What rates are you being offered by your provider at the moment?

pochase

Doc_N said:

Alnat1 said:

The worst thing that can really happen with a smart meter is that the energy company can't pick up the readings automatically and you need to give manual readings (exactly like with the non-smart meters)

It seems some companies don't notify customers when they aren't getting readings and send estimated bills and customers don't notice the bill is estimated. This is no different to a customer with an old type meter not sending readings.

All customers need to be energy aware and check readings on bills against the actual meter (smart or non-smart).  

Increased pricing at the times you’re most likely to want to use energy might be rather worse…..

And what about discounted pricing at low peak times, while those without a smart meter pay the high price all the time? That is more what is currently happening.

bristolleedsfan

pochase said:

Doc_N said:

Alnat1 said:

The worst thing that can really happen with a smart meter is that the energy company can't pick up the readings automatically and you need to give manual readings (exactly like with the non-smart meters)

It seems some companies don't notify customers when they aren't getting readings and send estimated bills and customers don't notice the bill is estimated. This is no different to a customer with an old type meter not sending readings.

All customers need to be energy aware and check readings on bills against the actual meter (smart or non-smart).  

Increased pricing at the times you’re most likely to want to use energy might be rather worse…..

And what about discounted pricing at low peak times, while those without a smart meter pay the high price all the time? That is more what is currently happening.

If you flick through National average pricing for @OctopusEnergy Agile Tariff days, not outgoing tariff very high wholesale prices have for some time = little/no low price times

https://twitter.com/energystatsuk/with_replies

Screenshot for today is one of the better days due to amount of wind



https://twitter.com/energystatsuk/with_replies

Doc_N

pochase said:

Doc_N said:

Alnat1 said:

The worst thing that can really happen with a smart meter is that the energy company can't pick up the readings automatically and you need to give manual readings (exactly like with the non-smart meters)

It seems some companies don't notify customers when they aren't getting readings and send estimated bills and customers don't notice the bill is estimated. This is no different to a customer with an old type meter not sending readings.

All customers need to be energy aware and check readings on bills against the actual meter (smart or non-smart).  

Increased pricing at the times you’re most likely to want to use energy might be rather worse…..

And what about discounted pricing at low peak times, while those without a smart meter pay the high price all the time? That is more what is currently happening.

Is that actually happening?

Telegraph_Sam

It is difficult to generalize and to make connections between low and high prices in the face of market price trends. We can only speculate. But what is clear is that if any one of us wants to enjoy "less high" prices then we owe it to ourselves to check how time of use pricing fits in with our lifestyle. and IF there are advantages then go for it. To me a self-help   no-brainer. That takes advantage of environmental moves to encourage load shifting to non peak periods.
Any one can apply for a smart meter - usually for free.

Doc_N

hollie.weimeraner said:

jefferson89 said:

kim_lloyd25 said:

I'm looking at fixing with Green Energy UK. Its quoting £170 a month, much cheaper than what we've been offered by British Gas, but when I go through to sign up it says they operate Variable Direct Debits. When you sign up is there an option to change this? I'd rather spread it equally through the year than be out of pocket in winter.

kim_lloyd25 said:

I'm looking at fixing with Green Energy UK. Its quoting £170 a month, much cheaper than what we've been offered by British Gas, but when I go through to sign up it says they operate Variable Direct Debits. When you sign up is there an option to change this? I'd rather spread it equally through the year than be out of pocket in winter.

Hey Kim, i have recently joined them, currently going throught the switching process, which should be done on the 4th august, i got the variable also, which i am like yourself prefer a standard direct debit.  i assume you can setup this up once the account is up and running, but will have to see, have you had any more information on this?

Just looked on Green Energy website and there is this message"

We are saddened to let you know that Green is ceasing to trade.

Wrong company there?  That was a different one.

kim_lloyd25

jefferson89 said:

kim_lloyd25 said:

I'm looking at fixing with Green Energy UK. Its quoting £170 a month, much cheaper than what we've been offered by British Gas, but when I go through to sign up it says they operate Variable Direct Debits. When you sign up is there an option to change this? I'd rather spread it equally through the year than be out of pocket in winter.

kim_lloyd25 said:

I'm looking at fixing with Green Energy UK. Its quoting £170 a month, much cheaper than what we've been offered by British Gas, but when I go through to sign up it says they operate Variable Direct Debits. When you sign up is there an option to change this? I'd rather spread it equally through the year than be out of pocket in winter.

Hey Kim, i have recently joined them, currently going throught the switching process, which should be done on the 4th august, i got the variable also, which i am like yourself prefer a standard direct debit.  i assume you can setup this up once the account is up and running, but will have to see, have you had any more information on this?

They've said once we can sort out fixed direct debits once they've taken over our energy. Our switch is due on 7th August so will speak to them then about sorting it. If it had to stay variable I would've just put a fixed amount in a saving space every month so we'd have the money for winter when it came to it.

pochase

While they were answering questions in this regard that you can switch to a fixed direct debit, the latest now seems to be that they are saying that people need to be on variable direct debit for at least 6 months so they get usage data.

Might be again depending which service agent you get, but I would prepare for your plan of budgeting yourself. There are even a few accounts starting to pay a bit of interest.

Mythek1

Eon Next are offering me:
51.63 standing charge

53.17 per KWH (up from 51.6 last night)

Currently I'm on SVR of:
51.63 standing charge

28.41 per KWH

I was trying to decide whether to switch last night but it would have meant speculatively increasing my monthly bill by £90.

spot1034

Eon Next 1 Year v17 and Next Online v17 have both been replaced by v18. Interesting that the 1 Year v18 tariff - the expensive one which surely no one goes for! - has actually come down a bit whilst Next Online v18 shows an increase over its predecessor. I'm not sure what, if anything, we can read in to this. Next Online v18 still looks reasonable for gas against predictions for the new price cap from October (13.33p for my region) but electricity looks rather high with the price for my region at 54.01p.

Interesting also that whilst the last two versions of this tariff have offered a discount to E7 users even if their night use is zero, this is no longer the case with the E7 day rate higher than the single rate, so you need to do the sums to work out if it's cheaper for you.

pochase

Mythek1 said:

Eon Next are offering me:
51.63 standing charge

53.17 per KWH (up from 51.6 last night)

Currently I'm on SVR of:
51.63 standing charge

28.41 per KWH

I was trying to decide whether to switch last night but it would have meant speculatively increasing my monthly bill by £90.

You don't have time to consider if you like an offer. 

If you consider it, take it and use the cool off period to decide if it is really worth it.

Just make sure you have a cool off period for internal switches.