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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 said:

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.

You get exactly the same advice and support here on the community and it's all free. Although the cost to join benefits and work maybe a small amount for some people, for others it's quite a lot to spend when they have very little money to start with.

In response to the original statement, we don't claim UC and even though my wife gets ESA we haven't considered the difference of having the £20 uplift. To some I'd imagine its a god send but you're then in the quandary of what to do with it. You know you're getting something extra and it going to be taken away sometime when you least expect it, that's how our government works.
So what do you do with it? You can't depend on it as its temporary. Its simply a **** gesture from a government that doesn't give a damn.

My wife claims PIP and ESA both as legacy payments and I used to claim CA. 3 years ago I had a break down and after that returned to work firstly part time but eventually returning to full time as NMW and CA earning allowance doesn't increase equally thus leaving me fewer hours in a week that I can work without loosing CA which provided us with housing benefit and council tax relief. 
We moved into a 1 bed bungalow in social housing in 2013 with huge debts on utilities and C/tax which have now been paid off in full and most now in credit through scrimping and scraping and mainly doing without a lot of stuff. My wife's needs have and do always come first as her benefits originally brought the most into the household income, now my earnings have surpassed hers so we pay equally. 

One thing I've learnt from my time on benefits is that its very hard to live a normal life.
Direct Debits work against you. Anyone on benefits paying utilities via Direct Debit I would advice you to consider changing to pay as you go meters (PAYG)/key/card (Smart or otherwise). These allow you to decide when the money goes out and how much you spend. There is also the problem that you're usually paying more than what you owe on Direct Debit. Monthly charges are worked out over an average for your postcode and you might be using far less than your neighbors, you will also be paying a small amount in advance and the contract you sign into may not remain at the advertised price for the full term. 
We're on PAYG for; electric, gas, rent, council tax, water, tv licence and broadband. 
My electric changes price once a year and I'm advised of this 2 months before it changes, it's literally pennies per Kwh and there's no hidden standing charge on the first Kwh, thats listed separately at 28p per day.
Taking control of your own payment structure benefits you because benefits get paid in on weekly, fortnightly or 4 weekly increments and not monthly like Direct Debits which are set up for those on a PAYE structure.
I now have to budget on both levels but I still tailor the budget towards the simple fortnightly & 4 weekly payments of my wife benefits.