Just submitted my electricity meter readings
PerfidiousPorpoise 15 Aug 22 09:22
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and the auto-generated response (which came back immediately) says that they need to increase my monthly payment again, to an amount that is roughly double what it was last year.

If everyone is going through the same, with worse to come, is it hyperbole to say that society is going to collapse?

I thought my fix was until Aug 2023 but it's actually until Aug 2024

so while I will probably die fighting over the last carrot in Lidl (RRP£250) at least I won't be enriching Scottish power on the way out

My consumption is down 75% and my bills are down 50% 

Still they want me to up my monthly DD, despite being 700 in credit now 

Almost as if they want the money for CEO bonus

I think a big problem is the disaffectation of skilled professionals

nurses and teachers are not going to be bringing their A game when, after a hard day of expensive to obtain qualifications for work, they can't do anything fun because all their money has been shitted away on allowing the Americans to inflate the price of their own gas supplies and distract from Biden being a cauliflower in a man suit

There are hundreds of thousands of people who will not be able to get the money their normal, modest energy consumption requires.  Some pensioners will freeze to death and tens of thousands will default. The vast scale of this crisis has been obvious for some time.  Something huge has to be done.

I'm fixed until next year, but will use wood fuel so my bill should go down.  I'm about 800 in credit after the half yearly bill so I feel comfortable.  That said getting the house sorted for solid fuel has been painful....

I think the real issue will be working class famillies and singletons who simply don't have enough disposable income to absorb a £500 increase a month.

One of my staff in a rented flat has had their bill go up from £40 a month to a predicted £380 as a result of an end of a fixed price and fuel rises.  They are a young working professional couple with an income of about £100k between them and a rent of £900pm and they can afford it (although it impacts on savings), there are lots of famillies and single people who DON'T have that flex, especially with other price increases.

Mine has already nearly doubled which I can absorb but if it does that again then I'm spending the winter with candles and old school books.  Most people budget for things going up to some extent but it's very rare that regular bills double in a matter of months.

Those saying that they'll just pay for what they use or will aim to cut consumption are missing the main issue here which is that the prices are rising exponentially and no amount of turning lights off is going to change that. And to answer the OP, yes my DD has doubled based on current consumption, and nothing cheaper to be found in the market. I've fixed again for a year although it's tricky to tell if that will even out - depends what happens in January.

I'm not missing the issue CC.  I can save a significant amount of energy on current use by the looks of it, and I won't be putting the heating on at all this winter.  Leaving aside the fact that energy companies are known for trying to ensure DD customers are sitting in credit, their estimate is based on inaccurate assumptions about my consumption.  I don't think this will mean my energy bills won't rise ultimately, but I don't intend to give the energy company extra money in advance.

Rham that's only an issue for outdoor pipes which you turn off and drain in the autumn if you're sensible.  Even my outbuildings don't get below freezing in the winter where they are vaguely insulated and your house certainly shouldn't get below freezing even without heating.

Escaped, there's quite a lot that I used to do when I was really properly poor, so I've started doing that again.  For instance:

  • stopping using the dishwasher, and saving the water from the kettle for my morning coffee in flasks to use for dishwashing
  • turning off the boiler except to heat up for a shower
  • only using the washing machine on full loads at low temperatures and handwashing stuff I would have previously washed on steaming cycles
  • stopped using the dryer at all (I was still using it for some larger items), hanging clothes in the bathroom to take advantage of the shower to steam them and drying things on hangers to reduce the need for ironing.
  • switching off everything on standby
  • using foil reflectors on windows to manage the heat
  • using the oven more efficiently (e.g. batch cooking with the residual heat) and generally using the microwave more

That sort of thing. In winter, I'll rug up instead and put a clothes line up in the loft for drying larger stuff indoors. 

I used to live off the smell of an oily rag when I lived below the breadline.  It's a bit embarrassing to realise how wasteful I've become.

I used to live off the smell of an oily rag when I lived below the breadline.

Just had to look that up.  Looks like an Oz / NZ phrase.  Interesting.

Also feel a bit ashamed about how wasteful we are.

Rham, 

You are right, Electricity and Gas can get an order for entry to fit a prepayment meter.  They are a disgrace and charge the poor far more for using power than others irrespective of whether they are recovering debt.

I wonder though if these entries will be granted?  The reality would be a de facto cut off for the elderly and famillies with children who cannot afford to feed the meter at the speed it turns, especially when it is also recouping debt!

I recall as a young child my Grandma (with whom I lived) had a 50p meter.  She would buy £5 of 50p's when she got her pension on a Tuesday.  It wasn't unusual for it to run out on Monday and us to be in darkness.  We had coal heating so just used candles.  Modern houses aren't that adaptive and it won't be a few hours at these rates.

 

 

The people I feel really sorry for are the ones who are already making these economies and still can't afford it, or who for health reasons can't do it.  I still remember that feeling of panic of seeing your meter increasing in speed when you'd done everything you possibly could.

