Just got my bank statement through and was annoyed to find my monthly payment had been increased from £51 to £124 without any forewarning at all, I really don’t think finding out via you back statement after the event is acceptable.
I feel really sorry for those on a fixed budget, these must be killers to their finances.

Trouble is, no one has actually explained the cause of this….. if it’s down to us subsidising Green targets they can fuck right off with their gullible bollocks,….. and if it’s gas prices, will they be coming down again because the sharp take your eyes out when they feel like putting them up.

That’s against the direct debit agreement. They are legally bound to tell you ten days before actioning a debit.

Think they are taking the piss on every count. anybody with a brain cell still working knows that prices will never come down to the level they once were no matter what the cost of them are. not just gas but every sodding thing we buy. it will take more than a few deaths through lack of heat and food this winter to get em to reduce things to a point we see the reductions. double the price now and they think we,ll be grateful for a ten per cent reduction if and when it happens.

Thats a lot less than most DD customers.
I think im one of the few who dodged a bullet by declining the DD n Smart Meter option.
Do me own meter readings from side of house every 3 months.
Only pay for what i use but the Standing Charges are still extortion.
Feel sorry for the younger generation who are in the early days of a long term Mortgage.
Can see there being Riots like the Poll Tax.

I saved quite a bit by refusing a smart meter out of spite, they gave me three dates took the day off and never showed…three days holiday down the pan….fuck em.
Here’s a tip to save on your heating, our boiler if set manually to a temperature will run for two hours and shut down, you just reset it again on the thermostat and hey presto 2 hours heat, but some times you don’t notice the temperature and you are running on 2 hour cycles only as needed, it’s surprising how much you can save for a very minor exertion, as opposed to putting fixed times in and forgetting about it for the entire winter.

Forgot about that direct debit agreement catch…… phone em up this afternoon.

I believe if you pay by DD you get a better deal, it’s a con, they use the fear factor saying you might end up in debit and owe them money. Try getting a rebate when you are in credit, they will use every excuse under the sun why not to give you a rebate, of course they will it’s money in the bank for them.You can pay what you like by DD within reason, Shell Energy tried to treble mine even though my place was empty albeit I still have to pay the Standing Charges. I phoned them albeit it took forever to get through, the lad said you realise prices are going up, it took a bit to convince the fella it didn’t make any difference as there was no electric or gas being used.
Standing Charge, before you could have a deal without a Standing Charge albeit you paid a bit more which suited me and loads of people including pensioners, you only paid for what you used.For some reason the government abolished that and said everyone had to pay a Standing Charge irrespective of how much energy you used.
I did try and get away with Sewerage Rates on my Water Bill, hey I am never there so don’t use the toilet, nope we need the money to maintain the system.

might just be thick, but why do you have to pay a standing charge anyway.

Too boost the profits of the privately owned energy companies,
A standing charge is added to most gas and electricity bills. It's a fixed daily amount that you have to pay, no matter how much energy you use. A standing charge covers the cost of supplying your property with gas and electricity. Think of it as a line rental, but for your energy.

cheers for the info but you are not selling the idea to me. can understand an initial charge being made when the property is built and one off payments to be made for repairs or upgrades. to constantly charge rent for something though seems a little obscene for me. know a few who have caravans at the coast, they call em mobile homes, and live permanently in em from april till october getting a bill for something they cannot use but still have to pay gas and electric on the site they are on.

If they don’t screw the money out of you one way, they’ll devise another.

WARNING.
If ya relying on the £400 gas/leccy grant to tide ya over xmas.
Think again It starts getting rolled out in October over a 6 month period to March.
Get them Thermals ready.

We’re even getting Ratboy lagged this year, he qualifies in dog years….if we lie.

getting ready for hug a husky already. he,ll be happy with no heat on anyway.

Finally got the number I need to contact them about my bill. Phoned up, usual choices, then a minefield of speaking to a robot voice, barrier passed, phone rings and it’s hello from India…. o The young lady answered the phone and immediately launched into a lecture interrupting it frequently with…… ‘do you understand me?’ talking at ten to the dozen and suspecting that the direct debit agreement being broken will be of little consequence or even comprehension to her…and that she’ll be baffled what to do anyway. Three times with same result and walked away in the end.
Are these overseas call centres there to basically piss you off…? I’m seriously starting to think that way.

What I do Snowy is bypass Customer Service as I find for the majority they have no interest in the job and little affinity to their customers.

