NO Gas meter point number BUT NO Alternative Fuel Payment

LikeaDream

Our village is on the gas grid but households not connected are still using oil fired radiator central heating as we are and we supplement this with a kiln dried log burning stove also feeding the radiator central heating.

EoN Next didn't credit the £200 AFP and refused to accept any enquiries until after the end of February 2023. The AFP payment claim website tells us if we haven't received the AFP payment in February to contact our electricity supplier EoN Next. So, having done so we are told "If you pay for electricity directly to a supplier, you should get this payment automatically from your electricity supplier in February 2023. We're checking whether this will be paid as a bill credit or as a payment into your bank account." This quote was made on 3 March but no payment or credit was made in February.

So, looking at the AFP claim form it tells us we are eligible to claim. BUT have to provide receipts dated September 2022 or later. We bought 7 cubic metres of kiln dried logs in March 2022 when prices were low and topped up our oil tank out of season also and store both fuels ready for September when our heating is needed. Still waiting to hear back from EoN Next. But this looks like we're going to be denied the AFP by EoN as they'll probably say we weren't on the list and denied the AFP by the Council because we don't buy fuel after the start of the heating season we buy in advance at lower prices and store both fuels. A case of 'Money Saving' not in our best interest when the Government decide the rules.  

Reed_Richards

There's no chance that Eon will give you the AFP; forget about that.  Your only hope is to make a claim and you are in the same situation as others posting here that you haven't bought any of your alternative fuel since September 2022.  You are going to have to make noise about this, complain to your MP etc. in the hope that Government will change this rule, because it's silly.  

MattMattMattUK

You will not get the payment from Eon, you need to apply via the portal and your application will be reviewed and paid if it meets the criteria. 

kar999

Reed_Richards said:

There's no chance that Eon will give you the AFP; forget about that.  Your only hope is to make a claim and you are in the same situation as others posting here that you haven't bought any of your alternative fuel since September 2022.  You are going to have to make noise about this, complain to your MP etc. in the hope that Government will change this rule, because it's silly.  

My letter to my MP went off yesterday. Most sensible people buy oil in bulk in the summer.

Mister_G

Martin Lewis raised this with Grant Shaps on his programme last night.

dunstonh

kar999 said:

Reed_Richards said:

There's no chance that Eon will give you the AFP; forget about that.  Your only hope is to make a claim and you are in the same situation as others posting here that you haven't bought any of your alternative fuel since September 2022.  You are going to have to make noise about this, complain to your MP etc. in the hope that Government will change this rule, because it's silly.  

My letter to my MP went off yesterday. Most sensible people buy oil in bulk in the summer.

Summer pricing has been a myth for some time now.  It used to be the case but if you check historic pricing, it doesn't work out like that any more.    China and currency fluctuations are far greater influences and they are not seasonal.

Spoonie_Turtle

So the criteria for the automatic payment were twofold:
1. be in a postcode off the mains gas grid, and
2. be in a census area where the predominant form of heating is not electric.

Presumably from the village being on the gas grid, you were excluded from the automatic payment from the off (see nr 1.). 

The automatic payments seem largely to have gone as intended.
The issue of the manual application criteria is separate, and it does appear they've royally messed it up. 

kar999

dunstonh said:

kar999 said:

Reed_Richards said:

There's no chance that Eon will give you the AFP; forget about that.  Your only hope is to make a claim and you are in the same situation as others posting here that you haven't bought any of your alternative fuel since September 2022.  You are going to have to make noise about this, complain to your MP etc. in the hope that Government will change this rule, because it's silly.  

My letter to my MP went off yesterday. Most sensible people buy oil in bulk in the summer.

Summer pricing has been a myth for some time now.  It used to be the case but if you check historic pricing, it doesn't work out like that any more.    China and currency fluctuations are far greater influences and they are not seasonal.

Admittedly prices are more volatile nowadays due to global demand which is not always seasonal but the $ exchange has always been an influencing factor.

Basic domestic supply and demand still remain a major seasonal factor so summer pricing isn't a total myth. Prices are frequently at their highest in the winter months as the annual spikes predominantly show on this Office for National Statistics chart.

More relevant to this current topic discussion is that it certainly made sense to buy in the summer of 2022 when prices had fallen from almost £2 to 86p (second chart - but still double pre-crisis levels.)

Those, like me, with a tank that holds up to a year's worth of fuel are seemingly unable to claim if we purchased sensibly in readiness for the winter.

Apodemus

kar999 said:

dunstonh said:

kar999 said:

Reed_Richards said:

There's no chance that Eon will give you the AFP; forget about that.  Your only hope is to make a claim and you are in the same situation as others posting here that you haven't bought any of your alternative fuel since September 2022.  You are going to have to make noise about this, complain to your MP etc. in the hope that Government will change this rule, because it's silly.  

My letter to my MP went off yesterday. Most sensible people buy oil in bulk in the summer.

Summer pricing has been a myth for some time now.  It used to be the case but if you check historic pricing, it doesn't work out like that any more.    China and currency fluctuations are far greater influences and they are not seasonal.

...as the annual spikes predominantly show on this Office for National Statistics chart.

Spikes?  What spikes?  I've spent a lifetime looking at scientific data and I see nothing that could reasonably be termed "annual spikes" on that chart!

kar999

Apodemus said:

kar999 said:

dunstonh said:

kar999 said:

Reed_Richards said:

There's no chance that Eon will give you the AFP; forget about that.  Your only hope is to make a claim and you are in the same situation as others posting here that you haven't bought any of your alternative fuel since September 2022.  You are going to have to make noise about this, complain to your MP etc. in the hope that Government will change this rule, because it's silly.  

My letter to my MP went off yesterday. Most sensible people buy oil in bulk in the summer.

Summer pricing has been a myth for some time now.  It used to be the case but if you check historic pricing, it doesn't work out like that any more.    China and currency fluctuations are far greater influences and they are not seasonal.

...as the annual spikes predominantly show on this Office for National Statistics chart.

Spikes?  What spikes?  I've spent a lifetime looking at scientific data and I see nothing that could reasonably be termed "annual spikes" on that chart!

The scale doesn't make it easy but try looking harder at each individual year separately. It doesn't happen every year due to other global economic and weather related factors.

I'm done with flogging this dead horse but you buy in the middle of a cold spell in the winter if you like. It's your money to spend and/or waste.
 



 

dunstonh

2018 peaked in October and fell back as global economies peaked in the growth cycle and fell after that. Iran was an unstable supply that year and an oversupply happened in Q4

2020 was global lockdowns and demand fell off a cliff and they were giving oil away.

2013 followed a peak of growth after the credit crunch but economies went into recession at the end of 2012 and started a long period of lower prices.

2016/17 - Sterling fell and hit a 2017 low in Jan 2017.  That is the cause of that peak. Sterling rose again hitting a short term high in July 2017 before dropping back briefly before increasing again over 2017/18.   

If you dropped exchange rates and Chinese demand over the top of those charts you will they have more of influence and mirror many of the peaks and troughs.