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  • tghe-retford
    tghe-retford Posts: 1,021 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Gerry1 said:
    Ildhund said:
    As one of the BBC's victims suggested, there are customers out there who would just pay any bill sent by their supplier without investigating further. This is a problem in itself, whether back-billing is involved or not. Working out what your energy should cost involves nothing more than primary-school arithmetic. Have we raised generations of citizens who can't even manage this? 
    Sadly we have, probably because Spin is often more highly regarded and rewarded than Substance.
    For far too long, Engineers and Engineering have played second fiddle compared to less rigorous subjects such as sales and marketing, which are regarded as more glamorous.  'The phone box door is stuck?  I'll send out an Engineer to fix it.'
    This bias permeates almost everywhere.  Pure make some excellent and reliable radios, but this amazing nonsense on their GB website has to be seen to be believed.  The author thinks that DAB isn't a Broadcasting service, that DAB radios don't use radio waves, that DAB offers an 'infinite number of radio programmes to choose from' and that you can listen to 'BBC 6' in the UK, but also to 'Radio Energy' out of Germany.  Needless to say, the culprit is a Marketing Manager !
    However, the wooden spoon goes to Halfords: "Digital transmissions contain more information than conventional FM / AM, thanks to the super-fast wavelength of around 220MHz in the UK, compared to the 75KHz or so wavelength of analogue FM / AM radio broadcasts. The choice of channels is much wider too, as you'll be able to listen to channels from all over the UK (and sometimes even abroad), rather than local broadcasts on FM / AM."  Facepalm
    What Halfords wrote was painful to read. Not a flex, but as the person who wrote the majority of the Digital Radio in the United Kingdom article on Wikipedia, so I hope I know something about this, how did they manage to mix up frequency and bandwidth? DAB's bandwidth is 1.536MHz. And as for PURE, the only way you're hearing "Radio Energy" on DAB+ in the UK is during tropospheric conditions where radio signals travel much further during high pressure - I've managed to get radio from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and Germany that way. It's also what causes Freeview channels to drop out and FM stations to get replaced or interference.

    Back to energy, DAB is more energy efficient than FM for broadcasting. It's one of the reasons why Switzerland and Norway turned off FM broadcasts.
  • username
    username Posts: 740 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    Badboi said:
    Many people do lack basic numeracy, estimates are around 40%, 18% of people are functionality illiterate in England, 26.8% in Scotland, combine those two issues and for a huge number of people an energy bill or bank statement might as well be written in Ancient Egyptian. Even above that ability level many people still struggle with anything more complicated that the absolute basics, more than half of people are not able to fully manage their lives, understand bills, bank statements, budgets, even something as basic as a percentage which is why so much media reporting is now fractions "1 in 5" because a huge proportion of people were confused by "20%".

    Now these kind of people are the ones who keep screaming at Ofgem about standing charges and worst of all, Ofgem has decided to listen to them, not because they are intelligent, not because they have a valid position, not because they are rational, but because there are loud and numerous. 
    And yet, they’ll be the ones shouting loudest when they see the unit rate has gone up to cancel out the SC. (Though they might not notice it in reality)
    We have seen this in the broadband sector, all of those screaming the house down to make it "pounds and pence" have got their wish, but the providers have also taken to having a fixed approach for price increases, and also the opportunity to hike it up more.

