Energy Suppliers (strictly no referrals)

[chrcoluk]

@BigBoy Engineer replaced my IHD, said it would take a few hours, and agreed I Could ring him back late afternoon if no dice, he also tried three new IHD and spent a while to make sure it was connecting properly, he said the first two failed.

Ten minutes after he left, the live usage is working So now I can do proper checking of everything in my home, thanks for your advice man which helped here.

I still have the old IHD he had no interest in picking it up, so will probably chuck it away.

Interesting my 1000w rated kettle consumes 2100w. Mislabelled product I guess.

 

[BigBoy]

Great result glad I could help. Probably didn't clear down the old IHD properly that why the other two failed!

 

[TNA]

@BigBoy Engineer replaced my IHD, said it would take a few hours, and agreed I Could ring him back late afternoon if no dice, he also tried three new IHD and spent a while to make sure it was connecting properly, he said the first two failed.

Ten minutes after he left, the live usage is working So now I can do proper checking of everything in my home, thanks for your advice man which helped here.

I still have the old IHD he had no interest in picking it up, so will probably chuck it away.

Interesting my 1000w rated kettle consumes 2100w. Mislabelled product I guess.

To be fair I don’t think I have ever heard of a 1000w kettle, as all that would do is take longer to boil the water and still consume about the same electricity in the end I would imagine.

 

[BigBoy]

I have an 800w camping kettle I use in my van, (on a 2.5kw Inverter). They do exist.

 

[413x]

We were being estimated with the hottub on. It's been off for a while. I just never supplied a meter reading since opening in October.

Well. An official person took a meter reading that was picked up by my Doorbell (I asumme due to getting a smart meter tomorrow).

DD per month changed from 215 to 70 automatically.
600 in credit!

 

[MissChief]

We were being estimated with the hottub on. It's been off for a while. I just never supplied a meter reading since opening in October.

Well. An official person took a meter reading that was picked up by my Doorbell (I asumme due to getting a smart meter tomorrow).

DD per month changed from 215 to 70 automatically.
600 in credit!

Wouldn’t be surprised if energy companies take the highest usage month and then use that for the estimates. They’ll say it’s ‘just in case’ but just about everyone I know, including on here ends up in credit, often by hundreds of pounds even after the winter. It’s free money sitting in suppliers accounts earning interest.

 

[robj20]

Had both smart meters replaced yesterday. IHD is now only showing electric not gas. Obviously no readings yet have to wait for that but I'm sure the IHD should work straight away shouldn't it.

 

[BigBoy]

Had both smart meters replaced yesterday. IHD is now only showing electric not gas. Obviously no readings yet have to wait for that but I'm sure the IHD should work straight away shouldn't it.

Depends on how.it was installed but yes you Elec reading should be showing within 20mins of power on and gas should be showing after 24hrs at most.

 

[BigBoy]

Wouldn’t be surprised if energy companies take the highest usage month and then use that for the estimates. They’ll say it’s ‘just in case’ but just about everyone I know, including on here ends up in credit, often by hundreds of pounds even after the winter. It’s free money sitting in suppliers accounts earning interest.

By law any credit over £50 after your bill has been taken should be repaid to you within 30days of the bill being paid out.

 

[chrcoluk]

Wouldn’t be surprised if energy companies take the highest usage month and then use that for the estimates. They’ll say it’s ‘just in case’ but just about everyone I know, including on here ends up in credit, often by hundreds of pounds even after the winter. It’s free money sitting in suppliers accounts earning interest.

Thank you for confirming it isnt just me.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Wouldn’t be surprised if energy companies take the highest usage month and then use that for the estimates. They’ll say it’s ‘just in case’ but just about everyone I know, including on here ends up in credit, often by hundreds of pounds even after the winter. It’s free money sitting in suppliers accounts earning interest.

Very few businesses earn interest on their banking.
Business accounts tend to be more expensive to run (pay per transaction) and offer no or very limited interest.

My predicted and of "period" is currently £45 debit. I haven't been to BG for long though so its maybe not accurate yet. I did enter my usage though

Most people I see clearly don't have much of a clue and quote £ with no idea if they are on a deal or anything when commenting.
My belief is most just don't get it.

I would be stunned if their algorithm is as dumb as largest month x 12. When they know what the energy consumption across their portfolio is to far more granularity than that.

