That said paying for a landline narks me, as it's effectively never used other than to deliver the FttC connection. I suppose it's an unavoidable expense.
We pay A&A for a DSL-only copper line with no telephone service (if you plug a phone into it, you just get a recorded message warning our-favourite-telco engineers not to steal the pair). It works out marginally cheaper than BT Retail's basic tariff, and has the advantage that in the event of a line fault Shaun-the-Slayer is on the case with no scope for any buck-passing.
Yes, it's stupid, but A&A's approach of passing on the wholesale costs of their products rather than wrapping things up in bundles and minimum contracts means you know where you stand.
Just tell me what it costs for a unit and send me the fucking bill. Having been with other providers like EDF in the past, there seems to be a universality to their shitness.
Robin Hood seem to have a charming incompetence to their shitness, rather than the deliberate malicious shitness of other suppliers (I'm glaring at you, nPower).
Anyway, I'm happy to pay slightly more than the cheapest deal for 100% renewable electricity, and for the profit to be benefiting council tenants in Nottingham rather than shareholders.
The best way to save money will always be to turn stuff off than chase tariffs.
Agree. (And things like not being on Economy 7 when you shouldn't be.) You can tweak around the edges trading off customer service and whose bank account the money sits in and such, but there never seems to be much in it long-term, unless you're deliberately left on some older more expensive tariff.
As ever, the best way to save money on utilities is to be rich enough to a) pay a sensible rate (via a bill, rather than a prepayment meter) and b) not have to use as much of them (insulation, efficient appliances, solar power, etc).
