Trouble with new gas & electric supplier

Well, I have been with my new utility supplier for just over 4 months. What I thought would be a simple move has turned out to be anything but.
First off my monthly statements were not put on my account for me to read even though I had given them the monthly readings every month.

Secondly, they had used a far lower reading for my electric than the total that was taken from my smart meter, British gas had only given them, or so it appeared, the reading for the electric used Monday to Saturday and not added the free-time units to the total reading, or they had given them the two figures and someone at the new supplier had just taken the higher figure as my meter reading and not added the 1900 units of free-time used, so when they actually got my bills up and running the first months reading had nearly 1900 units that were used as a free-time  user when with British Gas.
That along with the monthly reading I had submitted gave me a monthly bill of £250. I downloaded all the monthly statements then went to my old supplier and got a copy of my final bill and to my horror, they had the bill as to separate units, free-time and non-free-time, giving readings of 7900 and 1900, that added together was within about 30 units of the reading I had given the person on the day I moved, 30 units I can live with but 1900 I will query, I knew there must have to be something wrong when I gave them the reading over web chat, he asked when I took the reading when I had taken the reading, which was only 30 minutes before I gave it to him.
Then the new supplier had upped my monthly fee from £8.99 to £11.99 but kept my monthly direct debit at just £32 a month.

I contacted them about the 1900 units and enclosed a screen capture of the readings from my final bill. I got an email asking me to call them, I don't know why as all the info was in the email I sent them then I get another email about a week after calling them asking for a photo of the meter readings if they meant a reading of the two unit amounts then even a smart meter is not that smart it only keeps readings of your present units used so the supplier can work out the bill, anyway I sent
the photo of the present reading which had now gone up to 10,750, approx, and now the unit in the kitchen is on the blink as the thing only says trying to connect to the smart meter, I cannot get any more meter readings. The meter is in an awkward place to see the unit.
It is seven days since I sent them the reading on the meter and they said it would take about fourteen days so they have at least seven days left, although I will give them at least twenty-eight days. But, how hard could it be to email British Gas and ask them for a total of the final readings? If they cannot then I will ask for a letter of deadlock and contact the energy regulator, I bet they see it as an easy case just like I do, it's a case of the total units used against the previous suppliers reading used by my new supplier. I think they sent a copy of my readings as they put them on my final bill, 7900 and 1900 free-time and the new supplier, https://outfoxthemarket.co.uk/How-it-works.aspx
just read the top reading, but I have one question? How do I use over half my yearly usage in one month, then in extremely cold weather only use a quarter of the amount, moneywise, the following month? Unless you are using the amount of electric of a small club there is no way you can use nearly £250 of electric in one month. I hope they sort it out because this time I chose the cheapest supplier overall and that is one thing I swore I would never do, I could have saved about £40 less with one or two other suppliers but this offer was just too good so I tried it. Besides I was getting regular repayments from British gas who I was paying £56 a month for their service, over 12 months I got over £240 back, even so, that still makes it cheaper than British Gas.

  

New Electric and Gas company

There is a new utility company that's just come on the market a few months ago, I say few months it started around September. They are cheaper than any of the main 6 UK company's in that they don't make a profit on the utilities they sell. Instead, they charge a monthly fee depending on how much you use, from £6.99 for a low user, under 2399Kwh to £13.99 for users of more than 6000Kwh, that's just £167.88 then your gas and electric usage on top.
As an example British Gas wanted me to pay £705 for the year that was nearly £59 per month but this new company will charge me just £32.07 a month although a check just before writing this and the same figures gave a price of £37.84 per month but are I bothered as they have given me a quote on how much I will pay each month and how much each unit costs. I have about 1000 units to play with in my price bracket before my monthly membership fee would go up so am not really bothered as I am saving about another 50p per day just switching the TV/blu-ray/ DVD/games consoles off at the socket when not in use.

Want to know who this company is? I bet you do they are outfox the market and I have saved £80 plus before I looked at the tariff, which for me is 10.45p and 3.25p with a £8.99 fee on the electric which is £107.88 rather than my suppliers 26.1p per day, or £190.53 standing charge per year.

