We will get this debt down & the savings up

Sun_Addict

We’re with 🐙 and have a smart meter. Advantages for me are not having to kneel down and shine a torch on the electricity meter to read it and not having to go outside and prise the box off the gas meter. Never had any problems with it, installed and set up quickly and meter readings seem to be accurate. The energy saving hours did save a bit of money but not loads. They’re not doing them at the moment though. I can’t think of any cons to be honest. 

Makingabobor2

Sun_Addict said:

We’re with 🐙 and have a smart meter. Advantages for me are not having to kneel down and shine a torch on the electricity meter to read it and not having to go outside and prise the box off the gas meter. Never had any problems with it, installed and set up quickly and meter readings seem to be accurate. The energy saving hours did save a bit of money but not loads. They’re not doing them at the moment though. I can’t think of any cons to be honest. 

So you don't check your readings to make sure they are correct?  Are you on the flexible tariff?  They are offering us the option when our fixed tariff ends in August, to either go on flexible at £164 a month, but say it could change every 3 months as tariff goes up & down, or a 12 month fixed for £167 a month. At the moment the flexible is cheaper per unit, but not sure it wills stay that way by next winter

Sun_Addict

I check them every so often but not monthly. I know roughly what our average usage is depending on the time of year and it stays pretty constant. We are heavy users as there’s someone in the house all day so heating is on all day in winter, Mr SA has the TV on all day and my DD works until 9pm then is online gaming until 1am. We are on a flexible tariff. 

Makingabobor2

Has your flexible tariff gone up a lot since you've been on it @Sun_Addict?  We've been on fixed tariffs for so many years now, I've forgotten what its like to be on a flexible and the way they worded the email, made me think that it could go up quite a lot again.  The amount they have quoted at the moment, the £164 is still £53 higher than we are paying on our current fixed tariff.  So that is a massive increase to start with

Sun_Addict

We used to be on a fixed tariff and obviously the amount went up a fair bit then even more since the price hike last year. I tend to gauge mine on the monthly amount and whether I think that’s affordable. I recently thought about fixing and I’d be tempted by the fix offer. 

outoftheviciouscircle

I have a smart meter, have for some years now. The reading is always accurate. Like you, I'm on a cheap fix until the end of July, the days of my £49 DD will be long gone. I haven't even looked at fixing, but now you have me thinking. I may see how it goes for a couple of months and see how the energy cap goes. I certainly don't think I'd be going for a long fix. I suppose I should see whats on offer.

Smart meters do make you more aware of your energy usage, I don't think they are massive money savers, if something needs to be on, it's on lol. It did however make me use the air fryer more than the oven.

joedenise

Same for me @outoftheviciouscircle - since we changed to Octopus in February and got the smart meter I think the oven has only been on once or twice - generally use the Remoska or halogen oven.

EssexHebridean

No Smart Meters for us as yet - we were previously holding off because we'd always tended to be with smaller suppliers and with us having Economy 7 electric we were wary of risking getting SOLR'ed to British Gas if a supplier went bust (BG can't cope with E7 on smart meter, ludicrously!). Now of course it's not worth us bothering where we are as we're going to be moving. I will definitely be getting them installed in the new house though - if only to give access to the range of different smart tariffs there are out there now! 

You do still need to check readings on an at least occasional basis - and of course you still need to check your bills as you usually would to make sure everything is in order, but it's definitely less faff. As for the variable tariffs, obviously those have just dropped back to the energy cap level and we've seen a bit of a saving - at the moment there doesn't seem to be much expectation of prices rising sharply again for the next few quarters although of course things can always change.

MrsPorridge

I was against smart meters, but the inevitable happened and we got one a few months ago.  Was shocked at how much the dehumidifier used (now switched off) and also how much our hall and landing lights cost - so we will change those to LED bulbs come the winter.  It has definitely saved us money!

Makingabobor2

Hi readers. Not sure I deserve any readers TBH, my posts are not very frequent and pretty boring, but thanks for chatting and motivating me. Sorry I've been AWOL for so long, had a few things going on, but am back on it now. 

 Good news is that I have sat down and started my new budget book sorted out a few transfers from DH's wages that need tweaking now and I've started to sort out what/where/how much etc we are going to pay off/save from my pension. The first full amount hits the bank on Monday, after last one only being 2 weeks due to my birthday being mid month.   The next 2 months we have a couple of things to pay that will take up a bit more of the pension, but once they are sorted, it will be all systems go with massive OPs on the mortgage every month, trying to get some good F&Fs for the debts and getting the savings pots up. I am quietly confident about it all and looking forward to sitting down next week with the budget book to actually work out the budgets a bit more.  I thought I was doing ok and then realised that I hadn't budgeted for petrol for the car...only for DH's motorbike....oops.   Also although I was going to have a House & Garden budget, which we have never had before, but I can't work out how to actually organise it so that there is enough for short term things...new bed linen, garden plants etc and also long term things like new bedroom carpet, which we have been saying we need for ages.   Also should I have a separate savings pot for new furniture etc, or keep it in the house pot?  We desperately could do with a new sofa TBH, it is 20 years old now and really doesn't help my dodgy hip & back.   Anyway, when my brain isn't suffering from Friday afternoon fogginess, I will sit down next week for round 2 of the budget book. 

On the MSE front, the money from surveys has been building quite well this month and now I won't need that for other things, I hope to put that towards either some MSE challenges, or holiday pot.  I really need to get my 1p a day challenge back on track, that has gone right down hill lately. 

Thanks for all the replies re Smart Meters. Still not sure. So many people think they are great and then I read reviews of people who have had nothing but problems with them, not connecting properly etc etc.  My friend has one and the Tentacled ones are still telling her that they can't get her gas reading, it just won't connect for some reason and this has been going on for months.  The good thing is that we are well in credit still so when our payments go up next month with the end of our present tariff, I will be seeing if I can get the DD down a bit to what they are suggesting it will be. Waiting till the next meter reading on the 17th Aug to see what the final credit will be, and then tariff finishes on 22nd.

So, off to see how much is available to cash out from P/fc today and then get some dinner on. Today its boring chicken pie for DH....well he doesn't think they are boring, but I'm not really a pie lover at all, so will be having a chicken fillet. Got some nice new potatoes to do with them and will see what veggies need using.  DH is probably expecting chips, but as we had them with some fish earlier in the week he will be disappointed...lol.
 I'm still contemplating an Air Fryer, but don't want to find its one of those things I don't use very often once I buy it, but if it saves using the, then its a good investment. TBH, I don't use the oven that much, especially in winter when I will use the SC a lot more. And when I do switch oven on, I like to cook other things at the same time, certainly not putting it on for just 1 thing. My in-laws use theirs for heating up ready meals and then moan about how much electric they are using......there's no telling some people....lol. 

Anyway, have a good weekend everybody. Thanks for reading as always