Utility Bills

[Barrykearley]

Yup they are the ones we use. You can add an extra sim on to the master account - and get another 30gb on it - £9 a month instead of £10. 
cheap as chips and fantastic frankly.

[johnpwalsh]

My contracts due up shortly. Then hey can stick it. Only issue is getting cover as Tesco mobile seems o be the only one in our area which is reasonable.

 

[oneshot]

14 hours ago, C8RKH said:

For instance, for £400 (average UK water bill), you get all the water you want and all your waste (if mains connected) taken care of. people bitch and moan about it whilst they are happy to pay £1.75 (sometimes much for) for a polluting plastic bottle of 500ml of water. Total insanity.

God is the water in Scotland expensive?? We pay around £160 for the year. Admittedly we are on a sceptic tank but still £400 seems expensive.

[andydclements]

Mine would be nearly £80 just for being connected, with zero usage. So usage over 30m3 a year puts us past your £160, 2 people in the house, c300l/day, means that 30m3 is about 1/3 of a year.

https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/account-and-bill/tariffs-and-charges/standard-rates/

[Barrykearley]

51 minutes ago, oneshot said:

God is the water in Scotland expensive?? We pay around £160 for the year. Admittedly we are on a sceptic tank but still £400 seems expensive.

Trouble is @C8RKHdoes love washing that lotus and the bastard child

[mg4lotus]

my water bill, £758 this year.

[C8RKH]

3 hours ago, oneshot said:

God is the water in Scotland expensive?? We pay around £160 for the year. Admittedly we are on a sceptic tank but still £400 seems expensive.

What part of "average UK water bill" did you not understand?  

16 hours ago, Barrykearley said:

Seriously chap - you wanna look at that again - some folks are spending much much more - completely pointless in today’s iptv world frankly.

As I said earlier Barry, just quoting the "average" Sky bill - I know people who pay almost a £100 a month for Sky!   

[exeterjeep]

Water bill (not metered) and our own drainage as we are out of town £480 and that is after the governments £50 off.

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, mg4lotus said:

my water bill, £758 this year.

So for around a Starbucks/Costa/Coffeeshop price per day, or around half a pint of beer - you get all the water you need to drink, clean your car, your waste treated etc. Fook me, talk about value for money!

[Barrykearley]

[windymiller]

just got a quote on heating oil 68p plus vat 😒 anyone had a better price of late ??? (got a great deal on split hardwood 5m3 for £330)

[march]

6 minutes ago, windymiller said:

just got a quote on heating oil 68p plus vat 😒 anyone had a better price of late ???

BoilerJuice quoting 46.95 plus VAT for us as of today.

[windymiller]

really  ?? i just used boiler juice and it said 68 😒

[march]

[windymiller]

hmm my quote says no tankers in your area i wonder if thats why ive been loaded ill have to phone round but hopefully 46 will be the answer

[march]

If this helps and just in case you don't know - the break points at which the fuel gets cheaper is 900L and 1800L (1800 I think but worth checking)- If you go over 2100 litres then you have to pay the commercial rates which are a lot higher.

[windymiller]

was for 1250 just ordered at 47p point something plus vat just so weve got it !!!

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Bulb’s blown.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59373198
 

[Frickin_idiot]

1 hour ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Bulb’s blown.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59373198
 

This is what happens when Government intervenes into a market. I suspect that before Winter is out a few more will disappear.

[C8RKH]

6 minutes ago, Frickin_idiot said:

This is what happens when Government intervenes into a market. I suspect that before Winter is out a few more will disappear.

Interesting point of view. Please explain further?

[Frickin_idiot]

The energy price cap is a blunt tool that hasn’t anticipated the massive increase in wholesale energy costs.

 

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, Frickin_idiot said:

The energy price cap is a blunt tool that hasn’t anticipated the massive increase in wholesale energy costs.

 

OK, so the Price Cap is controlled by the Regulator, OFGEM, not the Government. A small but significant fact as it means the Government are NOT intervening.  Also, if the Price Cap was not there, that would adversely affect the most energy poor consumers the biggest. So, what would your alternative be?

The Price Cap was introduced to protect Consumers from rapid energy price rises. All energy suppliers KNOW THIS. So, the prudent energy suppliers, and those with the financial backing, hedge their forward energy purchases to protect themselves from rapid movements in the market. Others don't. What we are seeing is those energy retailers who were not well funded, and who did not have reserves to pay their way (obligations fees etc) going out of business. What's the difference here between them, and say any other business that has not fully understood, planned for, and funded its business operations in a manner that provides sufficient "room" for it to survive stressed market conditions long enough to stay in business? I mean, if you launch a company that sells something at a fixed price for say 12, 18, or even 24 months, does it not make sense to ensure that you protect your business by using a forward hedge of said "product" to cover your self for a similar contractual term? Would that not be a prudent thing to do?

The energy market in the UK is broken because the UK Regulator has been fixated on "switching" as THE best measure of a "healthy market" working in favour of customers. A flawed strategy that has encouraged new entrants to come in, in the belief that customer switching will drive large volumes to them. This coupled with a belief that offering "green" energy will differentiate you (well, doesn't everyone sell Green energy these days?) has created a perfect storm of under financed, new entrants to come in, to deliver often an appalling service, to treat customers appallingly through poor/wrong billing and aggressive debt chasing, all under the watchful guise of a Regulator who then clucks what a marvellous "open" and competitive market we have.  Successive Governments have enacted policy for sure, but make no mistake any "blame" for a poorly run market sits squarely, and fairly, on the well paid shoulders of the civil servants in the Regulator.  By all means hold people to account. But make sure you hold the right people to account.

 

 

[andydclements]

1 hour ago, Frickin_idiot said:

This is what happens when Government intervenes into a market. I suspect that before Winter is out a few more will disappear.

The government (or their agents) intervene in many markets, sometimes for good and achieving good, sometimes for good and achieving the absolute opposite.

In this case though, it's not really the price cap alone, and @C8RKH has pointed out well that this is about suppliers that haven't hedged for future severe increases. These suppliers that have failed, and others will have many customers on fixed price contracts, and those older prices will have been set at what was expected at the time to be a realistic level, but those fixed price contracts are probably even lower then the cap, those fixed prices weren't set or mandated by anybody outside of the energy firm themselves. So, the biggest (by cost per unit, not overall customer base as we don't have the data) loss to the energy firms is caused by those fixed price contracts marketed by the energy firms.

[Bibs]

7 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

OK, so the Price Cap is controlled by the Regulator, OFGEM, not the Government

They're a non-ministerial department of government though run by civil servants under a framework agreed in the Commons.

Quote

A non-ministerial department is a government department in its own right, but does not have its own minister. However, it is accountable to Parliament through its sponsoring ministers. A non-ministerial department is staffed by civil servants and usually has its own estimate and accounts.

 

[Frickin_idiot]

8 minutes ago, Bibs said:

They're a non-ministerial department of government though run by civil servants under a framework agreed in the Commons.

 

Thanks for highlighting this point - I thought as much.