Prepping for Poverty???

[Arzosah]

Katilea, don't believe that you're using more because they're putting up the amount you pay, thats not necessarily true. One thing you can do to have the information at your fingertips is to take weekly readings of your meters - can you see them from your wheelchair, or stand long enough to have a butcher's?

Do you have a web connection at home? What about earning little bits of money? I'm not sure what the rules are for the benefits you're entitled to, but if there's a survey site to get goods, or vouchers, not cash, that can be a little bit extra - its *very* little, depending on how many surveys etc.

On the same moneysaving site, there's a whole forum section called Boost Your Income, I think - including writing on things like textbroker.

[katilea]

Katilea, don't believe that you're using more because they're putting up the amount you pay, thats not necessarily true. One thing you can do to have the information at your fingertips is to take weekly readings of your meters - can you see them from your wheelchair, or stand long enough to have a butcher's?

Do you have a web connection at home? What about earning little bits of money? I'm not sure what the rules are for the benefits you're entitled to, but if there's a survey site to get goods, or vouchers, not cash, that can be a little bit extra - its *very* little, depending on how many surveys etc.

On the same moneysaving site, there's a whole forum section called Boost Your Income, I think - including writing on things like textbroker.

Why would they put it up so much then if I wasn't using that much it has gone from under £30 to £48 then £55??? ..in the space of a couple of months. Would a fridge freezer use that much extra if the seal had a split in it? The split is not from away the door but in middle of the seal where it concertinas if you get what I mean?

some people have said it wouldn't make much difference and there's had continued to work and another person thought it could use more electric. BG said that could be reason when I asked whether it could be that or that the small electric heater (in bedroom) or electric fire in lounge?

What is 'textbroker'?

[preparedsurrey]

Do you know if you are in credit on your electric/ gas accounts? They usually seem to predict that we will use more than we actually do so increase our monthly payment.

Can't see the fridge seal making much difference to be honest, you could probably fix the split with a tube of silicon sealant.
It would have to be completely missing so the fridge was trying to cool the house to notice a difference in power usage.
Using electric heating if you usually don't would use up a fair bit of power.

[unsure]

Katilea, don't believe that you're using more because they're putting up the amount you pay, thats not necessarily true. One thing you can do to have the information at your fingertips is to take weekly readings of your meters - can you see them from your wheelchair, or stand long enough to have a butcher's?

Do you have a web connection at home? What about earning little bits of money? I'm not sure what the rules are for the benefits you're entitled to, but if there's a survey site to get goods, or vouchers, not cash, that can be a little bit extra - its *very* little, depending on how many surveys etc.

On the same moneysaving site, there's a whole forum section called Boost Your Income, I think - including writing on things like textbroker.

Why would they put it up so much then if I wasn't using that much it has gone from under £30 to £48 then £55??? ..in the space of a couple of months. Would a fridge freezer use that much extra if the seal had a split in it? The split is not from away the door but in middle of the seal where it concertinas if you get what I mean?

some people have said it wouldn't make much difference and there's had continued to work and another person thought it could use more electric. BG said that could be reason when I asked whether it could be that or that the small electric heater (in bedroom) or electric fire in lounge?

What is 'textbroker'?

time to switch ,i`d say . i can`t see how they can justify a near 100% increase .

[Catweazle]

Electric heaters use more electricity than fridges, a lot more.

I don't know anything about your disability, but the thread mentions a wheelchair so I'm guessing it's pretty serious. So, if the government is threatening to cut your benefits, and you would struggle to provide for yourself after TSHTF, you need to look at your strengths. You clearly have a good mind - perhaps your best bet is to get yourself a good library ( and a good supply of reading glasses ) so that you can offer valuable advice in return for your keep.

Almost everybody in the UK can read, but understanding and planning is different, maybe you have those skills.

[jansman]

I would check ( as has been mentioned already) how much you are in credit. I will bet it is a few quid. That is the problem with direct debit. We have always paid quarterly and just put a set amount aside each week. We refuse to let anyone make abitrary decisions about our cash. Your money is better in your pocket.

[Arzosah]

Katilea, don't believe that you're using more because they're putting up the amount you pay, thats not necessarily true. One thing you can do to have the information at your fingertips is to take weekly readings of your meters - can you see them from your wheelchair, or stand long enough to have a butcher's?

Why would they put it up so much then if I wasn't using that much it has gone from under £30 to £48 then £55??? ..in the space of a couple of months. Would a fridge freezer use that much extra if the seal had a split in it? The split is not from away the door but in middle of the seal where it concertinas if you get what I mean?

some people have said it wouldn't make much difference and there's had continued to work and another person thought it could use more electric. BG said that could be reason when I asked whether it could be that or that the small electric heater (in bedroom) or electric fire in lounge?