I find the Chief Executive's email address (normally quite easy) and email him/her my complaint and normally within hours the Secretary responds and problem resolved with a ££'s credit as well.

Done this recently with Iceland at their Head Office in Dundee and my Water Company last December.

Cheers Mr C…cue fiendish laughter, where’s my phone.

Worth a look.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/about-us/contact-us

I had dealings with Ofgem in December 2020 when my Electricity supplier at the time, Yorkshire Energy went into administration and they tried to move me to Scottish Power.

The reviews for SP were horrendous, even stating that Ofgem were investigating them for bad practices etc. I emailed them to point all this out and told them they were not fit for purpose.

You guessed it - NOT a reply.

I moved to Shell Energy before they had the chance to move me.

Ofgem are a complete bunch of W***ers, so if possible have zero dealings with them

cannot see how they are necessary either. must be as hard for them as it is for us talking to them. all the different accents in this country that tend to be magnified on the phone talking to someone in their second language. know from my own experiances that those from india had trouble understanding me face to face never mind on the phone. coming to coventry from india or being born and bred in the area seemed to cause em problems with any accent north of leicester.

Background article on standing charges

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills ... arity.html

I am getting the impression nothing now is properly regulated.

This rebate£400.
Getting paid now in 6 monthly installments from October to March.

Get you electric blankets in now before they double in price.

It says that during these 6 months your energy company is going to reduce your direct debit by about £66 per month?

Well I've got one for Gas & one for Leccy, so who is reducing my DD? Or is it a case of 50/50?

Another great balls up by this shambolic Government.

Company or company’s makes no difference, the quoted £66 will be the total taken off, no matter how it’s done.

After the revelation of massive increase in profits for two big energy company’s this morning, things are being seen in a new, disturbing light.
I naturally assumed the increase in bills was down to increase in gas prices which were due to fluctuations in supplies, which if that were the case would have hit these companies profits as well as our pockets, but it turns out to be pure 100% bullshit.

SHELL Energy have sent me an an email, they are going to increase my DD to £68, I have told them on numerous occasions, last time over a lengthy phone call the property is currently unoccupied so I don’t use any gas or electricity. I will only pay enough to cover the Standing Charfe no more.

After a long wait on the phone I got sorted, I am convinced the long wait is so you give up and pay what they ask you for. They explain the benefits of a Smart Meter for me zero, no one is going to run round the house switching stuff off, another 12 billion pounds plus down the drain.I use am internet app called Telz, less than 1p a minutes for calls globally.

Got me £66 credited to me British gas account.
Wasent expecting it to go thru that quick.

Got my electric cut from £225 to £147……. originally £87.

Am I right in saying there are only going to 6 payments, do the government expect energy companies to reduce their prices after that ?

6 payments of £66 from October to March 2023 =£400
Then we are on our own.
A household using below the average usage like my daughter needs at least £800 per year to cover her increases since the shit started to hit the fan.
I am one of the smug twats who got a fixed rate just before the increases so i am sending her 6 x £66 = £400 as i dont need it and she does.

The energy companies will not reduce prices after that unless there is a major reduction in wholesale prices which they may or may not pass on.
Its about time the energy market was taken into public ownership IMO.

[quote="Bluestreak"]
A household using below the average usage like my daughter needs at least £800 per year to cover her increases since the shit started to hit the fan.
I am one of the smug twats who got a fixed rate just before the increases so i am sending her 6 x £66 = £400 as i dont need it and she does.

its worse for those with a medical problem where they need the heat on nearly all the time. surely something should be done extra for them. at the moment many seem not too bothered about this saying we have not had the heat on yet and only put the lights on for a hour at night. once the clocks are altered apart from the seemingly extra darkness overnight it also co incides with the weather getting colder so for many it will be save now pay later.

We haven't put our heating on yet. If it gets a bit chilly I just put a jumper on. We intend to put the heating on for an hour in the morning and just heat the living room as and when needed. Our living room faces south so when the sun's out it gets quite warm. Limited use of the tumble drier, showers only, one or two cups as required in the kettle, limited use of lighting etc etc. See how it goes.

Our lass was doing that when I suggested putting the heating on, but hang about, we’ll not be using more than we did last winter, so yes it’s rocketed up but we might as well have it on. Tried all those things and you save next to nothing.

