Peoples Energy: any experiences and/or knowledge of this supplier please?

[rogerzilla]

It's cheaper to buy kiln-dried wood now.

[ian]

I, for one, am relieved when any minister in the current government says it won't come to that. We can relax now.

[rafletcher]

It's cheaper to buy kiln-dried wood now.

We’ve just scored our neighbours dead apple tree. The tree folk were happy enough to cut it (relatively) small in exchange for not having to cart it away.

[Polar Bear]

I, for one, am relieved when any minister in the current government says it won't come to that. We can relax now.

Has a sense of inpending reality about it don't you think?

[Kim]

It would probably be possible to turn off gas to areas or streets.

I'm sure they have plenty of provision for safe isolation.  The problem is that once you cut the gas supply, you can't turn it back on again until you've at least closed the shut-off valve at each premises, otherwise you risk gas escaping from some appliance that isn't clever enough to turn itself off in the absence of combustion, and potentially going BOOM.

Regardless of whether you take the nice-nicey approach of waiting for everyone to let you in, or using police-assisted gasman powers of entry, that's the sort of thing that takes ages, is expensive to do and pisses lots of people off.

Sort of thing that might actually be a reasonable use of smart meters.  If everyone had smart meters.

[Cudzoziemiec]

"Police-assisted gasman" has to be a builder from Judge Dredd.

[felstedrider]

In my very early days in the industry I was part of a theft of gas working group.  The things people were willing to do to avoid paying for gas were eye opening.

[Cudzoziemiec]

There's no mains gas in India but theft of electricity is common, by simply clamping cables onto the overhead mains distribution wires. I guess if you wait till one of the daily power cuts to do this, it's relatively safe.

[ian]

As students, we broke the bottom off the leccy pay-meter and recycled the same fifty pence.

[Cudzoziemiec]

An early exercise in the circular (or heptagonal) economy.

[Kim]

In my very early days in the industry I was part of a theft of gas working group.  The things people were willing to do to avoid paying for gas were eye opening.

As illustrated in the Rik Mayall documentary series, Bottom.

[Kim]

There's no mains gas in India but theft of electricity is common, by simply clamping cables onto the overhead mains distribution wires. I guess if you wait till one of the daily power cuts to do this, it's relatively safe.

Working live gives me the creeps, but last-mile mains voltage electricity is reasonably predictable (it's not going to jump through the air or anything), and can safely be done by those armed with either the right training and appropriate tools or a sufficiency of ignorance and luck.

I suspect that overloads resulting in fires are a bigger problem than electric shock, as electricity thieves aren't likely to be diligent about cable sizes, torque ratings or the use of fuses.  That certainly seems to be where the BRITISH cannabis farmers seem to get it wrong.

[Jaded]

As students, we broke the bottom off the leccy pay-meter and recycled the same fifty pence.

That happened, as well as the seriously rusty coin receptacle.

No idea how all that water got in (an amount equivalent to a frozen 50p...)

[robgul]

There's no mains gas in India but theft of electricity is common, by simply clamping cables onto the overhead mains distribution wires. I guess if you wait till one of the daily power cuts to do this, it's relatively safe.

The crocodile clip (looks like jump lead clamps) technique is also popular in France with "travellers" - seen it several times where they drive onto the municipal sports ground with all the caravans and pickups ... ladder against one of the usual floodlight/streetlamp posts to climb up and jemmy open the distribution box and connect the clips.  They then set up their own "electric grid" around the caravans.   

Presumably the local authority just gives a "Gallic shrug"

[rogerzilla]

As students, we broke the bottom off the leccy pay-meter and recycled the same fifty pence.

I had a key that fitted most cheap padlocks.  Far more sophisticated.

[ian]

As students, we broke the bottom off the leccy pay-meter and recycled the same fifty pence.

I had a key that fitted most cheap padlocks.  Far more sophisticated.

We hit it with a brick until it gave up the goods. We weren't entirely evil, our landlord refused to fix the hole in the roof, and his son had a habit of burgling the house while we were out (not sure why, we never had anything worth nicking, but he wasn't exactly one of the smart kids). So we got our own recompense and it let us run the electric bar fires all winter. We ran off before he got the actual bill.

[robgul]

Avro Energy has "gone up the pictures" as they say - together with Green.   Avro website has a statement on the Home page and Green ws on the BBC news.

[felstedrider]

Avro Energy has "gone up the pictures" as they say - together with Green.   Avro website has a statement on the Home page and Green ws on the BBC news.

Got there before me.   There's probably 3 or 4 others in the wings.

