BBC Mis Information

Lastonestanding

Chrysalis said:

But on the hyping up of the problem, I do think the media have actually underplayed it.  This is far bigger than the poll tax problems as an example yet the poll tax caused riots, this has the potential to go way beyond that.

You can turn your energy off at the meter, the poll tax was a new fixed tax.
I do wish people would stop hyping this up. If you are worried, turn off your central heating and leave it off until November. But I guess you will switch it on sooner, because you are not poor?

daveyjp

Turning the meter off does not stop the bills.

QrizB

daveyjp said:

Turning the meter off does not stop the bills.

The suggestion was to turn the energy supply off at the meter, not to turn the meter off.

It would reduce the bills to about 45p a day (elec) / 27p a day (gas). Much more affordable than the £15 a day (combined elec and gas) that an average consumer might otherwise be facing in winter.

comeandgo

daveyjp said:

Turning the meter off does not stop the bills.

No but it will reduce them.  

wild666

£500 per month? Maybe for one or two months in winter but not every month but I could expect at least one company, mentioning no names, to increase DD's to far more than the average monthly usage that normally means in summer you build up a large credit balance then it decreases to zero over autumn and winter. This company wanted to charge me £70 in summer and £120 in winter back in 2018, that's why I dumped them.
With the increase mentioned to be around 77%, £3500, that's a monthly DD of £291.67 some will carry on using as they did before the October increase and maybe create a debt on their energy account whilst others will cut back usage and see an increase but not as big as if they carried on using before the price cap increase.

pochase

wild666 said:

£500 per month? Maybe for one or two months in winter but not every month but I could expect at least one company, mentioning no names, to increase DD's to far more than the average monthly usage that normally means in summer you build up a large credit balance then it decreases to zero over autumn and winter. This company wanted to charge me £70 in summer and £120 in winter back in 2018, that's why I dumped them.
With the increase mentioned to be around 77%, £3500, that's a monthly DD of £291.67 some will carry on using as they did before the October increase and maybe create a debt on their energy account whilst others will cut back usage and see an increase but not as big as if they carried on using before the price cap increase.

That is exactly what they said. People might see a bill of £500 for the ONE MONTH of January. Not direct debit, but bill for this month.

wild666

wittynamegoeshere said:

I wish Martin and others would give up going on about the six-monthly increase figures and talk about annual rises.  It's going to be somewhere around a 150% rise since last winter.  The percentages compound, so it's a lot more than the two numbers added together.  Nobody has ever experienced a price rise on anything like this scale.  Most people have barely noticed the April rise, as they've been using very little power since then.

October 2021 the cap was £1271 then jump to October 2022 and it's expected to be around the £3500 mark that's a £2229 increase in 12 months, Those on benefits are going to have to seriously cut their usage or find that they have less than £50 per month left if they are on average usage from their benefit. 
Given that they will receive £400 over 6 months, it wont look good if the price increases again in Jan, suspected to be around £300, then if no such payments are made after March 2023 then we could see a lot of people on benefits taken to court for non payment and have prepayment meters installed and not only the debt for energy but possibly any payment the court orders them to pay onto the prepayment meters. 

I know that the increase in October will see my yearly bill for energy rise from £600 to around £1100 in October and slightly more come Jan 2023 if it increases by another £300. I am a low user with around 1550 kWh for electric and 1000 kWh for gas. I intend to cut the electric usage by about 600 kWh and the gas by around 250 kWh. 

pochase

You are forgetting the £650 for those on benefits in your calculations.

brewerdave

wild666 said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

I wish Martin and others would give up going on about the six-monthly increase figures and talk about annual rises.  It's going to be somewhere around a 150% rise since last winter.  The percentages compound, so it's a lot more than the two numbers added together.  Nobody has ever experienced a price rise on anything like this scale.  Most people have barely noticed the April rise, as they've been using very little power since then.

Given that they will receive £400 over 6 months, it wont look good if the price increases again in Jan, suspected to be around £300, then if no such payments are made after March 2023 then we could see a lot of people on benefits taken to court for non payment and have prepayment meters installed and not only the debt for energy but possibly any payment the court orders them to pay onto the prepayment meters. 

If there really are huge numbers then the Court system won't cope PLUS there won't be enuf trained meter fitters available anyway !! It's going to be one hell of a mess after Xmas !!

SAC2334

brewerdave said:

wild666 said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

I wish Martin and others would give up going on about the six-monthly increase figures and talk about annual rises.  It's going to be somewhere around a 150% rise since last winter.  The percentages compound, so it's a lot more than the two numbers added together.  Nobody has ever experienced a price rise on anything like this scale.  Most people have barely noticed the April rise, as they've been using very little power since then.

Given that they will receive £400 over 6 months, it wont look good if the price increases again in Jan, suspected to be around £300, then if no such payments are made after March 2023 then we could see a lot of people on benefits taken to court for non payment and have prepayment meters installed and not only the debt for energy but possibly any payment the court orders them to pay onto the prepayment meters. 

If there really are huge numbers then the Court system won't cope PLUS there won't be enuf trained meter fitters available anyway !! It's going to be one hell of a mess after Xmas !!

What will increase a lot is meter tampering. That is a given .
When I packed in meter reading in 2017 electric  meter tampering, theft of gas, was rife in certain areas with hundreds tampering in the same streets 

. A lot more will be engaging in this now with the excuse that they have been driven to it by rapacious energy suppliers profiteering .
Suppliers do not apply a court prosecution for meter tampering and energy theft but simply rebill the estimated debt .

I ve already seen 3 gas explosions in properties in the last few months and that is bound to increase when the cold weather hits 
The suppliers are all pretty hopeless at stopping energy theft  and maybe only British Gas have any sort of active Revenue Protection Unit but they mainly target Takeways and small businesses .

Smart meters should cut it down but many people were still meter tampering even with smart meters especially with small time cannabis farms .