18 March - Things will get busy, but not just yet
I suppose there must be a reason for Bexley Council holding three Scrutiny
meetings and a Sub-Committee meeting within the space of five working days but it
certainly makes reporting them difficult. Maybe that is the reason for doing it but it also means
that there will be nothing of note to be seen here until Wednesday at best.
With a radio advert repeating ad-nauseam today telling me how my electricity
bill will be lower from 1st April I am tempted to relate how Octopus Energy estimate
that my bill will increase by about a fiver a year. This is because they are
increasing the standing charge by 1·8 pence a day while the peak rate charge
will reduce by three pence per kilowatt hour.
But thanks to
the installed battery
I don’t use much day rate electricity and the
night rate isnְ’t changing. For the record Octopus is still recommending a monthly
Direct Debit payment which would cover their new annual estimate three times over.
For the past week the Daily Telegraph has been cataloguing the wildest excesses
of Ovo Energy and British Gas (refusing to return £10k. charged in error etc.) and I am happy to report that Octopus is not in
their league. I pay them less than a third of what they recommend and still
build up a credit and unlike the other companies they do not kick up a fuss over my ‘underpayment’.
But obviously their computer systems are a long way from being perfect.
My increased bill when the price cap is reduced is yet another example of this Government’s
eco-lunacy. Do as they encourage us to do and the reward will be a kick in the teeth.
They will be suitably rewarded come the General Election - probably.