Energy Bills

[openspaceman]

34 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Has to be blanket, how else do you decide who gets it without an indepth investigation into each case?

 

an example is the £400 credit to the council tax bill that our neighbours in a 3 bedroom house got but we missed out on in our 4 bedroom house. Pretty confident their income is significantly higher than mine 

Well you have just explained why means testing is costly and beloved of bureaucracy and how subsidies as a means of market intervention are unfair.

[nepia]

6 hours ago, Steve Bullman said:

British gas set up a direct debit without our approval and started deducting £200 a month for our electricity! We were one of the ones that were automatically moved to them after our previous supplier went bankrupt.

 

We are in a good position with our gas at the moment as our whole estate is on Calor gas. This is typically more expensive than main gas, but there is some sort of contract running for the estate currently that caps the price. Im not sure how much longer thats going to last though.

Similar although we were already with them.  We did get an e-mail telling us they were increasing the D/D from £155 to £367pcm as we'd fallen behind in the last 6 months by around £75pcm!

I contacted them this morning and politely gave them the bums rush on that one, suggesting £250; 'yeah fine' was the response!

Talk about trying it on the cheeky feckers

[coppice cutter]

59 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Has to be blanket, how else do you decide who gets it without an indepth investigation into each case?

 

an example is the £400 credit to the council tax bill that our neighbours in a 3 bedroom house got but we missed out on in our 4 bedroom house. Pretty confident their income is significantly higher than mine 

I know the theory, i.e. that it would cost more to police than to just give to everyone, but I think they could do more.

 

For example, if a pensioner earns enough, then they pay income tax.

 

So there's a degree of individual means testing taking place there already surely?

[Will C]

1 hour ago, Steve Bullman said:

Has to be blanket, how else do you decide who gets it without an indepth investigation into each case?

 

an example is the £400 credit to the council tax bill that our neighbours in a 3 bedroom house got but we missed out on in our 4 bedroom house. Pretty confident their income is significantly higher than mine 

On the flip side is those of us that are rural workers on a low to modest income  living in rented but high council tax old houses because it’s all that is available due to the down from London weekender lot. We mostly all missed out on the £400 council tax credit because our drafty uninsulated houses look big and smart (but it are not) from the outside

[trigger_andy]

4 hours ago, Retired Climber said:

I don't want to go all 'TriggerAndy' and drag the thread into a conversation about what I earn, but £370 is roughly half my hourly rate.

You're dragging me into your humble brag by claiming not to do what you claim I do by doing exactly that. Wise up.  

[Retired Climber]

5 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

You're dragging me into your humble brag by claiming not to do what you claim I do by doing exactly that. Wise up.  

It's not a brag; it's pertinent in the context of the thread and my post. 

The content may be similar, but my reasons for mentioning it are very different to yours. 

 

 

 

[trigger_andy]

12 minutes ago, Retired Climber said:

It's not a brag; it's pertinent in the context of the thread and my post. 

The content may be similar, but my reasons for mentioning it are very different to yours. 

 

 

 

No, you wanted to tell everyone what you earn and to do it in a way that deflected from this so you dragged my name into it. You could have simply stated that your hourly wage allows you to not worry about the energy price increase but you where itching to tell everyone know just how much you earn but do so in a way to not come across as bragging. 

 

 

[Retired Climber]

9 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

No, you wanted to tell everyone what you earn and to do it in a way that deflected from this so you dragged my name into it. You could have simply stated that your hourly wage allows you to not worry about the energy price increase but you where itching to tell everyone know just how much you earn but do so in a way to not come across as bragging. 

 

 

Oh come on. Whatever I said, you'd have posted the same reply. I'm not trying to be humble, but I'm not trying to brag either. Am I proud of what I earn? Yes. Do I get a bit of perverse satisfaction from being able to tell people about it? Yes. Do I sometimes act like a bit of a c0ck on threads about money? Yes. 

 

In my line of work I need to read people, and know how they think, inside out and back to front. That includes knowing myself. I'm not ashamed to admit any of the above, and know every motivation I have for posting. I also know yours, but I'm too much of a gentleman to go into detail.

 

Anyway, before another thread gets ruined, let's just leave it at that. Obviously I'll let you have the last word first. 

[trigger_andy]

6 minutes ago, Retired Climber said:

Oh come on. Whatever I said, you'd have posted the same reply. I'm not trying to be humble, but I'm not trying to brag either. Am I proud of what I earn? Yes. Do I get a bit of perverse satisfaction from being able to tell people about it? Yes. Do I sometimes act like a bit of a c0ck on threads about money? Yes. 

 

In my line of work I need to read people, and know how they think, inside out and back to front. That includes knowing myself. I'm not ashamed to admit any of the above, and know every motivation I have for posting. I also know yours, but I'm too much of a gentleman to go into detail.

 

Anyway, before another thread gets ruined, let's just leave it at that. Obviously I'll let you have the last word first. 

I only replied because you dragged my name into it. Its as simple as that. You've just stated that you're proud of what you earn, that you like to tell others about what you earn and can act like a cock when it comes to money. So basically the exact opposite of the reason you initially claimed was the reason for intentionally revealing what you earn. You where itching to tell us all and I was the easiest scapegoat to do so without appearing to brag about it.  Quite the disingenuous snake play.

[Puffingbilly413]

5 hours ago, Retired Climber said:

It's all relative though isn't it. £370 per month is a lot if you take home £2k per month. I don't want to go all 'TriggerAndy' and drag the thread into a conversation about what I earn, but £370 is roughly half my hourly rate. I'll not lose any sleep over our energy bills; I certainly don't think I'm doomed. 

I must admit to being curious, but £370 for half an hour's work to me means you sell drugs or play professional football, or perhaps both.  What is it you now do for a living? And how did you make such a transition from arb climber...?

I also think that regardless of one's income, there is still a degree of environmental duty not to overly consume energy just because you can afford to.  But that's a different topic entirely of course...