energy domestic household dcda data collection charges

[minimutly]

My sister spends an awful lot of time on social media. She comes up with vast amounts of similar stuff, believes it all, adds her own bit of madness, believes "they" are doing it for some global/corporate conspiracy, gets really annoyed with me laughing

I have a daughter the same, otherwise normal and sensible...

 

[gaz1]

Prepayment tariffs aren’t allowed to be higher than the normal going rate for electric. They changed it last year, and I took note as my daughter was in a house with a prepayment meter.

Prepayment meter customers to pay less for energy from today

Prepayment meter households will no longer pay more on average for their energy than direct debit customers, as the government scraps unfair charge.

www.gov.uk

its still untrue

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity/

there are rarely any prepay deals. All the big discounts tend to be thrown out to win new Direct Debit customers. So it's highly likely Direct Debit will stay by far the overall cheapest option for people who switch energy tariffs, but for those who don't, it'll be prepay.

the unfair system still exists

Government promises crackdown on the energy companies mistreating…

Five-point plan comes after the Bureau revealed the thousands of vulnerable people across Great Britain going without gas and electricity

www.thebureauinvestigates.com

The i newspaper then reported in December that nearly half a million had been handed to debt collection agents to force their way into properties since July 2021 – and just 72 had been refused.

The i’s investigation also exposed the obscure court process that had led to magistrates approving warrant applications with “little or no oversight of people’s vulnerability or health issues”. The government says it wants to know which energy companies are “trigger happy” in applying for court warrants, with Shapps adding that he “simply cannot believe that every possible alternative has been exhausted in all these cases”.

He also expressed concerns about smart meter customers who have been switched from a credit to prepayment tariff against their will, or sometimes without their knowledge, which has been described by Citizens Advice as “disconnection by the backdoor”. Smart meters can be turned to prepayment mode without a court warrant.

im not a prepay customer or a direct debit customer im also on a standared meter which i can pay by dd payments

im refused a dd tariffs and i also dont get the prepayment tariffs

yet another bias against the consumer which they say does not exist it certainly does

there bribary is to fit a smart meter if i want dd access to any tariffs which is no guarantee i will get the dd tariff but be forced onto prepayment tariffs instead

 

[Farside]

Lady friend of mine was moaning a while back because she had £3k credit with British Gas.

I asked her why, for the love of god, hadn’t she cut off the direct debit, or called them, or swapped suppliers, or anything really. She’s not the smartest cookie though, so I’ve never had a proper answer to her idiocy.
They walk amongst us.

I spent most of the last year in credit with my electric supplier. A couple of times it went above a threshold where the website offered me a refund, so I'm not complaining about their incompetence or greed *, they've been on the ball.

* Unlike my past dealings with SSEB, who were both greedy and incompetent.

 

[Morrisman]

I spent most of the last year in credit with my electric supplier. A couple of times it went above a threshold where the website offered me a refund, so I'm not complaining about their incompetence or greed *, they've been on the ball.

* Unlike my past dealings with SSEB, who were both greedy and incompetent.

When I got £130 in credit with Octopus they emailed me advising they were dropping my DD a bit so I didn’t build up too much credit. My leccy bill averages about £38 a month, or it did do before the latest price rises.

 

[MattF]

When I got £130 in credit with Octopus they emailed me advising they were dropping my DD a bit so I didn’t build up too much credit. My leccy bill averages about £38 a month, or it did do before the latest price rises.

Do you ever turn on a switch, in your house?

 

[Gareth J]

its still untrue

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity/

there are rarely any prepay deals. All the big discounts tend to be thrown out to win new Direct Debit customers. So it's highly likely Direct Debit will stay by far the overall cheapest option for people who switch energy tariffs, but for those who don't, it'll be prepay.

the unfair system still exists

Government promises crackdown on the energy companies mistreating…

Five-point plan comes after the Bureau revealed the thousands of vulnerable people across Great Britain going without gas and electricity

www.thebureauinvestigates.com

im not a prepay customer or a direct debit customer im also on a standared meter which i can pay by dd payments

im refused a dd tariffs and i also dont get the prepayment tariffs

yet another bias against the consumer which they say does not exist it certainly does

there bribary is to fit a smart meter if i want dd access to any tariffs which is no guarantee i will get the dd tariff but be forced onto prepayment tariffs instead

Should companies that want to be profitable be allowed to incentivise people to use payment systems that minimise their risk? I.e, more risky customers required to use prepayment meters and moderately risky customers incentivised to use DD?

If not, why not?

And if not, who should foot the larger bill that results from more customers than would otherwise do, going into debt and not paying? Pass the costs into non indebted customers? Should taxpayers pay?