Progress is...

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - I'm amazed at how natural it is now, especially during a week when most other things are on the backburner - that habit of looking at my finances everyday really pays off as it's small chunks rather than a huge thought process once a week or once a month!

rtandon27

Grrrr - Energy company decided to put my direct debit up by 10 pounds a month despite the fact that we are 70 pounds in credit - I'm just going to ask for it back so why waste my time and theirs? The minute that the credit they hold falls below one month (120 pounds) they start taking more money from my account - blithering fools - I'm perfectly able to make my own decisions about my money thank-you very much. My average for the past four years has been less than 120 per month, I'm on a fixed tarriff until next October and I have no plans to use more energy!

Greying_Pilgrim

I feel your pain rt. My energy co do exactly the same, and I have the same feelings about how I pay for what we use, I'm not conning anyone, if we use more for some reason, then I'll pay the difference, but costs always average out to what has been paid in, with some to spare - without their arbitrary dipping into my bank account at will……. 🙄

Greying X

greenbee

Unfortunately the people who can't manage their money have ruined it for the rest of us. At one point BG had the most unsecured debt of any organisation in the UK (including banks) as energy was paid for in arrears. People couldn't cope with paying the bills quarterly as they were too big, or monthly as they couldn't get their heads round the difference between summer and winter bills, or on DD that spread the average cost across the year. So now they all want at least a month of credit on your account (hence a bill when you join a new supplier, not after the first month). Energy companies have to be careful about running up too much debt or they become insolvent and then we have yet more costs added to cover the cost of moving their customers to a new provider…

rtandon27

@Greying_Pilgrim - thank-you for the sympathies hun - what irks me is the amount of my time that they waste - if I added up my time spent every year on useless admin, they would be owing me a month's worth of free energy!

@greenbee - exactly that! - those of us who have paid every bill on time and know how to count our pennies are left being dealt with as if we owe the companies something! Their algorithm should be able to figure out that the money they currently have in credit is enough to cover the 2 weeks until my next reading & at that point when I'm in the red for all of 60 seconds (I pay right away when in the red) then they can take the next payment two weeks later which covers the next month. - I've been doing this for four years, it's long enough for their systems to figure it out! This summer they had so much from me in advance that for 3 months running I requested a refund. The last time I requested a refund I also put in a complaint as the numpty who processed the refund also did something stupid to my account that made it appear as if i owed them thousands - all to correct a 3p error they had made - idiotic that they caused me that much stress for 3p!

Which reminds me - this weekend's paperwork chore is to download copies of my electric bills - I've not done that since I was diagnosed in 2022 but am now in the process of getting all my admin up to date.

badmemory

They decided I was going to be so much in debt this February that they upped my DD. They now owe me over £1200. That is not a misprint. Come Feb I am going to have to watch my language.

greenbee

My DD is currently £0.00. I'm actually getting to the end of my credit as I took some out when money was getting tight in Oct/Nov with the work on the house. But if the sun picks up in Feb I might just squeak through the winter without a bill.

rtandon27

@badmemory - wow - that is an awful lot of cash to be sitting in your accounts - I don't sleep at night if it's anything more than one month's worth!

@greenbee - I'm curious about how you factor in the installation costs or the solar? Did you have a home improvements budget or do you think about it in terms of cost per month? Did the solar up the value of your house (for when/if you resell) - you know a love a good analytical spreadsheet - I'd have costs, depreciation & anything they pay back for feeding into the grid - or if it had upped the value of my house, i'd have it tracked against net worth. As it stands I'm not considering solar or a heat pump - I find what we pay/use on the grid to currently be affordable & the costs would not be net zero for 25 years - i'm certainly not planning on living in this house for that long! We bought the house for it's location rather than any love of the place & it was move in ready!

badmemory

I don't know if this helps but my solar will have paid for itself well within the 10 years suggested. Even with reduced export payments that will still be the case. My biggest problem is needing to have a power shower due to erratic water pressure.

edinburgher

Our solar paid for itself in 10 years and we live in Scotland! 🤣