ENERGY MATTERS

[Wendyf]

I thought a Power of Attorney could be put into action at any time....if your Dad feels that he wants you to manage his affairs, then he activates the PoA.

[Tizer]

Wendy, I think you are right...but my dad thinks he's able to do everything himself and can't see why we would need PoA!

[Stanley]

Silly old bugger! I've given my kids all the powers they need including letting me die.....

[hartley353]

My Mum took out a lasting power of attorney many years ago, not cheap, but like insurance some thing you pay for and hope you never need.

[Tardis]

Changed to the new Energy Provider, SainsburysEnergy, which told me that they would be cheaper than my previous

Now the Direct Debits come through and they have increased by 13%

Anyway I complain about their mathematics, they are not having any of it

We’ve based your payments on information given to us by the third party you used to arrange your switch. It’s entirely possible that they passed us on the wrong details about your energy usage and your payments have been set up incorrectly as a result

Me: yes, the payment is 13% higher than the payments that I submitted and you just quoted back to me

I’m happy to look at your payments again if you can reply to this email with the details of how much energy you’ve used over the past 12 months. If you can give me the figures in kilowatt hours or units that would be ideal.

Me: OK, then will you admit that you increased my payments by 13%?

Please get back in touch within the next 14 days so that we can take the next steps to getting this sorted. I’ll then get back to you as soon as possible with the details of your new payment amounts

[Stanley]

I suspect that unless they are a very heavy user, few people get any long term advantage from changing providers.

[Pluggy]

I suspect that unless they are a very heavy user, few people get any long term advantage from changing providers.

They're all part of a price fixing cartel....

I'd support one proposal that has been put forward to sell household energy the same way as they sell energy for cars. 1 figure for gas , another for electricity , per kWh and standardise the standing charge. It then becomes immediately obvious how much it costs from each provider. As it is the world has a fixation with the charge per month/ quarter, which means precisely zilch since it can be altered at will with a direct debit. The energy companies realise this and will give you a lower cost per month to get you changed and then tweak the figures upwards when they have you. What you pay for the month means b*gger all. You need to read the meter yourself and work out how much you're using then compare the prices per kWh and the standing charge.

When I was working in Clitheroe and we ferried our daughter everywhere we used to spend £130 a month in diesel for the car, now with more expensive fuel we spend about £50, because the mileage of the car has dropped by about 70%. (Jobs around the local area and the daughter has her own car). Back in March, we had a huge increase in the cost per month of our household energy. same supplier same price, just with having a baby in the household and the long cold winter, we were using more than we were. Now with the PV doing its bit with the longer days, and we're not heating to any degree we're reducing the £250 + we were in arrears. EDF are pretty good at tweaking the direct debit (its been reduced in the pasr, so it should be reduced again. My cost per kWh are looking cheap now because I signed up for a long term fixed price deal. It will go up with a bump come next April I think.

In the last 12 months we have imported (what we pay for, we actually used a lot more) 3618kWh of Electricity and 20250 kWh of Gas (allowing 11.2 kWh per Cubic metre). Standing charge is £11.00 a month for both ., At present prices that come at £107.01 per month. We're presently paying £138. 30% over what we would be paying in an ideal world where we weren't behind because we had been paying £87 a month.


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[Wendyf]

Col received an email from Maplin this morning advertising this little camping stove that charges your phone as well. I wonder if it works.....

[Pluggy]

Col received an email from Maplin this morning advertising this little camping stove that charges your phone as well. I wonder if it works.....

No reason it shouldn't . Its just a themoelectric generator, as used in deep space probes for decades (except they use a radioisotope for the hot side rather than a camping stove). Not very efficient but the ones in the voyager probes are still running going on 40 years down the line. Very simple reliable technology......

[Stanley]

Cool enough to drop the front room temperature below 70F last night so I lit the stove and burned a few bits of wood just to take the edge off. Barlick holiday weather!

As for energy charges, all units used, however they are expressed, should be the same price. I've never understood why the more you use the cheaper it gets.

