why were people on ESA ignored when people on UC got an extra £20 per week

Mootoo

Okay, sure, but you'll need to excuse my low toleration of this sort of nonsense, as recently even some Ocado busybody actually said "the gov'ment are working hard"... not to embezzle, to be sure, but that would be too honest. It's, like, literally all they know to do is some perverted form of PR, and they even get public agents, or just plain brainwashed people, to do it for them, and when people are suffering and dying due to them, hurting propagandists' feelings doesn't mean anything!

mrpip2002uk

all i can say is that the advice on this site over the last 5-6 months as been worth its weight in gold to my wife and i.
weve always accepted that weve been paid the correct amounts of ESA by the dwp for the years weve been on it?
but with our circumstances changing soon ive asked for advice on this site,and 99% of the replys have been very helpful, and i now have it clear in my mind what steps we need to take to make sure were on the correct benefit for us,which i now know means applying for UC.
so thanks again to all the people on this site who gave up their time  for free to help us and give positive advice,so thanks again to Poppy,Calcotti,Woodbine,and others, whove helped with very good advice.
i remember years ago there used to be benefit shops in most towns which were excellant,but theyve all been shut down,probably through lack of funding, and C.A which are also excellant have been closed due to covid,so for people like me who has to be told 2-3 times before it sinks in, this site as been a godsend.

Lisatho11987777

When I first went on universal credit after haveing esa for many years after four months I was trying to sort something out with my work coach which I was glad I did as she found out when esa  I hadn't been moved over correctly and I was owed 5,000 pound 

Again three weeks ago I was told I was being underpaid and received 750 00 pound now all is sorted and correct and I am ok and getting somewhere just gas and electric bill that is high so hopefuly haveing a pay as you go smart meter will help 

As Mike says if you give all the correct information then if there is an underpayment that is not the claiments fault 

calcotti

lisathomas50 said:..haveing a pay as you go smart meter will help 

It won’t help with excessive use of gas due to your mum!

janer1967

@lisathomas50 be careful as pre pay meters usually have a higher tariff dont know if that's changed recently but was the case when I had one 

Maybe different in Wales 

katie0714

@lisathomas50 I 100% agree with the above statement. 

Having changed from pay monthly to pay as you go my bills have almost tripled in the past 6 months, spending half my entitlement just to heat my home but I have a toddler and that’s a priority bill in my home. 

Definitely look into wether or not you would be better off on Pay monthly and that your on the right tariff. 

TheAlien

You also have the problem of the credit running out when you don't expect it. 

I got mine removed because there were several times that I was having to travel miles to put credit on the meter because of localised faults with the payment points.

From your post in the other thread, it sounds like its the gas fire use that's causing the high bills.

calcotti

janer1967 said:

@lisathomas50 be careful as pre pay meters usually have a higher tariff 

Pre pay meters and pay as you go tariffs are not the same thing.

Pay as you go means that you get a monthly bill based on the usage in the last month as reported by the smart meter. This will result in high bills in winter and low bills in summer. This compares with paying a fixed amount every month of the year based on expected annual usage.

tcellmutation

People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?

mrpip2002uk

we had a smart meter installed after being pestered by our supplier for months to have one in!
the only people that gain from the smart meter are our gas and electric supplier?
once you have your smart meter installed the meter readers dont have to come to our address to read the meter,
therefore the people who lose out over time is the poor meter readers who lose their job.
so basically the smart meters have put all the meter readers out of work,more humans having there jobs replaced by computers?
ps we havnt saved any money on bills since we went onto the smart meter,we still use the same amount of fuel,its a bit of a con really.
you can see which of you appliances use the most,but you still have to use them? 

tcellmutation

mrpip2002uk said:

we had a smart meter installed after being pestered by our supplier for months to have one in!
the only people that gain from the smart meter are our gas and electric supplier?
once you have your smart meter installed the meter readers dont have to come to our address to read the meter,
therefore the people who lose out over time is the poor meter readers who lose their job.
so basically the smart meters have put all the meter readers out of work,more humans having there jobs replaced by computers?
ps we havnt saved any money on bills since we went onto the smart meter,we still use the same amount of fuel,its a bit of a con really.
you can see which of you appliances use the most,but you still have to use them? 

Or the meter readers were trained to install smart meters

tcellmutation

Smart meters have saved me money. Now I have complete control over my energy usage with the installation of smart Alexa plugs. Saved a ton. I tell Alexa to turn off my devices at night. Its a pretty smart setup I have. Quite a few plugs doing different things. If you know what you are doing then I believe smart meters can help you save money 

mrpip2002uk

once the ex meters readers have finnished istalling the meters to everyone, what job will they do then?

calcotti

tcellmutation said:.. If you know what you are doing then I believe smart meters can help you save money 

Although that is true they have been massively oversold as if they will save people money. They only save money if people change their energy use in response to the information provided

tcellmutation

mrpip2002uk said:

once the ex meters readers have finnished istalling the meters to everyone, what job will they do then?

Uninstall all the smart meters

mrpip2002uk

very true calcotti,most of us on very low income have already changed our energy use  a while ago.

tcellmutation

I'll be getting £140 from She'll Energy soon as part of the Warm Home Discount scheme

mrpip2002uk

yeh,most people on low incomes should be getting it,so long as they have applied for it.

tcellmutation

I pay £55 per month for my electricity. I do not have gas, just all electric. I've paid £55 per month from the beginning of the year. I'm £6 in credit at the moment so good going so far. I have a 2 bedroom apartment. My place doesn't really get cold, I'm in shorts and t-shirt atm, no heating. Only when it's really really really cold do I need it on. 

Amalegra

With regards to the conversation about benefit entitlement, I wonder if anyone here has tried a forum called ‘Benefits to Work’? You can get quite a lot of free information from it and if you take out a subscription, which I recommend, it is about £20 pa but they have regular offers where it is discounted to £15. It is a mine of support and info re entitlements, appeals etc and was the only resource I had when doing a PIP appeal a few years ago as the CA had no one who could help and social worker assistance is only available to council tenants here, which I am not. I won my appeal and don’t know how I would have managed without them! I keep my subscription going as the forum keeps me updated on all the newest developments and issues and as I reach retirement age next year I shall no doubt need the help again. The people who run it are experts and there’s also a lot of claimants who post. I’ve found the site a real lifesaver. Just putting this out there in case it helps anyone.