Now the update on the outfox the market as I moved to them on 4/1/18.
Until I contacted them about not getting monthly statements at the beginning of April it took about two weeks to get the statements added to the account. When I look at them I got a shock, as I was on British Gas free time before the move the statements had an opening meter reading of 7906 but my meter reading is taken at around 09:30 AM was 9776,  some 1870 difference to the reading I gave them at 09:00AM. Of I go to my old BG account to see if there is anything from the account still there, luckily there were the final meter readings so I took a screen capture and cut it down to just the readings. It had two readings for the electric, the units used Monday to 09:00am Sunday & the free time units used since I moved on to the scheme added together the 7906 and the free time units of 1844 gave a reading of 9750 a lot closer to the reading I took at around 09:30. I should have known when I contacted them with the first meter reading when I was asked when I took the reading after I gave them it.

Today I called them 27/4/18 and told them I had been asked to call in regards to my email. they got my email up and the attachment then said they would query it with my old supplier.
They told me it would take a couple of weeks, this was done in just under 4 minutes on the phone

Beating the DWP at their own game, ESA related

Well just imagine you receive ESA, support group or WRAG, and you receive a letter asking you to attend a F2F assessment what would you do?
First of all, don't panic, make a note of the date and time, sometimes they expect the claimant to travel miles when you have an assessment centre closer to home, maybe in your home city or town, call them and tell them you have an assessment centre there and require an assessment in your home town/city. If they refuse don't just give up go to ceomail.com and look up the CEO of the assessment company and tell them how your journey will affect you it could be that the cheapest option, a bus might take hours to get there. The DWP require that you look for work no more than 90 minutes travel from your home, so try that by listing each part of the journey and how long it will take, do the whole journey not just up to the 90 minutes it would take you. This is a trick used by the DWP and assessment company to see how you follow instructions and directions. Use your worst day as an example, not your best or average day, do you know how you will be on that day?

When they say to contact the 0800 number and tell them just the basics, they will possibly have been contacted by the PA of the CEO with your email detailing everything so no need to go through it again.
Once you get the assessment at the centre closest to your home, this will possibly be at a different time and date to the one on the letter, write it down as they will say they will send you a letter with the date and time on, they sometimes don't but just in case write it down. 48 hours before the time, or a bit longer call them and ask for the assessment recording. It's your right to have it recorded as Chris Grayling said on 1/2/12 " Those who wish to have their assessment recorded may do so."
This might involve another cancellation or change of date as you have called them about 48 hours before to ask for the assessment recording.
When you do eventually get there ask for the travel expenses form, then ask if the recording equipment is there once you have the form. They might say yes without moving or they might go and check. Then ask them if it is complete and in full working order! again they might have to go and check but they will more than likely just say Yes.
Once you are called into the assessment, take your time it's not a race, don't forget if it is not your worst day, act it. They cannot prove it isn't your worst day and as I say if they assume you are putting it on then it is only their opinion and I say ASSUMPTION IS THE MOTHER OF ALL FUCK UPS! 
Look at the equipment it should be a duel tape or CD and there should be two boundary mics, if these are not there decline the assessment on the grounds that the equipment is not complete and in full working order SEE HERE for the reply to an FOI request about the recorders, it clearly states that boundary mics are required. If they are not present decline and under no circumstances continue.
The downside of this is that your assessment rate or benefit is stopped. My advice to this is to issue court papers against the assessment company and the DWP for reinstatement of the benefit, assessment or other rate be it support group or WRAG Plus compensation, they have lied and the DWP have taken their lies as Gospel that the claimant, you, didn't turn up. If you have your own recording, and I always advise doing your own covert recording, then you can type this up not only as proof you turned up but that the DWP didn't ask for an explanation on form BF223 as to why you, the claimant , didn't turn up because if they did you could inform them that you did turn up but the recording equipment was not complete and in full working order. If they then say this was not a good enough excuse you then bring the prosecution against both of them the assessment company and the DWP. This would be a case they could not win because your covert recording is proof you turned up.
Under no accounts should you sign anything that says you will not discuss this or divulge any information to any third party, i.e. the media or a blog, even your facebook page? You could even prosecute them again for failure to pay you, the claimant, the compensation awarded to you and ask for more compensation for the stress it has caused you. You would more than likely be awarded a token amount and your costs, but it is better than nothing. 

Save energy and costs on other things

How to give energy and utility company's the finger and other company's too

The energy and other utility company's will hate me for telling this but as I always say SOD 'EM. I was spending £165 a month on just gas and electric a few years ago. The son, now long gone, used to leave everything on and even grow drugs in the bedroom. So with the permission of a friend and the use of his BLOGGER account I have their permission to post this. 

