[meldrewreborn]

@Beki_EONNext

we would like to see whether smart meters cause more calls to customer services than do traditional meters. Without information the matter is entirely guesswork.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Conventional meters - they work or they don't. Failure rate is less than a couple of percent, if that. There is very little to go wrong.

Smart meters - so many points of failure. They are also by their very nature not as reliable as conventional meters. Summarising the complaints I've read on here:

Lots don't work, full stop.

Some can actually record usage, but can't communicate.

Electronic gas meters have battery issues, smart ones cause more battery drain than dumb ones. Gas meter batteries fail at a shocking rate.

The smart meters that are working still generate complaints such as one meter sending readings and the other not.

The ones that can get their act together still seem to have IHD issues such as losing comms or displaying incorrect or misleading information.

My biggest bugbear is that we are all paying to the tune of around £17 a year for the whole shebang whether we want one or not.

[meldrewreborn]

Originally Posted by Beki_EONNext

@meldrewreborn

We do publish how E.ON Next perform here and I thought that you might be interested in seeing some of the stats.

Screenshot 2023-01-24 10.12.45 AM.png

if you have 146739 complaints in that period and that equates to 1726 complaints per 100,000 customers, then i make it that E.On Next has 8,501,000 customers. But you said later that you've got 6,000,000 customers. So are there 6,000,000 customers with 8.500,000 meters.

I used to crunch numbers for a living - forgive me.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Some customers have more than one meter (gas and electric) which explains more meters than actual customers.

Let's say 6 million customers as a nice round number. Earlier a post today regarding WHD said that E.On Next were going to be processing payments to 400,000 customers.

With expected eligibility for WHD being around 700,000 people across the whole of the UK, then it strikes me as odd that Next seem to have around 20% of UK energy customers but over 50 % of eligible WHD recipients.

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

"Lies , damn lies and statistics" was the quote from Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli or perhaps A N Other - from the web:

This quotation is often attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th century British Prime Minister. The source for this view is the autobiography of Mark Twain, where he makes that attribution. Nevertheless, no version of this quotation has been found in any of Disraeli's published works or letters. An early reference to the expression, which may explain Twain's assertion is found in a speech made by Leonard H. Courtney, (1832-1918), later Lord Courtney, in New York in 1895:

'After all, facts are facts, and although we may quote one to another with a chuckle the words of the Wise Statesman, "Lies - damn lies - and statistics," still there are some easy figures the simplest must understand, and the astutest cannot wriggle out of.

[meldrewreborn]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@meldrewreborn

Some customers have more than one meter (gas and electric) which explains more meters than actual customers.

Let's say 6 million customers as a nice round number. Earlier a post today regarding WHD said that E.On Next were going to be processing payments to 400,000 customers.

With expected eligibility for WHD being around 700,000 people across the whole of the UK, then it strikes me as odd that Next seem to have around 20% of UK energy customers but over 50 % of eligible WHD recipients.

The final paper from the government suggests "around" 1 million in the core group and "around"1.9" million in the broader group making 2.8 million in total (government accounting!)


127. The Government’s preferred approach is to reform and expand the WHD to reach around 2.8 million households in England and Wales, an increase of 750,000 (Option 3) compared to the number of households receiving a rebate in 2021/22. The Government plans to do this by increasing the overall size of the scheme to £458m from 2022/23 and increase this with inflation throughout the remainder of the 4-year scheme (ending in 2025/26).

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Ah...my sources were very out of date then!

[meldrewreborn]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@meldrewreborn

Ah...my sources were very out of date then!

I grant you full absolution!

[retrotecchie]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

I grant you full absolution!

2.8 million (give or take) is around 10% of the UK domestic customer base for energy of 28 million customers (give or take). So 10% of customers get a credit of £150, and 100% of customers pay for it through an increase in their standing charges.

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

And nothing appears on the governments books at all and it isn't a tax !!!