ENERGY MATTERS

[chinatyke]

A lot of people use phrases such as "...and if I do not hear from you immediately I will take this matter much further...", even solicitors do it, but time-limited conditions usually have no basis in law. They will respond (hopefully) when they are ready!
In reality you are a single insignificant customer. At the chemical works where I last worked we had a 12" dedicated gas main and compressed the gas to 25barg and stored it on site. Imagine our gas bills! We were considered a significant account.

[Stanley]

That makes no difference to my rights under the law China and I shall exploit them to the full. BG are forced to respond by law, the only problem is that I have to wait eight weeks before I can trigger the legal process.

[Big Kev]

Just renewed my energy tarrifs until 2021, they're slightly more than the tarrifs I was on but still the cheapest I could find.

[Stanley]

I'm in limbo now. They sent me a customer satisfaction survey to fill in, I did and it must be one of the worst they have ever received!

[Stanley]

No acknowledgement from BG to say they have received my letter so I have sent another this morning pointing out that simple courtesy says they should let me know it has been received and is getting attention. Or am I just hopelessly old fashioned?

[chinatyke]

No acknowledgement from BG to say they have received my letter so I have sent another this morning pointing out that simple courtesy says they should let me know it has been received and is getting attention. Or am I just hopelessly old fashioned?

No, just unrealistic in your expectation that they will reply within your time frame.

[Stanley]

I don't agree. At one time it was standard practice for all government departments to acknowledge receipt of a communication with a standard printed post card. Common courtesy and oiled the wheels of administration.

[chinatyke]

At one time it was standard practice ...

There you go again, living in the past!

[Stanley]

So are BG China. I got a letter yesterday to say they have received the complaint and will get back to me within seven days with a response. It was posted before I sent my wake-up letter.

[PanBiker]

We have just re-jigged our supplier to Octopus, better deal and no termination charges throughout the two year contract, paperless and less money.

[Stanley]

The BG complaint is settled. They have admitted they were at fault and given me a substantial credit.

[Big Kev]

The BG complaint is settled. They have admitted they were at fault and given me a substantial credit.

Result

[chinatyke]

Well done. Great result.

[PanBiker]

Excellent.

[Tizer]

Mission completed. Russia and North Korea next!

[Stanley]

They didn't like it, in fact they suggested that I should have noticed I wasn't paying enough. I had to point out that nobody could understand their arcane billing system. My job is to burn the energy and pay the bills, their's is to manage the payments system. The actual 'error' was that along with many others I suspect, their computer had a brain fart and stopped billing me for leccy......

[plaques]

their computer had a brain fart and stopped billing me for leccy......

Does it know that you should get all your sunday leccy free?

[PanBiker]

On the other side of the coin, we are £348.00 in credit with BG. This is despite them varying our debit to try and compensate. They can refund us all of that which will pay for the next 4 months or possibly 5 from our new supplier. I will have to read my own meters for a while as the energy companies have not yet got to the stage of universal and reconfigurable smart meters (not that smart then)! This is on the cards but may be another 2 or 3 years in the implementation. I can have smart meters but I will wait before getting them swapped out to see if I am happy with Octopus. There is no exit penalty if they don't come up to expectation. Win win so far.

[Big Kev]

I took the 'in house' deal that was on offer at Npower, seamless so far but I'm keeping a close eye on things.

[Stanley]

I've just paid them for your refund Ian! The problem is in the type of direct debit. I've found that you have to specify that it should be variable and monthly when setting it up. The default is the fixed DD which is where the errors arise.
P, according to the last statement, yes. But who knows whether the statement is correct!

[Stanley]

his morning I got notification that my fixed price tariff is about to expire. I have signed up for their latest Fixed Price tariff that lasts for two years. I didn't consider changing supplier because I have never seen any evidence that switching to what looks like a lower tariff is effective in the long run, nobody is getting energy cheaper than anyone else, what they are interested in is customer numbers. I can hear the collective sighs, I might be wrong but I'll do my own way.
Taking the Fixed price again seems to me to be a good bet. We are going to go through a very turbulent period nationally and I can't see one of the results being lower energy prices. I think that's a better bet than buying a lottery ticket!
The free leccy has disappeared but I don't see that as a significant factor, it was always a cunning wheeze and in some ways I'll be glad to not have to consider it but do my cooking and washing when it suits me.

[Stanley]

Free leccy was good but I am enjoying the fact I can spread the housework out and do it at a time that suits me!

[Tizer]

Yesterday I had the satisfaction of running the washing machine, then the tumble direr, then the dishwasher, all on free leccy from our solar panels. Last time I reported on them was 28 February when the best daily generation I got was 11 kWh, now on the recent sunny days I've been getting about 21 kWh.

[Stanley]

Lovely, I'd rather be a slave to the sun than BG!

[Stanley]

I'm still enjoying the freedom of not being tied to the clock for free leccy. I'm more efficient now that I can spread the load without feeling I am losing out on the free juice.