Challenging developments.

[esoxlucius]

I’d be getting some legal advice to check you actually are legally obligated to pay off the debt from the previous companies mistake, it seems a bit dodgy to me.
Is there some kind of consumer advice hotline you can call? I wouldn’t get a lawyer as it would most likely cost more for their fees than the debt itself.

I will be looking further into it no doubt about that. Like I said earlier a lot of it is my own stupid fault. I mistakenly put my complete trust in the energy companies to such a point that I never even used to log into my account to check my proper usage or whether I was in debit or credit or not. I was oblivious to the mess unfolding.

They set my monthly direct debit and it came out of my account every month like clockwork. I mean what can go wrong with a professional energy company who prides themselves on looking after their customers, lol.

Since I got my smart meter I've been thoroughly checking everything. It's brilliant, it tells you absolutely everything about your current, and historical usage. I'm also logging into my account regularly now just to check that everything is ok.

One thing that has come to my attention though, worryingly, is that all these energy supplier figures are computer generated. I naively thought that actual human beings were checking customers accounts, and updating figures and flagging potential problems etc etc.

And some of these figures on my account just don't make sense to me. As an example, when I first became aware of all this mess my account showed I was a couple of grand in debit. I logged in earlier and it now says I'm £1500 in CREDIT!!!

Of course it is wrong, computer error maybe. So if the computer has made an error there, what's to say the computer's got it all wrong from the very start!! One way or another, it's all going to unravel.

But for now, moving forward, I have complete control of it all. I know exactly what I'm using, we've already made a lot of changes and our consumption is down considerably.

 

[jjohnwm]

I will be looking further into it no doubt about that. Like I said earlier a lot of it is my own stupid fault. I mistakenly put my complete trust in the energy companies to such a point that I never even used to log into my account to check my proper usage or whether I was in debit or credit or not. I was oblivious to the mess unfolding.

They set my monthly direct debit and it came out of my account every month like clockwork. I mean what can go wrong with a professional energy company who prides themselves on looking after their customers, lol.

Since I got my smart meter I've been thoroughly checking everything. It's brilliant, it tells you absolutely everything about your current, and historical usage. I'm also logging into my account regularly now just to check that everything is ok.

One thing that has come to my attention though, worryingly, is that all these energy supplier figures are computer generated. I naively thought that actual human beings were checking customers accounts, and updating figures and flagging potential problems etc etc.

And some of these figures on my account just don't make sense to me. As an example, when I first became aware of all this mess my account showed I was a couple of grand in debit. I logged in earlier and it now says I'm £1500 in CREDIT!!!

Of course it is wrong, computer error maybe. So if the computer has made an error there, what's to say the computer's got it all wrong from the very start!! One way or another, it's all going to unravel.

But for now, moving forward, I have complete control of it all. I know exactly what I'm using, we've already made a lot of changes and our consumption is down considerably.

Well...you now have an accurate picture of usage, as depicted by a "smart" meter that, for all we know, is programmed to inflate the cost figures by a small percentage and thus gouge you in a subtle manner each month...

Yes, paranoia, certainly...but...I have worked for many years for companies in two provinces that were sub-contracted to the two separate energy suppliers in those provinces...and the waste, mismanagement and apparent lack of accountability is literally staggering. My current employer...who is making it impossible for me to retire without actually quitting!...relies upon a Public Relations department that manages to portray the snafu-ridden debacle at which I am apparently stuck as a model of efficiency. The general public has, at best, heard some vague rumblings about cost- and time-overruns...but they literally have no idea just how wormy that particular apple really is...

So, your situation isn't really surprising to me. I truly hope that you come out of it in a reasonably comfortable position...but...you know the line from the John Mellencamp song:

"When I fight authority, authority always wins..."

 

[skjl47]

So, your situation isn't really surprising to me. I truly hope that you come out of it in a reasonably comfortable position...but...you know the line from the John Mellencamp song:

"When I fight authority, authority always wins..."

Hello; I first knew him as John Cougar Mellencamp during the summer of 1982. Started dating my eventually to be second wife (what a disaster) and a cassette of his music was played often. Not with the song you refer to tho. My other theme music of that time was a Rush cassette with the Tom Sawyer tune on it. After a date with my soon to be wife i would drive my 1972 914 the 22 miles home at speed with Rush blaring. Often with the top off the car as it was summer.
My second marriage likely not as big a disaster as the project you mention overall, but for me personally maybe close.

 

[jjohnwm]

Hello; I first knew him as John Cougar Mellencamp during the summer of 1982. Started dating my eventually to be second wife (what a disaster) and a cassette of his music was played often. Not with the song you refer to tho. My other theme music of that time was a Rush cassette with the Tom Sawyer tune on it. After a date with my soon to be wife i would drive my 1972 914 the 22 miles home at speed with Rush blaring. Often with the top off the car as it was summer.
My second marriage likely not as big a disaster as the project you mention overall, but for me personally maybe close.

Yep...he actually gained fame as "John Cougar", morphed into "John Cougar Mellencamp", likely to begin distancing himself from show-business superficiality...and wound up as just plain "John Mellencamp", which I assume is his real name?

And...I had a 914 as well...one of the best, worst, coolest, goofiest cars I ever owned. I specifically recall my father standing in front of the car and fiddling to get the "hood" open...wouldn't listen to me as I attempted to explain...and the priceless look on his face when he found the engine was missing!

