Energy Companies

[Dos_Box]

I'm all in favour of shale gas. What it will buy us is time to develop and build and develop the next generation of power stations and power generation technologies. And it would make us energy independent meaning that bills would either go down or stabalise as we wouldn't be buying gas from an overseas market.

Anything but wind power, which is hugely subsedised by us, the tax payer. From your fuel bills.

[aerospacemango]

It *should* be, yes. But just think of all those folks who keep warm on your tax money having never graced a place of work in their lives. Whilst you sit and freeze, and bust a gut on a daily basis trying to make ends meet.... The first house I bought was gloriously warm, but only because the guy next door never worked a day in his life and always had the heat up full. I didn't need my heating because effectively my taxes were paying his bill anyway... God forbid these people be forced to work and not have enough money to go round, that's some kind of travesty you know

 

Well, there was always going to be someone come up with this argument.... I'm just surprised it took so long!

 

Back to the op...

 

I find it hard to believe that the government (you can add successive before that word if you like) allow prices to rise by that much more than inflation ... but they do. It's no different to train prices etc etc.

 

But lucky for them, they have their big houses and bills paid for by you and me.... though that's ok cos they're politicians and are doing good, instead of unemployed trash who are good for nothing.

 

Pretty sure none of them will have to watch the pennies to pay their heating. .... but you carry on at the unemployed... it must make you feel so holier-than-thou!

[DT2]

Well, there was always going to be someone come up with this argument.... I'm just surprised it took so long!

 

Back to the op...

 

I find it hard to believe that the government (you can add successive before that word if you like) allow prices to rise by that much more than inflation ... but they do. It's no different to train prices etc etc.

 

But lucky for them, they have their big houses and bills paid for by you and me.... though that's ok cos they're politicians and are doing good, instead of unemployed trash who are good for nothing.

 

Pretty sure none of them will have to watch the pennies to pay their heating. .... but you carry on at the unemployed... it must make you feel so holier-than-thou!

 

Nay, not the unemployed in general. The bone idle, the one's who are "unemployed by choice". Where I used to live there was plenty of them.... That was my aiming point. Politicians are on the same level, bills and expenses paid for by you and me. As for the genuinely unemployed (those that have been made redundant etc, and would ike to work) I really would't gripe at them using the system to their benefit and cover what they need. I do however take issue with those who abuse that system and take away from those who genuinely need it.

Hope that's straightened my point out a bit.

[pcstru]

I'm all in favour of shale gas.

 

"Having burned in a century, what life and geology took hundreds of millions of years to create and store, to the extent where we changed the atmosphere our planet enough to begin to drive up the energy balance with our local star, the worst we could find to say about fossil fuels was we were dependent on the Arabs and Russians for the supply. Then came shale. We drilled wells, and in order to pour more poison into the very air we breath we started pumping poison and explosion into the ground - fracking. What could possibly go wrong?"

 

The best thing about shale gas is it a slightly better option than tar sands and is likely to make exploiting those uneconomic for the foreseeable future.

[Martin]

I remember reading that Britain is sitting on top of 800 years of coal. All we need is a couple of nice big coal fired power stations and we, as a nation, can have all the electrickery we want to use, and at a nice cheap price. There would be many thousands of mining jobs created too.

 

...and even if, and it is a very big "IF", the tree-huggers/eco-warriors/IPCC are right that CO2 makes the planet hotter - it is a double bonus, 'cos the global temperature will rise so we won't need to spend so much on heating

 

mb

[twin--turbo]

Lets get on with building the new fission reactors and stop messing about with small scale supposedly green systems like Solar and Wind.

 

I stood in a corridor next to the power subsystem of a 24Kw solar array. on a April day when it was overcast it produces 2.5KW when the sun popped out it made 7KW...

 

The owner will take many years to get back that investment.

 

 

 

The government has looked into price fixing before and said "It's all fine and dandy" despite the facts showing otherwise.. Will they MAN UP this time and fight for their subjects... I doubt it.

 

Will fracking bring cheap fuel? Doubt it.

 

Should we have sold of the Gas, Electric to private sector? NO!

 

Railway? No

 

Postal service? No...

 

 

 

The only saving grace is that the shrinking global economy, the cost of transport, and other factors meand that localised production is more attractive and that some fossil fuels may once again be extracted in the UK creating jobs.

 

 

 

8% increase means my wife will have to suffer the cold for an extra 3 weeks till I program the timer and it goes off 3 weeks earlier ... One advantage of being the techi

 

Rob

[featured_spectre]

I've been with an enery company called Ebico for almost 7 years during which time they have put up their prices maybe four times. Unlike the rest of the energy companies, they are a not-for-profit organisation with the aim of providing a fair and simple tariff for everyone. Currently, gas costs 5.57p per kWh (inc VAT), regardless of how much you use or how you pay. This means no discounts for Direct Debits, but no penalties for pre-payment meters. There are also no tiers after you have used a certain amount of energy and no standing charge. You simply pay for what you use. Electricity is a little different, in that it varies slightly according to region, but other than that, the single cost per kWh applies.

