How much electricity do you use?

[APOLLO]

2 hours ago, spikey said:

 

i f you can't simply go online to check your account and find that out, why on earth are you with EDF?

 

Ref the old boards, the one thing that I remember about them is that the local gas showroom was always ex-directory.

 

Good point, I had a decent fixed contract expired in May, now on the cap like most others. 

 

I'll ditch EDF when / if I can - was OK a while ago, rubbish now.

 

Brit15

[APOLLO]

37 minutes ago, RFS said:

 

I'm with EDF and pay by monthly direct debit too. The amount is fixed annually based on previous usage. EDF have been very good at adjusting the amount if things get out of step - both increases and refunds. I consider twice-a-year statements to be more than adequate. I submit meter readings online when requested. 

 

My point is THEY have control over your DD, and skew it to their advantage (holding YOUR money interest free). I intend to cut energy usage as much as possible this winter so past usage figures will not be relevant. I send readings monthly but they only send bills / adjust DD twice a year - not good enough. I will leave them ASAP.

 

Any advice on changing suppliers at the moment - most sites say stay with your existing supplier.

 

Brit15

[Nearholmer]

4 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

My point is THEY have control over your DD

I know you don’t want a smart meter, app control etc, but if you cave-in on that, you will find that the app allows you to amend (technically I think request amendment of) your DD. They put mine down ludicrously low at one point (their algorithm didn’t know that the place was unoccupied for an entire winter, and calculated on the assumption that next winter would be like last), so I simply put it back up again.

[AndrueC]

2 hours ago, APOLLO said:

My point is THEY have control over your DD, and skew it to their advantage (holding YOUR money interest free).

They have some control, but you have ultimate control. When they change it they will notify you in advance. All you have to do is log in and change it back. They can't force you to accept their preferred figure. If your DD is set up correctly you will be in debt over the winter and they won't charge you interest for borrowing the money.

 

I think you need to talk to EDF because they way you are describing it is just not how any company operates DD and nor does it match how any energy company has treated/billed me. If you are sure that they are persistently miscalculating the DD then contact them and ask them to review it. Otherwise just keep correcting it for them.

 

When I first moved into my house twenty years ago I had to do that because they were basing their estimates off the previous occupiers who were a family. Back then you couldn't adjust DD online but I just called up, explained I was a single adult and asked them to reduce the DD.

Edited October 3, 2022 by AndrueC

[APOLLO]

I'll be getting my second bill in November. I will wait & see.

 

Thanks for replies.

 

Having worked all my life as a gas engineer I have never been as concerned (if that's the right word) about the UK energy situation etc.

 

Brit15

[Jonboy]

I was moved from SSE to OVO last year as part of their migration. One feature I did really like in their online portal was that if you entered a meter reading you got a live up to date account balance (not a bill!) around 90 seconds later.

 

Back to SSE in the new property and even with a smart meter back to once a month balance, until I go through the migration to OVO again…

[ejstubbs]

3 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Any advice on changing suppliers at the moment - most sites say stay with your existing supplier.

 

I take that to mean "there's no point changing supplier to get a better tariff because they're all on the cap".  Switching supplier in the hope of getting better customer service would be another matter.  I've read good things about Octopus and I am considering approaching them (though their web site seems to try to discourage people from switching to them, for some reason - looks like I'll have to call them up if I'm to make any kind of progress).

 

Mind you, I was switched to Shell Energy when my previous supplier (Pure Planet) went bust and they've been pretty good to date, after an initial rather worrying lack of communication following the enforced switch.  They e-mailed me the other day to remind me to take meter readings on 30th September, but assured me that I've got 30 days to submit them.  (One might be tempted to defer taking the readings for 30 days...though I'm told that technically that would be fraud.)

 

7 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Having worked all my life as a gas engineer I have never been as concerned (if that's the right word) about the UK energy situation

 

We had our usual plumbing & heating contractors round a few months back, just to get the pipe to the hob capped as we were switching to an induction hob.  I asked the guy who did the job whether they'd had any interest in, or were looking at getting involved in, air source heat pumps.  He said that they don't work very in Scotland (which I've heard said elsewhere) and followed up by saying that he expected hydrogen to replace natural gas "so no need to go changing your central heating system".  Then I saw this: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/27/hydrogen-is-unsuitable-for-home-heating-review-concludes last week...

 

I'd be interested to know whether you, as a professional working in the field, have any views on this.

[meil]

3 hours ago, APOLLO said:

 

My point is THEY have control over your DD, and skew it to their advantage (holding YOUR money interest free). I intend to cut energy usage as much as possible this winter so past usage figures will not be relevant. I send readings monthly but they only send bills / adjust DD twice a year - not good enough. I will leave them ASAP.