Well, first the water! How you may ask when they do it on a rateable value? The simple answer is getting a water meter fitted although some properties cannot have them fitted you might be able to get the bill reduced to an estimated or if all the tenants in a block are single see if they all agree as you maybe just have the one feed coming into the block? This could be a help if all the residents are elderly as you might save overall. What is the point of paying £450 plus a year if you only use £250 including standing charges? A block who learn to turn off taps instead of run water continually could save considerably. Shower instead of taking a bath, does your hair need washing every day? No, it doesn't, not even those expensive dry shampoos. 5 minutes or less in a shower is ok and will use a fraction of the water that a bath uses, seconds to heat up wet yourself with water lather up and rinse off job done, get out and dry yourself.

Now the real culprit of overspending GAS & ELECTRIC it may seem like only pennies a day but pennies turn into pounds and one pound turns into five, ten, twenty and so on. It is very little you need to have on 24/7. They would be the fridge and freezer and the washing machine on standby as pulling it out to access the plug just isn't on, the only other thing would be the broadband router. Everything else, unless for medical use can be turned off. 

TV, DVD player, surround sound equipment, do you really need that massage bed or chair that has many positions,  NO! There's a saving already, hundreds of pounds. Buy a fleece dressing gown, gloves, hot water bottle, flask, Halogen oven, I recommend the Andrew James 1300W for £41.99 delivered  You get a load of accessories including a spare bulb and it's just 4 screws to change the bulb. Be careful as the last screw out, first one back can cut into the wires if you trap it and need to send it off for repair, cheaper to buy a new oven.

Who has the TV and DVD player on 24/7 I used too and that was around £50 a year including the surround sound as I hardly ever watch the TV preferring NETFLIX so over 50% of the TV license saved there. Over the years I have built up a collection of DVD's that will keep me going for the rest of my life.

In the really cold weather I put on the fleece dressing gown and gloves sod the heating until my free day for the electric then just about everything I need to do is done in that one day cooking washing everything that needs electricity the cooker is on all day electric fire radiator (electric of course), It's just reheating meals, you could do some prep work the night before and put it in cold water overnight.

Now the hot water bottle cost to fill a hot water bottle is around 2p per fill with a 3KW kettle, you might need a towel around the bottle to squeeze the excess air out gently. You want the top of the bottle to just have water coming out of the partly closed top, the last thing you want is to squeeze hard as you WILL burn yourself. 

Next the flask it's a bit like a teapot you warm it first with hot water it could be just hot tap water or from the kettle if you like. Don't add milk or sugar get them as you need them, or drink it without as towards the end you may need to use a microwave to heat the drink up unless you like it just warm. 

The gloves are an old pair I cut the inners out of, they were just far too warm with the inners plus after washing them I couldn't get the inners back in. I also have a shower that day 1 of the 4 I have through the week and as the electric is free until mid-2018 it is a long shower as the others are just fresheners to keep me clean.

I cook enough to keep me well fed for more than a week, then I reheat stuff throughout the week from the frozen cost of this is just around 5p per meal. Not bad to say I did the majority of the cooking when the electric was free, the downside is the larger daily charge for both gas & electric 26.1p per day compared to 15.1p on the standard rate. They expect the average of about 80p per week to be used in the 8 hours but I use about £1.35 on free time then a few hours outside like the first wash load as I wouldn't get it all done otherwise. But a few pence to do a load overnight is pennies. It must be the only day of the week I use the cooker instead of the halogen oven and slow cooker.

When looking for the best deals don't look at just what the savings sites say you can save go into the standing charge and price per unit then multiply that daily charge by 365 and divide by 100 to get the yearly charge in pounds and pence. Sometimes changing to the cheapest supplier might not be the best option, you could be locked into a set period, or even worse, any time you choose to leave a fee to leave their plan unless it's another service provided by them. But let's say you move and they charge you £30 to leave once you are hooked they can increase their fees, they normally wait a few months, nobody checks the pence per unit or the Kwh, who understands the Kwh conversion anyway. It's multiply by this, divide by that. Then add the standing charge for 90 plus days then divide by 100 and multiply by 105 to get the cost of the bill.  

RECORDING WCA ASSESSMENTS

ESA RECRDED ASSESSMENTS

 Are you going for a F2F assessment for ESA and have asked for it recording? Well now there is concrete proof that the machines need two boundry microphones for recording of assessments. 

This is confirmed by a freedom of Information request by Sarah Conner and upheld by the Internal Review  they requested when they originally said they were not complying under  S12.  

