NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

edwink

purpleshoes wrote: »

Ive been using the low energy bulbs for about 20 years now, as long as Ive been in my flat. Ive only recently started using a kettle, I dont drink tea or coffee, but I boil water to fill a hot water bottle, I figure that the money I use boiling the kettle is well worth it as I'll save money on gas because my heating isn't on.

Im a low user of both gas and electricity, however like most people, my bills would be much lower if we didn't have to pay a standing charge. I used a ridiculously low amount of gas last year, something like 20 units in a year, I was still paying £35 a month for gas and electricity and I know thats very low compared to some people, but for gas, the bulk of my bill is made up of the standing charge.

Hi Purpleshoes


If you did not have the standing charge attached to your tariff your actual tariff unit price would be higher to compensate it!!


I was with a company that did not charge a standing charge and the price of my electric units were double what others were paying. Once my company included a standing charge my electric units rate was halved.


I do think that low users do loose out though because the standing charge has to be paid regardless of you using any units or not. Also on a lot of tariffs you are charged one rate up to 3 units and then another rate for anything over that. As we, like you, are very low users we pay the higher rate most of the time because we rarely go over 3 units a day!!


On the subject of gas we had our gas turned off because we installed a wood burning stove with a back boiler which heats all our hot water in the winter and fuels our 10 radiators. We have a wood burning stove in our kitchen so do not use either gas or electric for cooking. When our company introduced the standing charge on gas and electric we were told we had to pay the gas standing charge even though we were not using any gas. The company said that they would still be required to read the meter periodically so we would have to pay it. In the end we decided to have the meter removed so we did not have to pay the this charge. We have no intentions of moving at all as we love it here so were not bothered if we have a gas meter or not. The pipes are still in the house so at any time we may want to use gas again all we have to do is have a meter fitted.


Edwink x

greenbee

there used to be more variety in tariffs, including lots with no standing charge but a higher unit cost. however, apparently having lots of different tariffs (and other discounts like paperless billing, DD discount etc) made it too difficult to compare prices.

Unfortunately it has meant that there is less choice for most of us - so where you (and I was in a similar situation) might have benefited from a different type of tariff, you have to put up with what the majority wanted.

Given that most people can't even be bothered to work out their annual consumption to do their switching (although you do now get an annual statement for this), just do it based on what their current DD is, which isn't generally representative and may well be wrong, switching isn't going to improve things for a lot of people.

Hopefully once people have got the hang of taking responsibility for their energy consumption and costs, the energy suppliers can come up with more innovative tariffs again.

Turtle

edwink wrote: »

Hi Turtle


We are another one with solar panels and we had ours fitted just over 3 years ago. They are fantastic I am sure you agree with that. We were low users before we got our panels. We are the same as you for not putting everything on in one go. Yesterday here was fab weather for putting the washing machine on. Our panels covered all of that electricity usage.

Edwink x

Yes I do agree They're about 6 months ahead of the estimated generation at the moment which is brilliant for the amount of time we've had them. Our company has a great website as well, where you can see your days generation, and loads of stats so you can compare different months / years etc. I'm a bit of a geek for stuff like that so I love it!

purpleshoes_2

I think low users do lose out. I believe the standing charge was brought back in again because when the recession bit people simply turned off their gas or electricity.

I will have a look at ebico, Im sure Ive had a look at them in the past, but there's no harm looking again.

Im with npower and for more than one reason, I really want to get away from them.

purpleshoes_2

That's me made the application to switch, thanks for that, had looked at them a while back, must have been using more fuel at the time as it wasnt going to save me anything switching, but it will now.

vulpix

Savings,hmm savings,nope doesn't compute,I do not or ever have had savings,seriously well done on having 15k.I used to be so poor that I lived hand to mouth and now I am better off I am used to not having savings so it doesn't worry me.

Electric use.my family is trained to switch off lights and not fill the kettle but my beef is with stuff on standby Mr V couldn't understand why his programme recording sometimes failed ,it was me switching the telly off at the wall when I went to bed:o.Why is there a clock on every mortal thing too? and little lights everywhere on stuff.

I went to see my Mum today whilst the Estate agent did the house viewings.Mr V at work,others elsewhere.She has given me some lovely little family pieces to take home.A tiny old silver frame with a photo of my Grandad as a toddler.A tiny wooden box with brass fixings and an old wooden shuttle from a weaving shed she once worked in.She is worried that when she is gone that my SIL will dump everything because her house is very modern and entertains no clutter.Must admit she is the sort who takes good stuff to the tip instead of the charity shop.

We had a talk about what she could do and decided that she either gave stuff to people she wants to have them now or gets me n my brother together and we sort it out between the three of us.Trouble is she has some stuff of value she wants me to have because i will look after it and bro will just sell it.Awkward.My nephew however is interested in stuff so he will get my Grandads medals and other military stuff.My son will get an old book written by an ancestor from 17 something.I had a massive falling out with my brother 20 years ago so when the time comes it will be very difficult.

I have just won something on eeeeeeebay an old wooden coal box.I am hoping to have an open fire at the next house.Also just bought a shed on fbk will be needed for a while at the next home.

Better get my glad rags on.

Laters Vx

vulpix

GQ just looked at ebico will join up when we move to new house,You could get £15 for recommending me.will remind you when the time comes.

GreyQueen

vulpix wrote: »

GQ just looked at ebico will join up when we move to new house,You could get £15 for recommending me.will remind you when the time comes.

:T Blimey, I didn't know they offered bribes, I just thought they'd be useful to fellow low-users like me. That's a lovely offer, thank you.

This past quarter, I've paid £3.19 a week for my electricty and 91p a week for my gas. My central heating comes off a communal boiler house and is a fixed rent charge, presently just under £40/ month. Nothing I can do to minimize that, but I'm still not wasteful with it.

edwink

I just had a look at the Ebico website and did their calculation on the amount of units we use a year and our electric would be £242 PA. We currently pay £228 with E*n


Edwink x

GreyQueen

I went from E*n to C*-*p and then to Ebico when a yearly fixed deal ended.

If you're a very low user, you'll probably benefit from paying a slightly higher unit cost but not having standing charges. I am in a small flat and have extremely energy-efficient appliances and thrifty habits. For a couple or a family, I can see that there would be a point where you'd be no better off.

The gas standing charge was the dealmaker for me moving to Ebico, I was even-stevens on the leccy side of the dual-fuel contract. They're also reducing their gas price by 3.9% from 30/04/15 - had an email about it earlier this month.