MSE News: Pensioners face energy hike as Eon withdraws tariff

Money-Saving-King

JezR wrote: »

Wasn't there that MSE poll where 83% said they would prefer fewer tariffs even if it meant prices rise.

I very much doubt it was worded "would you be happy to pay more for your fuel and in return we'll not have such a variety of tariffs for you to choose from" and that 83% then clicked yes!

Richie-from-the-Boro

Guy Anker the MSE News Editor said "in a poll we carried out in 2011, 83% said they would prefer fewer tariffs even if it means prices rise"
________________

Staywarm, was at best a feeble pricing advantage, just enough to deliver a platform of convenience for that ratio of the population who prefer not to be bothered and simply roll-over each year with the same supplier. The industry calls this section of users as 'sticky's'.

One unintended good outcome for the whole nation, would be that the energy illiterate 'sticky's [63% gas & 65% leccy] are finally forced by their new circumstance to un-stick ! This will benefit all consumers by providing for the first time a degree of competition between suppliers who will for that first time have to fight each other for the 50%[ish] of their previously guaranteed income base.

Money-Saving-King

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Guy Anker the MSE News Editor said "in a poll we carried out in 2011, 83% said they would prefer fewer tariffs even if it means prices rise"
________________

Staywarm, was at best a feeble pricing advantage, just enough to deliver a platform of convenience for that ratio of the population who prefer not to be bothered and simply roll-over each year with the same supplier. The industry calls this section of users as 'sticky's'.

One unintended good outcome for the whole nation, would be that the energy illiterate 'sticky's [63% gas & 65% leccy] are finally forced by their new circumstance to un-stick ! This will benefit all consumers by providing for the first time a degree of competition between suppliers who will for that first time have to fight each other for the 50%[ish] of their previously guaranteed income base.

They don't seem to say that to me both the 2011 one & a 2013 one.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/poll/26-09-2011/are-there-too-many-gas-electricity-choices

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/poll/24-06-2013/should-there-be-fewer-gas-and-electricity-deals

With the 2011 one only 37% agreed and that is not how it was worded above!

NowRetired

Where I live the council decided to have centralized heating for new built council houses.
All burning renewable wood chips.


All you could use for a fixed price each week.


That didn't last long.


Middle of winter, council house tenants with windows wide open to cool down their house.


It cost the council more to run the heating system than they were getting in income, plus most of the tenants were getting the heating paid for them because of their low income.

matelodave

When we had a council house, over 40 years ago, our gas was included in the rent - that stopped after a year as they found people just wasted energy.

My brother is in a place with centralised heating, the cost of which was included in the rent when he moved in - it lasted for about two years before the council came round and put heat-meters in (measures water flow v incoming-outgoing temp) and started charging for what was being used. He owns the place now but is still stuck with a very expensive centralised heating system - his only alternative is to get storage rads & economy 7.

If people pay for what they use then they are usually more careful with it, give it free or for a fixed price then they don't care and waste it. That's why water meters are being installed

oldandgrumpy

Richie from the boro
npower wrote to me in March stating that, as a low user of energy, i would find my bills rising in May. They did a calculation. My annual bill would be £606, a rise of £60.
I was paying £40 per month, and on switching from npower they paid me back £190.
I did some calculations and found that anybody on standard tariff prior to May 1st paying £40 per month, ie a low energy user (poor, pensioner whatever) would suffer a large percentage increase.
To be clear, my gas bill before 1st May....60p per day for gas.
After 1st May, 44p per day BEFORE usage.
The moral here.... they have redeemed the £200 heating allowance paid by the government in one swoop.
Will the government object? Well they get 5% of any increase, plus a great wad of tax on npower's profits.

oldandgrumpy

Richie from the boro
npower wrote to me in March stating that, as a low user of energy, i would find my bills rising in May. They did a calculation. My annual bill would be £606, a rise of £60.
I was paying £40 per month, and on switching from npower they paid me back £190.
I did some calculations and found that anybody on standard tariff prior to May 1st paying £40 per month, ie a low energy user (poor, pensioner whatever) would suffer a large percentage increase.
To be clear, my gas bill before 1st May....60p per day for gas.
After 1st May, 44p per day BEFORE usage.
The moral here.... they have redeemed the £200 heating allowance paid by the government in one swoop.
Will the government object? Well they get 5% of any increase, plus a great wad of tax on npower's profits.

Richie-from-the-Boro

oldandgrumpy wrote: »

Richie from the boro
npower wrote to me in March stating that, as a low user of energy, i would find my bills rising in May. They did a calculation. My annual bill would be £606, a rise of £60.
I was paying £40 per month, and on switching from npower they paid me back £190.
I did some calculations and found that anybody on standard tariff prior to May 1st paying £40 per month, ie a low energy user (poor, pensioner whatever) would suffer a large percentage increase.
To be clear, my gas bill before 1st May....60p per day for gas.
After 1st May, 44p per day BEFORE usage.
The moral here.... they have redeemed the £200 heating allowance paid by the government in one swoop.
Will the government object? Well they get 5% of any increase, plus a great wad of tax on npower's profits.

Will the government object?

No absolutely not. British Gas came out [Keith Joseph] of Maggies 'hissing sid' campaign in 1986 along with another 49 companies including BSC, BL, BT, and CEGB and the the 12 regional boards [1990] responsible for local electricity distribution.

Since that time all GOV's of all shades are deep in hock to the banks and utilities. The GOV and their regulators dance to the tune of the utility suppliers and the banks, they always have since Maggies day and always will.

The GOV deliberately gave these two sectors weak regulation, and as such the GOV quickly became, and continue to be, mere dolls dancing to the puppet-master's strings. The fact of the matter is there is no primary resource left and we chose not to go nuclear because we sold our indigenous industries and supply to the highest bidder - which coincidently is exactly what they did with NSG and will certainly do with shale gas when extracted.

Don't expect any help from GOV they are busy collecting £20 in every £100 from my SP energy bill [see below] for "Green Levies & VAT" This is a regressive maneuver precisely places a disproportionate burden on low-income, elderly and vulnerable customers. Raising the money through tax is much more equitable, as it would be based on an individual's ability to pay, but equitable is not what GOV is about. The mantra of the nasty party is "from each according to his inability - to each according to his greed" - its in their very DNA.

[Deleted User]

MSE_Helen wrote: »

"Tens of thousands of pensioners will face a hike in energy prices as Eon withdraws its StayWarm deal on Sunday..."

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Pensioners face energy hike as Eon withdraws tariff




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the news article is wrong ive seen the letter MIL got from eon and the deal ends when each customers annual contract with eon/staywarm ends

and they compared her total usage from the past 12 months with their age uk tarriff and it works out £17 a month cheaper providing her usage is the same(which it should be due to the long winter last year)
on eons standard tarriff the saving would have only been £7 a month

minislim

i suspect this is a knee jerk reaction to the past two weeks of threats by the political parties to freeze tarrifs.