Changes To StayWarm

jinty1944

I was one finger click away from changing to Atlantic when I decided to have a look at the Staywarm forum.

Can't begin to thank GAL enough for her post about the allowance for anyone on DLA.

I decided to phone and ask if it was still relevant and have now been told my monthly payment will go down from £109.00 to £74.00 A massive difference of £420.00 per year.

While I am over the moon about this, my husband has been on this benefit throughout the five years we have been with Staywarm and I now wonder how much I have been overcharged during this period........ We have tried in the past for the Loft insulation but as I have a small works pension we have never qualified, hence the reason I had never thouhgt to mention DLA.

Why can't they make it part of your annual review to clarify with you which benefits you have? Obviously it is more economical to them that the majority of their customers remain in ignorance!

Once again, :T , to this forum and long may it continue to help and assist.

Cheers,
Janet

ehs34

About a year ago I was complaining about the high cost of Staywarm. I have since switched to n-power and now pay £65/month instead of £115/month.

Graham1

Regarding Janet's post #212 (Staywarm rate being lower for people on any disability benefits) - after a phone call to them today it appears they have now phased this concession out.

They also say there is a usage threshold and anybody above that threshold is not allowed to go on Staywarm (not even at a higher rate).
But they can't say what the limit is, they just punch the numbers into a computer and it tells them yes or no ("computer says no").

I know Staywarm gets a lot of negative comments here, but for some people, e.g. in older houses or on otherwise expensive (electric only) heating, it has sometimes been a good option. With these changes by Powergen it looks like far fewer of those people who might have benefited will - and many of those who qualify will be lower usage consumers who can get a better deal on a metered tariff.

If anyone is coming up to their annual renewal it will be interesting to hear if these changes apply to them as well or if they only apply to new applicants.

Biggles

I imagine anyone, like myself, whose Staywarm is due for renewal at the beginning of Feb, will be pretty happy with them, mine's gone down from £89 to £72 pm.

djohn2002uk

Biggles wrote: »

I imagine anyone, like myself, whose Staywarm is due for renewal at the beginning of Feb, will be pretty happy with them, mine's gone down from £89 to £72 pm.

But how long will it take to make up for paying over the odds for the last couple of years?

Biggles

djohn2002uk wrote: »

But how long will it take to make up for paying over the odds for the last couple of years?

I haven't been, I use the various switching websites and check. I've done it again this year, just to be on the safe side, and it'll be an even better deal if the other tariffs are going up due to the increases announced only a couple of weeks after I got my letter.

djohn2002uk

Biggles wrote: »

I haven't been, I use the various switching websites and check. I've done it again this year, just to be on the safe side, and it'll be an even better deal if the other tariffs are going up due to the increases announced only a couple of weeks after I got my letter.

But that aint the way to compare. I did that when I was with Staywarm and from the results would have probably stayed.
The only true comparison is the one you do yourself from actual consumption, then use to work out costs from the rates/unit prices obtained from supply companies.
Strangely enough, £89 is very close to what I was quoted when I left Staywarm in 2005 and moved to Scottish Power. I worked out my payments with them (which they accepted) at £68/month. After 2yrs I was £3 out. In October I increased this for my new fixed tariff to £74
My consumption appears to bear some relation to yours, from the Staywarm quotes but last year I paid £250 less, and probably the year before too.
I realise that this is not an accurate comparison but surely it is food for thought.

Biggles

djohn2002uk wrote: »

The only true comparison is the one you do yourself from actual consumption, then use to work out costs from the rates/unit prices obtained from supply companies.

Which is what I did, I always take my own meter readings, which is how I could see there was no advantage in switching.

Strangely enough, £89 is very close to what I was quoted when I left Staywarm in 2005 and moved to Scottish Power.

You might have been a much higher user than us, our price was only £61 in 2005. Though Staywarm might vary from one part of the country to another.

chas1937

I check my meter every week and then calculate how much I,d pay with Ebico prices.Staywarm is still cheaper for me although I must add that I,m on the lowest rate because of my benefit reduction.Will be even better now that they have reduced my weeky payment too £15

Alan_Vickers

We were with StayWarm from the beginning of 2001 and in the first few years we thought that it was a very good service. We were charged for gas and electricity for two people living in a four-bedroomed house.

In recent years we have become unhappy with StayWarm charges but we remained with them in case we required to use more gas and electricity due to illness etc. However, just over a year ago I began to realise that some of our friends were also unhappy about them.

I telephoned StayWarm in November and spoke to a lady about their charges and I was asked for the current readings. She then informed me that we were using more electricity than they would expect and that at the next renewal we should expect an adjustment for this. At that time we were paying StayWarm £113.41 per month. I was surprised at what she had told me and thereupon decided to look for an alternative supplier. Shortly afterwards the lady telephoned back to say that she had made a mistake and had made a new calculation and said that she thought that we using marginally more electricity than what they would expect.

Looking back at the consumption that StayWarm have advised us of the highest annual electricity consumption was 4,968.53 kwh and the highest gas consumption was 27,509.44 kwh. At no time have StayWarm advised us that we were high users.

We have now changed to British Gas for both gas and electricity and have registered for online management of the account. We have been advised that the monthly Direct Debit payments will be £19.00 for electricity and £26.50 for gas. This is a substantial reduction from what we were paying StayWarm.

As far as we are concerned we were paying StayWarm a large amount for the privilege of being able to use 'as much gas and electricity as we wished' and, for us, they have outlived their usefulness. Since we have left them they have sent a letter telling us about cavity wall insulation.

Alan Vickers.