Energy arrears - Racked up by paying set DD each month

1carminestocky

moonrakerz wrote: »

I am certainly no apologist for the energy companies but I do see so many posts on this site where people seem to think that a DD of say, £50 a month is too high, then try and shift to another supplier at £30 a month AND actually seem to believe that they are going to save money ! Then they can't understand why the the first company wants £500 off them before they can move !!
You don't have to be Einstein to work out a rough figure for your energy consumption and to calculate from that a sensible DD figure, regardless of who the supplier is.

We get carried away on here and assume ALL members of the public study the minutiae of deals like we do. They don't. Believe it or not, gas and electric tariffs are not in any way interesting enough to get involved with for the vast majority of the UK public :eek: . They tend to 'believe' what they are told by the energy company's representative (why wouldn't they? ). The energy companies 'exploit' this naivity. That's where the problems start IMO.

Cardew

1carminestocky wrote: »

I know what you are saying but, if done right through a 'proper' cashback site and not through those silly switching sites, I find it difficult to see how you can't save money, tbh. Switching 4 times a year will trouser you approaching £250 (that equates to maybe 25% discount on the average energy bill). As long as you make absolutely sure you sign up to each energy company's cheapest tariff (there's not a huge difference between the charges on these) and try and be with them for a full quarter (minimising the affect of the Tier 1 charges).

Agreed, however the point I was making earlier, and indeed you make in Post #12, is that people are naive and don't know how to use the correct procedures; as 20+% of people switching to a more expensive tariff would indicate.

moonrakerz

1carminestocky wrote: »

We get carried away on here and assume ALL members of the public study the minutiae of deals like we do. They don't. Believe it or not, gas and electric tariffs are not in any way interesting enough to get involved with for the vast majority of the UK public :eek: . They tend to 'believe' what they are told by the energy company's representative (why wouldn't they? ). The energy companies 'exploit' this naivity. That's where the problems start IMO.

Whilst agreeing with you about your comments concerning energy company salesmen in support of their company.....................

are you really saying that people who believe that if Eon (say) supply all their energy needs for £40 they will get the same amount of energy for £30 a month from (say) EDF - just because some one says they will only have a DD of £30 ? (When they sign up !)

It's not a case of reading the "minutiae", it is a case of having just the slightest understanding of what is happening around you. Even readers of the Sun will have noticed headlines about huge energy prices increases - just how do they expect to pay even less for their energy just by changing supplier ?

To paraphrase your comment:- gas and electric tariffs are interesting enough to get involved - if they are going to require that you spend £1000+ a year on them !

1carminestocky

moonrakerz wrote: »

Whilst agreeing with you about your comments concerning energy company salesmen in support of their company.....................

are you really saying that people who believe that if Eon (say) supply all their energy needs for £40 they will get the same amount of energy for £30 a month from (say) EDF - just because some one says they will only have a DD of £30 ? (When they sign up !)

It's not a case of reading the "minutiae", it is a case of having just the slightest understanding of what is happening around you. Even readers of the Sun will have noticed headlines about huge energy prices increases - just how do they expect to pay even less for their energy just by changing supplier ?

To paraphrase your comment:- gas and electric tariffs are interesting enough to get involved - if they are going to require that you spend £1000+ a year on them !

I don't disagree with your point at all, what I'm trying to get across is I genuinely believe people like me and you on here are atypical of the general public and their attitude to 'saving'. I'll give you an example. Many moons ago we were out with the group of couples my wife and me often go out with socially (12 people total, 6 couples) and, as we are working class it generally splits into 2 groups, the men and the women.

I decided to tell the men (my mates!) all about Quidco and told them what it had done for us (that afternoon I had just qualified for £245 cashback by insuring my contents and buildings with LloydsTSB and Barclays respectively - those were the days, eh?). Reaction? Total apathy, with comments like 'it's OK for you, you have net access throughout the day' or 'I can't be arsed' etc (I'd already told them the whole process that day had taken me less than 45 mins!). Staggering! Undeterred, I aksed one of my mates who is always complaining he has no money :rolleyes: if his boss were to ask him to work 45 mins overtime one day and he would pay him £245 cash in hand, what would his reaction be? 'I'd bite his hand off' was his reply. What's the difference, I ask? 'I don't know' he says. The vast majority of the public aren't really interested in actually doing much to save money, they just like complaining they have too much month left at the end of their money. In essence, they are LAZY.

brysiewysie

Not sure I agree it's laziness. I usually find it's either the fear of the unknown or they think it's a con.

1carminestocky

brysiewysie wrote: »

Not sure I agree it's laziness. I usually find it's either the fear of the unknown or they think it's a con.

Probably a better description is for some reason they don't see 'savings' as 'earnings', i.e. if I save, for instance, £245 on something I see it like me actually earning £245 extra, if you see what I mean. These people are seemingly only too happy to work overtime for more pay but can't see the correlation between that and spending 45 mins on the PC to get £245 cashback. To me, it's the same thing.

moonrakerz

brysiewysie wrote: »

Not sure I agree it's laziness. I usually find it's either the fear of the unknown or they think it's a con.

What ever it is, what really worries me is that these people can carry on breeding !!!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: