Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

I got a letter from my electricity supplier the other day saying they are going to give me a €16 refund but will be putting my monthly bill up by €8 as of next month. An extra €8 a month! I am fuming.

stockcar

not business but SSE are *****....... they are currently trying to force a Smart Meter install / claiming no std meters exist anymore!! but after being told by the Installation Engineer (normal guy that you would be safe to believe I suspect) that he simply didn't have one on the van that day I smell bullshoite..........
they have now resorted to sending legal letters about potential court action and extra fees (for something that is FREE) even though the account is still in credit - also helps tht any contact is an overseas call centre and the only way to raise a complaint is via this call centre who today have taken 2x seperate calls (40mins then cut-off and a further 25mins) to not get where we need and to be charged for the pleasure!!!!

allegedly now waiting for some mysterious being to call us back and explain...............
I'll say it again SSE are *****

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I'm not sure what the big hatred of smart meters is all about? With the some exception of switching you to PAYG without notification and the whole SMETS1 malarky which just made they run like old fashioned meters anyway

Regardless of the meter, if your supplier is a bunch of crooks, they'll still be a bunch of crooks. We had a whopper of a bill build up from NPower and red letters for non-payments etc. Why? Because we switched to British gas when the contract expired.

We negotiated new contract, it was accepted, set up the direct debit with British Gas and cancelled the NPower at the point of contract change-over. Thought it was all done and dusted. Nope, BG actually cancelled our contract due to a credit check issue, didn't inform us, so we were still with Npower, but as contract had lapsed was now on a massive penalty rate, plus non-payments as the DDs were stopped. Took about six months to work out what was going on due to being bounced around call centres (both BG and Npower), then another six months for the energy ombudsman to find in our favour telling BG compensate us for the excessive bills etc.

Oh, should mention: LED lighting. In a business environment, lumen for lumen they do NOT use that much less energy than a modern tri-phosphor tube, both are around 90 to 110lumens per watt...an electronic ballast 5ft tube is about 5000lumens and rated at 58watts. An LED strip lamp of same brightness is about 45watts, if the tube has good power factor correction, you are only going to save around 13 watts per lamp! So pretty insignificant unless you're running a huge warehouse with them on all day long and/or swapping to lower brightness fittings....better to have PIR occupancy sensing and sectioning off lesser used areas.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

What exactly can they take you to court for Alyn, it is not against any law not to have a smart meter.

JackClark

Put a faraday cage around it if you're paranoid.

IdonthaveaScooby

There can only be 2 possible reasons for enforcing this , to save the cost of employing metre reader and surrendering your identity as an individual as opposed to a digital entity

IdonthaveaScooby

Emailing your reading cost f'all

stockcar

to gain entry and force the change even though it was US that notified them of the fault and THEM that have repeatedly failed to undertake what was initially agreed - matter of principle now so they had better be prepared to break the door in if we don't get any sensible answers in the very near future!!
convenient that there is NO realistic contact points or complaints procedure and the whole system is set-up to **** the 'little plebs' into simply agreeing with their want......... *****........

BMWhere?

For many people, the meter is inside the house, so when they want to come and read the meter, then you also have to be home and usually during working hours, which is a right pita! Naturally this also saves the electric company having to employ so many meter readers. Sending your meter reading by email or online form is all well and good, but you can never trust people not to abuse it, so you would still need to send out meter readers to double check. With a smart meter you can save everyone the hassle.

Plus, when you have a dumb meter under the stairs or in a box outside, then you have no real feeling of how much electricity you're currently using. With a smart meter, you get a display (my parents have it on the side in the kitchen) or app on your phone, where you can see real-time info on your energy consumption. You really see when you turn the kettle or oven on, how much more leccy you're using, or when you think everything is turned off, how much is still being consumed in standby mode. My parents have saved a lot using a smart meter by better understanding what is being consumed when and cutting down on wastage.

The privacy concerns with a smart meter are complete bovine-excrement! The electric companies know how much leccy you're using through traditional meter readings or smart meter reading exactly the same. The only difference with a smart meter is they can see when you use the electric, which helps them massively to predict the demands on the grid and plan for energy generation. Over generation of electricity is a huge waste, so being able to better predict the demand can help reduce wastage which in turn has huge environmental benefits. Personally, I'd be more worried about what my smart TV is telling Samsung & Coi. about my viewing habits than my smart meter is telling the electric company!

stockcar

in simple terms why should anyone be forced to have something of no realistic benefit regardless of its intention??

once the "smart" meter is installed they can remotely switch you to PAYG, change tariffs and also disconnect you without any by your leave - whilst we are unlikely to suffer any of those things its simply against common decency for some ***** sitting in a remote office to have the power to lord over you!!! particularly at this time then there will be many people in very bad situations with Energy **** forcing their hand!!!
*****............

stockcar

we have lived at this address for 12years+ (Dumb meter has always been installed) and have NEVER had any visit for meter readings, so that's also total Bovine Excrement........ funnily enough I know when I'm using electric because the light is on or the water is boiling!!
to suggest these big corporate's will be worried about climate change or anything is also BE......they are only interested in $$$ and control so **** 'em.......

IdonthaveaScooby

A real feeling of using your electric comes by having a little bit knowledge of how much each appliance uses plus a bit mental arithmetic!

