Here I go again ….

Rosie1001

 I’d prefer octopus purely because of their customer service 

I can’t keep doing what I am doing , 

im starting a new job in two weeks and that will take up all my days in the week , I can’t be bothered to fight another energy supplier 

Swipe

QrizB said:

Swipe said:

Rosie1001 said:

So will the tariff I looked at work with Alcs??? 

I can’t find any information on it 

Yes, as long as your smart meter is configured for E7 before you switch away from EDF.

Even if it is still on E10 timings, UW use index readings for billing so the E7 tariff will still "work".

Swipe said:

Either way, if anything went wrong, UW would be able to reconfigure your ALCS to correct it.

Rosie's extensive experience with EDF CS will come in useful if she ever needs to contact UW!

I thought that and is what had put me off joining them previously. But looking at the review sites and the Which? survey results, they seem to have much better customer service ratings than the big other suppliers. Not sure if that is skewed by the partners giving rave reviews to generate more referral money. Believe me, I've had my fair share of agro with E.On Next and will be happy to ditch them in autumn.

Scot_39

QrizB said:

Swipe said:

Rosie1001 said:

So will the tariff I looked at work with Alcs??? 

I can’t find any information on it 

Yes, as long as your smart meter is configured for E7 before you switch away from EDF.

Even if it is still on E10 timings, UW use index readings for billing so the E7 tariff will still "work".

Only if both sets of timings remain E10 - it would seem strange if UW didn't at least update the supplier code and I would hope the rates / kWh (1).

But what about the corresponding tariff timing table (2) ?

And then again what about the ALCS Calander timing details (3) ?

Wonder if anyone knows for sure what they will change - if a supplier like EDF can do only 1+2 as they did on Apr  1st (but sadly didnt relent at noon) - who says others wouldn't do the same ?

Of course get it wrong - if say they only did tariff timing - your back to Apr 1st ?

And suddenly youve got upto 5 hrs of off peak heating via ALCS - charged at 35.7p - its a dangerous assumption.

Swipe

The problem with the ALCS overruns on Snug is, I've read that they sometimes have an on peak gap in the overnight window so you also get punished again with the overlap and most storage heaters might still be fully charging if the gap kicks in at say 2am. It's a pity that Octopus can't reconfigure the ALCS to be bang on the dot when you join Snug. 

Rosie1001

I’m even more confused ! What do I do ???

I just want a decent tariff and supplier 

I am swaying towards octopus ….  

Hopeful I will be on the E7 soon as soon  was meter is updated( will email Edf again tomorrow in regard to this )  and the related moans sorted so I can go ahead and switch 

QrizB

Scot_39 said:

QrizB said:

Swipe said:

Rosie1001 said:

So will the tariff I looked at work with Alcs??? 

I can’t find any information on it 

Yes, as long as your smart meter is configured for E7 before you switch away from EDF.

Even if it is still on E10 timings, UW use index readings for billing so the E7 tariff will still "work".

Only if both sets of timings remain E10 - it would seem strange if UW didn't at least update the supplier code and I would hope the rates / kWh (1).

But what about the corresponding tariff timing table (2) ?

And then again what about the ALCS Calander timing details (3) ?

A competent supplier would update all three at once. And one with decent CS will be able to fix it swiftly if they don't.

In practice, of course, (1) is unimportant for non-PAYG customers. It'll affect the costs shown on the IHD / meter but won't affect billing.

Having (2) and (3) out of sync can be an issue, and we've seen EDF break that link, but I'd hope it's a rare occurrence ...

Rosie1001 said:

I’m even more confused ! What do I do ???
I just want a decent tariff and supplier 

I am swaying towards octopus ….  

Octopus E7 should just work from Day 1.

If you then want to move to one of their smarter tariffs, you can give it a go for a month or two then switch back to E7 if it's not working for you.

mmmmikey

Rosie1001 said:

 I’d prefer octopus purely because of their customer service 

I can’t keep doing what I am doing , 

im starting a new job in two weeks and that will take up all my days in the week , I can’t be bothered to fight another energy supplier 

Hi - at the risk of being a profit of doom I'd put money on you going through this experience for a number of years until you bite the bullet and rep!ace your antique, wasteful heating system with something more appropriate to modern times - or at the very least update the controls and/or use supplementary heaters in the evening.

The heaters themselves may only be 20 or 30 years old but the technology dates back 50 or 60 years. Things have moved on somewhat since then. By modern standards your heaters are crappier than a crap thing having a crap day. That's why the industry is moving away from them and you are finding life so difficult.

Move with the times or continue to swim against the tide until it eventually gets so strong it overwhelms you - the choice is yours......

Scot_39

Except that Octopus - now actually the biggest iirc supplier - aren't moving away from them - and have launched Snug - specifically to control them - in a more modern fashion.