 

[dLockers]

Very few businesses earn interest on their banking.

Cash flow is king when you are pre-buying energy. They'll use cash reserves built up by Customer debit balances to avoid using financial institutions ergo cost saving and avoiding paying interest in the $$$

 

[BigBoy]

Cash flow is king when you are pre-buying energy. They'll use cash reserves built up by Customer debit balances to avoid using financial institutions ergo cost saving and avoiding paying interest in the $$$

Actually no they don't. Under regulation from offgem any customer money they hold cannot be used for hedging.

 

[dLockers]

Actually no they don't. Under regulation from offgem any customer money they hold cannot be used for hedging.

I'm sure there is a level of grey in your post but if Customer credit balances were separate from operations (similar to FCS protection in banking) then there wouldn't be any lost Customer money when they go bankrupt.

 

[BigBoy]

I'm sure there is a level of grey in your post but if Customer credit balances were separate from operations (similar to FCS protection in banking) then there wouldn't be any lost Customer money when they go bankrupt.

There is no lost customer funds when energy companies go bankrupt, and yes the customer funds remain the customers possession (even though they are in the holding account of the supplier kind of like an escrow fund) there for they cannot be used for anything other than paying the customers bill.

 

[dLockers]

There is no lost customer funds when energy companies go bankrupt, and yes the customer funds remain the customers possession (even though they are in the holding account of the supplier kind of like an escrow fund) there for they cannot be used for anything other than paying the customers bill.

I hate to quote Sky on absolutely anything, but:

Energy crisis: Around £200m in credit balances 'missing' after supplier failures, Ofgem tells MPs

Ofgem's chief executive Jonathan Brearley tells the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee that the bill for lost credit balances could quadruple from its current level as he faces questions over why the money was not ringfenced.

news.sky.com

Edit:

Who pays for lost credit balances at failed energy companies? We all do | Nils Pratley

A sizable chunk of consumers’ credit has gone missing but just how much is not yet clear

www.theguardian.com

"In March last year – so a few months before gas prices surged – the regulator announced it was “concerned that some suppliers may use customers’ surplus credit balances to fund otherwise unsustainable business practices”."

 

[chrcoluk]

There is no lost customer funds when energy companies go bankrupt, and yes the customer funds remain the customers possession (even though they are in the holding account of the supplier kind of like an escrow fund) there for they cannot be used for anything other than paying the customers bill.

I will not argue with this, as you work in the industry.

But the question is if it can only be used for paying customer's future bills, then why did that money get lost when the companies went out of business? in theory it should have been sitting in an account for that purpose?

 

[dLockers]

I will not argue with this, as you work in the industry.

But the question is if it can only be used for paying customer's future bills, then why did that money get lost when the companies went out of business? in theory it should have been sitting in an account for that purpose?

Because he is making it up

 

[robj20]

Depends on how.it was installed but yes you Elec reading should be showing within 20mins of power on and gas should be showing after 24hrs at most.

Just electric at the minute. Been over 24 hours now. Octopus support have said to wait until after weekend. Won't be impressed of they've fixed one problem and made a new one.

Shame you can't get much information online about the meters so you could reset then yourself.
Guessing it means the gas isn't talking to the electric meter?

 

[BigBoy]

I will not argue with this, as you work in the industry.

But the question is if it can only be used for paying customer's future bills, then why did that money get lost when the companies went out of business? in theory it should have been sitting in an account for that purpose?

Lost yes as most suppliers use different accounting and account management software the transfer of most customers was done via email believe it or not. so yes things slipped through the net.

Because he is making it up

Believe what you want but my 22 years in the industry and my heavy involvement in account switching and incoming SOLAR customers tells me otherwise. This type of comment from the forums Karen's is why I hardly frequent here any more. It use to be a place of intelligent people who actually knew what they were talking about...

Just electric at the minute. Been over 24 hours now. Octopus support have said to wait until after weekend. Won't be impressed of they've fixed one problem and made a new one.

Shame you can't get much information online about the meters so you could reset then yourself.
Guessing it means the gas isn't talking to the electric meter?

it sounds that way yes. There is no information because its a closed system and nothing you (as the end user) can do that will not breach all kinds of regulations.