It Just Gets Worse...
I've spent ages talking to NPower trying to decide whether to go with EDF or not.
I am given £100 back at the end of the year as discount for having taken a monthly Direct Debit payment plan. I don't have standing charges with NPower but again I have no idea if they've factored what they lose in charges on the meters into their prices.
As NPower do not have standing charges it's a bit unfair thinking I am saving £104 annually if I go with NPower but in a way I am because I am not paying that to EDF.
Now that could be seen as saving quite a tidy sum but if NPower end up more expensive I could still be paying that £104 to them but it won't be classed as a standing charge so my bills won't be any cheaper.
But going by my readings the other day if correct and its only an estimate after all I got the impression my bill with NPower weekly(7 Days)would be £6(Gas)£7(Electric)With EDF it would be £5(Gas)£10(Electric)and yet EDF say they are the cheapest.
What messed things up this morning is that I was told that I may be entitled because of my medical problems/condition/benefits received I may be entitled to a further discount of £114 and I was put through to another department but that turned out to have nothing to do with my situation and it was a place that gives grants to repair heating equipment that has broken down and they gave me another number to call and that help had closed in March. So both numbers were of no use whatsoever! So why are they being given out in the first place?
But there are too many figures going around in my head I'm bound to have got something wrong but on the readings so far I think I'll be paying approx £576 to NPower and £633 to EDF and that's after a discount with them of I think £147. So NPower still seems cheaper? I'm sure NPower said I also save another £100 for going onto a different tariff. Now, this means I can either save more or use more gas and the electric as I'll only be coming up nearer to what I originally thought I'd spend...
This is doing my head in...
I've cancelled EDF and I am going to think about it for a few more days but at least I don't have the deadline of the cooling off period hanging over me...
I am given £100 back at the end of the year as discount for having taken a monthly Direct Debit payment plan. I don't have standing charges with NPower but again I have no idea if they've factored what they lose in charges on the meters into their prices.
As NPower do not have standing charges it's a bit unfair thinking I am saving £104 annually if I go with NPower but in a way I am because I am not paying that to EDF.
Now that could be seen as saving quite a tidy sum but if NPower end up more expensive I could still be paying that £104 to them but it won't be classed as a standing charge so my bills won't be any cheaper.
But going by my readings the other day if correct and its only an estimate after all I got the impression my bill with NPower weekly(7 Days)would be £6(Gas)£7(Electric)With EDF it would be £5(Gas)£10(Electric)and yet EDF say they are the cheapest.
What messed things up this morning is that I was told that I may be entitled because of my medical problems/condition/benefits received I may be entitled to a further discount of £114 and I was put through to another department but that turned out to have nothing to do with my situation and it was a place that gives grants to repair heating equipment that has broken down and they gave me another number to call and that help had closed in March. So both numbers were of no use whatsoever! So why are they being given out in the first place?
But there are too many figures going around in my head I'm bound to have got something wrong but on the readings so far I think I'll be paying approx £576 to NPower and £633 to EDF and that's after a discount with them of I think £147. So NPower still seems cheaper? I'm sure NPower said I also save another £100 for going onto a different tariff. Now, this means I can either save more or use more gas and the electric as I'll only be coming up nearer to what I originally thought I'd spend...
This is doing my head in...
I've cancelled EDF and I am going to think about it for a few more days but at least I don't have the deadline of the cooling off period hanging over me...
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 12:57 pm
12 Comments:
Quite right, Gildy. If you're not sure, it's best to cancel.
You can always get back to EDF if you decide to go with them after all.
VQ,
This must doing everyone's head in and quite boring I suspect...but then they say it's easy to switch.
I mean I have to do something as monthly direct debit seems cheaper than quarterly bills paid with cash and having gas and electric seems to be the way to go...
I hate dithering about...
But others must go through these kind of dilemma's too...
Well, as I've already said, Gildy........ I've put it out of my mind. I'll tackle it when I feel able to. Of course, that may mean never!
Worry can certainly make one ill. It may even be a killer so I try not to worry.
I suppose I'm a procrastinator. I just put things out of my mind until I'm ready to deal with them. That's my way. It may not be everyone's.
In any case, important decisions should never be made so close to a bereavement.
I would have thought in the end the energy companies are all much of a muchness. I mean are they really going to give you something cheaper? Maybe down the line they will charge you more to make up for it?
I don't know, but it seems like an awful lot of mental energy trying to work it out!
Cx
I think you are right Carol, it is a business after all and no matter how much pressure the Government say they are putting on energy companies they have to make a profit.
When you have to pay for what is an essential service that probably prolongs your life it hits hard...
Most things are privatised...you have to pay to keep warm, light your home and for the water too.
We probably always did but not paying anything like what we do now...
There's a lot of stuff I'd like to not have to think about VQ but it will come looking for me you can bet your life!
They say that Azerbaijan has big problems regarding Human rights and some questioned why the Eurovision Song Contest took place there but I heard Ken Bruce say on the radio as he commentated on the event that gas is avialable to the population and it is free...
Imagine if other countries gave energy to their populations and did not charge.
I only ever remember having to pay for energy, was it ever free? Or supplied via a kind of nationised plan?
Probably not...All households probably originally depended on a delivery of coal and using candles for light. Then as gas and electric came in we'd have to pay a private company.
Heatwise I still found an open fire and a coke boiler cheaper to run, easy to manage too...but I think that those days have gone, not just because of the concern about global warming,I suspect many of today's population would prefer to push aa button or turn a kob.
I remember my old auntie telling me once that when she was at school and electric lights came in instead of gas lighting, it was such a novelty many of them could not resist switching the lights on and off at any opportunity.
And if caught they wre told off for doing so...
It's not that long ago timewise we weere still using gas light and even Mum could remember the lamplighter going around lighting the lights in the street.
I'd guess it was phased out in the 30's and 40's but probably towns around the country would have been last to go over to electric so perhaps an odd street was still gaslit after that time. I'm not sure if I saw any myself...
It was a shilling in the meter for many years.....both gas and electricity, and the meter man used to come and empty the meters. You paid for what you used, and if you ran out of shillings, you had a candle.
Our cooking was done in an oven by the fire, with pans and kettle on the fire.
It probably was no worse cooking that way and the fire provided both warmth and more...youngsters wouldn't want that today and of course houses are not designed that way. To some extent it's a wonder why they still design houses with a chimney. It can only be a matter of time before a house is chimneyless...
Chances are in many countries there are many homes that don't have any, they are probably more usual in Europe and North America etc...
Mine doesn't have a chimney!
There you go :-)
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