ENERGY - RANT CONTINUES

Pinch and a punch, it’s the first of the month!

Another day closer to poverty

Pinch on your ever decreasing household budget as new higher energy prices kick in from today and a punch in the eye from your energy supplier because they don’t have to put up prices unless wholesale costs rise but they all chose to do so because they’ve been given carte blanche by Ofgem.

My purse is so bare that even the moths have left as there’s nothing left to munch on!

This restaurant's closed

The energy price cap is supposed to be the maximum suppliers can charge if the cost of underlying gas or energy prices increase as a whole. It’s not supposed to be a mechanism for them to automatically put up prices if the underlying prices haven’t increased but I guess they do. Why wouldn’t you? This explains why collectively they’ve rinsed us all,  making billions of pounds in profits in the process. Bet collective supplier profit figures are never published by Ofgem are they?

Collective energy supplier profits

Today an articled headed ‘Energy Bills rise by £149 for a Typical Household’ appeared on the Beeb web site. This article stated that in specific terms the latest price cap change meant the following:

Gas prices are capped at 6.24p per kilowatt hour (kWh) – (OVO are charging me 6.33 p per unit)
Electricity at 24.5p per kWh – (OVO are charging me 24.67p per unit)

Standing charges - have gone up to 61p a day for electricity – (OVO are charging me 67.53p) and 32p a day for gas – (OVO charging me 34.57p)

What this means for punters like me is that whilst the unit cost has increased only fractionally, standing charges levied by OVO have gone up by around £33.48p per annum.

And what are these  increased standing charges really paying for? Paying to re-hash the National Grid? Paying for the closure of cheap coal fired power stations? Paying for the broken electricity pricing market? Paying for all that free wind/solar power that isn’t connected up to the Grid? Paying to keep supplier companies afloat that shouldn’t have been allowed by the Regulator to enter the industry in the first place? Paying for failed Government policy ie privatising energy when it should have remained in control of the State? Paying for all those people who’d rather buy the latest smart phone than pay their energy bills?

Is it fairer to pay for Government net zero policies from energy bills or from general taxation? A question I often ask myself but never receive a sensible answer to.

Most people would have thought that general taxation should have included an element ringfenced to pay for the nation’s transition to net zero but think about it. Everyone needs somewhere to live (owned or rented) and that somewhere uses energy so a large majority will end up paying an energy standing charge at some point regardless of age or circumstances.

Not everyone pays income tax. In fact, without access to any statistical data, I’d hazard a guess that collectively there are far more energy consumers than there are income tax payers. ONS – do you have any figures? It makes sense for the Government to allow policy charges to be recouped from energy bills because it’s likely to generate far more revenue than increasing general taxation which no-one wants.

People moan like banshees when energy prices are increased but after a few days adjust to the inevitable and just get on with it. Typical human behavioural response when confronted with any change to the norm - most adapt and survive, there’s only a few that go under.

In a few days’ time when all this media ‘furore’ has blown over there’ll be another scandal for the population at large to feel outraged about. Wonder what it’ll be this time? Free KFC given to vegetarian migrants? Keir Starmer’s pants donated by Brillopad? Smart phones that spy on your toilet habits? My boss just called me a lazy good-for-nothing tea-swilling smelly old minger so I’m taking them to tribunal? Whoops, that slip’s going to prejudice my case ….

ENERGY - STRINGS ATTACHED

October is being blown in on a watery wave of squally rain and gusty winds. Temperatures are dropping like flies and I’ve already lit a cheeky fire in the stove to test everything’s working after the sweep’s recent visit.

Not more rain!!

October is not the only thing heading our way. The annual autumn price cap increase is also rearing its ugly head bringing higher energy prices to our doors. Ofgem claims the price cap is a way of protecting us all from unscrupulous price increases but secretly I’ve always thought that the price cap is a way of making consumers cover the cost of energy supplier ‘hedging’ by making us all stump up the extra for their inability to buy cheap energy in advance when wholesale gas/electricity prices are low.

In the same way as I’ve been busy stocking up my Doomsday cupboard with bottles of vino, cheese nibbles and marzipan or packing the freezer with venison and Viennetta ice-cream whilst pre-Crimbo prices are cheaper, energy suppliers should be doing the same. Provided you have the cash, there’s really no excuse for not buying gas or electricity during the summer months when it costs less ready for onward delivery in the winter months.

But that’s an aside, the real reason for this post is not to highlight the inadequacy of these two-bit players in the game of energy but to look at deals on offer by energy suppliers to ‘help’ protect us against price cap increases.

