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Energy Bills

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PenW Sep 2022 7:39pm, 1 Sep 2022 2,721 posts	0 PenW How helpful is it to have a smart meter over an ordinary meter (apart from the obvious need to send in meter readings)? I’ve been trying to get a smart meter but it is proving rather difficult. The sales people of course say it’s easy but the engineers have found that I have the neutral supply to both my house and my neighbour’s house running through the meter. This means the energy company is unable to install a smart meter as it involves interrupting the supply to my neighbour as well as me and they are not allowed to do this. Northern powergrid have been out (as it is their problem to fix) and to fix it they need to run a new neutral supply to my neighbour’s house which will involve digging up their drive (which is fairly new). Neighbours are considering whether they are willing for this to happen as it may invalidate the guarantee for their driveway. Apparently it’s a fairly common issue in older semi detached houses and something that the smart meter sales people know absolutely nothing about.
EvilPixie Sep 2022 7:43pm, 1 Sep 2022 35,280 posts	0 EvilPixie We can't have one as the mobile signal is too poor!
Minimag Sep 2022 7:48pm, 1 Sep 2022 637 posts	0 Minimag I find it useful as it tells me when we have high useage things (the oven, kettle or tumble dryer) at a glance, and how much they use. My wife is not so keen on it.
cathrobinson Sep 2022 7:52pm, 1 Sep 2022 10,434 posts	0 cathrobinson I too am in some significant credit (£823) with EDF. My previous supplier went bust while I was over £300 in credit with them. It took just over a month for EDF to take over the direct debit from them, and it took 9 months and a lot of fighting (including me quoting excerpts from the Ofgem site) before they gave me back the £340. So if it had been down to EDF I’d be sitting at over £1100 in credit. Given the fight I had on my hands for the £340, I’m going to leave the money in credit for now… hopefully it will offset some of the increase to come…
PenW Sep 2022 8:01pm, 1 Sep 2022 2,722 posts	0 PenW My energy supplier pays interest on my credit balance - 5%. My credit balance isn’t that big at the moment though. Better rate than my savings accounts!
Hanneke Sep 2022 8:30pm, 1 Sep 2022 92,482 posts	0 Hanneke EDF sat on an increasing amount of £1300 + of mine for over a year AND they kept my monthly pay high, adding to the credit. I had to involve the ombudsman and write to the Guardian to get my money back, by then nearly £2000... I changed to Eon, which weren't much better neither was Scottish Power although they kept the credit below £500... SO adjusts monthly as per my own readings. All previous suppliers took my readings but only once a year would a man appear, usually when I was out, to take a reading and then they would adjust: you are £980 in credit. Your meter read x, so we are INCREASING your DD 🤬🤬
swittle Sep 2022 9:13pm, 1 Sep 2022 90,160 posts	0 swittle BBC Radio 4 'The Briefing Room' "Can we keep the lights on this winter?" Not as emotive as the title might suggest: people in the know presenting the position regarding energy supply as each of them sees it. Duration: 29:31 bbc.co.uk
Bazoaxe Sep 2022 3:34am, 2 Sep 2022 23,407 posts	0 Bazoaxe I am with eon and I can easily change the amount in the DD to whatever I want to pay in just a few clicks Getting the credit back when I did it was equally easy but I think it was with npower before eon took them over
Mandymoo Sep 2022 7:50am, 2 Sep 2022 15,044 posts	0 Mandymoo We are still with Bulb, I pay on receipt of invoice as they wanted a ridiculous amount of money each month
Lizzie Whizz Sep 2022 7:53am, 2 Sep 2022 26,921 posts	0 Lizzie Whizz Very interested in which company pays interest on credit!