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Why’s it so Hard to Get Electricity in a New Home?

by Ben Pile
5 August 2024 7:00 AM

I picked up the keys to my new home on a hot Thursday afternoon. I had spent the previous days lugging all my things into and between the storage units I had rented, 200 miles apart. Just this climate change denier’s luck to have chosen the hottest days of the year – and perhaps the only days of the year that qualify as hot – for such physical work. The van I hired for the move had no air-conditioning, and the seals on my own car’s AC had failed during lockdowns due to inactivity. Legs, arms, hands and feet aching, surely the worst of the move was now over. The headache began when I headed into my new home to check the gas and electricity meters.

As you probably know, you check the meters immediately on arrival in a new home to ensure you aren’t charged for the previous occupant’s gas and electricity use. But when looking at the house I had forgotten to check what kind of meter it was. Worst even than a smart meter, both meters were the prepayment type. Worse still, there were no keys. Even worse, there was just £2.80 remaining on the electricity meter.


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Tags: Citizens AdvicePayzonePrepayment MetersSmart meters

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27 Comments
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varmint
varmint
9 months ago

A tale of irritation that all of us experience at some time. I try to focus on the good that comes out of experiences like this by making sure I never get caught out again. Like the time I stood on the Stairs of Marylebone Parish Church waiting for the AA to arrive for 6 hours. When I nipped to a phone box to chase them up I was told my membership had expired. My god was I blazing mad. So I appreciate your little story.
—– In the end though it is also relative to the current situation with energy and climate politics where the likes of Miliband will tell us that pretending to save the planet will reduce energy bills. This eco fundamentalist twerp is the most dangerous man in the UK and this winter millions will be plunged into energy poverty and pensioners will DIE. They will DIE because cold kills 20 times more than heat does and as Miliband forces up energy prices with absurd climate policy, Reeves will be sticking in the knife to kill the pensioners off by removing the Winter Fuel Allowance. We are seeing rioting in the streets now, but there is going to be even more this winter.

Last edited 9 months ago by varmint
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soundofreason
soundofreason
9 months ago
Reply to  varmint

This eco fundamentalist twerp [Ed Miliband] is the most dangerous man in the UK

I wish there was a way of giving more up-votes.

14
0
varmint
varmint
9 months ago
Reply to  soundofreason

Yes and people, especially pensioners who have just had their Winter Fuel Allowance stopped, and the poor who are going to be forced into energy poverty will find out just how dangerous this winter. ——The Globalist Net Zero that seeks to lower the living standards of the prosperous west by removing affordable energy is Milibands dream project. He is rubbing his hands with glee.

5
0
Old Brit
Old Brit
9 months ago
Reply to  varmint

If there was the equivalent of Just Stop Oil, say Just Stop Milliband, we’ all give them a sub

1
0
iconoclast
iconoclast
9 months ago
Reply to  Old Brit

Well done Old Brit.

I have just read three in a row of your most amusing posts and upvoted them all. 

And what a good idea – just stop Milliband.

What a bozo. Starmer is clearly lacking good judgment giving Ed the most important job of how to mess up the country at greatest cost. Ed is eminently qualified for the job.

Last edited 9 months ago by iconoclast
0
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
9 months ago
Reply to  varmint

It’s a fine looking church. Hope you managed to park on a side road, and were able to have a look at the church while waiting. If there were still working phone boxes it may have been in the era that King’s Cross and environs was quite seedy, before the “regeneration”.

1
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varmint
varmint
9 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

I was actually parked in a side street into Regents Park. I think it was called York Gate.

0
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
9 months ago
Reply to  varmint

Ah, that’s a nicer area

0
0
Old Brit
Old Brit
9 months ago
Reply to  varmint

At least rioters can keep warm by burning police cars

1
0
NickR
NickR
9 months ago

The electricity industry’s pricing policies are disgraceful. Take night storage heaters. They use about the same amount of kWhs as an EV, however, night storage heaters are in use by about 2million of the country’s poorest while EVs are used by 2m of the UKs richest. And yet, EV owners pay about 1/2 the £s per kWh that night storage heater users pay.
Octopus the energy supplier tend to have the best off-peak EV rates, but they don’t want to know night storage customers.