The main point of her request was to assertain if there was any internal mics on the NEAL DUEL RECORDERS  used by MAXIMUS when a person asks for a recorded assessment. By their response it was thought they were trying to hide until the internal review pointed out otherwise. The only point of the request was to see if they required external boundry mics for recordings and this clearly showed they do require external microphones for recording assessments. This one sentence clearly says that the boundry microphones are required: In reply to your original questions 1 and 2, I can advise that the recording machines requirew boundry microphones

I believe that anyone that goes for a F2F and is having it recorded you, IMHO, should walk if they are not on the machine at the assessment. The HP might say they are not needed so ask them to point out the internal mics on the machine, simple answer they cannot, you win, they lose. You then hit them with the reply in red from above and tell them if the payments stop, i.e. they claim you didn't turn up to the DWP, you start court action against them and the DWP with immediate effect from the moment the payments stop. It then starts all over again, you turn up get the expenses form, ask if the machine is there and complete and in full working order, this keeps going on until you get a machine with boundry mics and in working order. 

HAPPY HUNTING 

How to beat sanctions imposed by the DWP

How to beat sanctions that the DWP try to impose

Has I feel up to it I am going to put in a few posts on how to beat the Department of W4nkers and Parasites (DWP). Well here goes, you have to be brave to follow this through but I believe they work I will start with the one I have done and know it works.

You turn up at the job centre and you are told, when they call you that you are been sanctioned because you didn't turn up for an appointment. Regardless of the first thoughts of terror! What am I going to do with no money? If you are prepared, I was and had a letter ready to hand over, I had a collection on me ready to use, you get the letter out that says this.

Job centre                                                                                                                    Your Name

Address                                                                                                                        Address

Postcode                                                                                                                       Postcode

                                                                                                                                      NINO

I (Name) accept this letter on behalf of the manager at the above named Job Centre.

The above named person accepted this SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST on behalf of Job centre plus and the Department Of Work and Pensions for the following items after I was told I missed an appointment and was sent a letter of this appointment. 

1. A clearly watermarked, COPY or DUPLICATE of said letter
2. Proof of postage of said letter
3. Proof of receipt of said letter

The first of the 40 days starts the day after the date on this request.
Dated this day of (DAY) in the month of (MONTH) in the year (YEAR)


 Yours
(signature)

If they refuse to accept the letter (SAR) demand the manager or their stand in if they say he's off work or in a meeting. If no one will accept it leave it on the desk and say the request as now been delivered and the 40 days starts from 9am tomorrow morning if I don't receive the information  it goes straight to court from day 41 and nothing will stop the case apart from full payments defined in the compensation claim with all my costs paid by JCP/DWP.

You ask for it watermarked so that when this goes further they cannot say that is the original you are showing. They will send a copy but it won't be watermarked and the proofs will say something like this. We posted the letter on DATE and you should have received it on, or about DATE. Not what you asked for the letter would be indistinguishable from the original and as for proofs they are worthless. 

Now it starts to get interesting, you tell them the copy is not watermarked as requested and what they call proofs are worthless in court, and to supply exactly what was requested. You also say you want the make and model number of the printer to check it can watermark printed material. Any stalling by the Job centre/DWP may mean you are doing something right. They like to think that they are always right and the claimant is always wrong and if they stall then you will give up, you should never give up because if you are in the right they eventually comply and it could mean not only the money they are withholding but compensation on top as well. 

You think the JCP/DWP are hard with their sanction threats I say bring it on you tw@s I make them 5h1t their pants. 

It doesn't matter if you don't have a letter like above because you can just email the central team by putting your postcode in here  The main thing is that you request the 3 items.

1. A clearly watermarked, COPY or DUPLICATE of said letter
2. Proof of postage of said letter
3. Proof of receipt of said letter

If you email you still need to put your name, address with postcode and National Insurance Number (NINO) in the email so they know exactly who you are and where to send the requested information. Again the We posted the letter on DATE and you should have received it on, or about DATE.
Again this is not what is asked for don't let them try this, if you let them get away with it they will use the excuse time after time on you and other claimants.


 

The benefits scrounger  

Beating the Department of Wankers and Parasites at their own game

On the 20th Jan this year I kicked out my drug using and dealing son who was down as my carer. At the beginning he was just that my carer, but by the time I kicked him out he was anything but a carer, so often he would ask me for money saying keep the carers allowance until I have paid you. Like a fool I often gave him the money or paid his car repair bills, even his insurance and road tax, one year paying out nearly £900 without a penny being paid back. 

