because they can't top up, it shouldn't even have got to court. They don't go to the same courts. They're dealt with centrally, via a "single justice procedure notice". www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/how-deal-single-justice-procedure-notice-sjpnSo, no, he didn't spend six weeks in prison for stealing a couple of Mars bars. He spent six weeks in prison for breaching the suspended (three month?) sentence he'd been given for the previous offence... perhaps a system could be introduced for ... water along the lines of the Australian water system. they can't cut you off but they can restrict you. I believe the Australian water system allows then to reduce the flow to a 500cc a minute so it takes 2 minutes to fill a kettle, you can't bath or shower but you can survive. Water companies can't disconnect or restrict domestic customers at all in the UK.
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Post by bernythedolt on Jan 21, 2023 13:23:28 GMT
read it, not sure why it is a concern I had coffee with a couple yesterday who had been scared of having one fitted by similar disinformation. They then asked whether it would be cheaper to heat the home with gas in the daytime or to use an electric fire in one room (face palm emoji). Interesting question. Leaving aside the potential for thermal gradient to crack and damage the house, is heating one single closed room with a more expensive energy source going to cost more than heating the entire house with a cheaper source. I confess I would have to sit down with pen and paper for that one. As a lad growing up in a poor council house, mum & dad struggled with the constant coins in the meter, and topping up the coal shed with a half ton every so often was a frightening major expense, so we only ever heated one room, a coal burner in the kitchen for morning, coal fire in the lounge for the evening. No central heating of course and the cost of running an electric heater was out of the question. I still remember the entertainment of gently peeling the net curtains out of the ice formed inside my bedroom window in the morning without tearing them. How times have changed in one generation. Although for some, sadly they may be returning for a while. How sad for a supposedly wealthy nation that some children and elderly will still be cold, even today.
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keitha
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2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
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Post by keitha on Jan 21, 2023 14:42:43 GMT
[ As a lad growing up in a poor council house, mum & dad struggled with the constant coins in the meter, and topping up the coal shed with a half ton every so often was a frightening major expense, so we only ever heated one room, a coal burner in the kitchen for morning, coal fire in the lounge for the evening. No central heating of course and the cost of running an electric heater was out of the question. I still remember the entertainment of gently peeling the net curtains out of the ice formed inside my bedroom window in the morning without tearing them. How times have changed in one generation. Although for some, sadly they may be returning for a while. How sad for a supposedly wealthy nation that some children and elderly will still be cold, even today. I too grew up in a council house in a block of 4 with a passage way up the middle, my bedroom was above the passage way and was freezing in a winter because the heat leaked through the floor. like you we heated 1 room in a winter and the house was single glazed with steel window frames. but you were rich we couldn't afford net curtains. Ice inside the windows was a regular thing , and I can remember sleeping in pyjamas and a dressing gown to keep warm. Several layer of blankets and a fluffy bedspread. coal would be bought a hundredweight or 2 at a time, and I can remember deliveries in the summer where it was cheaper than the winter. I remember 1 summer dad getting hold of a load of timber railway sleepers and me spending time virtually every day sawing them up with a bow saw
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Post by bracknellboy on Jan 21, 2023 15:17:08 GMT
[ As a lad growing up in a poor council house, mum & dad struggled with the constant coins in the meter, and topping up the coal shed with a half ton every so often was a frightening major expense, so we only ever heated one room, a coal burner in the kitchen for morning, coal fire in the lounge for the evening. No central heating of course and the cost of running an electric heater was out of the question. I still remember the entertainment of gently peeling the net curtains out of the ice formed inside my bedroom window in the morning without tearing them. How times have changed in one generation. Although for some, sadly they may be returning for a while. How sad for a supposedly wealthy nation that some children and elderly will still be cold, even today. I too grew up in a council house in a block of 4 with a passage way up the middle, my bedroom was above the passage way and was freezing in a winter because the heat leaked through the floor. like you we heated 1 room in a winter and the house was single glazed with steel window frames. but you were rich we couldn't afford net curtains. Ice inside the windows was a regular thing , and I can remember sleeping in pyjamas and a dressing gown to keep warm. Several layer of blankets and a fluffy bedspread. coal would be bought a hundredweight or 2 at a time, and I can remember deliveries in the summer where it was cheaper than the winter. I remember 1 summer dad getting hold of a load of timber railway sleepers and me spending time virtually every day sawing them up with a bow saw no council house here. But old house in the country, no central heating. The main heating was open log fires, plus paraffin heater. And a calor gas heater. A large amount of my time was spent sawing up fallen trees in the woods, dragging them back to the house; sawing and splitting. My bedroom had 3 external walls. Also ice on the inside of the windows in winter. Still like a nice open log fire, but it was not uncommon for the rooms to fill up with smoke. Proper log burners and central heating of course went in after I left home.