 

When I bought my house last year, gas was supplied by npower on a pre-payment meter that had a 37p a day standing charge (before VAT)! That's over £11 a month (over £132 a year) before any gas is supplied. With Ebico, I have spent less than £2 on gas since May. While I appreciate that this would not work out the same for everyone, depending on how you use energy in your household, it shows that it really isn't necessary to increase energy prices every few months if you don't have big bonuses and shareholder dividends to pay!

 

I've been with Ebico for close to the same period. For us, British Gas is next up in terms of price, and if we were on British Gas, we'd be spending close to £80 in electric a month and £40 in gas a month (averaged over 12 months). With Ebico we pay close to £45 a month in electric and £20 in Gas a month (averaged over 12 months). If I had the thermostat how I wanted it (and not the mrs) it would be a couple of degrees cooler in the house (she has it at 22, I am comfortable at 18/19), which would drop our gas usage by £6-7 a month average.

 

Ebico are fantastic if you ask me!

[Sirbendy]

Used to use them myself, 3 houses ago when we were on key meter...no complaints.

 

I'm just glad I live in a 50's Wimpey ex-council house, that was refurbed in '97 with double glazing, and 6 inch thermal render overlaid on the exterior walls. Compared to the rental detached 1800s cottage we were in 3 years ago, it's ridiculously capable of holding heat. In the cottage, Rent was £525/m, Council tax was band C, Water was £330 a year, and the heating was a good £600/quarter. That was to hold a max of 14 degrees - in the sub double figure minuses, we got ice inside, even with it running!

 

The IFA that came to discuss our mortgage with us when we looked at buying our place was amazed at our outgoings..in comparison, the mortgage now stands at £72k left, £425/month. All other costs are much lower too.

 

The heating system is low tech...it's a Baxi Bermuda back boiler, with permanent pilot light (how quaint, eh?), hot water tank on the landing, and an aged Honeywell 24 hour hot water/heating programmer that I've refurbed (stripped, new lithium backup cell etc, cleaned) and reprogrammed. I binned the dial thermostat (wrong type anyway, and I don't like them), and fitted a Digistat 3+ programmable unit in place.

 

That's set for 6 periods a day, and 7 individual days for the most flexibility. Post 9pm, heating off until the morning. House to 18c by 7am, then hold to that. Boost to 19 for midday, then set back to 16 until bath/bedtime for the sprogs at 5/6/7ish, when it boosts to 20 for that time. Then off again. Minimum overnight is the lowest the controller allows - 7c.

 

With that running the radiators, and he old Honeywell running the hot tank for an hour a day for the kids baths, the heating bills are now less than a third of the cottage, and most of that is the bath water! The heating cut in this AM for the first time since early 2013 - digistat was registering 17.9.

 

Love the digistat. Set and forget, and if you manually override it, it only applies until the next "set period", at which point full auto is resumed. Stops the missus/in laws fiddling with it - they like it hot. If they want the bill, fine..otherwise GTFO my system.

 

BG fitted one to mums system when they fitted her new CH setup..the contractor set options and took that part of the book with him, cheeky get. I've set hers from my manual, reset all the options such as minimum allowable temp etc, and then programmed it and locked it down. I love my mother, I do..but she's absent minded and while she means well, she's not always the best with the tech, so I felt it was best to remove her from the loop pretty much. I do check on it weekly, along with the gas levels in the tank though.

 

I know my old Bermuda's hardly efficient - permanent pilot, minimal complexity, noncondensing..it's a venerable old beastie. However, it's been lovingly serviced, given a clean bill of health and in the words of the engineer "will run until doomsday." There's nothing to really break on the thing, no condensate to freeze, no bells or whistles. It can stay - it'd take me a LONG time to make my money back on a new boiler.

Edited October 11, 2013 by Sirbendy

[StevieM]

Ebico are fantastic if you ask me!

 

Hurrah for Ebico!

 

 

They also have great customer service. Calls get answered more or less straight away with little of this 'Press 1 if you want to be left on hold and listen to irritating music' or 'Enter your account number followed by #' only to be asked the same information when you finally get to speak to someone.

 

Nor do they have any minimum term contract with a penalty fee if you want to change supplier. Seriously, folks, give them a go.

 

British Gas is next up in terms of price

 

DON'T even get me started on British Gas! Simply the WORST company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.

 

(As an aside - 6 Thanks in one post and I've gone up to an incredible 3 rep points. Ker-ching!)

