beefybake

Not really. A common practice in the industry, certainly prior to energy price guarantees etc, was to give a DD quote on comparison sites to attract a customer in. Then a few weeks later announce to the new customer that after reviewing usage figures etc, the DD would in fact be substantially higher. Basically, customers money was being used to build the supplier a cash buffer.

Well, one of those sides is going to lose, so there isn't much balancing of influence in that direction. The subject is rather like someone who votes for an honest, upright, progressive political party here, but places a bet on the Conservatives, or Labour, to win.

US businesses/corporations donating to both sides is something I read years ago was not at all uncommon. Capitalism in the raw.

Must admit, I was under the impression that slow cookers were rather yesterday, whereas...... now you're seldom more than meters away from a conversation about ****ing air fryers.

I'm on Economy 7 with Octopus Energy. Tariff is variable, ie, non fixed. Not had a problem such as you've described. Rates are... Day : 42.90p /KwH NIght: 14.61p /Kwh. Daily Standing Charge: 51.03p . If I was on the single rate standard variable, the rates would be... 33.86p /KwH with daily standing charge of 51.00p. These figures include the Energy Price Guarantee, but not the £66 per month ( £400 total ) that's paid to my account till March. Have you asked your supplier how they've come up with the figures you've mentioned ? [ NB. The Octopus rates, and standing charges, vary by 1 or 2p either way, calculated according to the areas served by the old pre-privatisation Electricity Boards. I would assume that other energy supppliers rates work in the same way. My area is SW England, formerly served by SWEB, South West Electricity Board. ]

Some seriously expensive hot chocolates there. Looks like a cost of living crisis just on its own.

Just got back from the shops. Didn't want to miss out when the rush really starts, so stocked up on....

Only in your ever-contrarian dreams.

not really in the same league as the weird stuff constantly circling around inside your head.

^^^^ Deprived adulthood.

No use trying to put up a little snow flurry to disguise your ignorance of the difference between a Kw rating on the side of an appliance, and what it actually uses.

Care to elaborate on the etc etc .

if you're happy with the status quo, then why bother posting here. Posted on this thread, there's been various benefits, and also downsides, to having a a smart meter. With mine , it's given me access to the stats about how much KwH i've been using throughout the day. All split up into half hourly segments. As I know when my immersion heater comes on, and goes off ( I use a separate timer ), and when, say, I cook my evening meal...... I can see straight in my face what I'm using, and from there it's simple arithmetic to work out how much I'm spending on energy for different items. My actions since I had a meter installed last March...... 1. Almost ceased to use my cooker/oven. I bought a mini oven for roasts, and 'baking' stuff, and haven't used the large cooker oven since. Electric useage for my cooked meals has plummeted. 2. Worked out that much of the immersion heated hot water wasn't actually being used, so dialed back both the immersor thermostat, and also the time period that it was switched on. 3. What with all the energy price increases, my desire to pay more attention to how much electricity I use has increased, and the smart meter has given me the ability to dig down into really examine what is costing me money. 4. By extension, I've closely examined my flat for draughts, and dealt with them. 5. Now mulling over whether to use an induction hob, rather than the cooking rings on the large cooker. All this leaves money that I can do something useful with. Risible... ? No.

That sounds like a 'their' problem. For them to sort out. [Unless, that is, what is being referred to is lack of communication between the smart meter and the IHD. This happened to me after Octopus installed a smart meter at my flat. Their answer was that the IHD needed to be nearer to the smart meter. The smart meter is in its box in the common hallway. The IHD is now ( inconveniently for me) positioned about 9 inches away, separated by the wall between them. One of the little things Octopus accidently forgot to say when they were extolling the virtues of a smart meter. ].

Posted just now Wasn't Prince Harry doing something similar on his stint in Afghanistan ? Sitting somewhere safe, calling in the airstrikes.

When I was a kid, in the early/mid '60's, my family lived in Milngavie. Garvies had a factory there. My class at the local primary school visited it one day. All I can remember is a huge open top vat, about 4 or 5 metres wide, filled with sweet smelling 'orange', paddles on central shaft whirling round, the liquid swirling in currents, churning over and over and over, me staring down into it, and my stomach gradually starting to turn over, and... I was never very keen on orangeade after that. I did like the limeade though.

And your point is.... ?

I see that the Defence Secretary has made an urgent flight to the US. Speculation around as to what that is about. At a guess, I'd say it's for discussions about how to counter the Russian attacks on the Ukraine power stations, and associated infrastructure.

He is also a prime figure of austerity politics. He has quite a lot of Teflon on him, and has largely slithered away from any blame for Britain having the highest number of Covid deaths in Europe. As Health minister he oversaw the scaling back/cancellation of NHS disaster planning for pandemics such as Covid.

With Octopus, that's pretty much what I do. I no longer have the IHD switched on. I just go to their website, or the phone app. I can check the KwH useage by the hour, day, week, or month. The useage stats for the previous day typically show up on the site/app by around 11 am, or 12 on the current day. It doesn't show the £ cost, but as I do a meter reading once a month, which automatically generates a bill, and a deduction from my credit.., I don't really need to monitor the specific £ cost on an hourly/daily etc basis. What's important to me is the KwH useage, everything else follows from that.

On what evidence do you wonder that ?

George Orwell must be turning in his grave at the amount of Newspeak coming from the Westminster government.

He's a bad, bad boy.

I've never been with Utilita, but... I was on PAYG/Pre Pay in my flat for years before I switched. British Gas as it happened. I told them that I wanted to go on a monthly Direct Debit. No problem. They sent out a man within about 10 days or so to rip out the PAYG meter , and install a new one. Quick, and seamless. Yes, you do get a discount for paying by DD. The companies love it..., steady money, no messing around with late payers. As it happened, after about 4 months I switched to another supplier, with cheaper rates. ( Somewhere along the way, I'd gained the impression that the best way to do the switch away from Pre Pay was to do the switch with your current supplier, as that gives you more options about your next move.., rather than approaching a new supplier, and saying you want to also switch from your current PAYG payment method ). The downside of DD's is that, as mentioned many times on here, is if the supplier starts viewing your bank account as a box of sweeties that they can dip into when they feel like it.

And the Americans, and Brits et al... in Afghanistan, to a large extent. They didn't control anything in the end, while the SAS seems to have operated as an outreach death squad. Something no one wants to talk about right now, bar one newspaper.