Changes To StayWarm

margaretclare

sallysaver wrote:

We too have received notification from Staywarm/powergen of an impending 28% increase due to start 9/12. We live in a modern bungalow with every conceivable energy saving devices you could have. I have never, ever abused the fact that you can have appliances and central heating running all day and every day for the same monthly payment. For instance, if we were going out for the day, we would automatically turn the heating off. It is in our nature not to 'waste' things. However, on the other hand, a friend of ours is with Staywarm and their central heating runs forever. They are not careful one little bit, but up to now there has been no notification of any increase for them. So, like others on this site, we too will be looking for alternatives come Spring. Incidentally, does anyone know if once you leave Staywarm, is there anything preventing you re-joining again and does anyone know Staywarm's definition of a high user? I understand they are higher than Ofgems figures which are quoted in Post 1 by Martin. Thank you

Hi Sally

Your friend who has Staywarm and 'central heating runs forever'. Has your friend not heard of global warming? Or that we are now net importers of gas rather than net exporters? All of our heating from fossil fuels - non-renewables - has to come from somewhere, has to be paid for, and the waste product i.e. the spare heat, has to go somewhere.

I've lost count of the number of times we've been urged to change to Staywarm because 'they look after older people, they don't charge you by what you use only by the number of rooms and number of people in the house, and you can leave the heating on 24/7 if you want to'.

Well, we don't want to leave the heating on 24/7 - we wouldn't do that even if our bills were zero!

At present we're paying £20 a month for electricity (mainly cooking) and £28 a month for gas. Electricity is with GreenEnergy and gas is with Atlantic. We have a little gas-fire at the front of the back-boiler in the sitting-room, but it has to be an extremely cold day, maybe once a year, before we need to use the gas-fire. The heating is on a timer, on/off mornings then on/off late afternoon to evening.

I can't help thinking that it's all wrong getting people to think they can and should leave the heating on all the time. Whether older people or not, we should all think about the environment.

Aunty Margaret

margaretclare

madstitcher wrote:

My in laws have staywarm, they live in a 3 bed semi. Their monthly bill has gone up to more than £70 a month. We think this price is high (considering we pay about £20 a month less than this) and are trying to get new quotes from different places for them.
But, we're having trouble finding out what their annual usage is, they say (in laws) they don't have any figures to say what their usage is. Has anybody got any ideas if this is the case, and if not, how do we find out what they are? Should staywarm provide them for us?
Thanks

Hi madstitcher

Apparently Staywarm work out their charges quite differently. It's not about what you use - it's about the size of house i.e. number of bedrooms, and number of people living in the house.

See my earlier reply to Sally. We've looked at Staywarm before, and quite apart from the fact that we don't like their philosophy, we had quotes but found we wouldn't save anything, in fact we'd be paying more.

We live in a 2-bed bungalow and at present are paying a total of £48 a month for all power supplies. £70 could be OK for a 3-bed house - I really couldn't say. But it would be a lot more than I'd want to pay. Also there is no possibility of getting these bills down e.g. by better insulation, and what about the folk who go away for several weeks in the winter? They'd still pay whether they were at home or not, whereas, if we went away, all we'd do is turn the heating right down so that the pipes didn't freeze, and that would be that. You couldn't do that on Staywarm.

Aunty Margaret

madstitcher

Thanks for your advice. I think the main problem, which I didn't mention, is that its gone up by 27% for everyone this year as well.
They are going to take readings over the next 3 months and monitor it themselves then see what other prices they can get

sallysaver

Hi madstitcher, Staywarm hasn't gone up for everyone! My friend who I referred to in my earlier post has had no notification of any increase and I only spoke with her on Friday. Would love to know Staywarm's policy on increases?
Aunty Margaret, Agree entirely with your comments on global warming etc, but some people just don't get the message. Like I said previously, we are extremely careful, wastage is not in our nature, but we've got the increase, not them. Funny old world! Regards - Sally

millie

Perhaps your friends contract is not due for renewal. If it is then I would think the renewal letter has either been lost in the post or delayed for some reason. The costs for both Gas & Electric have gone up in leaps and bounds over the past year, as we all know, so I am sure everyones charges will be increased. AS I previously posted ours are due to increase 24th December by 27%

djohn2002uk

You're right Millie, Staywarm price increases occur on the aniversary of your joining date each year. It is a running yearly contract.

An earlier poster sugested that the best time to join Staywarm is in the Autumn. I can assure everyone that there definitely isn't a "Best" time. Staywarm should now be avoided like the plague unless you have money to throw away. In the last 12 months with Scottish Power I have saved £270 off what I would have paid to Staywarm.

Graham1

Although I would agree it's now generally a bad buy for many people there is one category of user for which it may still be very worthwhile - that is people in all electric economy 7 heated houses. Although staywarm is a dual fuel tariff they do give you the same price for electric only if there is no gas in your area. With the big increases everywhere in electricity prices and with all electric heating being a rather expensive option anyway, staywarm might still be a good option for such people.

Anyone considering it should definitely check their consumption (ideally over a full 12 month period) and make the decision based on that alone.

djohn2002uk

Graham1 wrote:

With the big increases everywhere in electricity prices and with all electric heating being a rather expensive option anyway, staywarm might still be a good option for such people.

Anyone considering it should definitely check their consumption (ideally over a full 12 month period) and make the decision based on that alone.

With both Gas and Electricity prices increasing by roughly 12 to 14% on prices that are substantially lower than Staywarm, and people here quating that Staywarm have increased their prices by 27%, I fail to see where anyone can see an advantage in joining such a scheme.
I repeat what I have posted before.
Staywarm use the fact that older people do not generally waste fuel and tend to switch things off when not needed, to their advantage. Who wants to pay £15 - £20 a month more for something they just will not use.
The same goes for Powergens Age Concern tariff which Powergen have admitted is more expensive than thier basic tariff.
On reading all the tales on here of peoples problems with Powergen and their subsdiary schemes it makes me wonder how many people there are in the country who don't read this site and are not capable of seeing anything wrong with their bills and just pay up. Most in the older age group I suspect. This must be a nice little earner (perhaps nasty big earner is a better description) for Powergen.

martint123

Don't foget that the oldies don't go out to work so will possibly need the heating on all day during winter.

margaretclare

martint123 wrote:

Don't forget that the oldies don't go out to work so will possibly need the heating on all day during winter.

Yes, but if the place is well-insulated, once it's warmed up it stays warm for a few hours. Also older people do go out even if not to work, we have other things to go to, and I know several people who go to warmer countries for several weeks each winter - Spain, Cyprus etc for anything up to 3 months.

With Staywarm they'd still be paying even though they're not there.

Our heating presently comes on at 6.30 am and goes off at 10.30 pm, that's just during this present cold snap. But the thermostat is set at 19C so if the temperature inside is at 19C or above (due to good insulation) then the boiler doesn't kick in.

Following this cold snap we'll go back to having the heating on a twice-daily on/off cycle.

Aunty Margaret