ENERGY MATTERS

[plaques]

Leaving aside global warming Trump is at it again. He now proposes to roll back the Obama's car fuel economy rules. Link. It looks like the lobbyists have won again. The American car industry can carry on without the need for extra research into fuel efficiency and the oil industry will sell more fuel. All this is really very short sighted since the rest of the world will carry on making even more fuel efficient cars and gradually take over the American market by the back door. Also as countries round the world restrict the import of poor fuel efficient cars their export markets will dwindle. At this point they will probably introduce extra tariffs on imports so the consumer will pay extra for their cars. When will the Americans wake up to the fact that Trump and his Republican cohorts aren't interested in the ordinary American?

[Tizer]

Since we left our oil-fuelled rural house for a gas-fuelled one in town the price of oil has gone from 34 to 54p a litre, nearly 60% increase.

[Stanley]

I think about that quite often Tiz, it must be a big relief to you. I know people who retired to their idyllic rural locations and have been sadly disillusioned by the cost of heating their houses. One in particular is on the top of the North Yorkshire Moors!

[Tizer]

`Brexit: Ministers suffer nuclear defeat in Lords' LINK

[plaques]

Euratom is only one of several institutions that we engage in Link.

1.5 British participation in European institutions
1.5.1 European Court of Justice
1.5.2 Unified Patent Court
1.5.3 European Medicines Agency
1.5.4 European Aviation Safety Agency
1.5.5 Galileo Security Monitoring Centre
1.5.6 Euratom
1.5.7 European Space Agency
1.5.8 CERN

Of course all the money saved by not being members will go towards the NHS, won't it?

[Stanley]

Just one more example of the lack of research Cameron did on his great cunning wheeze to unite the Tory Party and kill dissent. It went well didn't it......

[Stanley]

I have been known to complain about the incompetence we meet every day..... I have just had a glaring example of it.
If you are with British Gas you may have received a letter telling you that due to their mistake you are no longer on direct debit and are going to be switched to monthly billing. The letter gives the option of setting up a new direct debit online in your account or by telephone. There is no option in your account settings, only an instruction to call the same number (charged at 01 rates). When you ring you have a wait of at least ten minutes and then a lady with an Asian accent tells you basically that they have a glitch and are working at it. I asked her if that meant I needed to do nothing and she said yes. I asked her why they had sent the letter, she immediately peeled off again into the prepared script. I asked her to log my opinion that the letter is a disgrace, totally unnecessary and should never have been sent. It will not be noted.
This is a joke and it comes from one of the biggest companies in the land...... Is it any wonder we are going rapidly downhill.....

[Stanley]

15 minutes after posting that they rang me to say they had reinstated the Direct Debit using the details thay already had. I took the opportunity to make it a variable debit, this means they charge me each month for what I have used instead of this silly estimate.
Then this morning I get mail form them telling me my direct debit is cancelled........I have ignored it.

[Tizer]

If you get these sort of communications, even if they are on headed paper, take care to make sure you use a genuine phone number to contact the organisation. Fake letters about direct debits have been used to con people into giving out their bank details.

[chinatyke]

Fake letters about direct debits have been used to con people into giving out their bank details.

My immediate thoughts too.

[Big Kev]

I trust it's the 0333 202 9802 number?

[Stanley]

Yup, I checked by looking at old bills and the website.
I haven't looked at them yet because I want to be fully awake but there are two mails on my system, one to check the new Direct Debit details and a revised account to take note of the fact that I am now paying for what I burn each month. The first bill will be a whopper as it clears my debit off, after that they will settle down. I will feel better about paying as I go. That's what smart meters are for!
Later.... I've read the emails and they have got it right. They will straighten my account out on 11the of April. What astonishes me is that they have allowed my dual fuel account to get £527 in debit. It's not the amount, I had an idea of course of where I stand, it's the fact that their system allows it to get so high. Whatever, the money is in the account to pay them and from now on I'll have light bills through the summer and I'll soon claw this back.
I'm a lot happier now I know that I am squaring my account monthly, it will never get anywhere near this figure again!
Just a thought, what does this do for their cash flow? Is there an advantage to them in that they are artificially limiting the size of energy payments so that when asked they can give a rosier picture? It looks like very bad business practice to me.....

[Stanley]

In case anyone is wondering why I didn't just leave them to it, the debt wasn't costing me anything, it's part of the strategy to make sure that when the old man with the scythe catches up with me, there will be no surprises for the kids! These things become important as time passes...... (I'm not thinking of going just yet!)