I loved that car!

Your second marriage may have been a disaster...but at least you didn't have a PR campaign trying to conceal that fact...

 

[skjl47]

And...I had a 914 as well...one of the best, worst, coolest, goofiest cars I ever owned. I specifically recall my father standing in front of the car and fiddling to get the "hood" open...wouldn't listen to me as I attempted to explain...and the priceless look on his face when he found the engine was missing!

Hello; Yes the 914 was a mix of very good and very bad. The shifter on the early ones was vague. like a stick in soft butter. The car was noisy and needed lots of attention. Yet it was so much fun to drive. I agree with your analysis. Mine had the 1.7 liter engine. Under 100 HP. Not too fast but once the speed was up did not have to slow much for curves.
One thing that came from having the car was i wound up with a shade tree mechanic sideline. I learned (self taught) to adjust the solid lifter valves. When others found out I could do that they had me do their engines. The closet dealer was 75 miles away and charged over $100 in 1970's money for the job. I went thru two engines and two transmissions in the 12 years i had the car.
The flood of 1977 did the car in some years later. I only owned the one car and had to drive around in deep mud after the flood. Mud packed in under the rocker panels an accelerated the rust. Those cars were prone to rust anyway.

 

[esoxlucius]

Well...you now have an accurate picture of usage, as depicted by a "smart" meter that, for all we know, is programmed to inflate the cost figures by a small percentage and thus gouge you in a subtle manner each month.

I know my unit price for both gas and electric, and I know my daily standing charge for each too. All the smart meter does is tell you how much you've used per hour/day/week/month/quarter and year, and at what cost, and collates all that info in it's "brain".

I can access all this info, and more, at anytime, and so can my energy supplier. My manual calculations with what I know, correspond with exactly what my smart meter tells me. It's seems a very simple system. I'm not sure how it can be "rigged" at their end without me smelling a rat!

But nothing would surprise me after all that's come to light recently, lol.

 

[jjohnwm]

Well, unless you can actually monitor the actual energy usage of every device in your house, allowing for efficiency...which you can't...you really must simply trust the meter when it says that you have used X kilowatt-hours this week, or this month, or...

Of course, they wouldn't actually rig these meters to over charge...would they...?

The "smart" meters we had in Ontario actually kept track of what time of day you used the energy; a kilowatt-hour utilized in the middle of the day was much more expensive than the same amount of energy used at midnight, in an effort to spread out the usage rather than concentrating it during traditional "peak demand" times. This makes sense...and, coincidentally, makes checking up on them that much more difficult...

 

[fishdance]

I've got a 9m x 21m (30 foot x 70 foot) tropical fish room, a second cold water fish room the same size, some smaller fish rooms, several stand alone large aquariums and various above ground swim pools, in ground ponds, aquaculture tubs, etc. As part of this journey I've used kerosene heaters, wood fired pot belly stoves, propane gas heaters, solar heating (direct), electric heaters, water heat pumps, air conditioner/ inverters etc. Feel free to ask whatever questions you might have.

Insulation is key although a simple sheet of plastic will stop air loss/flow and a double sheet of plastic with an air gap can be quite effective. It's easy to locate heat loss with a digital gun thermometer.

The water heat pump is great for larger tanks - ponds - central filtered fish rooms. The cumulative thermal mass is a good safeguard against equipment failure as it takes several days to lose heat. With larger water volumes, a properly sized heat pump only kicks in occasionally, it shouldn't be constantly working. The energy conversion rates are fantastic. However there are tweaks to be aware of. A heat pump pulls the heat out of the air which is then directly absorbed by aquarium water pumped through. Cold dry air will require more electricity than warm humid air to generate the same amount of heat. So...what I do is fully insulate my big tanks with their own roofs and clad sides with 40mm polystyrene. Situate the heat pump just above the water level in the wall frame so it sucks the warm moist internal aquarium air and expels the cold exhaust air outside. I utilise the internal trapped heat loss which is always warmer than the outside air. (especially because I've just paid to heat up my water!) The heat pump also removes a lot of problematic humidity this way and the condensate waste water could be re-used if I wanted soft water (evaporated and condensed). Another small benefit is less head heights, less friction loss and less chance of leaks with the heat pump just above water level as some of my big tanks have 2m+ high walls. The initial equipment cost and specification demand of pumps similarly reduced. If using a water heat pump, be aware you need to prefilter and flush clean with bleach or chlorine periodically to remove biofilm build-up within heat pumps. So plan and plumb in a bypass to make this flush process easier and safer (for fish). You can cool or heat with a heat pump.

Although energy prices are rapidly increasing, I see this as a positive step towards reducing carbon as climate change is being experienced with storms, floods, heat waves. I'm paying well over a thousand dollars monthly for electricity at the moment. One of my places went 2.8m underwater only several months ago. And when I look at all the wild fires and heat waves around the globe right at this very moment, I'd be recommending air conditioning to heat and cool fish rooms.

The air conditioner inverters are similar technologies to water heat pumps but cheaper to buy and easier to implement. If your losing air - heat out of your fish room, it will be harder to heat your fish tanks though. And much harder to accurately specify temperatures or independent temperatures if your breeding.