Now my mail box has been buzzing with offers of fixed price energy tariffs from Ovo, my energy supplier but the one thing that makes these offers unattractive is that they come with strings attached rather like an old-fashioned marionette puppet.

Who is being protected - you or them?

Of course, I’d love to fix my energy prices now to prevent having to pay even more in January but to get this benefit, I don’t want to:

a) Get a smart meter
b) Pay by direct debit

These are the 2 strings attached to many fixed price energy tariff deals on offer.

My question to Ofgem or any energy suppliers out there reading this post is simply this – why should there be strings attached for consumers to obtain better protection against price increases?

My own answer is that these deals are being used as the ‘carrot’ to enable energy suppliers to meet smart meter installation targets set by the Government thus avoiding hefty fines if they don’t.

Want to lower your energy prices?

Yesterday I listened to Martin Lewis’s podcast explaining why smart meters don’t work and after reading the last tabloid horror story about how one customer was billed thousands of pounds in error due to faulty smart meter readings then struggled to get a refund, my reaction is sorry but no thanks. You can keep your smart meters, ta very much. I’ll continue to provide my own readings via the online portal.

Always listen to Martin

The second string is not so much a ‘carrot’ for consumers but advantageous for energy suppliers who can pump up your DD extortionately without so much as a by-your-leave. Again, lots of tabloid horror stories about people on the breadline being forced to pay as much as £300 or more per month because their supplier had increased their direct debit.  Then they were unable to obtain refunds for huge credits.

In case you are not aware, direct debits give financial power to the institution who sets them up. They don’t even need your permission to change payment amounts as you when you sign up to a direct debit then you’re giving them the go ahead to make whatever changes they want. Companies are obliged to tell you that there is a change to your DD payment but only cancelling a DD will prevent it from being increased.

Standing orders vs direct debits

Believe me, I’ve been on the phone in tears with past energy suppliers trying to haggle down my monthly direct debit and all pleas fall on deaf ears. They are not interested in how you juggle your household budget.

Standing Order payments on the other hand give financial power to the person who sets them up. In the same way as a direct debit, you can instruct a regular monthly payment from your bank to your energy supplier but it’s YOU who is in control of the payment amount. You pay what you can afford each month NOT what they’d like you to.

Naturally, energy suppliers don’t like this. They want your money up-front. They don’t want customers to pay on receipt of bills or by standing order so the trade-off for retaining control over your financial affairs is that you have to pay more for your standing charges or gas/electricity consumption costs.

The lure of paying less for your energy by having a direct debit may work for some people but not for me. I’d rather keep control of my household budget to live within my means than have money whipped out of my bank account thus pushing me into an overdraft situation each month.

In its recent consultations over the future of energy standing and consumption charges, Ofgem said pretty much nothing in respect of customers who pay up front by monthly standing order. Their attempts to level the charging playing field have focused largely on pre-payment customers but no-one is championing the cause for standing order customers except me. I’ve emailed Ofgem feedback on their consultations until I’m blue in the face but again, it falls on deaf ears. Monthly standing order customers are basically subsidising everyone else’s bills by paying over the odds.

Ofgem - did you hear that?

So next time you receive an email regarding fixing your energy tariff, check the small print for strings attached. Ask yourself this – is it better to pay more but be the master of your own energy destiny or pay less and be an energy puppet?

Don't be an energy puppet!

TAX EQUALITY DAY

A toast to Sir Tim Martin, founder of that national treasure affectionately known as ‘The Spoons’ to beer swilling punters like us on what is known as Tax Equality Day.

Yesterday's Tax Equality Day at The Spoons

Tax Equality Day held annually is Sir Tim’s way of offering punters a chance of getting a microwave curry at a price cheaper than the cost of a first-class stamp. It’s a campaign to highlight the inequality between VAT paid on the price of food or drinks purchased in a pub as compared to your local supermarket.

All's not fair in love, war or taxes

All food and drinks in pubs are subject to 20 per cent VAT. In comparison, supermarkets pay zero VAT on food and are thus able to use that saving to sell alcohol to customers at a discounted price which is not really fair to the hospitality industry who have struggled to recover since their bout of Covid.

So, for one day a year, you can enjoy a chicken tikka masala and get totally shitfaced for less than the cost of a full tank of diesel.   

Needless to say, Chi's own Spoons, the Dolphin & Anchor, was heaving.  We had one helluva job finding a free table that was not occupied either by graduating students or curry munching diners.  

The Chi 'Spoons' - Dolphin & Anchor

Cheers Sir Tim! Hope your ‘campaign’ succeeds but in the meantime, I’ll have another pint of Southern Comfort.