[Big Kev]

My current deal expires at the end of April, the best I can find is another £20 a month. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things but still a sizeable increase.

[Stanley]

I have an idea that my deal ends about now. I must have a look into it. My attention has, understandably, been on other matters!

[Stanley]

Gas boiler serviced and all OK. When your boiler is ten years old BG recommend buying a new one.... Right.... What's the point of replacing a boiler that is doing its job and functioning perfectly? The answer to that is that they pay out less for repairs and replacement parts which are of course what you pay for with your monthly payment. I shall wait until it gives notice!

[Stanley]

I think this post comes under the heading of 'don't get mad, get even!'. Here's a letter I have sent to British Gas.....

British Gas
Complaints Management Team
PO Box 226, Rotherham, S98 1PB


Customer number ................


I am an 82 year old pensioner with no other income and very limited savings. You recently contacted me to inform me that due to an error on your part I had to reinstate my direct debit arrangement by going onto your website. When I did this I found that direct debits cannot be arranged via the site but had to be done by 'phone call. I will draw a veil over the two hours I spent at my expense on the 'phone and the frustration of finding first that you were not accepting revised arrangements and then being contacted to say that this was wrong. None of this is acceptable.
I took the opportunity to make my direct debit payment variable and not fixed as I do not see the point of having Smart Metering and half hourly readings and being permanently in debit. This of course meant that my first payment under the new arrangement would clear my debit, £526.87. This will be taken from my account in 3 days on the 11th of April.
My complaint is that British Gas have been remiss in that they should never have allowed the debit to reach this ridiculous level. It is an indictment of your management procedures and a considerable financial embarrassment for me.
I expect you to make recompense to me for my expenditure of time and money sorting this lamentable situation out and an ex-gratis payment to partially compensate me for the situation your mismanagement has placed me in.


Please do not respond with platitudes or form letters. I expect action from you and if I do not hear from you immediately I will take this matter much further and cause you the maximum embarrassment. You know that your behaviour as an energy supplier has fallen woefully short of the promises you make so freely on your website.
I may be old but I am not stupid. My advice to you is to take this complaint seriously and act on it.

[Tizer]

Rock on! As Andy Capp's rent collector said: "A nice bit of copperplate, who wrote it for you?" Only joking, I know how well you write! If that doesn't make them think again about their behaviour, nothing will. I look forward to their response. You might want to get one of your young relatives or an OG member to post a copy on Facebook for you, the big companies pay far more attention to social media than to letters these days.

[Stanley]

Thanks Tiz. I am serious about this.
Over to you Ian! Can you publish it anonymously? I think that many more people are in the same position. Indeed I strongly suspect that the 'error' they admitted to in their original letter was in fact a realisation that many of us were being billed using a defective algorithm that allowed these debits to mount up. This is obviously bad for their cash flow and further, was getting worse as time went on. I think this is the course they decided on to rectify the situation. In the end I am certain it is down to incompetent IT management. Surely not!! I am reserving revealing this suspicion as reserve ammunition if they start to wriggle. I shall post any developments.
[It could go viral!]

[Tizer]

You could email a copy and accompanying explanation to Money Box's Paul Lewis: paul@paullewis.co.uk

[chinatyke]

What astonishes me is that they have allowed my dual fuel account to get £527 in debit. It's not the amount, I had an idea of course of where I stand...

Don't they send you statements whenever they prepare a bill or at least have details on line? Perhaps things have changed since I last paid for gas & electricity in the UK but I used to receive a quarterly statement and could see exactly where I stood, not just "have an idea".

[Stanley]

Thanks Tiz, I have done it.
China of course I knew it was big but because of the way they structure their statements the whole figure never appears....

[PanBiker]

Thanks Tiz. I am serious about this.
Over to you Ian! Can you publish it anonymously?

In a word no, someone would have to put their name to it and as you are no longer a member of the club....I am too busy with the local elections to fire fight that one for you if I put it up and I can state categorically that you would get some who will find fault with it if it goes on the local facebook sites. Apart from that it has nowt to do with holes in the road or dog poo so would probably sink like a stone or go over the heads of a lot of the contributors. Onward, I have stuff to print and deliver.

[Stanley]

Understood Ian. Thanks for replying.....

[Stanley]

No response from BG yet, if there is still no reply on Monday they will get a snotty latter and I think my next stop is Offgem. I've had a look at their site and I can't involve them until eight weeks has passed so scrub Monday!