Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

Kohaashi said:
Don’t Fuse only offer variable direct debits?
I wouldn’t want that going into winter.
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What does it matter in the end your still paying the same amount over the year.

Is it that hard to account for the extra for heating over winter?
They update your bill amount daily (Inc standing charges) so you know exactly how much you have spent and you'll know exactly what the bill will be before it's generated assuming you have smart meters so there are no surprises.

I worked for energy company throughout my 20s and I always tried to get people onto a variable whole amount direct debit whenever I had an opportunity to swap people (after explaining it ofc). HATE the Idea of having credit sitting in an energy companies accounts instead of mine. Also stops the possibility of being under charged which happened so often with rebills where the DD hasn't been enough to cover usage or has been charging waaaaaay too much. Just happened so many times.

I understand the appeal to a certain extent like if your living paycheck to paycheck and need a set steady amount going out, but it's still odd to me people like it.

You can also just pay manually if you wish into the account to build a credit if you really want to for the winter.
 
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MatsyLR said:
What does it matter in the end your still paying the same amount over the year.

Is it that hard to account for the extra for heating over winter?
They update your bill amount daily (Inc standing charges) so you know exactly how much you have spent and you'll know exactly what the bill will be before it's generated assuming you have smart meters so there are no surprises.

I worked for energy company throughout my 20s and I always tried to get people onto a variable whole amount direct debit whenever I had an opportunity to swap people (after explaining it ofc). HATE the Idea of having credit sitting in an energy companies accounts instead of mine. Also stops the possibility of being under charged which happened so often with rebills where the DD hasn't been enough to cover usage or has been charging waaaaaay too much. Just happened so many times.

I understand the appeal to a certain extent like if your living paycheck to paycheck and need a set steady amount going out, but it's still odd to me people like it.

You can also just pay manually if you wish into the account to build a credit if you really want to for the winter.
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Your industry experience is noted, but the tone here reads as unnecessarily patronising. Suggesting it’s ‘odd’ that people prefer fixed payments or implying they can’t handle seasonal variation doesn’t come across as helpful, it comes across as dismissive.

People choose fixed direct debits for a reason: budgeting stability, predictable outgoings, and avoiding the admin of tracking daily fluctuations. It’s not a lack of understanding, it’s a strategic choice that suits them.
 
MatsyLR said:
What does it matter in the end your still paying the same amount over the year.

Is it that hard to account for the extra for heating over winter?
They update your bill amount daily (Inc standing charges) so you know exactly how much you have spent and you'll know exactly what the bill will be before it's generated assuming you have smart meters so there are no surprises.

I worked for energy company throughout my 20s and I always tried to get people onto a variable whole amount direct debit whenever I had an opportunity to swap people (after explaining it ofc). HATE the Idea of having credit sitting in an energy companies accounts instead of mine. Also stops the possibility of being under charged which happened so often with rebills where the DD hasn't been enough to cover usage or has been charging waaaaaay too much. Just happened so many times.

I understand the appeal to a certain extent like if your living paycheck to paycheck and need a set steady amount going out, but it's still odd to me people like it.

You can also just pay manually if you wish into the account to build a credit if you really want to for the winter.
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I pay fixed DD payment each month and I currently have a whopping £69 of credit on my account which, coincidentally, is almost the same as my monthly payment. This is also after the warmer/lighter months i.e. when you use less than the Winter months.

Nothing wrong with fixed DD if you monitor and use it right. I haven't adjusted my payment in circa 18 months so I have it just right by the looks of it.

You prefer Whole Month DD and I prefer fixed DD.... If that makes me "odd" then so be it :cry:
 
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Kohaashi said:
Your industry experience is noted, but the tone here reads as unnecessarily patronising. Suggesting it’s ‘odd’ that people prefer fixed payments or implying they can’t handle seasonal variation doesn’t come across as helpful, it comes across as dismissive
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Apologies came across that way, didn't mean it in that context. Just that to myself it's weird people like having their money in an energy suppliers account.

I 100% understand why, many different reasons for it and if it works it works everyone will have a different use case for how to pay energy bills and what works for them. Most people I talked about it with while working said no as they prefer how it is so there's no surprises,(in theory at least). I only saw the bad side of it when it goes wrong.
:p
 
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So someone with clear interests in the fossil fuel industry makes an ideological argument against something she see as ideological.

It really doesn’t explain a lot at all. Many of the arguments she makes aren’t even net zero related, poor (in her view) policy and insufficient infrastructure investment which the latter is not really a shock to anyone who has lived in the U.K. for 5 minutes.
 
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Did you not see through the obvious fossil fuel industry propaganda who would very much love for the status quo to remain?

Like I said, many of the arguments are not even net zero issues. They are ‘the U.K. isn’t really managing the energy sector in the right way‘ issues.

For example, We built the wind farms but not the grid connections to where the energy is needed so we have to pay the to curtail because we can’t get the energy to where it’s needed. This isn’t an issue with wind farms or net zero, it’s just poor planning on the part of the grid and it’s a symptom of having a fragmented privatised energy sector.

The policy costs stuff is another issue which isn’t net zero related. It’s done to flatter the public finances, no more, no less. So much for Tory fiscal responsibility right?

Security of supply issues again are down to government regulation, not net zero. Again, another symptom of Tory policy to privatise the energy system for a quick buck.

I could go on but it’s gone midnight.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Did you not see through the obvious fossil fuel industry propaganda who would very much love for the status quo to remain?

Like I said, many of the arguments are not even net zero issues. They are ‘the U.K. isn’t really managing the energy sector in the right way‘ issues.