[andyoxon]

Avro Energy has "gone up the pictures" as they say - together with Green.   Avro website has a statement on the Home page and Green ws on the BBC news.

Yep, boom.

Glad I decided to download all my statements the other day.

On the website:

Avro Energy is ceasing to trade. Ofgem, the energy regulator, is appointing a new supplier for its customers.
Customers need not worry, their supplies are secure and domestic credit balances are protected.
Ofgem’s advice is not to switch, but to wait until they appoint a new supplier for you. This will help make sure that the process of handing customers over to a new supplier, and honouring domestic customers’ credit balances, is as hassle free as possible for customers.
Support and advice is available on the Ofgem website for both domestic customers and non-domestic customers. Alternatively, if customers need additional support, they can call Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133 or email them via their webform. Advice will also be shared on Ofgem’s twitter @ofgem and facebook channels.

So I guess, we'll be on the cap + any additional expenditure.  Perhaps i should have gone for that e-on 2 yr fixed deal in April... 

[robgul]

Avro Energy has "gone up the pictures" as they say - together with Green.   Avro website has a statement on the Home page and Green ws on the BBC news.

Yep, boom.

Glad I decided to download all my statements the other day.

On the website:

Avro Energy is ceasing to trade. Ofgem, the energy regulator, is appointing a new supplier for its customers.
Customers need not worry, their supplies are secure and domestic credit balances are protected.
Ofgem’s advice is not to switch, but to wait until they appoint a new supplier for you. This will help make sure that the process of handing customers over to a new supplier, and honouring domestic customers’ credit balances, is as hassle free as possible for customers.
Support and advice is available on the Ofgem website for both domestic customers and non-domestic customers. Alternatively, if customers need additional support, they can call Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133 or email them via their webform. Advice will also be shared on Ofgem’s twitter @ofgem and facebook channels.

So I guess, we'll be on the cap + any additional expenditure.  Perhaps i should have gone for that e-on 2 yr fixed deal in April... 

Depending on the new supplier post-AVRO try phoning, yes phoning British Gas . . .  I got a better than advertised fixed deal from them . . . don't know why but it was a good 10% better on our annual cost.   I also got some worthless insurance cover of some sort as well as a discount on the boiler service - we had to agree to Smart Meters but that was fine with us.

[vorsprung]

As students, we broke the bottom off the leccy pay-meter and recycled the same fifty pence.

I had a key that fitted most cheap padlocks.  Far more sophisticated.

I replaced the meter completely with another one from a wrecked house.  I also wired it up to run backwards

[robgul]

Avro Energy has "gone up the pictures" as they say - together with Green.   Avro website has a statement on the Home page and Green was on the BBC news.

Clearly there will be an unfortunate loss of employment for quite a few people . . . Green has 250,000 customers and 180 employees (according to news reports), that seems a high ratio to me given that the business is essentially a database, billing system, energy trading and accounting function - AVRO has 580,000 customers . . .  I wonder how many staff?

Edit: Just seen some info that says AVRO has 18 staff !! https://rocketreach.co/avro-energy-limited-management_b4428a07fa2291f0  - seems low?   [Three of the names I recognise from my dealings with them]

[andyoxon]

When we go on the Ofgem appointed company cap tariff, if we keep our consumption down to the 'average user' and '£1277pa', hopefully be <£150 more until April 2022.  Maybe.

[felstedrider]

Avro Energy has "gone up the pictures" as they say - together with Green.   Avro website has a statement on the Home page and Green was on the BBC news.

Clearly there will be an unfortunate loss of employment for quite a few people . . . Green has 250,000 customers and 180 employees (according to news reports), that seems a high ratio to me given that the business is essentially a database, billing system, energy trading and accounting function - AVRO has 580,000 customers . . .  I wonder how many staff?

Edit: Just seen some info that says AVRO has 18 staff !! https://rocketreach.co/avro-energy-limited-management_b4428a07fa2291f0  - seems low?   [Three of the names I recognise from my dealings with them]

The benchmark is 1 employee per 1,000 customers, or it used to be.   Not a bad ratio for Green.  It is possible to set a supplier up and outsource a lot of the donkey work.  There’s at least 2 dedicated firms that do this but the recent collapses will have a knock on into that sector, so Avro may have gone down that route.

Incidentally I provide wholesale market access to energy players.  I’m down 5 clients already and it’s year end next week.  It’s a good job we have other things going on.

[andyoxon]

I wonder how the apparent concern by the big players taking on new customers (from bust companies) at loss making capped tariffs is going to play out...