On Sat, 05 Mar 2022 21:57:05 +0000, Vicky <vicky.ayech@gmail.com>
wrote:

>A while ago I posted that Bulb took a DD I had not authorised and
>finally said they'd repay it if at the next readings I was over what
>would be charged. Oddly bills went up hugely and it was instead of
>£200+ over only under £10 or so and had gone to pay the big increases.
>I had made a big fuss and the credit I was in is just being used up
>around now. Bulb did promise to put a stop on the a/c so only £50 a
>month was debited for the next 3 months and it will be month at the
>end of this month.
>
>Bulb allow clients to change the DD themself but nt unless it is a
>change to high enough to fit their wonky algorhythms. I've had to
>request them to dop the changes for a year or two since they thought
>my use would be much higher. I am almost breaking even now and I
>think might go in to debit after March. But I don't want DD any more.
>I can't recall if you are obliged to have DD with Bulb? As some grans
>on gransnet I would not prefer to lose any DD discount and just pay
>the bill each month or quarter after readings. I have not got a smart
>meter either as it was not possible to fit one here, even though they
>kept suggesting it.

I don't know what the terms and conditions on your account allow you
to do but whilst I have a monthly Direct Debit on Eon-Next (formery
n-Power but I was automatically switched) it's not a fixed amount:
they bill me each month for the exact amount of electricity and gas I
have used. Well, the exact amount if anybody has read the meter.
Otherwise it's an estimate.

Nick

On Sat, 5 Mar 2022 at 23:05:04, Nick Odell
<nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote (my responses usually FOLLOW):
>On Sat, 05 Mar 2022 21:57:05 +0000, Vicky <vicky.ayech@gmail.com>
>wrote:
[]
>>on gransnet I would not prefer to lose any DD discount and just pay
>>the bill each month or quarter after readings. I have not got a smart
>>meter either as it was not possible to fit one here, even though they
>>kept suggesting it.
>
>I don't know what the terms and conditions on your account allow you
>to do but whilst I have a monthly Direct Debit on Eon-Next (formery
>n-Power but I was automatically switched) it's not a fixed amount:
>they bill me each month for the exact amount of electricity and gas I
>have used. Well, the exact amount if anybody has read the meter.
>Otherwise it's an estimate.

Same here (I _do_ have a medium-smart meter) for
Octopus-pretending-to-be-M&S. But I had to jump through hoops to _get_
them to do that: actually paying for what you used seemed to be a very
odd concept!

I thought, when DDs first came in, that was presented as the main
advantage; if they want to make it a fixed amount, then a standing order
would be preferable. (Of course, we all know the _real_ reason they like
Dds.)
>
>Nick
John
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

You can believe it if it helps you to sleep. - Quoted by Tom Lehrer (on
religion, in passing), April 2013.
(Apparently he was quoting James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James".)

Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Mar 2022 21:57:05 +0000, Vicky <vicky.ayech@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> A while ago I posted that Bulb took a DD I had not authorised and
>> finally said they'd repay it if at the next readings I was over what
>> would be charged. Oddly bills went up hugely and it was instead of
>> £200+ over only under £10 or so and had gone to pay the big increases.
>> I had made a big fuss and the credit I was in is just being used up
>> around now. Bulb did promise to put a stop on the a/c so only £50 a
>> month was debited for the next 3 months and it will be month at the
>> end of this month.
>>
>> Bulb allow clients to change the DD themself but nt unless it is a
>> change to high enough to fit their wonky algorhythms. I've had to
>> request them to dop the changes for a year or two since they thought
>> my use would be much higher. I am almost breaking even now and I
>> think might go in to debit after March. But I don't want DD any more.
>> I can't recall if you are obliged to have DD with Bulb? As some grans
>> on gransnet I would not prefer to lose any DD discount and just pay
>> the bill each month or quarter after readings. I have not got a smart
>> meter either as it was not possible to fit one here, even though they
>> kept suggesting it.
>
> I don't know what the terms and conditions on your account allow you
> to do but whilst I have a monthly Direct Debit on Eon-Next (formery
> n-Power but I was automatically switched) it's not a fixed amount:
> they bill me each month for the exact amount of electricity and gas I
> have used. Well, the exact amount if anybody has read the meter.
> Otherwise it's an estimate.
>
> Nick
>

