British Gas, Energy Savings Trust rant

bamboozledwithcars

I've been quietly and efficiently trying to fix my energy situation after I made a huge error not switching provider in October and found myself at the mercy of British Gas.  Not being one to panic I started meter readings, as british gas told me they couldn't install a gas meter only electricity, and made a call to the Energy Savings Trust to see if I could get a loan for solar or something else.  I'm a single mum btw, get a bit of universal credit have a wee bit of savings and feel very strongly about not contributing to landfill ie i do love buying 2nd hand and reusing.  First off after a quick chat they got me onto Warmer Homes Scotland and after establishing I qualified and a home visit told me I couldn't get solar panels , and they didn't recommend I get them with a loan they would replace my whole heating system for free , aprox £8000, to make it more efficient !!!!! My house is only 14 years old, the system works fine it just needed a bit of a repair here and there. I refused their offer on the basis of it being totally ungreen (is that a word???), established they couldn't help in any other way , so paid privately for a bloke to come service and repair my system £650, pretty good deal actually as a few parts needed replaced.  

British Gas rant now , omg, I've had to call them, I say call I mean elongated online chats where they talk absolute nonsense, to get my last 3 bills corrected as they say I have used no electricity and not even charged the standing charges.  That's the bit of my bill with the smart meter too.  I got a new smart meter in February to cover both but like everyone else no means of monitoring online or on the app.  Why oh why can an outfit as huge as British Gas not have a working app or system? Who is working on this? Where are the updates? Where is the regulator in all of this , surely British Gas has a duty of care to ensure that we all have the ability to budget?  I'm lucky I have no learning disability, I'm reasonably tech savvy, and I can count but what about those of us who have these challenges? It seems like discrimination that smart meters have been thrust upon us, in good faith, but they have not designed a robust enough system to allow the service users to actually be able to use them in the way they were designed and have taken away the ability to upload your own meter readings so you can see how you are managing your money.  I'll rant away again, where is the regulator in all this???

Final rant, having just driven from Penrith up to the North of Scotland and through fields of wind turbines it strikes me that there are peaks and troughs of energy availability.  The grid surely knows when we have a surplus of energy and when we are tight.  It used to be you put your washing machine on during the night , rather than 6pm when you got home from work.  Why aren't we incentivised to work within the means of the grid ? Surely having a discount for off peak energy is the way to go for everyone ?

That's my rant over, I am dismayed not just for myself but for everyone, especially the vulnerable.  British Gas needs a kick up the bum , the regulator needs a kick up the bum and start actually regulating and implementing progressive green ideas. The quangos to help need to stop being a scheme to help their mates install systems over perfectly good ones and be reaching out to those who don't know how to apply for the help.  Oil and Gas is a finite resource but we need to be smarter at rationing it rather than shafting over the most vulnerable.  

BUFF

bamboozledwithcars said:

Final rant, having just driven from Penrith up to the North of Scotland and through fields of wind turbines it strikes me that there are peaks and troughs of energy availability.  The grid surely knows when we have a surplus of energy and when we are tight.  It used to be you put your washing machine on during the night , rather than 6pm when you got home from work.  Why aren't we incentivised to work within the means of the grid ? Surely having a discount for off peak energy is the way to go for everyone ?

Time of use tariffs exist & no doubt more will come as smart meter adoption increases.

FreeBear

bamboozledwithcars said:  Not being one to panic I started meter readings, as british gas told me they couldn't install a gas meter only electricity,

If BF can install a smart electricity meter, they can certainly manage to install a gas one at the same time - The gas meter connects to the same hub as the electricity meter to send out the readings..

And on the subject of smart meters, why can't we have a P1 port like the Dutch have - This would enable the home user to plug a simple & cheap cable in and read data from the meter(s) via their computer. Would save on needing an IHD and give the end user the ability to do "stuff" with the data.

brewerdave

FreeBear said:

bamboozledwithcars said:  Not being one to panic I started meter readings, as british gas told me they couldn't install a gas meter only electricity,

If BG can install a smart electricity meter, they can certainly manage to install a gas one at the same time - The gas meter connects to the same hub as the electricity meter to send out the readings..

Unfortunately, if the gas meter is sufficiently far from the leccy meter this isn't necessarily true. For instance, if the gas meter is in a ground enclosure at the front of a property and the leccy meter is inside the house the signals need to be boosted to reach the hub - and the standard fitters of smarts don't routinely carry the gear .
An acquaintance of mine had smarts installed by SP and in the 2 years before he moved ,they had never successfully commissioned the gas meter.

FreeBear

brewerdave said:

FreeBear said:

bamboozledwithcars said:  Not being one to panic I started meter readings, as british gas told me they couldn't install a gas meter only electricity,

If BG can install a smart electricity meter, they can certainly manage to install a gas one at the same time - The gas meter connects to the same hub as the electricity meter to send out the readings..

Unfortunately, if the gas meter is sufficiently far from the leccy meter this isn't necessarily true. For instance, if the gas meter is in a ground enclosure at the front of a property and the leccy meter is inside the house the signals need to be boosted to reach the hub - and the standard fitters of smarts don't routinely carry the gear .
An acquaintance of mine had smarts installed by SP and in the 2 years before he moved ,they had never successfully commissioned the gas meter.

The other scenario where gas<->electricity connection would be a problem is with flats.