Keeping your home warm / heating / energy crisis / insulation etc

I won't tell my parents!! They are not very happy with their condensing replacement.

With regards your gas meter.
Eon next took 4 months to send an engineer to look at my faulty meter, by which time I'd moved out.
If it has worked in the past, just estimate your own usage and pay accordingly, or just clock up huge credit (direct debit payment) and don't worry about it so much.
I only paid electric from August 22 onwards, they estimated my final bill for gas off 2021 usage.
Not much you can do really.

Probably best here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64261457

Switch to Octopus due to better provision of tariffs for solar export and EV charging on Saturday.
Called yesterday (Monday) as requested by them to ask about updating the meters to gen 2 and replacing the faulty meter.
Got an engineer coming to replace both meters on Monday 30th Jan.

Very impressed, but also livid at my previous supplier (utility warehouse) for being fucking useless.

Spent a couple of hours at the weekend with a selection of draught excluding foam strips and pile strips of various depths and magnetic door closures to reduce gaps under pocket doors and garage doors.
How much energy we're now saving is hard to estimate, but the difference in the feel of cold is massive.

Also put a vent cowl over the air bricks exhausting from the kitchen hood, also has made a difference in draught and wind noise.

Moved from UW to Octopus as well, major difference in customer service, moved over in August last year and they still haven't closed my account properly.

livid at my previous supplier for being fucking useless

Know that feel. I was with Green Network Energy at our old place, they went bust and EDF picked up their customers.

EDF kept sending me emails saying they were working on transferring us over, but nothing happened. We moved house, having last had a bill in December 2020. EDF had our new address and my contact details.

Didn't hear anything else from them until the other week when I got an email from a debt collection agency asking for over £650.

As far as I can work out, EDF are, like other suppliers, banned from 'back billing' customers by OFGEM, which means they can't bill me as the energy was used over a year ago, so they've sold the debt to this collection agency instead.

I'm ignoring their emails and letters and they'll have to take me to court to get a penny. Which I can't see happening.

I'm never leaving Octopus 🐙

Pls Octopus don’t die

I'm ignoring their emails and letters and they'll have to take me to court to get a penny. Which I can't see happening.

Maybe but they will trash your credit history by claiming you defaulted on a debt.

I wondered about this but GNE was never actually on my credit file, plus apparently only the provider you have the service with can do that.

It turns out the only power these debt collection agencies have - like anyone else - is that they can take you to court. They have no other special powers because they're a debt collection agency, just hot air.

IANAL but if they took me to court I think I'd argue that using a debt collection agency to collect a debt that EDF themselves can't collect would undermine the Electricity Act 1989, which sets out Ofgem's duties.

Father-not-in-Law has worked in the City for years and reckons they're probably aiming to collect about 30% of the debts they've bought, so I think I just need to hold out.

Either way, EDF sucks balls.

Can't they register a CCJ, which does show up on credit searches?

They would have to win a judgement to do that, which Fox would then have to not immediately pay.

Fair point, and they are writing to his new address.

Plenty of annoying CCJs I have seen on people’s reports from gyms and energy suppliers where letters and court summons were sent to a previous address and not picked up.

Our hallway is colder than a polar bears tits.

It's not like we need it heated, but we can't really isolate it from the rest of the house, and it's just sucking heat away.

I guess options are to get a new front door & transom (currently solid wood & single glaze) - which would be both expensive & fugly (if we went with an insulated / synthetic material).

We could put a doorway, but that feels like it would be a windup pretty quickly.

Would a heavy curtain just be a bit too Parisian bordello?

Nice heavy curtains (which "pool" on the floor as I believe it's called when it's a fraction over-long to really stop draughts) are honestly brilliant at stopping draughts and insulating a doorway/window. We've got one across the kitchen doorway as the kitchen is a total heatsink and it makes a very noticeable difference.

Also obviously a lot cheaper than a new door (although making sure the door seals decently is worth it, just some new foam or stripwood around the edge can help massively) and you can easily take it down in the summer if required.

We tried curtains and the heavy ones do look very bordello, thought we would get used to it but didn't. Then tried light linen ones which looked nice but didn't do anything.

Eventually gave up and put a radiator in. Doesn't seem to have upped our energy bills noticably, probably as the rest of the house feels more comfortable at a lower temperature without a howling ice wind coming in from the hallway. Radiator cover makes for a useful hallway shelf too.

I have just removed the radiator in my hallway because I am decorating and it is significantly colder without it.

I contacted British Gas for my mum, to upgrade her to smart meters, appointments available to change both the gas and electric over within 3 weeks.
I have no idea what UW are playing at.
We did use the cashback card thing that they offered quite a bit, but Octopus should save us tonnes of money with the provision on EV/solar tariffs.

They can absolutely do this. And yes it will show up. Proceed with caution.

Would a heavy curtain just be a bit too Parisian bordello?

Dunno. I wanted to do it though. Was thinking a single curtain that could be tucked back behind the sideboard when not in use. Din't get round to it. Hallway is freezing.

I used to recommend them and even became a distributor as they were really cheap for those with Storage heaters but now they are just shit, kept my distributor registration ongoing so I can help some of the folk I helped join up but not recommending them to anyone else

Not without a judgement though.

A default may turn up, but only if the correct procedure has been followed, and only if there is an actual credit agreement.

What about those hanging beads in Asian restaurant doorways?