To your good health Sir Tim

GREAT B*SHIT INSULATION SCHEME

Where's the nuts?

Well, Freddo, what’s next? I don’t see any signs of squirrel nesting boxes being built, do you?

Someone's making use of the paddling pool

No Tufty. No sign of the outdoor amphibian jacuzzi either. Having to make do with this cheap plastic thingy. Gotta wonder what these humans get up to with their spare time…

Wonder no more my four-legged friends, there’s always stuff to do round the house like getting quotes to have the loft insulated so that we don’t have to freeze our arses off yet again this winter.

My spidey senses are predicting snow and cold on the back of this year’s pathetic lack of summer time. To prepare for an imminent Ice Age, I’ve laid down the equivalent of an Amazonian rainforest in the wood stores, got enough kindling to set fire to the Houses of Parliament and more firelighters in the understairs cupboard than is probably recommended under Health & Safety. Thermals/fleeces and woolly underpants freshly laundered in readiness. Bring on the cold!!

But this post is not about cold weather. It’s about insulation and the merits of schemes claiming to help you get it for free.

Now back in the days when the Tories were in power, Dishi Rishi and his cohorts launched an energy saving scheme called The Great British Insulation Scheme designed to support people like us retrofit insulation to draughty, energy inefficient homes as part of the push to net zero.

Sorry madam but your loft insulation is not up to scratch

You’d think such a scheme would be introduced with a fanfare of trumpets, shouted from the rooftops or blazoned across TV screens more times than adverts for fried chicken or online gambling. Yet it was not. It was left to energy suppliers to promote to its customers but largely it was down to informed punters not playing bingo or wolfing down chicken, to request information on how to potentially get support in this area.

To qualify for GBIS, you either had to be on benefits or be the owner of a property that fell into Council Tax bands A to D or that had an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) of D or worse. Hurrah! For once, we actually qualify for FREE state support on something!

In a fit of enthusiasm, I hastily cobbled together an email to my energy supplier (please sir, can I have some more insulation?) who agreed to pass on my details to their GBIS partner for a chat.

In response to my application, the least I expected was a phone call followed by an actual site survey but what I received was a request for numerous copies of documentation to confirm my eligibility under the scheme because as everyone knows, if there’s any FREE state sponsored support going there’ll be a queue of fraudsters a mile long itching to get their grubby mitts on it.

Satisfied that I met the necessary qualifying criteria, the application progressed onto stage II – the phone call with the GBIS assessor. Another ten rounds with Torquemada. No actual site survey being conducted because the GBIS company partnering with my energy supplier was based in Doncaster, about 240 miles from Chichester so it was left to me to paint a picture in a thousand words of the loft.

After much umming and aahhing from Doncaster, a verdict. I waited with bated breath - fingers, toes and everything else crossed in the hope that the man from Del-Monte would say ‘yes’. Well, he did but here’s the rub. My GBIS grant would cover me for loft insulation but I’d have to pay £1,500 for the privilege.

The conversation continued along these lines:

- I’m sorry it must be a dodgy mobile signal but did you say that I’d have to pay £1,500 even though I am eligible under the GBIS scheme?

Yes.

- Right. So just to be clear, I’m not getting any FREE insulation.

Correct.

- But I am eligible under the scheme?

Yes.

- But I’m still expected to pay?

Yes. There’s no such thing as FREE insulation. Customers pay for part of the job and the Government pays for the other part. Your part comes to £1,500.

- OK so if I’m paying £1,500 then how much is the Government paying?

(Silence)

- Well thanks for your time. I’ll let you know if we decide to proceed with our ‘quote’.


And so the conversation ended with me scratching my head wondering why a scheme providing grants for insulation was not exactly ‘FREE’ since no-one had actually mentioned in the small print that customers would be expected to contribute quite a chunk towards costs.

For the past few days, I’ve had an almost endless parade of loft insulation companies that have come to actually survey the loft in person with a view to quoting to top up the existing insulation from 100 mm to 270 mm (current building regs standard) then re-boarding. The most expensive quote so far is £2,132, the cheapest £1,415.

Which brings me back to GBIS. It’s actually far CHEAPER for me to get this work done privately than under this bullshit Government scheme about which none of the local suppliers had a good word to say. Funny that!

If you’ve managed to actually get any insulation completely paid for by the Government then great. Hats off to you.  I don’t know what you had to do to get it but for anyone else out there thinking of looking into the Great British Insulation Scheme then be prepared for that sharp intake of breath when you get your ‘quote’ under the scheme!