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Post by bernythedolt on Jan 21, 2023 15:48:07 GMT
[ As a lad growing up in a poor council house, mum & dad struggled with the constant coins in the meter, and topping up the coal shed with a half ton every so often was a frightening major expense, so we only ever heated one room, a coal burner in the kitchen for morning, coal fire in the lounge for the evening. No central heating of course and the cost of running an electric heater was out of the question. I still remember the entertainment of gently peeling the net curtains out of the ice formed inside my bedroom window in the morning without tearing them. How times have changed in one generation. Although for some, sadly they may be returning for a while. How sad for a supposedly wealthy nation that some children and elderly will still be cold, even today. I too grew up in a council house in a block of 4 with a passage way up the middle, my bedroom was above the passage way and was freezing in a winter because the heat leaked through the floor. like you we heated 1 room in a winter and the house was single glazed with steel window frames. but you were rich we couldn't afford net curtains.Ice inside the windows was a regular thing , and I can remember sleeping in pyjamas and a dressing gown to keep warm. Several layer of blankets and a fluffy bedspread. coal would be bought a hundredweight or 2 at a time, and I can remember deliveries in the summer where it was cheaper than the winter. I remember 1 summer dad getting hold of a load of timber railway sleepers and me spending time virtually every day sawing them up with a bow saw I did wonder who'd be first! Those freezing, single-glazed Crittall windows... Reminded of a funny story when I first started work and began paying my keep at home. Being young and stupid, on a really cold night I would sometimes use my electric fan heater (that I'd treated myself to, on condition I pay for the units consumed) to pre-warm my bed. I would prop open my bedding with my ~15" slide rule and set the heater to blow warm air into the "tent" for five minutes. One night I left it too long and came into the room to find my thick and chunky slide rule - my plastic thick and chunky slide rule - had bent double and the bedding was collapsed onto the heater . Near-disaster averted. As I say, I was young and stupid. Nowadays, I am just old and stupid...
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Greenwood2
Member of DD Central
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Post by Greenwood2 on Jan 21, 2023 15:56:16 GMT
I too grew up in a council house in a block of 4 with a passage way up the middle, my bedroom was above the passage way and was freezing in a winter because the heat leaked through the floor. like you we heated 1 room in a winter and the house was single glazed with steel window frames. but you were rich we couldn't afford net curtains. Ice inside the windows was a regular thing , and I can remember sleeping in pyjamas and a dressing gown to keep warm. Several layer of blankets and a fluffy bedspread. coal would be bought a hundredweight or 2 at a time, and I can remember deliveries in the summer where it was cheaper than the winter. I remember 1 summer dad getting hold of a load of timber railway sleepers and me spending time virtually every day sawing them up with a bow saw no council house here. But old house in the country, no central heating. The main heating was open log fires, plus paraffin heater. And a calor gas heater. A large amount of my time was spent sawing up fallen trees in the woods, dragging them back to the house; sawing and splitting. My bedroom had 3 external walls. Also ice on the inside of the windows in winter. Still like a nice open log fire, but it was not uncommon for the rooms to fill up with smoke. Proper log burners and central heating of course went in after I left home. Small terraced cottage, coal fire with a backburner for hot water in the living room, paraffin heater in the bathroom (only used if you were having a bath) and an outside toilet (joy on a cold winter night). Bedrooms were freezing in the winter (no heating, metal framed, damaged, leaky, single glazed windows) and if you wanted a bath in the summer you had to light the fire (however hot it was) or boil kettles and pans on the stove and carry upstairs. Theoretically electric only for lighting, but we did run other things off it. Calor gas for cooking. I do love double glazing, central heating, hot water on tap and all the joys of modern comforts.
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Post by bernythedolt on Jan 21, 2023 16:18:18 GMT
I do love double glazing, central heating, hot water on tap and all the joys of modern comforts. All my life I didn't ever have central heating until I turned 60 and we retired to our current house. Our last place had a highly inefficient, blown warm air system, venting into just three rooms, downstairs only. When we moved here, I was like a kid in a sweetshop. The sheer joy of a nice warm radiator in every room still brings a smile to my face, like I've won the pools.