I knew something was up near the end because I would get up and the fridge would have been raided, loaves of bread eaten, alcohol consumed, and through the night he had his bedroom full of people who just, I assume, helped themselves to whatever they could get their hand on. 

He even bought himself a dog 

I started by putting 5 simple rules on his bedroom door 

1. I go to bed they leave
2. No helping yourself to stuff (this was for the people he had in)
3. Be in for meals or go without

I forget the other 2. He even tried to abuse those simple rules saying he thought they meant him as well! Was he fucking stupid or what? He went out and would leave the puppy with the other dogs and I was left to clean up after it and take out 3 dogs, now down to one as the other died, and the puppy pulled the flooring up and chewed it, it went that day before he got back. It took just another two weeks before he went again asking for more money and my ever decreasing bank account was getting low, not excessively but getting to the point where I would have lost 1% interest on the money in the bank. I told him no but he kept on asking for the money saying he owed people it, after a day of him asking I told him no and if he asked one more time he was out. Well less than an hour passed and he asked again so as I said he went, he tried to hit me but my aggression towards him meant he went with little fuss, he knew he had gone too far. He returned the next day for a letter saying I had kicked him out so he could say he was homeless and apart from a week later that is the last I saw of him. I changed the locks and when he tried to get in he couldn't so he left.

Now to get down to how I beat the DWP. 

On the 22nd I checked the bank account before going to bed and the carers allowance had gone in so I made a note and stuck it by the PC and went to bed it simply read notify CA of son not been my carer any more.

In the morning I got up and took the dog out then booted up the PC then went to make a drink. while the kettle was boiling I made a search for a contact email for carers allowance, I found it then made my drink of tea and put it next to the PC then opened the email and copied the address into the box and the subject as Son no longer my carer.

I put in a short email that he the son, and his name, was no longer my carer as I had kicked him out and if they sent me an account number and sort code I would transfer it back to them. I also inform the ESA place I want them to pay me the severe disability premium as I now live alone and as I receive income based ESA an entitled to the payment added to my ESA. Next Sunday before bed I check again and again another payment of CA has gone in, they obviously cannot read or the email address was one that is only read occasionally by them, so I get their phone number and set my number to withhold caller ID then make a note to call them after taking the dog out. 

That Monday morning I call them and they say it shouldn't have gone into my account so I start on them saying he was a drug dealer and user and he had it into my account so he could pay me the board and I take the rest out and pay him cash. I also tell them if they send any mail here for him it will be sent back with not at this address on it. Again they try to say I should keep hold of it for him to which I say not a fucking chance it comes straight back and I did just that put it back in the post with NOT AT THIS ADDRESS on it. I then start waiting for the increase in my payments, namely the SDP, but it doesn't happen so the beginning of March I send them an email entitled NOTICE OF INTENTION TO PROSECUTE giving them 14 days from the 6th of the month as I sent it on the Friday evening and stating that on the 21st I would start court proceedings. Come the Sunday 19th I forget to check the bank and Monday morning, the 20th, I get a letter from the DWP thinking it is their third party parasite company, Maximus or CDHA, as they like to use calling me for an assessment I go to the the county court page to download the papers then suddenly remember the letter said DWP not Mximus or CDHA, so I open it and find they have paid me over £300 into my account, taking me just over the limit for money in savings. Well I quickly go to a cashpoint, just near the supermarket, well as quick as my legs will let me, 25 minutes for a 2 tenths of a mile round journey, boy am I getting slow in my old age, I draw out the over the limit amount. Then Thursday they Put in another £330+ I draw the £300 and spend the rest on shopping.

And that is how you beat the DWP! You know you should be paid the money and they simply refuse or reply asking you to contact them by phone. I would never contact them by phone because all they do is lie and log it as a call and nothing about the contents of the call.

In my notice of intention I sent them a copy of every email and reply, including headers, so they knew they were beat, they just held the money until the last minute, they might have even gone and got my bank records again so they could put me over the savings limit but now I know how those wankers operate I will beat them every time, because if you go over the limit you have a set time to get back to that limit, normally before your next payment for that benefit so you could be £550 over and due another payment in 7 days but because you get 28 days to use the PIP money and the same with any other benefit classed as income you are only classed as having it as savings after the next payment of the benefit.

The best advice I can give anyone is get a safe for any money you have above the limit and keep it in that the only downfall is when they change the notes or coins you would have to keep putting money in the bank and withdrawing the same amount in the new notes and that would be suspicious activity on a regular basis, like daily or every other day. Hopefully by 2021 all the conversions will be done so that should be that for some time.