Best electric and or gas tariff for pensioners?

macman

knightstyle wrote: »

Thanks again everyone, lots of valid points there. Of course I will use a couple of comparison sites but having done a test it seems that the same figures can give different results on different sites and none of them take into account the £135 extra for people on certain benefits!
I am also thinking of using this workshop to see what else we can do for the elderly, many living alone in poorly insulated houses.
All this is quite new to me but having recently retired I have to keep busy.

P.S. Just heard on the radio that this winter will be cold and long!!!!!

No, because everyone qualifying will have that amount credited, so it makes no difference to the comparative data. How tricky is it to deduct £135 from the annual figure?
Feed in actual annual kWh figures and you should get the same answers.

knightstyle

Hi again everyone, After much searching I found this:

"The Warm Home Discount Scheme

Part of the government's answer to this problem is the Warm Home Discount Scheme (WHDS), which was introduced on 1 April 2011 as part of its Spending Review.

It requires, by law, that energy companies above a certain size must provide their most vulnerable customers with a rebate on their annual energy bills.

Only the Big Six energy firms; namely, British Gas, Southern Electric, Scottish & Southern, E.ON, EDF Energy and npower, fall under the main part of the government's scheme."

So not all the energy suppliers are giving the Warm Home Discount to needy customers! It seems some of the remaining 18? companies do it on a voluntary basis but do I have to ask them or can you help me find a list of companies that participate????

Joyful

Here is a list of the suppliers who do the Warm Home Discount https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme/eligibility

Richie-from-the-Boro

knightstyle wrote: »

Hi again everyone, After much searching I found this:

"The Warm Home Discount Scheme

Part of the government's answer to this problem is the Warm Home Discount Scheme (WHDS), which was introduced on 1 April 2011 as part of its Spending Review.

It requires, by law, that energy companies above a certain size must provide their most vulnerable customers with a rebate on their annual energy bills.

Only the Big Six energy firms; namely, British Gas, Southern Electric, Scottish & Southern, E.ON, EDF Energy and npower, fall under the main part of the government's scheme."

So not all the energy suppliers are giving the Warm Home Discount to needy customers! It seems some of the remaining 18? companies do it on a voluntary basis but do I have to ask them or can you help me find a list of companies that participate????

HiYa knightstyle, there are now currently 18 participating suppliers not just the original big 6

Thousands of informative posts here on MSE, if you put the word ' broader ' in the search button TRHS f the page you will find them all going back to 2011. Here's one from summer 2011 before the scheme was introduced. Here's one from Dec 2012. There are 2 types of groups of people who can get it :

The core group is pre-decided by GOV, all participating suppliers are informed in advance of your eligibility and you also receive a 'snail mail' brown envelope from GOV telling you to claim.

The broader group is essentially a pot of grab it while you can dosh from the suppliers, their individual criteria for each [see here] decide (1) who even gets on their list, who (2) then gets or does not get it is down to their individual selection criteria, but as far as I'm aware its usually first come first served. Will you - won't you get broader group - I've no idea !

spiro

The government is now saying WHD is going to come from general taxation and not from suppliers. If that becomes the case I hope the money is creditted to the persons energy account and not paid in cash so its used for what it is meant for.

happenstance

People do die in extreme cold weather, that's just a reality. No amount of money can prevent the natural course of life.

Peoples homes are much warmer than they were, only 50 years ago in most homes just one room was heated.

It would be better to give out electric blankets to pensioners rather than oodles of money as these can be run for 1p an hour and the winter fuel allowance alone is plenty to run one of these in the bedroom and lounge.

Around my area most of the big houses are taken up with pensioners and their multiple spare bedrooms while many families are living on top of each other in a 2 bed flat.

NowRetired

Different providers have a similar tariff by different names, are all as far as I'm aware cancelling it next April

Is that a definite cancelling it or a maybe cancelling it?

I wonder how much I could get away with overestimating my meter readings before April?

200kWh electricity and 1000kWh of gas a month?

I will of course wait to see if my tariff will be reduced because of the green taxation, highly unlikely.

And it is only £1 a week, I'll just fritter it away on another game of cash bingo :rotfl:

Nada666

knightstyle wrote: »

Hi again everyone, After much searching I found this:

"The Warm Home Discount Scheme

Part of the government's answer to this problem is the Warm Home Discount Scheme (WHDS), which was introduced on 1 April 2011 as part of its Spending Review.

It requires, by law, that energy companies above a certain size must provide their most vulnerable customers with a rebate on their annual energy bills.

Only the Big Six energy firms; namely, British Gas, Southern Electric, Scottish & Southern, E.ON, EDF Energy and npower, fall under the main part of the government's scheme."

So not all the energy suppliers are giving the Warm Home Discount to needy customers! It seems some of the remaining 18? companies do it on a voluntary basis but do I have to ask them or can you help me find a list of companies that participate????

There is only one supplier that does it remotely fairly - British Gas. Not one of the others (including the other five you mention) give the discount to their poorest customers.

knightstyle

Thanks again everyone. Richie-from-the-Boro that is just the sort of info. I need.
I am now getting an action plan ready as I won't be on my own when people come into the vestry for advice.

One annoying thing I have found is that E.on and presumably others do not publish tariffs! You have to give them your personal info. and they then select the best tariff for you!

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

knightstyle wrote: »

Thanks again everyone. Richie-from-the-Boro that is just the sort of info. I need.
I am now getting an action plan ready as I won't be on my own when people come into the vestry for advice.

One annoying thing I have found is that E.on and presumably others do not publish tariffs! You have to give them your personal info. and they then select the best tariff for you!

They will if you write to them; if you're on the internet they'll probably assume you will use a price comparison site - which everyone needs to do to get the best price.