Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

[wesimmo]

I don't think it works like that. Meter readers are contractual either on behalf of the supplier or employed direct by supplier. I guess they can send a person if they want someone to be busy instead of sitting in an ASDA car park, however it cannot be cost effective to send multiple people to the one address over and over within the same week/month. Might be fine in a town or urban area, but as you go rural your just wasting fuel and man hours.

Most meter reading is done on behalf of the power companies. It doesnt make sense to send 12 different meter readers down the the same street, so one does the lot and the data is sent back to the power companies.

And yes, there is a massive amount of time spent (by me) making sure that they are as efficient as possible by trying to align all the work for all the power companies so they 'call off' the same streets at the same time.


And yes, one of our key data points is how many attempts are made to get a read, obviously we would like to visit every property and get a read every time, but obviously you dont.

So how many times do you attempt it? Both from an economic point of view in terms of direct effort and also to make sure you get enough reads to satisfy OFGEM and not be fined. That's the key balancing act.

 

[gpuerrilla]

You also have two things to help this, one of them would benefit your manual readers which is outside viewing boxes. The other is smart meters.

With customers being able to send in reads themselves this should reduce the number of calls your referring to. I anticipate there is a contractual obligation such as per annum the meter has to be confirmed its still there, correct serial, manual read etc. but been a long time since I was involved with that.

 

[wesimmo]

You also have two things to help this, one of them would benefit your manual readers which is outside viewing boxes. The other is smart meters.

With customers being able to send in reads themselves this should reduce the number of calls your referring to. I anticipate there is a contractual obligation such as per annum the meter has to be confirmed its still there, correct serial, manual read etc. but been a long time since I was involved with that.

Definitely, meter readers love new estates with outside boxes, you can sprint round and make plenty of bonus.

On the flip side though, trying to get someone to the Shetlands is a proper PITA!

Martin Lewis and his meter reading day campaign was huge. One company saw their customer submitted reads go from ~240k a week to 1.7m.

And yes, I'm not too sure of all the regulations around what is done and how often, just that there are plenty of KPIs that have to reported to OFGEM around those sorts of things you mention.

 

[chrcoluk]

I don't think it works like that. Meter readers are contractual either on behalf of the supplier or employed direct by supplier. I guess they can send a person if they want someone to be busy instead of sitting in an ASDA car park, however it cannot be cost effective to send multiple people to the one address over and over within the same week/month. Might be fine in a town or urban area, but as you go rural your just wasting fuel and man hours.

I had a spell some years back where I had a visit almost every month, so there is some inconsistency which backs up his theory.

 

[Shoza]

People still come round and read meters?! I’ve not seen one in over 10 years either at my house or at a neighbours and I work from home.

I’m with OVO and they keep badgering me on the app and emails to get a smart meter… despite them installing one here 8 years ago. The whole system seems pretty stupid and inefficient.

 

[gpuerrilla]

I had a spell some years back where I had a visit almost every month, so there is some inconsistency which backs up his theory.

Yes but the inconsistency is the detail we dont know. Is it the same meter reader? Is it a meter reader for another supplier? Is it a contractor that works for a variety of MOP's/suppliers and is flying around a lot because of the status quo and not because of 'they are checking I am not fiddling the meter as my consumption has dropped'.

 

[gpuerrilla]

My meter was physically read a few times in fair quick succession a few months after we moved here. I can only speculate that’s because the people that livers here chundered through energy and we just didn’t.

Based on the meter installation date and the reading it’s reading when we took over, I reckon we halved their usage, if not more.

It obviously triggered something to have readers out in succession.

People still come round and read meters?! I’ve not seen one in over 10 years either at my house or at a neighbours and I work from home.

I’m with OVO and they keep badgering me on the app and emails to get a smart meter… despite them installing one here 8 years ago. The whole system seems pretty stupid and inefficient.

Exactly, I think born2skate is erring on the wrong interpretation or paranoid side of the fence on that one!