What is 'textbroker'?

Energy firms don't have your best interests at heart, Katilea, they have the interests of their shareholders at heart. It's not a conspiracy theory, it's just basic economics. That's not to say that the individual staff members aren't good people and trying to help you, because they probably are. But the firms themselves are looking to make sure they up their profits. My input, which is what you were asking for across the board, is to read your own meters once a week for a while, or even daily once you have a baseline, to check what a particular appliance uses, so that you know what you're actually using.

Textbroker is a website https://www.textbroker.co.uk/ you have to take a test to be allowed to join as an author - I'm not sure about it from there on, but that, and others like it, are worth investigating, I'd think. That and others like it are talked about on separate threads on the Boost Your Income board at moneysavingexpert.

HTH.

[katilea]

Thanks for the tips guys. I never considered paying quartely, could I still do that online? so I'd only pay for what I actually used then? You would have alot to find though after the winter quarter? ..and maybe much less after the summer quarter? depending on which months they split their quarters.

I have got a credit card so could stick the bill on there if necessary, though sometimes if I've needed big equipment (like mobility scooter) or had vet bills to cover it can be nearly maxed out anyway.

I'll have a look at that textbroker. I don't know if I'd be able to work fast enough these days. I used to be a touch typist with a speed close to 200wpm but developed Cerebellar Ataxia in my early 30's which affects my co-ordination of both arms and legs. typing is much slower these days though I have assistive tech on computer (word/sentence prediction to speed stuff up), its more the concentration it takes to hit the right keys that makes it tiring quickly.

I used to type other students dissertations up for them at uni to make extra money when I could easily do a 10,000 word one in one day.

The mind is still sharp most days (when I'm not too knackered to think..lol!) but the body struggles to keep up with what my brain wants it to do!

I will be switching as soon as they've paid me the Warm Home Discount I'd applied for last year. I've a feeling they're gonna make me wait until the very last day (31st March) which is also when my plan ends. so I need to know who I'm moving to to do it as soon as they pay the discount, which I reckon should clear anything outstanding on the electric. Usually my gas is only in credit by a small amount if it is but electric at one point was well over £100 in credit, despite me having scooters and chairs on charging every night for 12 hours a night.

Utility Warehouse hasn't answered the email I sent last week so not impressed with their customer services. Need one who will answer emails quickly as its my main method of communication and not make me ring premium lines with minicom and Typetalk.

I'd also heard pre-payment meters cost more but got good reviews about OVO who give you an energy meter so you can see if you're getting low and I think also offered quartely paying so would assume thats not a pre-payment meter if you chose that? Think I was told they have no standing charge but again the unit price could be higher same as pre-payment. Would the unit price change if you switch to quartely billing?

A few companies I hadn't heard of, so I'd have to go through them all and see who has cheapest standing charge and unit price.

[Hamradioop]

Hi Katilea, try phoning British Gas re your electricity bill and tariff, My Wife is disabled with MS and tells me they are very helpful in finding the lowest tariff, I would personally be wary of utilityware houses as it seems to be a network marketing company or multilevel marketing scheme.

[katilea]

I would check ( as has been mentioned already) how much you are in credit. I will bet it is a few quid. That is the problem with direct debit. We have always paid quarterly and just put a set amount aside each week. We refuse to let anyone make abitrary decisions about our cash. Your money is better in your pocket.

I asked for different quotes on one site for monthly DD and quarterly... with monthly DD you save £241 a year, if choose quarterly when get bill, saved only £26 a year the yearly estimated bill to pay quarterly when get bill was £787.43. The yearly cost by monthly DD was £572.36????

Cheapest quote so far as been First Utility at just over £500 for a years gas and electric. I forgot to write down the monthly DD but the standing charge and unit price for both was cheaper than BT, nPower and E-on...so I'll have to go through all the others too to check.

If anyone knows any cheaper? prices I got were Gas: Standing Charge 14.19, unit 2.150p per Kwh Electric: SC £14.93, unit price 10.35p per Kwh I was surprised as I always thought Gas cost alot more than electric thats why I got the electric heater for bedroom and electric fire in front room! I wonder how many Kwh though it would use to have heating on an hour or when TV is on for several hours?

Does anyone know if there's an app or something can tell you? I don't have the smart meters fitted that tells the companies what you are using.

I have sent a complaint to British Gas about them putting price up again and said surely if they just applied the £140 Warm Home Discount that would have cleared alot of electric bill if I had used as much as they were charging for. I haven't had a reply yet. They haven't taken £55 out yet its due out 28th March so I'll just put a stop on the DD if they don't answer and switch before, just have to write off the Warm Home Discount as a loss as I'm getting fed up with them now.