 

Any advice on changing suppliers at the moment - most sites say stay with your existing supplier.

 

Brit15

As you are on the "cap" as you put it you can switch now. OVO pays 5% interest on credit balances.

[PhilH]

Someone mentioned Octopus, I’ve been with them for a couple of years now and found them to be reasonably transparent. Cost wise I think they are all much of a muchness, they do have a few Bob of mine from overestimation of dds but they can keep it against the winter, to be honest until recently it’s not like it was going to make interest anywhere else.

 I have a smart meter and absolutely swear by it. It keeps me up to date with usage and cost, under /over budget etc., and ensures I get no nasty surprises. Their website is really informative, for example you can check in and see what you used for the day before, or last week, month,year, etc. For example the photo is for electric, what and when I used yesterday. 
As I say, IMHO one of the best of a bad lot.

Edited October 3, 2022 by PhilH

[APOLLO]

31 minutes ago, ejstubbs said:

 

I'd be interested to know whether you, as a professional working in the field, have any views on this.

 

Although I did my Gas Fitting City & Guilds during my 5 year engineering apprenticeship with The North Western Gas Board (1969 - 74) I worked all my life in gas distribution (laying / replacing gas mains, outside gas escapes etc etc) so I can't really comment re Hydrogen for gas appliances going forward.

 

The old Towns gas (manufactured from coal) contained a mixture of Hydrogen, Methane and other hydrocarbons. When Natural Gas came in (virtually 100% Methane) all appliances had to be converted to use it. This work was mainly replacing various appliance burner components to suit the flammability and burning characteristics of the new gas. If Hydrogen was to replace Natural Gas no doubt conversion work would be required again A very costly exercise. (I have read a Natural Gas / Hydrogen mix could be used without converting appliances).

 

The latter part of my apprenticeship and two years out were spent converting the gas mains around Wigan & Warrington to Natural Gas. A whole different story to appliance conversion, but even this would require doing again if we went 100% Hydrogen, which I very much doubt.

 

As to heat pumps, again I know little other than they are not suitable for most of Britain's (older) housing stock. They still require electricity to run pumps fans and compressors 24/7  (think VERY  large fridge in reverse). Not for me, I had a new Vailant Condensing boiler fitted 2 years ago, I'm pleased with it and it is very efficient.

 

Brit15

 

 

[AndrueC]

2 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Having worked all my life as a gas engineer I have never been as concerned (if that's the right word) about the UK energy situation etc.

 

Brit15

Ain't that the truth. And I noticed an article on the BBC saying that OPEC+ are going to cut production. That's not going to help :(

[black and decker boy]

I am with Octopus (since last Oct with a smart meter).

 

very happy with their comms, App and billing both in analogue days and in smart mode

[ikcdab]

Highest I've ever seen it.  Twin ovens on and the kettle....

I still can't work out why our bills are quite so high.  I now suspect that our oil boiler uses more than we thought.

 

[Nearholmer]

I’m with EDF on one of their fully on-line, smart meter accounts, and until the past few days have been very happy with the way that works, with a smart meter display at home, and an online ‘energy hub’ that allows me to see consumption and cost in excruciating detail (hour by hour since it was installed, if I want to get into that detail).

 

BUT ….. on Wednesday it suddenly went mad and started applying the wrong unit rates, so that my daily electricity bill (not consumption, just the calculated cost) has increased by a factor of three!

 

So, the good thing is I was quickly able to spot that it had gone mad, and the bad thing is that it has gone mad. I await a call back from customer services!

 

 

[Reorte]

3 hours ago, ikcdab said:

Highest I've ever seen it.  Twin ovens on and the kettle....

I still can't work out why our bills are quite so high.  I now suspect that our oil boiler uses more than we thought.

If you've got an oil boiler I'd have thought that would be a completely separate bill. My parents get their oil from a small local independent supplier, so it's completey separated from the electricity bill.

[ikcdab]

6 hours ago, Reorte said:

If you've got an oil boiler I'd have thought that would be a completely separate bill. My parents get their oil from a small local independent supplier, so it's completey separated from the electricity bill.

well yes quite but the oil boiler has an electric pump to circulate the water etc. I suspect that the electricity consumption of the oil boiler is more than i thought.

[melmerby]

If anybody's interested, I have used 394kWh of electricity in the 31 days to 10th Feb

Largish 3 bed detached & railway room in garden, gas boiler, 2 of us at home all day, (most days)

I typically use 5kWh to heat the railway room, maybe 4 times a week, in cold weather, so maybe 80kWh per month.

Edited February 12, 2023 by melmerby