StayWarm Special Briefing 2006/7 Discussion Area

chas1937

gatita wrote: »

Hi Londondulwich,

I pay £60.93 per month, one person in a 2 bed bungalow in Devon.
It was £64.
I will be interested to see the results, especially after reading how little Chas pays! it seems so very unfair.:mad:

Sorry I should have said thats what I pay weekly and have edited my post likewise

londondulwich

emf wrote: »

Please can anyone tell me what the usage limits are for Staywarm - because it is essential to know these limits in order to make a rational decision.

Are there two limits:
the limit between LOW and MEDIUM;
the limit between MEDIUM and HIGH?

Please post here if you know these limits for 2 people in a 3 bed house in the middle of England.

Any factual information will be welcomed and appreciated.

We are told that the usage limits set by The Staywarm people follow national guidelines. So, for electricity on a normal meter, a medium user would be anyone who uses 3300-4950kWh per annum, after that you would be a high user. Likewise on an economy 7 meter it would be 6600-9900kWh.

However the post by someone who says that they work for Staywarm puts the cap at the begining of the standard level.

The standard gas usage should be from 20500-28000kWh per annum. But again according to the staywarm employee, as soon as your usage leaves the 'low' bracket and becomes 'standard', 1 kWh more (20501kWh) and you are a 'high' user.

londondulwich

I have confirmed the usage levels with 'Energy Watch', (02076549470), the go between for members of the public and 'OFGEM'.

The high usage bracket kicks in for gas at 28,000kWh, for electricity at 4,950kWh (standard tariff) and at 9,900kWh (Economy 7 tariff).

The levels quoted by the Staywarm/Powergen employee suggest that it is not high users who are being turned away or penalised, but medium users.

medicinewoman

good morning Gal
I am interested to hear all about staywarm price increase.
I have been with them for 3 years, my first year was £42.60. per month.then 2nd year incresaed to £70.68.per month. 3rd year increased to £98.00.per month. and now this year they are asking for £107.91.per month.
I am severley disabled, in receipt of both DLA components and on state pension and benefits. a stairlift and walk in shower are being fitted in 4 weeks time also I need to
re charge my motability scooter daily.
I live alone in a recently built 2 bedroomed house which has good insulation, low energy lightbulbs where possible.
I never thought that I was using vast amounts of fuel.
is there any way in which I could be helped by staywarm, as I cannot afford £1,300.per year plus.
my renewal is mid September and I am now anxious and stressed at this situation. any kind help that you can offer me is greatly appreciated. thanking you kindly

medicinewoman

hello again,
regarding staywarm and their prices,
I would like to thank 'Gal' for her information about DLA components,pensioners with special needs.
these facts certainly do help immensly.
I telephoned the staywarm customer services today,
and was oh so relieved to hear them say because of my severe dissability circumstances, I could now go on to the standard tarrif approximately £59.50.per month. this is a great relief to me as I shall not need to be 'coy' about my mobility scooter charging daily.
thank you moneysavers for all the hard work and effort that you put into Martin's site to help everyone of us ..!

dodo

Staywarm

We have been with Staywarm for 6 years now and started at £38.33 a month. In 2004 this went up to £60.75 and to £94.07 in 2006 but was reduced to £89.24 in 2007.
Throughout this time, 2 of us living in a 3 bed semi in Devon have been able to use as much heating, hot water and electricity as we needed without worrying about whether we could pay for it.
That to us has been more than worth it and, while we would all like to pay less, the rates have always been below what we would have had to pay to any other supplier.
At times, Staywarm admin/customer sevices have got things wrong but that is no different to most large companies and they do try to sort things out and usually do in the end.
I'm grateful that one Company does try to help pensioners and find that it pays to talk to them if you have a problem and note that the phone numbers are 0800!! How many other customer services are freephone?
Thanks for trying to help Gal, I might try for a small reduction after what you said.

londondulwich

medicinewoman wrote: »

good morning Gal
I am interested to hear all about staywarm price increase.
I have been with them for 3 years, my first year was £42.60. per month.then 2nd year incresaed to £70.68.per month. 3rd year increased to £98.00.per month. and now this year they are asking for £107.91.per month.
I am severley disabled, in receipt of both DLA components and on state pension and benefits. a stairlift and walk in shower are being fitted in 4 weeks time also I need to
re charge my motability scooter daily.
I live alone in a recently built 2 bedroomed house which has good insulation, low energy lightbulbs where possible.
I never thought that I was using vast amounts of fuel.
is there any way in which I could be helped by staywarm, as I cannot afford £1,300.per year plus.
my renewal is mid September and I am now anxious and stressed at this situation. any kind help that you can offer me is greatly appreciated. thanking you kindly

According to Powergen, the pricing system goes by usage.

Take the last actual reading of gas and electricity and minus it from the current reading on your meters.

Then divide the sum by the total amount of months in between, so if the last actual reading you had was on 24th October 2006, you would divide the total by 10, because 10 months have passed between October and August.

Once you have a monthly usage multiply it by 12 to give your yearly consumption estimate.

Take the yearly total and convert it into Kwh. The instructions for this will be on the back of your bills.

Refering to the information on this forum, check if you are a low, medium or high user.

Then contact Staywarm, preferably in writing, and ask what tier you are on.

you might be being overcharged at the standard high rate for your geographical area, when in actual fact you are a low user.

lexa34

Hi,

Sounds a good thing for my Mother out law! Does any cashback site support it? (long shot i know!!). How does it compare to the Age Concern tariff that Eon offers as well? She should save money as she is on standard rates with BG and EDF paying quarterly!! But, she has 2 bedrooms and a box room that could be a bedroom at a push- would this exclude her?

Thanks in advance!

TERENCE

:j My wife and me were with STAYWARM for about 4 years. In February 2007, classing us as high users they wanted a price increase from £86.00 per month to £136.00 per month, a whopping £50.00.
We shopped around and changed to NPower through Mrs Cashback.com getting £40.00 through them for doing so. Our monthly payments were £40.00 each for gas and electricity. We reassessed our usage, relagging the hot water tank, replacing light bulbs, turning electrical appliances off instead of to standby etc. etc.
We have now just returned to Staywarm with monthly payments of £89.96 per month. By not automatically renewing our contract with STAYWARM last year we saved £800.00 over 16 months, plus £80.00 dualfuel discount, and the £40.00 incentive. I have just been checking prices of other suppliers, and my spreadsheet shows that we will be saving at least £200.00 over the next 12 months by returning to STAYWARM. One employee of NPower said "well STAYWARM will go up next year you know", we'll reassess in 12 months time.

millie

I think we may be moving back to Staywarm, we left them 3 years ago but have now been quoted £87 per month which is not too bad for a 3 bedroom semi. The only problem I have is that is the quote for 2 people in the house and my son is likely to be moving back in during the next few weeks, so I am wondering how much more they are going to quote for the extra person.