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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 Jan 21, 2023 16:28:22 GMT
anyone else have those "heater lights" like a big light bulb gave off a radiant heat, from memory about 6 inches across we had one in the bathroom, no heat at all in the toilet. outs was rigged up on a doubler which went in the light fitting and you ran 2 bulbs off of it
long drop cisterns too
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ilmoro
Member of DD Central
'Wondering which of the bu***rs to blame, and watching for pigs on the wing.' - Pink Floyd
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Post by ilmoro on Jan 21, 2023 16:53:37 GMT
You are aware of the current massive scandal over the enforced switching of people onto prepayment meters with suppliers & courts failing to follow the proper legal procedures. They may legally have to do certain things but there is strong evidence they are not. There should be a law against it! Working link - inews.co.uk/news/prepayment-energy-meter-warrants-ministers-magistrates-2077936That article doesn't say they aren't following the correct legal processes, though. It just says that magistrates are nodding through lists of names, without going into every single one individually. British Gas alone did nearly 25,000 last year. Is it realistic to expect the overloaded court system to go into each one in depth? I'd suggest not. Should the court system be less overloaded? Absolutely! Except they are required to scrutinise cases individually, read sworn info, ascertain that access is legitimately required & meets relevant statutory requirements, including that it is not a hardship case that will result in disconnection by the backdoor. Granting them en masses clearly doesn't meet that obligation but it does raise lots of money for the courts for minimal effort.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2023 17:22:12 GMT
[ As a lad growing up in a poor council house, mum & dad struggled with the constant coins in the meter, and topping up the coal shed with a half ton every so often was a frightening major expense, so we only ever heated one room, a coal burner in the kitchen for morning, coal fire in the lounge for the evening. No central heating of course and the cost of running an electric heater was out of the question. I still remember the entertainment of gently peeling the net curtains out of the ice formed inside my bedroom window in the morning without tearing them. How times have changed in one generation. Although for some, sadly they may be returning for a while. How sad for a supposedly wealthy nation that some children and elderly will still be cold, even today. I too grew up in a council house in a block of 4 with a passage way up the middle, my bedroom was above the passage way and was freezing in a winter because the heat leaked through the floor. like you we heated 1 room in a winter and the house was single glazed with steel window frames. but you were rich we couldn't afford net curtains. Ice inside the windows was a regular thing , and I can remember sleeping in pyjamas and a dressing gown to keep warm. Several layer of blankets and a fluffy bedspread. coal would be bought a hundredweight or 2 at a time, and I can remember deliveries in the summer where it was cheaper than the winter. I remember 1 summer dad getting hold of a load of timber railway sleepers and me spending time virtually every day sawing them up with a bow saw me too, we could play "Yorkshire millionaires"
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Post by Ace on Jan 21, 2023 19:18:01 GMT
I agree. I didn't find anything in the article that was concerning (with the possible exception of the pre-payment functionality, which isn't a concern for most). They're still detailing problems with the old SMETS1 meters, which wouldn't be fitted now. I find mine too be very useful and convenient. I had coffee with a couple yesterday who had been scared of having one fitted by similar disinformation. They then asked whether it would be cheaper to heat the home with gas in the daytime or to use an electric fire in one room (face palm emoji). I didn't even spot a reference to that, but maybe it didn't register because I already knew it. still a search of 'pre-payment' (and variants) didn't find anything either.. Oops 🫢, yes, you're quite right it's not there. Must have been in one of the other Internet rabbit holes I took myself into when following up. My apologies for adding to the disinformation.
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Post by crabbyoldgit on Jan 21, 2023 22:22:56 GMT
I was raised in a council prefab , asbestos shed with insulation value of a tent. Never remember being colder than expected even in 1963, Dorset , 3 froze to death in their car 7 miles away. Must admit memory of being unable to leave house as external doors had frozen into frames but us kids don't feel the cold. Now on free wood the temp is 25c in the living room tonight, getting soft thank god. Good old days bugger that, but I think the days of heating every room all the time is finished .
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2023 8:42:48 GMT
I remember bringing new girl friend to stay one winter and our room had a sink in it. She was impressed until she discovered the water couldn't run out as it was frozen solid.
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Post by martin44 on Jan 23, 2023 16:40:46 GMT
i was raised in an old dustbin at the bottom of our tiny garden etc etc etc.
Oh yes... along with my other 3 yorkshiremen friends.
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