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Energy Bills

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  • Just checked. You are right, apologies.
  • Word of warning to anyone considering taking up a British Gas fixed energy tariff
    Don't use their calculations of your future energy costs to make your decision
    The illustrations are completely made up based on nothing to do with your actual consumption
    Tucked away in the tiny tiny print is the fact that their calculations are all based on their "typical" household i.e. one that doesn't exist
    Same goes for their 'calculation' of your required direct debit - on ours at the start of a new fixed price period they swapped our actual current position of £300 in credit for a totally false position of £75 in arrears, all to justify increasing the DDr by £15/mth

    The fixed rate tariff might be a good choice but you have to do all the sums yourself using your actual consumption, the BG illustrations are meaningless
    Paying increased DDrs obviously doesn't mean you get overcharged, just that you might pay earlier than necessary and BG owing us money isn't what we'd choose.
    Recent experience also suggests they won't agree to more accurate monthly DDrs until you are £100s in credit

    Their prices aren't horrendous but their conduct is shameful
  • Billy_Mix said:
    Word of warning to anyone considering taking up a British Gas fixed energy tariff
    Don't use their calculations of your future energy costs to make your decision
    The illustrations are completely made up based on nothing to do with your actual consumption
    Tucked away in the tiny tiny print is the fact that their calculations are all based on their "typical" household i.e. one that doesn't exist
    Same goes for their 'calculation' of your required direct debit - on ours at the start of a new fixed price period they swapped our actual current position of £300 in credit for a totally false position of £75 in arrears, all to justify increasing the DDr by £15/mth

    The fixed rate tariff might be a good choice but you have to do all the sums yourself using your actual consumption, the BG illustrations are meaningless
    Paying increased DDrs obviously doesn't mean you get overcharged, just that you might pay earlier than necessary and BG owing us money isn't what we'd choose.
    Recent experience also suggests they won't agree to more accurate monthly DDrs until you are £100s in credit

    Their prices aren't horrendous but their conduct is shameful
    thanks for getting us back on track. Agree they are very misleading in the way they do these. I think the concept of the cap is confusing to many people as well given the way its based off a typical household. I've had to explain to multiple people who have believed it is a cap on their bills in a year and so they can use as much as they want as the cap will kick in and stop their bills going over that amount. 

    We are pretty careful with our usage (smart meter is a massive help with that). Energy companies refuse to believe that 2 people living in a 3 bed semi can consume as low as we do. No amount of previous usage will persuade them so they are always trying to up our Direct Debit. I got angry with them in August and told them we were stopping paying until we had worked down our credit. We haven't yet worked through the credit so haven't paid a bill all winter. I'm keeping control of my DD from now on. Don't mind overpaying a bit in summer to even out the seasonality but that was simply taking the piss.
  • thanks for getting us back on track. Agree they are very misleading in the way they do these. I think the concept of the cap is confusing to many people as well given the way its based off a typical household. I've had to explain to multiple people who have believed it is a cap on their bills in a year and so they can use as much as they want as the cap will kick in and stop their bills going over that amount. 

    We are pretty careful with our usage (smart meter is a massive help with that). Energy companies refuse to believe that 2 people living in a 3 bed semi can consume as low as we do. No amount of previous usage will persuade them so they are always trying to up our Direct Debit. I got angry with them in August and told them we were stopping paying until we had worked down our credit. We haven't yet worked through the credit so haven't paid a bill all winter. I'm keeping control of my DD from now on. Don't mind overpaying a bit in summer to even out the seasonality but that was simply taking the piss.
    As has been bought up on here before, Octopus are more flexible in controlling monthly payments.  You have total control to set DD in app, pay more in one off payment if needed, request a refund if in credit.  I have never had a hard sell from them re: Direct Debit (other than suggested values via an email that offer guidance, but not enforcement)

    Challenger energy companies are a million miles ahead of the legacy providers (such as BG) in terms of tariffs offered and user friendly apps.  The divergence between suppliers in tech is only going to increase as legacy providers are tied up in red tape and tired systems. 
  • Water is a fundamental of life.
    However capitalism has made it into a saleable commodity, where profit comes before affordability, repairs, improved pipe work, prevention of the polluting (ironically) of water.

