Help with changing elderly parents suppliers

macman

But 'power sucking gadgets' still account for relatively little energy usage. Elderly people are more likely to be at home in the day and evening, more likely to feel the cold, more likely to be on fixed incomes.
The vast majority of energy usage is on heating and hot water, so bills naturally soar in winter. Accordingly it make sense for these customers to be on DD (not forgetting that this payment method makes it more likely for them to be on a competitive tariff, since most cheaper ones require monthly DD payment).

[Deleted User]

Standard tariff on EDF, which is the ones the O.A.Ps are mostly on, I know, I work for EDF and see their bills, is a hell of a lot more at slightly under £300 quid a year difference ( on average use ) from the price blue plus one year fix and the standard/variable rates.Your old granny is lucky shes got you to check and save her .In my area standard electric is 14.48 kwhr gas 4.3 p kwhr..over 50% of people are still on standard tariffs.They never budge, they don t understand energy bills.Suppliers love them.EDF are one of the few who don t put a premium on paying on receipt of the bill

modsandmockers

The energy suppliers don’t compete on price or even on quality of service - they complete on levels of confusion.

The big price differences are between a supplier’s on-going standard variable tariffs and it’s cheaper short-term but fixed-price tariffs. There are also some smaller price differences according to the method of payment.

Paying by Direct Debit is always cheaper than paying On Receipt of Bill (ie by cheque or cash). But Direct Debit payments can be structured in two different ways. The suppliers prefer you pay into a monthly payment plan which will remain under their control. They will tell you that the monthly payment will be the same each month, and that the extremely variable quarterly bills will always be covered by the payment plan, making it easier for you to budget. They will probably not tell you that until and unless you have been a customer for at least a year, they will be unable to predict your annual energy costs with any degree of accuracy, and therefore there is very likely to be at least one change in the level of the monthly payment - it may go up, and it may go down. It may change more than once in the year.

The second type of Direct Debit payment is called Variable Direct Debit Whole of Bill, and the energy suppliers try to avoid telling you about it. If it is available on your chosen tariff, then, as usual, there will be some kind of discount in return for paying by Direct Debit. Sometimes you will get the same discount as you would get for paying by monthly Direct Debit, but sometimes there will be different levels of discount for the two different Direct Debit schemes. The available discounts for paying by Direct Debit are much smaller than the savings you will make by switching to a cheaper tariff. Not all payment methods are available on all tariffs.

Confused? - that is precisely the suppliers’ intention.

Nada666

modsandmockers wrote: »

Confused? - that is precisely the suppliers’ intention.

Don't be patronising.

Too many pensioners and others are pig-headed not thick. There is nothing especially confusing or complicated about suppliers' pricing.

modsandmockers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32382829

System

As someone who can remember school milk, virol (malt extract) and steam trains, I also find some of the comments in this thread somewhat patronising. Nada66 is correct: older people can be stubborn but I suspect that a higher proportion of 'oldies' switch energy suppliers than do some of the younger generations. We also embrace new technology when we can see a benefit. My grandson frequently e-mails me when it is time to upgrade my phone and IPad OS. As Grandads do, I play dumb having already upgraded the firmware. Right it's time to pop out in my EV for some supplies - not forgetting to ensure that I have my IPhone with me to control my smart Heating (not that's it's turned on at the moment), and my contactless bank card. Should have Apple Pay set up next week.

Edit:

Posted this on the wrong thread initially. Trying to be too clever using the new split screen on IOS9 Beta

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

sacsquacco wrote: »

But the older generation are exactly the ones who should be making the most of the huge discount ( at least 25% and more ) by paying by direct debits. A lot are living on a shrinking real value state pension and the £300 quid a year reduction in energy bills is worth their hatred and mistrust of direct debit. When its explained how the system works, its just good economics not to be throwing away money just because they re used to paying at the post office.Eg, a winter gas bill of say,£372 , not unusual for O.A.Ps would drop to £287 electing for a cheaper direct debit tariff.This would be a BG standard tariff for gas of 13.2 p/kwhr compared to the 9.7 p/kwhr which Sainsburys Energy ( BG ) offer..serious money being thrown away by sticking to paying on the bill

Besides all the stereotypes about older people that I won't address, to say the state pension is shrinking in real value is factually inaccurate.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11669052/George-Osbornes-pensions-triple-lock-will-help-drive-Britain-into-deficit.html

modsandmockers

Hengus wrote: »

As someone who can remember school milk, virol (malt extract) and steam trains, I also find some of the comments in this thread somewhat patronising. Nada66 is correct: older people can be stubborn but I suspect that a higher proportion of 'oldies' switch energy suppliers than do some of the younger generations. We also embrace new technology when we can see a benefit. My grandson frequently e-mails me when it is time to upgrade my phone and IPad OS. As Grandads do, I play dumb having already upgraded the firmware. Right it's time to pop out in my EV for some supplies - not forgetting to ensure that I have my IPhone with me to control my smart Heating (not that's it's turned on at the moment), and my contactless bank card. Should have Apple Pay set up next week.

Edit:

Posted this on the wrong thread initially. Trying to be too clever using the new split screen on IOS9 Beta

Last Tuesday afternoon I ordered an item from a retailer on Ebay, and I selected Standard Delivery and the Collect from Argos option at no extra cost. An hour or two later, I received the email telling me that the item had been despatched, and at some point during the night I received an email from the courier telling me that the parcel would delivered to my local Argos between 1115-1215 the following day. In the morning, I selected ‘Track my Item’ on the courier’s email, and was presented with a map which gave me the name of the van driver and showed me his location. It told me that my parcel was delivery no 42, and that the driver was currently on delivery no 7. It confirmed the estimated delivery time which the email had already given me. At around 11am, I checked again, and the driver had reached delivery number 37 (or so), and the delivery time had been changed to ‘25 minutes from now’. 25 minutes later, the map had disappeared and was replaced with the precise time of the drop, and the name of the person who had signed for it. About 3 minutes later, I received a text from Ebay confirming that my purchase was now available for collection from Argos, and giving me a code for proof of ID. When I went to Argos, the staff knew exactly what to do and found the parcel immediately.

O when O when will the privatised energy industry wake up to the fact that it was supposed to be a part of the march of progress?

[Deleted User]

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

Besides all the stereotypes about older people that I won't address, to say the state pension is shrinking in real value is factually inaccurate.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11669052/George-Osbornes-pensions-triple-lock-will-help-drive-Britain-into-deficit.html

Thats the Telegraphs rosy view...try the Guardians slant for a change of viewpoint on the new state pensions triple lock..
As an working O.A.P. myself I spend half my day visiting quite elderly customers , mostly for BG nowadays and my experience is unique as I have access to their homes and listen to the complaints daily .Direct debit is a dirty word for them, I hear it all the time, not all of course, many are clued up and online with all the info needed, but with 50% still on standard tariffs that woeful figure says it all. I m not sure what percentage not online is but I ve heard the figure of 25% bandied around and I would expect it to comprise mostly of the over 70 s

Taiko

I switched my gran to EDF on a good tariff of theirs at the time. Registered with them that she was elderly, and they've been brilliant at sending someone out every quarter to read the meter. She doesn't have the internet, so I do all her account management for her.

Every quarter, they send a message stating a time and date they'll be around to read the meter, and I just relay that on. She seems happy, as her meter is awkward to access even for myself!