 

[wesimmo]

I had a spell some years back where I had a visit almost every month, so there is some inconsistency which backs up his theory.

I didn't work in the industry back then, but more probably a data issue than a policy.

There's dozens of companies chucking data back and forth, customer churn etc across different CRM systems, sometimes things just go wrong.

Again we try and check things, but the old adage about as much as you idiot proof something, they'll build a better idiot holds. Especially when people with no knowledge were setting up all these smaller companies.

 

[chrcoluk]

Yes but the inconsistency is the detail we dont know. Is it the same meter reader? Is it a meter reader for another supplier? Is it a contractor that works for a variety of MOP's/suppliers and is flying around a lot because of the status quo and not because of 'they are checking I am not fiddling the meter as my consumption has dropped'.

Was different person every time.

 

[jpaul]

The Queen seems to have an an interest in the energy pie, don't know if her cut is proportional to generator companies profit.

Almost all of the UK’s offshore wind energy capacity is generated on seabed owned by the Crown Estate – lands owned as a ‘corporation sole’ of the Queen.

A Freedom of Information request analysed by the Byline Intelligence Team found that the Crown Estate earned £17.25 million from its wind farm property portfolio in 2020/21.

The total profits generated by its wind farm property portfolio were £69 million in 2020/21, with the sovereign receiving 25% of those profits – or £17.25 million – after two years via its annual grant. The remainder goes to the Treasury, according to a law laid out in the 2011 Sovereign Grants Act.

 

[HACO]

The Queen seems to have an an interest in the energy pie, don't know if her cut is proportional to generator companies profit.

This should be a much bigger story and people should be outraged. 100% of that should go to the Treasury.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Absolutely disgusting. It reminds me of the panama/paradise papers that seems to have got swept under the carpet but some of these stories need to get attention. Also big corporations paying naff all tax seem to be most of these current money problems can be plugged up if they bothered to challenge half of it.

 

[kakarott]

So in March octopus told me they can get direct meter readings for my gas. I still submit meter readings end of the minth. I just paid £196 for April of which £36 was gas. Got email today saying I owe another £30 for gas. Are they taking the ****?

 

[Blackjack Davy]

People still come round and read meters?! I’ve not seen one in over 10 years either at my house or at a neighbours and I work from home.

I’m with OVO and they keep badgering me on the app and emails to get a smart meter… despite them installing one here 8 years ago. The whole system seems pretty stupid and inefficient.

Apparently they do which came as a genuine surprise to me. You're lucky to have a smart meter I've been on teh list for one for god knows how long and they keep pestering me to read mine its at the end of a long corridor down the public hallway behind a locked door I mean I can get it done but its a bit of an expedition every couple of weeks they ask

 

[jpaul]

r4today was discussing peak hour energy rationing come January ... so maybe best to put off a smart meter install,
albeit, maybe they will introduce a penalty charge/rate for refuseniks (like not having a water meter, unless you are Rishi)

 

[Freakbro]

Lol, reports of potential power cuts this winter (obviously the media only report the worse case scenario) well, that's one way to tackle people not being able to afford their gas/electric bill, dont have any!

 

[TNA]

Lol, reports of potential power cuts this winter (obviously the media only report the worse case scenario) well, that's one way to tackle people not being able to afford their gas/electric bill, dont have any!

Why is there potential power cuts?

 

[Freakbro]

Why is there potential power cuts?

Lack of gas supply I presume. Even though we dont take much natural gas directly from Russia (though we still get about 20% of our diesel from them) and use LNG, the rest of the worlds demand for the same LNG has increased leading to potential shortages this winter.

And since we closed down a lot of our gas storage we cant build up enough of a buffer.

 

[BUDFORCE]

Why is there potential power cuts?

I'm guessing.

...but I believe a fair chunk of electricity is produced by gas powered generators, if gas is very expensive or short supply.

Well see, I hope not, maybe worth panic buying a small petrol generator now?

 

[200sols]

A period of low wind and a shortage of gas could cripple us. Decades of poor energy planning is coming to fruition now.