    It means that those that do have the lower priced broadband are hit hardest, as the fixed pounds and pence amount is higher. Case in point, my broadband with Plusnet. Last year's increase under the CPI+X% - about £1.90/month. I resign the contract and sure enough, there's the fixed £3 increase - so about 50and a bit percentish extra!
    Always beware of the law of unintended consequences combined with ineffectual regulation.
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 10,848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 23 February at 1:19PM
    Gerry1 said:
    Ildhund said:
    As one of the BBC's victims suggested, there are customers out there who would just pay any bill sent by their supplier without investigating further. This is a problem in itself, whether back-billing is involved or not. Working out what your energy should cost involves nothing more than primary-school arithmetic. Have we raised generations of citizens who can't even manage this? 
    Sadly we have, probably because Spin is often more highly regarded and rewarded than Substance.
    For far too long, Engineers and Engineering have played second fiddle compared to less rigorous subjects such as sales and marketing, which are regarded as more glamorous.  'The phone box door is stuck?  I'll send out an Engineer to fix it.'
    This bias permeates almost everywhere.  Pure make some excellent and reliable radios, but this amazing nonsense on their GB website has to be seen to be believed.  The author thinks that DAB isn't a Broadcasting service, that DAB radios don't use radio waves, that DAB offers an 'infinite number of radio programmes to choose from' and that you can listen to 'BBC 6' in the UK, but also to 'Radio Energy' out of Germany.  Needless to say, the culprit is a Marketing Manager !
    However, the wooden spoon goes to Halfords: "Digital transmissions contain more information than conventional FM / AM, thanks to the super-fast wavelength of around 220MHz in the UK, compared to the 75KHz or so wavelength of analogue FM / AM radio broadcasts. The choice of channels is much wider too, as you'll be able to listen to channels from all over the UK (and sometimes even abroad), rather than local broadcasts on FM / AM."  Facepalm
    What Halfords wrote was painful to read. Not a flex, but as the person who wrote the majority of the Digital Radio in the United Kingdom article on Wikipedia, so I hope I know something about this, how did they manage to mix up frequency and bandwidth?
    The same way they mixed up frequency, wavelength and speed?
    Gerry1 said:
    Ildhund said:
    As one of the BBC's victims suggested, there are customers out there who would just pay any bill sent by their supplier without investigating further. This is a problem in itself, whether back-billing is involved or not. Working out what your energy should cost involves nothing more than primary-school arithmetic. Have we raised generations of citizens who can't even manage this? 
    Sadly we have, probably because Spin is often more highly regarded and rewarded than Substance.
    For far too long, Engineers and Engineering have played second fiddle compared to less rigorous subjects such as sales and marketing, which are regarded as more glamorous.  'The phone box door is stuck?  I'll send out an Engineer to fix it.'
    This bias permeates almost everywhere.  Pure make some excellent and reliable radios, but this amazing nonsense on their GB website has to be seen to be believed.  The author thinks that DAB isn't a Broadcasting service, that DAB radios don't use radio waves, that DAB offers an 'infinite number of radio programmes to choose from' and that you can listen to 'BBC 6' in the UK, but also to 'Radio Energy' out of Germany.  Needless to say, the culprit is a Marketing Manager !
    However, the wooden spoon goes to Halfords: "Digital transmissions contain more information than conventional FM / AM, thanks to the super-fast wavelength of around 220MHz in the UK, compared to the 75KHz or so wavelength of analogue FM / AM radio broadcasts. The choice of channels is much wider too, as you'll be able to listen to channels from all over the UK (and sometimes even abroad), rather than local broadcasts on FM / AM."  Facepalm
    Back to energy, DAB is more energy efficient than FM for broadcasting. It's one of the reasons why Switzerland and Norway turned off FM broadcasts.
    A bit debatable.  Probably on the transmission side, based on the total number of stations.  Less certain per listener hour, bearing in mind the much greater number of transmitters and that many stations have few listeners.  And almost certainly not overall because there are millions of listeners; my analogue Grundig G5 will last weeks on four AA rechargeables but I'll be lucky to get ten hours from my Majority Eddington.  Then there are all those wall warts left permanently switched on...
  • QrizB
    QrizB Posts: 18,245 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    Energy in the news, sort of:
    Fake workmen dug up roads to power cannabis farms

    N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec & Tracker gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Ripple Kirk Hill member.
    2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 34 MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.
    Not exactly back from my break, but dipping in and out of the forum.
    Ofgem cap table, Ofgem cap explainer. Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Best kettle!
  • Chrysalis
    Chrysalis Posts: 4,715 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Yeah seen that article.  Never seen that reported before, usually they just bypass meters.
  • 70sbudgie
    70sbudgie Posts: 842 Forumite
    500 Posts Third Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    They are lucky they weren't more seriously injured.
    4.3kW PV, 3.6kW inverter. Octopus Agile import, gas Tracker. Zoe. Ripple x 3. Cheshire
  • victor2
    victor2 Posts: 8,132 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Chrysalis said:
    Yeah seen that article.  Never seen that reported before, usually they just bypass meters.
    Presumably, that's how the "amateurs" do it. 

    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the In My Home MoneySaving, Energy and Techie Stuff boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. 

    All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.

  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 34,579 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Bill reductions for those within 500m of new pylons to ease planning objections
    Households within 500m of new or upgraded pylons will get discounts of up to £2,500 over 10 years, equivalent to £250 a year.




  • TroubledTarts
    TroubledTarts Posts: 390 Forumite
    100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    molerat said:
    Bill reductions for those within 500m of new pylons to ease planning objections
    Households within 500m of new or upgraded pylons will get discounts of up to £2,500 over 10 years, equivalent to £250 a year.




    Looks like a horribly low figure to put up with a pylon that close.

    Especially the mega ones they are putting in across the country.
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 34,579 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    molerat said:
    Bill reductions for those within 500m of new pylons to ease planning objections
    Households within 500m of new or upgraded pylons will get discounts of up to £2,500 over 10 years, equivalent to £250 a year.




    Looks like a horribly low figure to put up with a pylon that close.

    Especially the mega ones they are putting in across the country.
    My SIL is going to be right in the middle of two 180ft pylons, 300m from a pylon and 200m from the cable track.

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