At zero cost to users - and before the latest price drop - a significant saving over even their e7 off peak rates.

I'd probably prefer Cosy style modern TOU with preset ALCS control myself - but not convinced with Snug launched ever a likely option.  Even with the x minutes offset problem.

As it is - I could de-ALCS my heating - it would be far cheaper to add timers - yes maybe even smart or automated ones - to my 3 heaters and HW immersion tank and feed everything 24/7 - than to upgrade even one of the small NSH.

And who knows - pretty soon - it may well dawn on other suppliers - that their are now an extra million plus customers out there - as part of the millions of off gas grid homes - who were on legacy RTS - potentially with what you might think are "crappier than crap" old heating systems - to go after.  Many of them who could bring more £s per household than the dual fuel customers they focus on.

Just as others have introduced other modern TOU tariffs.

As not everyone has the money or the option to upgrade, or the sort of payback period to prioritise / justify the expense.

Now the flexibility / convenience has a real value to many people - and a cost saving to boot - but its not always that much - especially for low users like me - and thats then a choice. 

I have learned to watch the weather forecasts - and tweak my settings regularly - every couple of days sometimes - it's a faff. But one Id rather do for now - than spend £1000s.

Rosie1001

mmmmikey said:

Rosie1001 said:

 I’d prefer octopus purely because of their customer service 

I can’t keep doing what I am doing , 

im starting a new job in two weeks and that will take up all my days in the week , I can’t be bothered to fight another energy supplier 

Hi - at the risk of being a profit of doom I'd put money on you going through this experience for a number of years until you bite the bullet and rep!ace your antique, wasteful heating system with something more appropriate to modern times - or at the very least update the controls and/or use supplementary heaters in the evening.

The heaters themselves may only be 20 or 30 years old but the technology dates back 50 or 60 years. Things have moved on somewhat since then. By modern standards your heaters are crappier than a crap thing having a crap day. That's why the industry is moving away from them and you are finding life so difficult.

Move with the times or continue to swim against the tide until it eventually gets so strong it overwhelms you - the choice is yours......

There is many people who are in my situation and I don’t think your advice is helpful 

where do you propose the money comes from doing all this ???

my husband is in bad  health and he’s 71 this year so definitely won’t be working 

My wages are the main income , and I can’t just magically find money to do what would be a major upgrade 

mmmmikey

Rosie1001 said:

mmmmikey said:

Rosie1001 said:

 I’d prefer octopus purely because of their customer service 

I can’t keep doing what I am doing , 

im starting a new job in two weeks and that will take up all my days in the week , I can’t be bothered to fight another energy supplier 

Hi - at the risk of being a profit of doom I'd put money on you going through this experience for a number of years until you bite the bullet and rep!ace your antique, wasteful heating system with something more appropriate to modern times - or at the very least update the controls and/or use supplementary heaters in the evening.

The heaters themselves may only be 20 or 30 years old but the technology dates back 50 or 60 years. Things have moved on somewhat since then. By modern standards your heaters are crappier than a crap thing having a crap day. That's why the industry is moving away from them and you are finding life so difficult.

Move with the times or continue to swim against the tide until it eventually gets so strong it overwhelms you - the choice is yours......

There is many people who are in my situation and I don’t think your advice is helpful 

where do you propose the money comes from doing all this ???

my husband is in bad  health and he’s 71 this year so definitely won’t be working 

My wages are the main income , and I can’t just magically find money to do what would be a major upgrade 

Hi, the gap here is that I'm describing how the situation as it actually is today, whereas others are overlaying that with how they (often perfectly reasonably) feel it could and/or should be.

The situation today is that Economy 10 is being discontinued by a number of suppliers, and where it is available customer services agents seem to be poorly trained (and even in the best of times customer service isn't always what it should be). Is it acceptable that customer services you have experienced is so poor - no of course not! Is it poor - well, you decide... 

Absolutely right and appropriate that you should complain about it, but I suspect the reality is that it's not likely to get much better any time soon as energy suppliers are likely to focus their attention on training their agents on technologies of the future (like heat pumps, solar panels and batteries) rather than metering systems of the past.

The industry generally is moving away from the type of system you have. There is a very real risk that you get over the current hurdle with EDF only to come up against a similar hurdle with your next supplier, which is what I mean when I say you are swimming against the tide. That's not intended to be a judgement, just a realistic description of where things are at today. The industry is pulling in one direction and you are trying to pull them in another. If you successfully get the industry to change direction (by complaing to your MP and so on) you may get them to change. But that's a fairly big "if" IMHO.

The money to "do all this" potentially comes from the savings you make by switching to a less wasteful heating system and taking advantage of the better pricing that will become available to you if you do. How you get there depends on your financial circumstances, but suffice to say there are lots of options and possibilities.