And our dumb smartmeter has just started talking again this last Thursday;
we now have (I suppose) an accurate reading again rather than estimates and
….. (trumpet fanfare) our IHD has started working again so I can see how
much energy we are using!!!:-)))

--
Toodle Pip, Mike McMillan

On 05/03/2022 23:05, Nick Odell wrote:
> I don't know what the terms and conditions on your account allow you
> to do but whilst I have a monthly Direct Debit on Eon-Next (formery
> n-Power but I was automatically switched) it's not a fixed amount:
> they bill me each month for the exact amount of electricity and gas I
> have used. Well, the exact amount if anybody has read the meter.
> Otherwise it's an estimate.

Since they decided they weren't wasting enough customer's money and
hence changed to being E-on Next they have suddenly decided - without
consulting me at all on the subject - to DD me very month. In the first
e-mail where they said they'd do this they asked if they were getting
right and wanted me to reply to the e-mail if I had anything to say. I
did reply, asking why my DD was changed to monthly, which I had not
asked for, had not been told about and did not want. They didn't answer.

This time they said it was based on meter readings, having said at least
twice before that they couldn't get a reading from my Smart meter. I
thought about making a fuss about that because one of their chief claims
about Smart meters was that there would be no more estimated bills, but
I never got the necessary tuit.

--
Jenny M Benson
Wrexham, UK

Jenny M Benson <NemoNews@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
> On 05/03/2022 23:05, Nick Odell wrote:
>> I don't know what the terms and conditions on your account allow you
>> to do but whilst I have a monthly Direct Debit on Eon-Next (formery
>> n-Power but I was automatically switched) it's not a fixed amount:
>> they bill me each month for the exact amount of electricity and gas I
>> have used. Well, the exact amount if anybody has read the meter.
>> Otherwise it's an estimate.
>
> Since they decided they weren't wasting enough customer's money and
> hence changed to being E-on Next they have suddenly decided - without
> consulting me at all on the subject - to DD me very month. In the first
> e-mail where they said they'd do this they asked if they were getting
> right and wanted me to reply to the e-mail if I had anything to say. I
> did reply, asking why my DD was changed to monthly, which I had not
> asked for, had not been told about and did not want. They didn't answer.
>
> This time they said it was based on meter readings, having said at least
> twice before that they couldn't get a reading from my Smart meter. I
> thought about making a fuss about that because one of their chief claims
> about Smart meters was that there would be no more estimated bills, but
> I never got the necessary tuit.
>

[Mounts Soap Box] Don’t talk to me about EonNext - We were with N-Power and
were just thrown over the fence to EonNext without so much as a twiddle of
a pig’s tail (had to get TA in somewhere!) and no consultation whatsoever.
They had a smart meter fitted which worked initially then about a year
back, it started becoming a dumb meter in spasms and the IHD stopped
working too. Last autumn, it just stopped communicating at all and I have
been in regular contact with EonNext to have this rectified. The emails I
receive from them appear to be the writing of children in some foreign land
who like to pepper their messages with little picture icons.

For a long time, I have been receiving ‘estimates’ and though they know I
am registered as ‘Vulnerable’ they don’t appear to give a tinkers about our
inability to read a meter that doesn’t even illuminate the display. I have
been requesting a new smart (SMETS2) meter but to no avail and I am
resigned to the fact that I will have to ask Octopus Energy to do it when
we swap to them later. Currently, I am waiting for them to arrange to fit a
main isolation switch in readiness for our Tesla Powerwall Gateway due to
be fitted once SSEN grace us with permission. Recently, I pointed out that
they should be taking an actual reading from the meters and they pointed
out that they would need to do this once we had failed to get a smart
reading for 90 days; I then pointed out that in their own statements they
pointed out that we had not had a reading for 183 days! (Once this figure
exceeded 200 days, I wrote again) it was about this time, the smart meter
started working again…

[Dismounts Soap Box and curses EonNext, AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH] HARRUMPH!

--
Toodle Pip, Mike McMillan