Has someone got a time turner they could lend me? I feel like March went by in a bit of a blur…but what a month we have had! We have had awesome new threads started and buzzing conversation, we have brought in experts and got brand new content, in only 31 days!
You’re reading the E.ON Next Community highlights for March, a space for us to recap on the month we have, shout about those of you who are making a difference and also look forward to events that are happening in the future. I’m Beki, Community Manager, a team leader, environmentalist and climate change activist. We have a small team here in our Community and you can meet them here in our Meet the Nexties post - trust me, they are awesome humans and always ready for a chat!Once again, I would like to shout out about the amazing Community members that keep this space ticking over, providing support and conversation for so many people. We welcomed 2072 new users and wrote 1740 new posts and the support is clearly shown through the thumbs up you are giving each other. Another interesting figure I noticed was that our posts with verified answers are getting the most attention from new and existing members! 22813 verified solutions have been viewed which shows the importance of making sure the answers to your questions are verified. Keep it up team, you’re making such a difference!
March has seen conversation continue about the price cap and it’s no surprise that our most viewed post is still the Price Cap Q&A, however there is a more recent thread 'Need a new IHD?' written by our very own @theunknowntech that has addressed one of the key queries that we get asked. Theunknowntech covers some of your most frequently asked questions like, “Will my supplier give me another one?” and “What are my replacement options?” as well as expressing both their and our concerns about purchasing alternative IHDs from certain selling sites. This information has also been fed back to our teams within E.ON Next and should not be mentioned in the future. Thank you to theunknowntech for taking the time to get this thread together as well as for your continued support of our smart meter customers. Have you tried or purchased the Ivie Bud or Hildebrand Glow? If so, let us know how you get on!
Theunknowntech is not the only person that has been helping out, @meldrewreborn and @Landmark have all been super involved as well as @Tracy and @Joycem hitting the Top Contributors board this month, but that is not all…
Recently we have had an influx of Feed in Tariff (FiT) customers getting in touch about the migration from E.ON to E.ON Next and the loss of historical data and graphs, so much so that Hannah and I were swiftly reminded of one of the values of having a Community platform and that is to give customers an opportunity to be heard and for us to make a difference. Hannah spoke to Graeme from our FiT team (or the 'solar squad' if you’re a cool kid like me) and he explained that “The online experience for our FiT base is still in its infancy, the website you see now has only been available for a few months.” but he heard you loud and clear and as they develop the website, he will make sure that they feed the requirement in. What a success! I took it upon myself to undertake an investigation in regards to Graeme being a robot…but there is no Artificial Intelligence when it comes to Graeme’s FiT knowledge! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist-or!) 🤖
One of my favourite posts that appeared on the Community this month was one which I was a bit nervous about moderating, to be entirely honest. With so much horrific news about Ukraine and Russia being published, a thread titled ‘Ukraine’ could go one or another but I was proven wrong. It was wonderful to read all the comments in reply to @Giffy, but the in depth answer by @CustomerOfLastResort which taught me so much about the history of the pipeline and I think there is definitely work to do on a green grid for energy. I love it when these discussions happen organically and when the conversation flows so a huge thank you to all of you who took part in it, and spoke about a horrible situation in a respectful way.
Debt Awareness Week - 21st - 27th March 2022 - was an opportunity for us to help our customers but also our Community members with information on where they can get support with debt. It’s staggering to think that people in the UK owed £1,767.1 billion at the end of January 2022. Debt can be stressful and isolating so it’s really important to know that you are not alone in this and that there is support for you if you need it.
Researching and reading about the current debt situation combined with the current cost of living crisis, has made me explore everything that I do at home. The price of food rising in particular has me worried; even though we try to grow what we can, I don’t think I would ever be able to be self-sufficient without buying an acre of land and greenhouses! What are your thoughts on the crisis and what impact has it had on you? Is there anything that you would do differently now because of it? We have an exciting blog post coming up in April with one of our Community members and so I would really love to hear some more ideas and perhaps get a thread going, where we can all get involved? Anyone up for the challenge of starting a thread?
The way things are going with fuel prices and wanting to make further steps to reduce my carbon footprint, I wondered if it would be cheaper to have an electric car? Do any of you have EV knowledge that you could share with me, makes, types, the most energy efficient one on a lower end budget? (Don’t we all wish we could afford a Tesla?) We are a family of 5 with a pooch too so we were looking at a small run around that we could squeeze in for shorter journeys! I would love to hear your experiences.
I’m lucky enough to be off over the next couple of weeks as it’s the school holidays and so are a few members of the team. We have made sure that there is someone available between 8am and 10pm on the Community except for on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday when we will be around 9am - 5pm. These hours are also the same for our Energy Specialists over on our social media channels. Benedetta has some interesting Italian insights to the Easter holidays and will be sharing some of her traditions and perhaps a recipe or two, and trust me, I’ve tried Benedetta's desserts and they are delicious! Keep an eye out on the Interests board for that this week and get involved with your favourite Easter foods, recipes and traditions. However you spend your holiday, I hope you have a wonderful time and hopefully we can all enjoy some sunshine in between these April showers!
I’ll see you around on the Community.
Sending positive energy to you,
Beki
Community Manager
Everything & everyone powered by sustainable energy. 🌍
Last edited by Beki; 13-04-22 at 14:10. Reason: Title