There are some extra payments to people on some benefits and i think to OAPs.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consu ... rgy-bills/

we did all that stuff last year as well so there is a limit how far you can go. other option would be to lock up the house and have 6 months in some costa del whatsit. oh forgot you,ll still have the rape money to pay, the bleeding standing charge.

Cant see future prices ever getting lower than what they are now and thats even if Putin dies or get killed.
Im on the same wavelength as Biden that Putin big bombs aren't just there for show.
Never gunna win the land war in Ukraine so its inevitable what will happen next. Just a mettzr of when not maybe.
And covids coming back major style.

But i will enjoy today whatever the result.
UTP.

Don,t know exactly how much we depend on Russia for gas supplies, But this may help.

https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/blog/uk-gas-sources

And your only allowed to stay for 90 days then you have to apply for a visa, no way of avoiding the Standing Charge, the energy companies can’t lose.

Who spends 90 days in Europe You have a holiday or two then come back.
There were two dim ex pats on the box last night in a trailer for some series and they live in Spain as they boasted, for the Sun, pool and barbecues. Jeez.
The wife stopped me just in time from throwing my slipper at the telly.

Snowy you really need to do some research before firing of comments, we are talking retired people/pensioners, literally thousands who do actually as I have done myself in Tenerife for the winter period around 4 months. Try booking a long term rental not a trailer in Tenerife November to March, they are booked up years in advance.
It’s all about the weather, quality of life, etc not the BBQs, and yes the Pools are brilliant,some people don’t like the cold weather and it can benefit their health.
Snowy you might like living in England in dismal, cold, wet short days in the Winter plenty of people don’t. If you have never tried living abroad in the Winter whenever don’t criticise people who do.

Respect your opinion Jamie.
But ive noticed big time these last 4 years global warming kicking in faster year by year.
Me back beer garden mad hot on high pressure days April to August n snow is a rarity nowadays even in Hpool.
£ a pint from Morrisons n no airport chaos.
Got no interest in renewing me passport unless Pools qualify for the Euoropa League.

No, how’s about you do some research….. I love living in England, I love the seasons, I actually enjoy a cold winters day ….I’m one of those people who have no wish to spend six months of my precious life sat in the sun like some lizard on a rock.
If that appeals to you, crack on, but realise there’s people who don’t like it.

Think your passport can be burnt on the barbecue then Kev.

With respect Kev I am talking about between October to around March, I don’t think you will be sitting in your Hartlepool Beer Garden in those months, the airport chaos you talk about was Heathrow.

Snowy you have been watching too many episodes of Benidorm if you think all people do is sit in the sun like a lizard on a stone and have BBQs when they go abroad for a long term holiday.

Watch Benidorm? I’d rather have my eyeballs washed in acid, pure dross.
For your information I have actually been to Spain…. As for Benidorm, the Skegness of the Mediterranean, I drove though it at speed……once!
My enduring memories are of the same old ‘developments’ everywhere along the coast for mile upon mile, a depressing vista of identikit apartments in the sun.
If you like that, then soak it up…… many do, I have relatives who own property there, but no thanks, dying of boredom in the sun is not my idea of fun.
If I go abroad I prefer Germany and the Benelux countries, but do I wish to live there? No!
I actually like where I live. I wasn’t born under a ‘Wandering Star’… I’m content.

actually know of a good number that do spend 90 days in some other country. those who live permanently on many caravan and chalet parks as many close down for that period in winter. as for a period of sun bathing, barbeceus and a crowded swimming pool i realise what my own private hell would be like. i get bored waiting for traffic lights to change never mind that type of shit that many regard as a holiday and nothing else is and made a name up for it.

I can’t disagree about the overdevelopment of Spain Snowy it was ruined in the early days more so by the English who wanted to go there and eat English Breakfasts and drink pints of Carling lager, obviously the Spanish authorities as well for allowing the overdevelopment My daughter has just back from Nerja, she said lovely very traditional Spanish buildings and very few if any English tourists.

Yes you guessed my song, I told my daughter that’s the one I want played at my funeral, I have been travelling about since I was a teenager mostly work related but holidays as well.
I can’t settle in Hartlepool, it’s gone right down the pan over the years through lack of investment grot spot buildings in and around the town centre including the shopping centre. There isn’t a decent bus service either where I live, the buses stop just after 6.30

The only trouble with this town is we’ve been run by narcissistic, illiterate ego’s who couldn’t organise Jack shit for 60 years.