[Tardis]

Bizarre! Today I received 4 letters from my old provider, all saying exactly the same thing and just telling me that my direct debit was cancelled at the bank by me on my closed account. Account still in credit, so awaiting repatriation of funds

[Tardis]

My new provider appears to have accepted the premise that they were trying to over charge me, by dropping my payments, but without the decency to apologise

[Stanley]

Modern boilers are clever. It cracked up the heating circuit while I was next to it this morning, ran about ten seconds with no flame. It does this to make sure the pump on the heating circuit doesn't seize during long periods of disuse. Nice!
Incidentally, BG tell me that they have a cheaper tariff available that will save me (on their estimate) £6 per annum. However, on looking at it there is a £30 charge for leaving that tariff and going to another. No thanks lads! I'll stay where I am! A cunning wheeze?

[Tardis]

I took a rather bizarre call yesterday from my energy providers, where it appears that they didn't set up the direct debit properly and they'd asked someone else for the money to pay for my bill

(fat fingers?)

Eventually I asked if he'd rung to apologise, he said yes, but it turns out that the old direct debit would have to be cancelled and wouldn't be coming out this month and they couldn't take both payments next. He could take payment over the phone though

[Stanley]

Much excitement reported at a conference on fracking in London. The economic and security arguments for going for another dash for gas are overwhelming, US gas prices have fallen 25% and many economists believe that this is a major factor in what looks like the start of a US economic recovery. The question in my mind is what this will do for the eventual cure, fusion? Will the respite of gas put back even further meaningful investment in what is quite clearly the long term solution?

[Pluggy]

They don't reckon it will be as cheap to extract in the UK as its a far more crowded place than the US and the extra demands put on the UK industry in the light of US experience. So it will be more expensive than in the US and is unlikely to have the same commercial impact. Very complex subject, energy, especially when it comes to generating electric with it and supplying a constantly changing load like the National Grid with it. I reckon even with fusion power and shed loads of renewable power, they're going to need something as flexible as natural gas (fracking or otherwise) to keep the lights on.

[Stanley]

You must have heard the same report I did... You're right, glad I haven't got to make sure the lights stay on!

[Tripps]

I bet your panels are earning their keep these last few days Plugs. I see the government are encouraging fracking by means of tax incentives. Sounds good to me.

We're saved.

[Pluggy]

Yep, they've been going great guns whilst we've been away. After the heat in Spain, I was looking forward to some nice cool drizzle back in Blighty, only to find its been as hot here as it was there. They aren't flat out because the high temperature restricts their output somewhat, we've been getting about 14 kWh a day. We had a couple of days in May where they did over 16 when it a was much cooler with a similar day length.

[Stanley]

Nice to hear the investment is paying off!

[hartley353]

Do not fret about Fusion power,this world has benefited from its free resource for millenia, look up and see the sun the biggest power provider on this world.

[Stanley]

Yet again, Offgen has decided that the energy market is neither transparent or fair. Competition isn't working. The question is that given the fac t they have been banging on about this since privatisation, what does it say about the efficiency of Offgem? The only transparent indicator is the amount that is paid in shareholder dividends and it's been obvious for years that despite all the waffle, energy is a good investment. The only way I can see would be if the government started buying shares in the companies and returned the dividends to the taxpayer. Not a lot of hope for this happening......

[Tardis]

The only way I can see would be if the government started buying shares in the companies and returned the dividends to the taxpayer. Not a lot of hope for this happening......

Nothing stopping you buying them rather than having the government levy tax to pay someone to buy them and then administer them, probably far cheaper in the long run as no chancellor would ever be able to be defend price rises, no matter how deleterious to the public purse.

I did like the idea of OFGEM to make the companies explain just how much of the 'price' was actually levied taxes already

[Pluggy]

Unsurprisingly July was the best month we've had for the solar panels (installed November 2011). 327kWh for the month. Previous best was 307kWh for May 2012. Most productive day was in May this year. The high temperatures mean they don't produce their best, but you can't argue with weeks of clear or near clear skies.

[Stanley]

I did summer stove maintenance yesterday. Made sure all the ash spaces were clean including the flue. Next IA will be to light a small fire during the day as a final check. Better to do this now than find a problem when the heating season starts again! Any heating engineer will tell you that the big rush for repairs is when oners neglact their boilers and stoves and hit a problem as the cold weather strikes. A stitch in time.....