14
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EppingBlogger
EppingBlogger
9 months ago
Reply to  NickR

I bet their night time solar prices are very cheap.

5
0
Tyrbiter
Tyrbiter
9 months ago
Reply to  EppingBlogger

Scarcity causes high prices don’tcha know?

:-p

0
0
Free Lemming
Free Lemming
9 months ago

Reminds me of a mind-bogglingly irritating encounter I had with Sky a couple of years back after cancelling the contract (four times) and then continuing to be charged as if no cancellation has ever taken place. In the end I had to reproduce one telephone recording, two emails, and threaten them with the ombudsman, in order to get a refund (and, after a rant of manic proportions, some compensation for their clown-like performance). What struck me most was the impressive ineptitude of their ‘customer service’ who I came to believe were single cell organisms.

9
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soundofreason
soundofreason
9 months ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

I’m impressed you had the foresight to record your telephone call. On occasions I’ve wished I had done so after the event – but I note you had to cancel four times.

The hive mind which is customer services cannot comprehend that anyone would want to leave the magnificent service that they ‘support’.

5
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Free Lemming
Free Lemming
9 months ago
Reply to  soundofreason

Yes, two phone calls (only the second one recorded) and two emails. I’m not sure I’d use the word ‘mind’ when talking about Sky customer services – they seem to have a single bit that toggles between yes and no.

7
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JohnK
JohnK
9 months ago

It’s probably quite easy if you offer the trade to a new utility firm and accept their “smart” meters. Depends on the financial circumstances of course, with those having to use prepayment by keys having the worst deal, by the look of it. I don’t think there is any shortage of stock for the latest SMETS2 ones, and they probably get a bonus for installing them, promoted by Ofgem.

1
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Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
9 months ago

The money spent by TPTB just since early 2020 could have probably have put the whole world straight !

5
0
Jaguar
Jaguar
9 months ago

This tale brought back memories for me. At the age of 21 I spent some time living in a house owned by a Scouser which had a coin-operated meter for electricity. If the coin box got full, there would be no power until someone came to empty it….except that the Scouser could by-pass the meter (at some risk of electrocuting himself). Every Sunday the washing machine and tumble dryer ran on free electricity.

2
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ellie-em
ellie-em
9 months ago
Reply to  Jaguar

Oh gosh, I remember the coin-operated electric meters – and televisions.

0
0
Pete Sutton
Pete Sutton
9 months ago

I look forward to part 2 – in which you grapple with half-witted power suppliers to switch from prepayment meters to the ordinary type!

6
0
Solentviews
Solentviews
9 months ago

A frustrating tale. However …. was none of this noticed when you visited the place? It certainly should or would come up in the interminable purchase process.

Whenever you take over a new place you need to be certain of electricity, gas and/or heating provision, sewage and access arrangements. Any doubts then back off until sorted.

Not trying to speak with benefit of hindsight, but these have to be near the top of priority list.

4
-1
EppingBlogger
EppingBlogger
9 months ago

I have been involved with some new utility connections and a move within the premises. The process is frustrating and the cost is outrageous.

1
0
marebobowl
marebobowl
9 months ago

Do not expect any help from this gov’t. They are too busy blaming social media for just about every problem in the country. Besides having no access to electricity, next you will have no access to free speech. Just doing as they are told.

4
0
ellie-em
ellie-em
9 months ago

What I want to know, Ben, is – did the promised keys ever arrive through the post?

1
0
ellie-em
ellie-em
9 months ago

With the wretched smart meters that successive governments have done their utmost over several years to foist on consumers – don’t they have a facility for the supplier to remotely change tariffs / disconnect utilities at a whim? They can then enter customer’s premises and convert meters to the expensive prepayment versions.

2
0
iconoclast
iconoclast
9 months ago

Solving the energy crisis.

Meter? What meter?

Photo taken in June 2024.

Energy-photo_2024-08-06_09-27-43
2
0
Old Brit
Old Brit
9 months ago

I hate all the Global Warming zealots too, with a vengeance. I won’t call it Climate Change either, because that only helps them with their scam. I bought myself a capable 7 KW generator, and got the electrician to fit a changeover switch. Now I await the inevitable

1
0

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