Energy Matters Global and Domestic

[NewcastleFalcon]

Happy with ours:
November 2019. 526 elec. 75 gas. Extra week
November 2020. 343 elec. 45 gas
November 2021. 305 elec 46 gas
November 2022. 252 elec. 40 gas

Don’t get how you only consume 40 kWh gas in 30 days

Even if your boiler is 20 kW that equates to the boiler being on for 2 hours in total in November

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I don't think they are kWh. That is the difference in meter readings over the month and may be BTUs. Doesn't worry me as I am only comparing usage not cost!

[myglaren]

One day I will get round to making comparisons. It's a bit of a faff though. Might invoke the Scottish Power graphs.


I have used 31 ft³ of gas this month. 9.1 kWh.
Or 17.3 kWh since the 8th of August. (59 ft³)

[Dormouse]

As the constipated mathematician said, you can work it out with a pencil.

[mickthemaverick]

As the constipated mathematician said, you can work it out with a pencil.

Apparently he was rushed to hospital when his wife bought him a calculator for his birthday!

[NewcastleFalcon]

This is the calculation I use, ties in with Scottish Power's and also the consumption of a 33kWh boiler. Factors vary such as calorific value/adjustment but it's a decent enough approximation.

The Rough Guide

Meanwhile, with the additional £67 or so going into the bank account, thought it might be an idea to shove that away for the purpose it is intended by increasing the direct debit by that amount for the period it applies to.

Guess what in SP's on-line "manage your direct debit", we slotted in the £67 addition only to be met with Scottish Power's ever so friendly message, "to increase your direct debit (to just over £200/month) we require an immediate payment today of £1500.

What's with that Thinking about it they probably anticipate the ending of the support, and for the period after March they want plenty in hand for the 12 months December-end November 2023.

So instead of shoving up to £200 the direct debit for six months, which is obviously "an offer you can't accept", (when to do that they want £1500 today), the £67 assistance will just go in as a manual "overpayment" each month. Currently, still at this point we are £200 plus in credit.

REgards Neil

[Dormouse]

Aren't our national Power and Fuel providers wonderful people.

[myglaren]

I haven't had such a missive from SP but had increased my monthly direct debit months ago to well over what was needed and is still over current deductions. Better to receive a refund than a bill, however unlikely that may turn out to be.
Had a present from that nice Mr Sunak too

I fail to see why they transfer the £66 into my account rather than just deducting it from the monthly total.
All just pixels on a screen of course.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Meanwhile, with the additional £67 or so going into the bank account, thought it might be an idea to shove that away for the purpose it is intended by increasing the direct debit by that amount for the period it applies to.

Guess what in SP's on-line "manage your direct debit", we slotted in the £67 addition only to be met with Scottish Power's ever so friendly message, "to increase your direct debit (to just over £200/month) we require an immediate payment today of £1500.

What's with that Thinking about it they probably anticipate the ending of the support, and for the period after March they want plenty in hand for the 12 months December-end November 2023.

Just think about it the other way too. What do you think the message will be if you say you want to reduce your direct debit. I'm surmising it will be just the same regardless if your account is in credit or not, because they will factor in the 12-month outlook, and say in order for us to reduce your direct debit to £Y/month we require an immediate payment of £X. It will most likely be even larger, than the immediate payment required to increase your direct debit.

If you are with Scottish Power give their "Manage your direct debit a try" see if today's interaction Chez Falcon applies to you.

Regards Neil

[Dormouse]

Why is it Banks, Power companies et al want to hold on to your money for as long as they can? They are pretty tardy at returning it and no signs of an interest sharing bonus for being so generous/gullible to entrust your money to them.

[Dormouse]

We are with SO Energy and when we changed our direct debit at the summer period to reduce our ever increasing credit balance, we had no such issues. Easy peasy, no hassle. We haven't tried it with our current bills but if we do I will let you know if they have changed their policy.

[myglaren]

Scottish Power have been excellent at repaying, with interest, accrued excess direct debit payments.

[mickthemaverick]

We were with Bulb which has now been transferred to Octopus who also guarantee totally green energy. When Bulb carried out our last usage assessment following my economy measures they agreed to reduce the DD from £200 pcm to £151 pcm which it is still at. As a result this morning's email confirming this month's government payment (or some of our tax money back!!) confirms our account is now in credit:

Own work

As much for something to do while I wait for todays footy I have compiled a spreadsheet showing the reductions we have achieved since taking the issue seriously. The sheet compares this year against 2019 to avoid the irregularities caused by COVID. I am pretty happy with the state of play:

Own work

[Dormouse]

We have fitted/bought virtually 100% low energy items over the last 10 years in preparation for our retirement and I have to agree that using LED lights makes a big difference. Choosing the right temp range makes for very pleasant lighting. Our biggest bug bear is so called dimmable LEDs. They flicker rendering them unpleasant to use. I still have 4 outside lamps with Flourescent Eco tubes fitted, assuming they will fail and get replaced with LEDs, but they just keep working, so I am leaving them alone.

[RichardW]

An elderly friend whose affairs we look after is with Ovo - they have ratcheted up the DD, was about £180 / month - then we got bill and it was >£600 in credit. Fag packet calc I reckoned it would level out in 12 months at £60 / month - but I thought we'd go with £80 to build a bit of cushion for potential spring rise!