  • eh?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
  • Billy_Mix said:
    Word of warning to anyone considering taking up a British Gas fixed energy tariff
    Don't use their calculations of your future energy costs to make your decision
    The illustrations are completely made up based on nothing to do with your actual consumption
    Tucked away in the tiny tiny print is the fact that their calculations are all based on their "typical" household i.e. one that doesn't exist
    Same goes for their 'calculation' of your required direct debit - on ours at the start of a new fixed price period they swapped our actual current position of £300 in credit for a totally false position of £75 in arrears, all to justify increasing the DDr by £15/mth

    The fixed rate tariff might be a good choice but you have to do all the sums yourself using your actual consumption, the BG illustrations are meaningless
    Paying increased DDrs obviously doesn't mean you get overcharged, just that you might pay earlier than necessary and BG owing us money isn't what we'd choose.
    Recent experience also suggests they won't agree to more accurate monthly DDrs until you are £100s in credit

    Their prices aren't horrendous but their conduct is shameful
    Not my experience at all as an existing BG customer. 

    The estimates from their app / website state:
    1. Your estimated cost is calculated using your estimated annual energy usage and the unit rates for where you live, your daily standing charge and any discounts. If we can’t validate an estimate for your annual energy use, we’ll use industry averages.

    I’ve regularly changed to their latest fixed rates at no cost as rates have improved and you get the option to set your own DD sum. 


  • BalladMan said:
    As has been bought up on here before, Octopus are more flexible in controlling monthly payments.  You have total control to set DD in app, pay more in one off payment if needed, request a refund if in credit.  I have never had a hard sell from them re: Direct Debit (other than suggested values via an email that offer guidance, but not enforcement)

    Challenger energy companies are a million miles ahead of the legacy providers (such as BG) in terms of tariffs offered and user friendly apps.  The divergence between suppliers in tech is only going to increase as legacy providers are tied up in red tape and tired systems. 
    BalladMan are you sticking with the tracker?
    I’m on Dec 24 V1 now and the benefit to fixing is looking tight.
  • With Octopus on a 12m fix and happy with them in all respects. Checked their current fix rates (MiL asked me to have a look at fixes for her) and they've risen considerably above what I took out in August last year. 
  • BalladMan said:
    As has been bought up on here before, Octopus are more flexible in controlling monthly payments.  You have total control to set DD in app, pay more in one off payment if needed, request a refund if in credit.  I have never had a hard sell from them re: Direct Debit (other than suggested values via an email that offer guidance, but not enforcement)
    I wouldn't describe it as a hard sell but they let you know that they're putting up your DD and tell you "If you’re happy with our recommendations, you don’t need to do anything. We’ll adjust your payments automatically...". What they don't tell you however is what to do if you're not happy with their recommendations. I had to send them a sarcastic e-mail asking them what I should do if I understand my account is in deficit in the middle of winter but will likely recover over the warmer months? Rather than just giving you another £240+ I'd rather wait and see where we're at in a few months time if that's okay?

    To be fair, they replied pretty quickly saying that they won't put the payments up and that they'd also look at their communications to make it clearer what customers should do if they don't want to change their payment.
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  • I'll put money on Lions Led by Donkeys doing a stunt on Labour during this term.
    Yeah, you'd be a fool to think they wouldn't
  • BalladMan are you sticking with the tracker?
    I’m on Dec 24 V1 now and the benefit to fixing is looking tight.
    Still on the same tracker as you. Due to expire in next few days. As we have seen in previous years, I expect wholesale rates for electricity to reduce over summer, so I am sticking with tracker for the time being.  
  • Thanks.
    I'll stop thinking about it then.
  • Rizzo said:
    I wouldn't describe it as a hard sell but they let you know that they're putting up your DD and tell you "If you’re happy with our recommendations, you don’t need to do anything. We’ll adjust your payments automatically...". What they don't tell you however is what to do if you're not happy with their recommendations. I had to send them a sarcastic e-mail asking them what I should do if I understand my account is in deficit in the middle of winter but will likely recover over the warmer months? Rather than just giving you another £240+ I'd rather wait and see where we're at in a few months time if that's okay?

    To be fair, they replied pretty quickly saying that they won't put the payments up and that they'd also look at their communications to make it clearer what customers should do if they don't want to change their payment.
    Hard sell was bad English on my part.  What I love about octopus is the lack of friction to execute basic things on your account (including reviewing and switching tariffs). There is zero reason all companies cannot be this simple and usable, beyond laziness and greed. 

    I have also saved 100s on the tracker over the last 2 years. 


  • BalladMan said:
    Hard sell was bad English on my part.  What I love about octopus is the lack of friction to execute basic things on your account (including reviewing and switching tariffs). There is zero reason all companies cannot be this simple and usable, beyond laziness and greed. 

    I have also saved 100s on the tracker over the last 2 years. 


    I have to say that he my current experience of BG too. 
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