we don't pay direct debit - always pay quarterly. The extra they charge every month is more than the difference in tariff if you're not a high user. The people with the biggest problem at the moment are the ones on pre-payment meters and the ones trapped by energy suppliers who have a local monopoly selling heat rather than energy. City planners have been very keen to promote heat networks over the last ten years or so. The people living in those areas are now paying commercial energy prices, with no price caps
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
They can forcibly change your meter to prepayment meter if you get into debt, thereby forcing a person who has difficulty paying already into a higher tariff. - the 21st Century equivalent of debtors' prison?
I've never understood why people on Pre payment meters have to pay more for their electricity. Is it some sort of Super Electric which works better than normal electric ? It's totally ridiculous and surely only makes poor people even poorer. My electricity cost has shot up like most of us. What I am charged per month now is more or less the same as I'd have paid for 3 months just 4 years ago. I do pay by DD but I put in a meter reading every month and only that amount is taken. Perhaps it's time to put pre payment meters into govt offices, Houses of Commons and Lords ?
With our electricity bill, we don't pay monthly, the company just helps themselves when the bill is due. We get a couple of week's warning beforehand. They can't hold onto credit. It works fine so long as you can pay the bill. Gas is monthly and we were about £50 behind last bill so I'm sure there'll be a huge hike soon😒
I do the same with my electric bill. They never take more or less and I'm never in debt. Why do customers pay chunks every month? Am I missing something, there must be a reason?
With our electricity bill, we don't pay monthly, the company just helps themselves when the bill is due. We get a couple of week's warning beforehand. They can't hold onto credit. It works fine so long as you can pay the bill. Gas is monthly and we were about £50 behind last bill so I'm sure there'll be a huge hike soon😒
I do the same with my electric bill. They never take more or less and I'm never in debt. Why do customers pay chunks every month? Am I missing something, there must be a reason?
Budgeting is the obvious answer. A regular amount of money taken each month avoids the big bill. With interest rates historically being so low there was little point in laying the money aside. Some people also simply can't resist the temptation to spend the money if they see it in their account.
I've never understood why people on Pre payment meters have to pay more for their electricity. Is it some sort of Super Electric which works better than normal electric ?
The story is it's to cover the cost of operating the meters
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
If you’re on a regular fixed income some find it easier to budget if the amount they use in 12 months is spread across the year in 12 equal instalments. It works for us.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Budgeting might seem easy to us, but if you have never learnt about money, it probably isn't. There are also plenty who have to decide whether to eat, or, to heat, so often go without heat.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
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The people with the biggest problem at the moment are the ones on pre-payment meters and the ones trapped by energy suppliers who have a local monopoly selling heat rather than energy. City planners have been very keen to promote heat networks over the last ten years or so. The people living in those areas are now paying commercial energy prices, with no price caps
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
My electricity cost has shot up like most of us. What I am charged per month now is more or less the same as I'd have paid for 3 months just 4 years ago.
I do pay by DD but I put in a meter reading every month and only that amount is taken.
Perhaps it's time to put pre payment meters into govt offices, Houses of Commons and Lords ?
Budgeting is the obvious answer. A regular amount of money taken each month avoids the big bill. With interest rates historically being so low there was little point in laying the money aside. Some people also simply can't resist the temptation to spend the money if they see it in their account.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
There are also plenty who have to decide whether to eat, or, to heat, so often go without heat.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border