Cost of living!

[Kimbers]

What I don't understand, and I'm sure you'll all put me right is why, if Prices are set for 2,3,4 or even 5 years ahead, why they went up within weeks and months.

is it me being cynical cause it always seems like it goes up immediately or in a short time frame but comes back down much slower AND never to where it was "Retail" despite Wholesale going back to where it was or even lower sometimes.

[Kimbers]

And talking of cost of living. My kids are driving me nuts at present! They just don't give a crap! "Well we pay you rent"!

Look, its a minor thing but its expensive out there. So when we go shopping for the whole week and spend a small fortune, is it too much to ask for a little common sense? If Mom and dad buy 6 Frozen Pizzas and 4 fresh ones and you just HAVE to eat Pizza for breakfast 3 days in a row, is it too much to ask that you eat the fresh Pizzas that go off tomorrow first? Yes? "Dad your being picky". Picky? PICKY? We have 4 Pizzas that we will have to throw away cause you decided you wanted the Frozen ones that last a year and you tell ME I'm in the wrong! AND stop going to work and leaving you light, Computer and Fan on in your bloody bedrooms!!!! PICKY!! ARGHHHHH

[eclat22]

Kimbers, I feel your pain

[Techyd]

I too feel your pain though my children four are still all under 12 and for me it's leaving the lights on, doors left open and leaving their mess wherever they go!

[Rambo]

Let's get this straight. Your parents wouldn't have allowed you to behave like this. Ask them if you don't believe me.

The world's gone soft. Time to get strict.

[C8RKH]

I agree with @Rambo. Put their rent up 50% and explain you're happy to reduce it back if the prove over the next month they are behaving.

Stop pansying about with them and hit them where it hurts, in the wallet.

sick and tired of parents trying to negotiate with kids. Your house your rules if they don't like it they can do one. Bye. I'll pack your case for you.....

[pete]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-11684857/Bank-England-U-turn-dire-recession-forecasts.html. What a surprise the bank of England and mist economists haven't got a clue about the British economy

[Kevin Wheeler]

Economic forecasting? Astrology? Reading tea leaves?

Compare and contrast.

[C8RKH]

Mystic Meg for Governor...

[pete]

11 hours ago, C8RKH said:

Mystic Meg for Governor...

couldnt be any worse

[Bibs]

Wholelsale diesel is down 32p/litre. Pump prices are down 20p/litre. 

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/petrol-diesel-prices-wholesalers-not-passing-price-drop-to-customers-000123496.html

[andydclements]

Just got the Christmas-Jan electricity bill in. Usage was less then the monthly direct debit that the supplier said we needed on average for thee year. I'm guessing that monthly bill will be either the highest or close to the highest usage of any month, so their forecast must be way out. We're 3= x that month's bill in credit, and growing even as we go through the cold dark part of the year. I could be happy that we cut our usage by c15% year on year, so the costs haven't gone up by as much as they could have, or annoyed that we were wasting energy previously.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

On 02/01/2023 at 18:22, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Correction to my December energy usage. It was £288, so £9.29 per day. I didn’t have the final details. £121 electricity and £167 gas.

£275 for January. £125 electricity and £150 gas. £236 per month direct debit.

[Alfa2Evora]

Dual fuel bill from Octopus for January - £754.36. Get to F...............alkirk! It's a 3-bed bungalow, not Blenheim Palace.

If I was depending solely on the State Pension for income, that would leave me a few pence over £85 to survive on for the month, . Oh, but wait a minute. Maybe I've over-reacted. Ah, so once you take off the government subsidy of £67 and the Octopus 'Customer Service Gesture' of £1.52 (their generosity knows no bounds, ), I only need to pay £685.84. That's all right then. Phew! 

Yet again, they've ignored the meter readings I submitted and used estimates instead - if they think that by continually doing this I'm going to relent and be 'persuaded' into installing a (not-so) smart meter, then they've got another think coming. Sitting 'on hold' for my call that's "important to them" to be answered as I write this.

 

[Bibs]

3 bed bungalow here too, albeit with a 300 year old bit which is like heating a sponge! 

Leccy...

Gas...

[PaulCP]

January for us:

Electricity 633kwh              £127

Gas.    2497kwh.                 £  89

Total.                                    £216

Less subsidy                       (£ 67)

Actual charge for month    £149

Thank fcuk I’m still on July 2021 tariff, fixed for 2 years. Really not looking forward to next winter when reality kicks in, the first change to be made to our daily life will be turning off the electric underfloor heating in the conservatory which equates to at least 50% of the total electricity used.