The process for imposing pre payment meters is very onerous. Any vulnerable people in house will fail the human rights assessment and if you refuse to admit the engineers the utility company have to try 3 times before then going to a magistrate for permission to force entry. Quite ofen they will seek police support Imagine having to do that for EVERYONE  

My fixed tariff is expiring next month, what does rof wisdom say about fixing again at this point?   My instinct is that things may not be quite as bad as feared one way or another and that variable (which will at least be lower for the time being) is way to go.

GeneralLee,

I do CAB work and sadly, it is far more common than you think.  

Those seeking entrance often claim a right that they haven't got and are supported by Bailiffs.

People who are defaulters are often told it's the only alternate to being cut off (which isn't true)

the exceptions aren't human rights they are needs based to can't use one, cold will make health conditions worse, have medical equipment... but they are limited and there are a large number of able bodied people who won't be able to pay these costs.

the problem is also, it leaves the vulnerable still being chased by their supplier.

We are expecting energy bills to be the biggest issue this winter and are getting sh1t tons of extra training on it.

People are going to be so stressed about this and also will self limit to a damaging extent.

 

I know DW, I am friends with a person who works as an agent for utility companies so am familiar with the process.  They are regularly in court applying for batch warrants (upwards of 50 at a time for various companies). The forms definitely blah their powers but if you stick to your guns they need a warrant.  The vulnerable people issues are definitely called “human rights assessments” in industry jargon. As part of their submissions to court they use this term 

At CAB we call them "Welfare Assessments" because they are often linked to applying for other grants people haven't realised they could get, including some charitable trusts who will make direct payments (after we've got reductions usually).

Batch warrants are very common and it's very difficult for the voluntary sector to do the work needed to defend these because... .they are in a batch.  I think power companies pray on that.  As is usual we see people at the last minute because they have put their head in the sand.

The CAB's running at courts have a horrible time with this process.  They simply don't have time to get the evidence and getting a stay is difficult.

thank fook for solar panels. Will try to cut down on LPG use though, mainly by turning the central heating down (a lot) and using the real fire in the living room more, and working in there if needs be. 

There are already millions of households in arrears of energy bills and there will be many millions more soon. They simply will not have sufficient resources to go through the proper process to fit prepayment meters to, say, 10 million homes.

 

The process for imposing pre payment meters is very onerous. Any vulnerable people in house will fail the human rights assessment and if you refuse to admit the engineers the utility company have to try 3 times before then going to a magistrate for permission to force entry. Quite ofen they will seek police support Imagine having to do that for EVERYONE  

However, if you've got a smart meter fitted that can be flicked to pre-payment mode a lot of that falls away...

And leaving aside PPMs, the other route is getting a CCJ against the defaulting customer which will have significant & long term adverse impacts too.

The whole thing is going to be a mess and the Govt has completely and utterly failed to comprehend the enormity of what is coming.

@Octo, yup.  I'd hazard a guess the vulnerable customer checklist will need to be run through*, but if its already installed there's no need to worry about the warrants of entry etc.

(*so if anyone is or has family who might be considered to fall into this category, get on your supplier's priority services register pronto).

And leaving aside PPMs, the other route is getting a CCJ against the defaulting customer which will have significant & long term adverse impacts too.

I'm sure the starved court system will work just fine with millions of CCJ applications...

The professional agitators  of Can't Pay Won't Pay are leading some gullible folks to a lifetime of debt enforcement issues, credit reference annihilation, county court strife and generally much higher credit charges for the rest of their lives.

Comrades Vlad and Xi will be happy with their work...

Guy - generally the current fixed tariffs being offered are pretty much all in favour of the companies, 

Suspect that DDs are being jacked to build up a huge credit before winter.

Guy, fixes are largely pointless now that competition has died.

I was paying Avro £220 until they went bust, now Octopus take £380. I'm fully expecting £700+ before too long. On top of £600 more on my mortgage from November. Nice.

Don't normally do this but I've logged in to my account with the energy provider today. They've been collecting DD's from me since January, without having issued any bills. So I'm in massive credit but I probably won't be once they bill me. Weird chaps. 

Just send them your current meter readings via the website or App Barry.

You may owe them loads in view of the large increases on 1 April - best to find out sooner rather than later surely?

Big Barry Zuckercorn.  Clever as fvck for ignoring the impact of the largest looming energy and economic crisis of recent times cos he just don't giveafvck.  

Tom Fun - quite. Just another example of something Govt isn’t thinking about. They’ll have to do something like the covid rent arrears moratorium (though that just kicks the can down the road a bit).  

Suspect that DDs are being jacked to build up a huge credit before winter.

Ofgem is cracking down on this tbf. Eg TruEnergy is being audited at the moment. Though a huge credit isn’t unreasonable as the bills are going to be huge.

Just before I left the UK I was 2k in credit, they claimed they couldn't pay me back as it was too large an amount.  Sent a cheque in the end. Its a scam. Your money is invested.