[mac_shinobi]

Currently renting and are on pre paid meters for both gas and electric, we did phone and ask ref swapping to direct debit etc but they were going to charge us £60 or £65 per meter to swap ( and it is a rented property we are in ) so don't want to swap them over only to move in a year or so to our own property ( as we are looking or will be soon ) at getting our own property so just using pre paid meters as they are for now.

 

Once we move to our own property - will definitely look at ebico etc ( maybe even give them a go )

[featured_spectre]

Ebico will let you use prepaid meters at the same rate as their direct debit prices...I've told you this before.

[StevieM]

just using pre paid meters as they are for now.

 

Then you are EXACTLY the kind of customers Ebico is designed for. Unlike other suppliers, with Ebico the price per unit is exactly the same on a pre-pay meter as it is on a Direct Debit and there is no standing charge. Trust me, you WILL save money with Ebico on a pre-pay meter (or I will do something spontaneous!).

[mole]

Cool, they seem to be just what i'm looking for, our landlord won't let us change our pre-payment meters due to past tennets being fools

[StevieM]

By the way, if anyone does decide to switch to Ebico can you PM me first so I can refer you and get a £15 voucher? Not that this is my motivation, but may as well try and get something out of it.

[featured_spectre]

What Stevie said!

 

Could do with it now I am jobless

[StevieM]

By the way, if anyone does decide to switch to Ebico can you PM me first so I can refer you and get a £15 voucher? Not that this is my motivation, but may as well try and get something out of it.

 

Quick edit:

 

By the way, if anyone does decide to switch to Ebico can you PM @nephilim first so he can refer you and get a £15 voucher? Not that this is his motivation, but he may as well try and get something out of it.

 

Howzat, neph?

[featured_spectre]

Works for me. Thanks.

[HallX]

Will fracking bring cheap fuel? Doubt it.

 

Should we have sold of the Gas, Electric to private sector? NO!

 

Railway? No

 

Postal service? No...

 

Couldn't possibly agree more.

[mole]

@nephilim, I'll check this out with my landlord and see if he happy with it (switch suppliers) as hopefully he'll renew our contract just before xmas and do some costings (with british gas for both atm so bound to work out cheaper) then I'll PM you.

[Quackers]

I just had a look at Ebico's web site and could not believe how expensive they are. 18p a KWh!!! I pay less than 12p a KWh with British Gas yeah there is a standing charge of 26p a day but i use around 18KW a day.

 

So for me

 

bgas £2.16 a day (12p * 18) + 26p Standing charge (£2.42)

Ebicos £3.24 a day (18p * 18)

[unixman_again]

@nephilim, I'll check this out with my landlord and see if he happy with it (switch suppliers) as hopefully he'll renew our contract just before xmas and do some costings (with british gas for both atm so bound to work out cheaper) then I'll PM you.

You may not need to talk to your landlord Citizens Advice - Can you switch gas or electricity supplier if you’re a tenant? I switched mine years ago but I'll have to switch it back if I leave.

[featured_spectre]

Must be where you live as british gas for me is 17p per KwH + 26p per day standing charge.

 

Ebico = £3.24 a day (based on your 18 hour usage)

BG = £3.32 a day (based on your 18 hour usage)

 

However unless you are seriously caning the juice when home, you have approximately 9 hours not at home (half hour drive time too and from work).

 

So Ebico would then be £1.62 and BG would be £1.79 (this is based on what BG would offer me). Unless I run off 26KwH in a given day, I am better off on Ebico.

[StevieM]

I just had a look at Ebico's web site and could not believe how expensive they are. 18p a KWh!!! I pay less than 12p a KWh with British Gas yeah there is a standing charge of 26p a day but i use around 18KW a day.

 

So for me

 

bgas £2.16 a day (12p * 18) + 26p Standing charge (£2.42)

Ebicos £3.24 a day (18p * 18)

 

As I said in my original post:

 

While I appreciate that this would not work out the same for everyone, depending on how you use energy in your household, it shows that it really isn't necessary to increase energy prices every few months if you don't have big bonuses and shareholder dividends to pay!

 

It's horses for courses. If you're a high energy consumer (and at £60+ a month I think you most definitely fall into that category), then you will almost certainly benefit from a tiered tariff that offers a lower price per kWh once you use a certain amount. Someone like me, however, who spends an average of £30 a month on electricity and maybe £15 a month on gas, Ebico wins hands down, especially if they are using a pre-pay meter.

 

Saying that, I would WILLINGLY pay DOUBLE every month rather than pay a penny to British Gas!

[StevieM]

@nephilim, I'll check this out with my landlord and see if he happy with it (switch suppliers)

@mole Unless the energy account for your property is in your landlord's name, he cannot dictate who you choose as your supplier.

[mole]

oh no both in my name, made sure of that, thinks he's just against physical changes but courtesy to let him know