Follow the Yellow Brick Road 2023

badmemory

Don't get me started on BG.  In the first 7 months with them from Nov 21 to May 22 I had 6 bills.  Sounds reasonable doesn't it?  All done to the correct readings so they did not have to reissue any as they had the readings as soon as they asked for them.  The first 2 bills were fine.  The third cancelled bill 2 & added a couple of months.  The fourth bill cancelled bill 3 & added a couple of months.  Bill  5 was alright.  Bill 6 cancelled all of those & reissued the lot.  Move on a couple of months & they transferred me to their new system & billed me, except there was no gas on the bill.  Took me an hour & three quarters to finally find someone sensible enough to tell me that no my gas hadn't been tranferred by accident to another supplier.  I think they do it on purpose to stop you checking up on them.  Their final act of total stupidity was to request a week ago that I increase my DD.  Fine no problem I had seen it coming.  Go to the account to do that & you can't do that because your DD is due out & I still can't today.  I fully expect an email telling me as I haven't increased it to the figure they requested they will do it themselves for more.

The biggest laugh of all is these idiots think I would be stupid enough to have a smart meter fitted.  Just so that they can put me on a prepayment meter by mistake.  Or alternatively I could have a smart meter & the battery could fail very early & cut off the gas & them take 2 weeks to replace it in midwinter so no heating.  It has happened.  They were bad 40 years ago & nothing has changed.

Rant over.  Sorry about that.  I need a new supplier but they all seem to be bad.

KajiKita

I am hearing a LOT of bad press about BG these days - to the point I wouldn't even consider them.

We are with EDF and the account rumbles along without any major issues. The smart meter on my electric has died when we switched to them and there was never one on the gas so I submit readings online periodically. (I would never consider having a smart meter without more regulatory controls being in place first.)

KK  

SandyShores

Badmemory that sounds like a nightmare.  I had something similar when we were transferred over to Together Energy.  I had a great experience with (I think) Avro - submitted readings and got bills immediately etc and they were really cheap - knew exactly where I was with my spending.  Then I decided to go even cheaper - huge mistake - I can't even remember the name of the company (one select?) but they went bust more or less immediately and we were all transferred over to Together Energy.  Trying to get a proper account of what was owing a nightmare - their bills just didn't make sense and my direct debits didn't show up on the bills, when they were paid regularly.  Eventually resolved it by moving house (where BG is the supplier) almost 2 years later and Together Energy finally managed to balance my account and send me back an overpayment of around £500. To give them some credit when I looked on their website they were a company that was trying to do some good for the community - I think they had just taken on too much.

I agree they all sound pretty bad - and I've got to say I would take an instant billing system over a smart meter any day.  Being able to get a regular bill helped me keep an eye on my spend far more than an IHD or not having to take my readings (its really not an issue to take a reading once a month is it).

Kajikta glad you don't have any major issues.  I really regretted moving suppliers as it wasn't much cheaper (back in the good old days when there were lots of deals around though) and not worth the hassle.  But you don't know what kind of system you are moving too.  I would only move to a supplier with a system where you get regular bills - just once a month on the 1st of the month please.  Oh, and that show your direct debits on those bills too.  Doesn't sounds too demanding (or so I thought ).

KajiKita

I’m really grateful for the fact that we are on a fixed tariff dating from before the Ukraine conflict started. Expires September 2024. I am definitely NOT moving atm! 😉

KK

Staffordia

My beef with BG is that despite asking, they will only bill us every 6 months.  I have resigned myself to submitting meter readings every month which then triggers a bill.  Like you @badmemory, we won't entertain the idea of a smart meter.

savingholmes

I sympathize on energy 

SandyShores

Staffordia said:

My beef with BG is that despite asking, they will only bill us every 6 months.  I have resigned myself to submitting meter readings every month which then triggers a bill.  Like you @badmemory, we won't entertain the idea of a smart meter.

Do you mean you are getting monthly bills with BG if you read the meter @Staffordia?  I wouldn't mind that - our bills with BG were very very random to start with but seem to be quarterly now - although the gas and the electric bills are on different dates for some bizarre reason.

SandyShores

Purchased a small table this morning as a replacement for another item, so I've got to put the replacement on fleebay, and polish up the small table before I add it into the room.  The other item I have on fleebay finishes tomorrow and it has two bids, so it will sell.  My car needs a bit of attention today - top up the washer fluid etc.  Bit of shopping needed later, and then tomorrow I'm planning to do a bit of gardening (hopefully it will warm up a little), some art and catch up on work.  I've also got a bag of stuff to drop at the charity shop (forgot to do it this morning) - its nice to keep the decluttering going.

Staffordia

SandyShores said:

Staffordia said:

My beef with BG is that despite asking, they will only bill us every 6 months.  I have resigned myself to submitting meter readings every month which then triggers a bill.  Like you @badmemory, we won't entertain the idea of a smart meter.

Do you mean you are getting monthly bills with BG if you read the meter @Staffordia?  I wouldn't mind that - our bills with BG were very very random to start with but seem to be quarterly now - although the gas and the electric bills are on different dates for some bizarre reason.

I submitted a reading at the end of January,  5 months into the 6 month period and an eye-watering bill was generated.  I intend to submit a reading again at the end of this month,  so I will report back if it works. I don't want them raising our DD any higher than it already is.  I'm quite capable of saving the money and earning the interest. 

SandyShores

Thanks @Staffordia, will be interesting to see if that works.  I agree, let us manage our bills and savings.

Gardening and cleaning done this morning, as well as shopping and topping up the washer fluid.  

I posted the ebay item this morning, it was a bit of an odd shape so I think (hope) it meets the Evri size for posting.  Its the circumference plus the length, but I got really confused when they were saying measure the two shortest sides and double them, then add the length.  Slightly odd shaped in that there are bits sticking out here and there.  So I measured the longest part of the two shortest sides and multiplied them by two, but of course I was allowing a bit extra and so when you double that, it doubles the extra (but the extra bits were only on one side).  So fingers crossed it will be okay.  It was only after I'd dropped it off I realised I could have just put a piece of tape around the circumference and measured that!

Having a rest before I do some art and then have a look at work to prepare for tomorrow.  I resent doing the work, but I know it will mean I have a better start to the week.