Or are we just Supposed to be dumb …


the last generation know a thing or two about saving cash , they had to , I dont believe they need a smart meter

IdonthaveaScooby

The privacy concerns with a smart meter are complete bovine-excrement! The electric companies know how much leccy you're using through traditional meter readings or smart meter reading exactly the same. The only difference with a smart meter is they can see when you use the electric, which helps them massively to predict the demands on the grid and plan for energy generation. Over generation of electricity is a huge waste, so being able to better predict the demand can help reduce wastage which in turn has huge environmental benefits. Personally, I'd be more worried about what my smart TV is telling Samsung & Coi. about my viewing habits than my smart meter is telling the electric company!

The western propaganda is working big time then


btw Am I dreaming?? - Yours and other western governments have been Purposely been putting out messages to cut down on power usage , subjugating the average Joe at the behest of the elites bank balance in the fight to rid every last gram of Russian mentality in the Ukrainian population , along with their lives

* never mind eh - usa is willing to ship their gas / supply you

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

There is an energy ombudsman. I have their number stored in my phone ready to go.

So, to conclude my wife was at the shop yesterday when the debt collector turned up, handing a letter saying that we owe £7500 or will be taken to court. The debt collector was looking at the stock in the shop, a lot of which is not ours and we sell it on a commission.

That means the £7500 would have then been £15000 as we would have to have paid the people for their stock.

Luckily the debt collector knew something was a miss. My wife had phoned sse last week and no mention of them sending the heavies round.
Phoned again while the debt collector was there, and they were going to speak to sse on the phone but it took sse 90 minutes to answer the call, so they left.

After our first bill was reduced from the £9500 they estimated, to an actual £800, then we set up a dd for £350 a month, which they then decided to take two lots out within two days sending the account overdrawn, to be told to cancel the dd by them to stop that happening, to another wild figure of £16000, to lots of phone calls and telling them we will not pay until they sort their mess out, to them fit a smart meter, and then turn up with a £7500 bill and debt collector, eventually the phone operative said oh yeh I can see your meter reading of 325 and we have billed you for 3000 units, I’m very sorry.

Paid £400 over the phone with a dd set up for £95 a month. The operative laughed when they said oh you are actually using £55 a month. *****. Don’t think it is a laughing matter personally.

oh, and because since the shop opened a year ago even though a kWh rate was agreed over the phone and they have kept on ballsing up the bill we have been charged £1.71 a unit.
plus standing charge and vat. And a night time standing charge even though every time they have asked if there is something wrong with the meter as it is not showing any charges overnight we have told them the shop is empty and everything is switched off at night.
*****.

stockcar

yep............

out of interest have you evcer managed to speak to anyone UK wise as they told me the below even though we have NEVER managed to speak to anyone that isn't overseas or has any kind of authority to take things further...........

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Not personally but I think my wife has. To be fair they have been apologetic, and have told us to complain or have raised a complaint themselves, I just have no faith in them and expect exactly the same thing to happen again.

stockcar

could you fire your SSE contact telephone when convenient please as all the numbers we are being given don't give any joy at all......

ted bass

Silly question but is it still SSE, coz i was with them but they changed over t OVO.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

yes will do, they are at the shop and won’t be there until Saturday though

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

@stockcar Just caught sister in law before she left the shop, the number the Mrs rang is 03457252526 and yes she said they were English.

stockcar

yes all part of the "OVO family" now.........

stockcar

BUSINESS contacts only.............. don't deal with any Domestic customers and are now two totally separate entities........

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Ah, sorry about that, has the domestic side all gone over to ovo then. I did read Ovo took them over and is on the process of combining the two companies.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

I did go on the mse forum when my Mrs told me the debt collectors were at the door.

I’ve just looked on there today and there is a poster that has the same problem as you Alyn, sse wanting to install a smart meter and the poster not wanting one installed.
There have been a few replies to the effect that you are, through the electricity act 1989, allowed to purchase your own old style smart meter and have them install it. It must meet current certification, and they can refuse but they must have a valid reason to refuse.

Might be worth a read on there, but there are a few ***** on that forum. For example in my case I mentioned sse trying to charge £7500 for 3 and a bit months and had a lot of show us the bill/meter reading so we can see if it’s wrong, but I had also mentioned the Mrs salon next door being on a fixed rate and is £150 a month dd and they are quick to jump on that making out I’m trying to fleece the supplier 🤔
Also bunch of ****’eds that can’t seem to read your post fully or properly but there are the odd few that give useful advice.

stockcar

thanks for that, had a good chat with Citizens Advice and have a bit of a 'plan' to see where we end up.......




probably in jail for lamping a bailiff!!

IdonthaveaScooby

it makes you wonder jus how many have meekly paid up / gone bust as as result all these 'mistakes' at the hands energy co's

ted bass

All i know is that mine changed over t OVO from SSE a few months ago and my old SSE online account now sends me to OVO account.

stockcar

as I said above the Business SSE has stayed seperate and appears only the domestic side of SSE is now part of OVO........

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

After the Mrs wasted hours on the phone to the ***** two days ago, giving them meter reading that they said they can see their end anyway as it’s a smart meter, my wife got a text yesterday from them to say they have generated our latest bill, it is estimated and they may have overcharged so can we provide them with meter reading.
there really is no end to the ineptitude of this useless **** of a company.

IdonthaveaScooby

Half a million more put on pre payment this year, more than the last 6 combined

nothing more than redistribution of wealth at the hands of war mongering / covid plandemic elites


not to mention 12 years of tory rot