For example, We built the wind farms but not the grid connections to where the energy is needed so we have to pay the to curtail because we can’t get the energy to where it’s needed. This isn’t an issue with wind farms or net zero, it’s just poor planning on the part of the grid and it’s a symptom of having a fragmented privatised energy sector.

The policy costs stuff is another issue which isn’t net zero related. It’s done to flatter the public finances, no more, no less. So much for Tory fiscal responsibility right?

Security of supply issues again are down to government regulation, not net zero. Again, another symptom of Tory policy to privatise the energy system for a quick buck.

I could go on but it’s gone midnight.
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I don't think the fossil fuel propaganda was all that strong in that video. I really dislike the clickbait "Net Zero Must Go" title as that's just asinine, as you said and I totally agree, most of the arguments aren't even about net zero issues at all. If there was some forethought and proper management of the energy sector then we could have been better off and more prepared for "net zero".

One particular aspect of my own political naivety is that of the civil servants of this country. You may elect a new party and leader but is it really just the same old people behind the scenes? Their own agenda, their ideology driving or blocking progress and making decisions in their own best interest and not of the country?

Anyway, I've got a bit political in a thread about electricity prices, apologies, but here's something to watch while you have a morning cuppa:

 
Mysterae_ said:
One particular aspect of my own political naivety is that of the civil servants of this country. You may elect a new party and leader but is it really just the same old people behind the scenes? Their own agenda, their ideology driving or blocking progress and making decisions in their own best interest and not of the country?
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The civil service follow the political agenda of the government, they don’t set it themselves - the truss mini budget and austerity are perfect examples of this.

What the civil service lack is deep expertise certain fields where there is an external industry that can simply pay more and there is high demand, that then makes them reliant on the private sector for certain skills. IT developers is an obvious example of this.

They are also a bit vulnerable to being influenced by the external lobby because they lack said deep expertise to challenge such representations. It’s the age old adage of big industry body says X, it must be true because they know what they are doing.

Things like economics, statisticians, public health etc. the public sector has good expertise because the external market demand isn’t as high or there is plenty of supply in the labour market.
 
Mysterae_ said:
I don't think the fossil fuel propaganda was all that strong in that video. I really dislike the clickbait "Net Zero Must Go" title as that's just asinine, as you said and I totally agree, most of the arguments aren't even about net zero issues at all. If there was some forethought and proper management of the energy sector then we could have been better off and more prepared for "net zero".

One particular aspect of my own political naivety is that of the civil servants of this country. You may elect a new party and leader but is it really just the same old people behind the scenes? Their own agenda, their ideology driving or blocking progress and making decisions in their own best interest and not of the country?

Anyway, I've got a bit political in a thread about electricity prices, apologies, but here's something to watch while you have a morning cuppa:

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Can you give us a TLDW of these videos?

Youtube is a cesspit of nonsense so an idea of what its about would be good.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
The civil service follow the political agenda of the government, they don’t set it themselves - the truss mini budget and austerity are perfect examples of this.

What the civil service lack is deep expertise certain fields where there is an external industry that can simply pay more and there is high demand, that then makes them reliant on the private sector for certain skills. IT developers is an obvious example of this.

They are also a bit vulnerable to being influenced by the external lobby because they lack said deep expertise to challenge such representations. It’s the age old adage of big industry body says X, it must be true because they know what they are doing.

Things like economics, statisticians, public health etc. the public sector has good expertise because the external market demand isn’t as high or there is plenty of supply in the labour market.
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IHT changes and NI increases also were all Treasury targets before Labour landed last year and wanted more money to distribute. I doubt Rachel first thought of them.
 
200sols said:
Can you give us a TLDW of these videos?

Youtube is a cesspit of nonsense so an idea of what its about would be good.
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That video in particular is about the proliferation of wind turbines in the Highlands, their impact and the resultant backlash against their unrelenting pace. It's definitely biased against more wind turbines with interviews from locals who have accepted them in the past only for more to be planned. There's a sentiment that Scotland will be the energy cashcow of the UK; Scotland already produces more energy than it can use and that energy companies were paid millions to not produce energy for a third of the time.

Yet our energy bills get higher each year.

The Highlands will never look the same if all the planned installations go ahead. Is it a necessary evil to produce and decarbonise our energy or is it just golden goose for shareholders? I'm unconvinced either way.
 
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Mysterae_ said:
That video in particular is about the proliferation of wind turbines in the Highlands, their impact and the resultant backlash against their unrelenting pace. It's definitely biased against more wind turbines with interviews from locals who have accepted them in the past only for more to be planned. There's a sentiment that Scotland will be the energy cashcow of the UK; Scotland already produces more energy than it can use and that energy companies were paid millions to not produce energy for a third of the time.

Yet our energy bills get higher each year.

The Highlands will never look the same if all the planned installations go ahead. Is it a necessary evil to produce and decarbonise our energy or is it just golden goose for shareholders? I'm unconvinced either way.
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The landowners do all right, as for shareholders. That depends on the setup, many listed renewable investments are having a terrible time right now.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Likewise, the alternative is we stick a Sizewell c equivalent in their back yard instead. Not sure they would go for that either.
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That's the thing, they don't need a nuclear plant in their backyard as they generate enough power. The power is needed elsewhere and are upset that the natural beauty is being blighted to supply that power to towns and cities hundreds of miles away or not even used for a third of the time.

My hope is that new technology will come along and negate the need for wind turbines as they don't need to be permanent as they can easily be removed, unlike nuclear. For example, the Dounreay nuclear site at the top of Scotland will take another 50 years to decommission, with the end date of the whole project scheduled for the year 2333.
 
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