 

[Chillidoggy]

Mine was £455 for gas and lecky with Octopus, which is bearable. No doubt being in the south the climate is generally warmer then further north, but having a boiler that Noah threw out because it was inefficient doesn't help matters.

[Alfa2Evora]

Our house is relatively modern (1997), triple-glazed (fitted 3 years ago) and heavily insulated (also done 3 years ago), with a newish boiler (installed 4 years ago) and, recently, LED bulbs throughout (apart from the outside security lights that I posted about in the 'Unhappy' thread) so it should now be about as economical to heat and light as you can get. I've turned down the main thermostats and the boiler core temperature and reduced the times that the CH is on, like they recommend, and yet according to their estimated readings I'm now using twice the kWh I was 5 years ago.

All I'm asking is that they use the actual meter readings which I submit to them every month, several days before their cut-off point for doing this yet they keep using estimates and I have to persuade them to use what I sent them. Maybe they think what they're trying to bill this month will be acceptable to me because it's about half what they originally tried to get for December (£1495 odd) but it's still double the figure to which they eventually amended the bill (£367 bar a few pence). By my calculations, using the correct readings, January should be about the same or even slightly less than that.

After holding for about an hour, I eventually got to speak to them yesterday and they said that they'd amend the billing but I'm still waiting to see that happen - apparently in this modern age of instant everything, it can take up to 5 days for changes to appear on an account, .

As I said in my previous post, if you're trying to force me into installing a supposed smart meter Octopus, you're further away from success in that department then you ever were, just on principle if nothing else as you've now fired-up my stubborn streak, .

[Chillidoggy]

By contrast, I’ve not had a single problem with Octopus. They even answer my emails promptly. I give them readings when I get the request from them, and the balance is amended accordingly. I was one of the failed Avro clients that was transferred to Octopus, but in truth I had more trouble with Avro.

[MPx]

I'm with Ian...compared to Ovo and SSE before them, Octopus have been great.  I do a meter reading every month and my bill is exactly calculated on that.  Any questions I've had have been answered quickly.  They do still "recommend" that I up my monthly DD to a level not required, but it is in my gift and I make it the right amount to balance the account each year - despite the nonsense they predict from time to time.  By contrast Ovo forced DD changes of over 100% month to month as their system couldn't deal with my higher than avg winter usage and lower than avg summer usage.   I'm still finding the jump in costs a bit shocking and I'm on a fix until next Oct.  After that my bills are likely to increase another 50% unless costs come down a bit.  This was the latest:

[Sparky]

Another Octopus vote here from an ex-Avro customer.

[Rambo]

We're with Octopus too and another thumbs up from me. Electricity D/D is only £48 pm for a simple on line reading. And with the £67 subsidy we're quids in 👍

Never, ever had any problems with Octopus and their customer service is streets ahead of Scottish Power.

[ChrisJ]

3 months bill from BG (before any deductions)

	kWh	of last year	Cost	of last year
Electricity	896	100%	£379	147%
Gas	4387	67%	£516	154%

Highest 1st quarter cost in the last 15 years by quite a large margin.

[Alfa2Evora]

On 12/02/2023 at 14:06, Rambo said:

Never, ever had any problems with Octopus and their customer service is streets ahead of Scottish Power.

That's true - SP were in a league of their own in the customer dis-service stakes.

Actual meter readings now substituted by Octopus in place of the estimates that they keep using regardless, and lo and behold, the adjusted bill is now £327.67.

Still way up on a year ago but half what they were trying to get me to part with last week so I suppose that makes it semi-palatable. 

[C8RKH]

I was an SSE customer since 1996 until Ovo bought them out. Been an OVO customer since. Have a smart meter that has been sending daily readings and my bill is calculated on those readings.

I have had zero issues with Ovo. I manage my bills/consumption etc online via mobile app and PC web access. I see clearly what I have used, what I am being charged for etc.

I am in control of my own direct debit, i just ignore the "suggestions" from Ovo Energy.

They paid my £400 support payments without issue, and I've just been notified my £200 for "alternative fuel" (heating oil) will be paid directly to my bank account this month.

A lot of people who have "issues" are the ones who have constantly switched for years. The industry message flows and back office systems were a complete shambles and many of the issues can be attributed to those. 

With Scottish Power, they have a Spanish designed "back office system" based on the German SAP software and it has had, a long of with many other of the big 6 (Centrica, npower, EDF) who used that system, some challenges. They are slowly getting their systems in order, but no consolation when you are the butt of the issues caused by it.