February 19, 2013 at 12:03 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21501878
Six years ago I paid £50 pcm.
Now I pay £114 pcm.
With the latest rises and my bill this quarter I expect it to rise to £150.
I checked bills for the last 24 months to see where the extra fuel is being used and was shocked to find my energy usage is lower than 6 years ago!
If it carries on like this my bills will be zero and I’ll be bankrupt!
By: charliehunt - 27th February 2013 at 13:24
As long as you only need to boil a kettle and run your frig/freezer install your very own personal wind turbine and you’ll all the electricity you need – errr, when it’s windy, although not too windy……..!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:
By: Lincoln 7 - 27th February 2013 at 13:06
Anyone know how to bypass the leccy meter.?:eek:
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: ThreeSpool - 27th February 2013 at 12:30
It’s comforting that Centrica have profits of 606m, and they only make £50 profit per household. Shame.
By: Derekf - 27th February 2013 at 12:23
Smart meter and direct debit. Never have to read a meter or get an estimated bill again.
You might pay more in the summer but it all evens out over the year. If you are worried about your bill, try switching suppliers, U-Switch used to do a good comparison with the different suppliers. We’ve paying £71 a month for gas and electricity on dual fuel, fixed price deal with Eon.
By: charliehunt - 27th February 2013 at 11:08
Exactly so, Linc.:)
By: Lincoln 7 - 27th February 2013 at 10:59
Charlie, I do exactly as you do, If I get an estimated bill, I go and check the meters, invariably they are wrong, inasmuch as they read LESS, with “Victor Meldrew” mode switched on, I then phone the relevant supplier, and ask for a revised bill.
NO WAY would I pay my Gas and Leccy billls by D.D, it’s a rip off during the Summer Months.
BTW, all the suppliers are only obliged to read you meter/s once or twice a year.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: charliehunt - 27th February 2013 at 10:23
I won’t entertain DDs. I read my metres and pay monthly for what has been consumed – not a penny, not a penny less. The metres are check read twice a year.
By: paul178 - 27th February 2013 at 10:14
Sorry to drag this back on track but an update to #50.
Spoke to Scottish Power armed with print outs of all my bills in the last year.
I was in credit for the whole time! Still with energy prices rising we agreed an increase from £98 per month to £102.Scottish Power could not understand why they had come to the previous figure(£152) and were sorry. That is all well and good because I am one who still has enough wit to challenge things but some pensioners would have been so scared by the first amount they would have sat in the cold with possible fatal consequences.
By: Stuart H - 26th February 2013 at 13:01
Fill it with mission statements and Council Newsletters. Or better still, spend the money on asphalt instead.
By: charliehunt - 26th February 2013 at 12:59
At the risk of “going off-thread” I am surprised because, at this time of the yearf, councils are out in force filling pot-holes and generally spending the highways budget to the full so that they can make the full claim for the maximum allocation for the following year!!
By: Lincoln 7 - 26th February 2013 at 12:45
If Stuarts Council is like ours, he is in for a long wait. It’s nearly 7 months ago I spotted, on the A17 a hole in the road surface, large enough to cause a motorcyclist to hit, and come off his bike.
No doubt this will be actioned when there is a fatal accident.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: charliehunt - 26th February 2013 at 12:34
And of course the letter will be read by an automaton at face value and in several weeks you will receive a reply, without humour or irony and probably repeating the essentials of the original.
By: Stuart H - 26th February 2013 at 12:19
As a Landlord, I got an email from the Council. It took some effort for two of us to decipher the councilspeak gibberish, but the jist was that I could get a grant towards replacing electrical appliances – fridges, freezers etc. in my properties. They’ll only consider the grant if I throw away WORKING appliances.
So, I sent them some gibberish in return.
Dear xxxx,
Whilst I appreciate that my council tax is no doubt well spent on the production of mission statements, PDF files and other such informative communications by people who are otherwise underemployed but are currently very busy turning green, I feel I must inform you that, shameful as it may be, none of my properties are green. They vary from sandstone through a shade of non descript beige to a kind of off-white. As for the electrical appliances therein, the usual term is ‘White Goods’ and this is a pretty fair description. I admit I haven’t done the sums but I can’t see any benefit from throwing them away to replace them with something green.
I don’t even have a green carpet although I think I may have some green towels in a cupboard somewhere. They were probably a wedding present from someone my mum invited. You say you’re getting married and next thing you know, your wedding is full of people who you don’t know but who your mum thinks will be insulted because someone else you don’t know gets invited too. Next thing you know, they have to buy a present, but not one that costs more than the meal and the glass of cheap champagne they expect. If it were up to me I’d just go to the Registry Office and sod the lot of them but I’d never hear the end of it. Can I get a rebate for three toast racks, a hostess trolly and a hideous 3×2 foot print of some white horses galloping on a beach at sunset? Rather than put them to landfill, as a green solution I could donate them to the Council because they’re just taking up space I could use in my towel cupboard. I’d put them in my rental properties but I don’t think my tenants would give them houseroom and more importantly, I don’t think they’d want to pay extra for having them.
Anyway, if it helps, my car is green although I can’t claim that I chose it specifically for its colour, it just happened to be the only car on the forecourt in my price range and I don’t drive it much. It’s not that I’m trying to save the planet, it’s just that, what with council tax and green taxes to pay for people to make up mission statements and so forth, I can’t afford to put much petrol in it.
Regards,
By: Lincoln 7 - 26th February 2013 at 09:17
And mine. I’m hoping for the announcement of a major find.
Stuart, Don’t hold you breath.;)
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: Lincoln 7 - 26th February 2013 at 09:14
All they are exploring is the contents of my bank account!!!!!!!!
Which will very well be low, now you have tried to become more energy efficient, whichever way you turn, somebody Mainly the Government is trying to screw you, and everyone else.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: Stuart H - 26th February 2013 at 02:12
And mine. I’m hoping for the announcement of a major find.
By: paul178 - 25th February 2013 at 23:47
All they are exploring is the contents of my bank account!!!!!!!!
By: Lincoln 7 - 25th February 2013 at 23:15
Silver Fox My heart goes out to them for caring so much for my welfare!
I am trying to unpick the bills into gas and Electricity now so I can get a price comparison. The crafty sods give it to me as one amount. Its all there though but I was never good at maths!
Paul, All of the so called Companies have us by the short and curlies, it’s a Cartel, by any other name, otherwise all the prices would be the same.However, they state that most of their profits are ploughed back into further exploration,:D
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: Lincoln 7 - 25th February 2013 at 23:11
so what about this energy crisis ?
More to the point, what would you do to solve the problem?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: paul178 - 25th February 2013 at 22:48
Silver Fox My heart goes out to them for caring so much for my welfare!
I am trying to unpick the bills into gas and Electricity now so I can get a price comparison. The crafty sods give it to me as one amount. Its all there though but I was never good at maths!