WAMT....what annoyed me today!

[JohnC6]

I think my badly made point was that for a service that used to be included in Council Tax, a charge is being introduced on the guise of this is a service that only some people need. I would rather that the folk without the need for a green bin be given a rebate rather than my tax levy increase because I have a garden. Of course you may opt out - but have a feeling that will just increase the amount of fly tipped garden waste along with the rest of the stuff folk do not take to the tip. I would rather they just said that we have found a way of getting a further £58 per year from you. Suck it up.

My bold in your post. That's not the reason. The reason is that whilst they have a statutary obligation to collect your household waste there's no such obligation re garden waste . It also negates your other point re a tax levy. You are paying for an extra service which is out of the scope of required services by the council. The real villain of the peace is central government who have cut to the bone local authority funding.

As an an aside, I would rather they collected large items free of charge. It's about £25 here for three "large items" which is why we see fridges, furniture, armchairs etc in fields and hedgerows. If it means another couple of pounds on the rates I'd be happy to pay.

 

[Tulipone]

I'm going to pay the 58 quid Green Bin charge.
I've got a 7ft high privet hedge and that fills the bin when I cut it.
Will share my bin with the bloke next door who cuts my grass when he does his.
Seems fair enough to me.

I will also pay the £58. The Council know that most folk in our position will as it is easier than having to get rid of the green waste independently. There is a small copse behind our estate that I suspect will turn into a compost area. On the basis the charge is not changed to weight - as you may recall was discussed previously - folk around me who want to use spare space in my bin are welcome. The council say that they don't care if households share but the household who pays is responsible.

My bold in your post. That's not the reason. The reason is that whilst they have a statutary obligation to collect your household waste there's no such obligation re garden waste . It also negates your other point re a tax levy. You are paying for an extra service which is out of the scope of required services by the council. The real villain of the peace is central government who have cut to the bone local authority funding.

As an an aside, I would rather they collected large items free of charge. It's about £25 here for three "large items" which is why we see fridges, furniture, armchairs etc in fields and hedgerows. If it means another couple of pounds on the rates I'd be happy to pay.

I defer to your greater knowledge, but IT IS being brought in as an optional charge to be fair to those who don’t need it. I think it is as optional as the window tax was. Windows we’re optional also right? I understand that there is no statutory obligation to collect green waste, but surely was a service they provided out of the money I paid them previously in my Council Tax. As previously said, rebate those who don’t want it and keep the services that historically have been needed.

 

[Dave Canon]

One guy had difficulty in getting rid of his unwanted fridge and the council made a charge £20 to collect it. So eventually he placed it at the end of his drive with a notice, fridge for sale £30 please place the cash in my letter box. Next morning the fridge was gone; no payment but problem solved and £20 saved.

Dave

 

[Box Brownie]

Just checked with my OH

We paid £41 per bin.

Re: mention of large items collection. Our council changed their protocol and no longer do it themselves but farm it out to a Charity furniture recycling operation. But they also take other more general waste larger items.,....we used them last year and IIRC it was £70 for up to 4 items. But for 5-9 items £107

 

[seaodyssey]

My bold in your post. That's not the reason. The reason is that whilst they have a statutary obligation to collect your household waste there's no such obligation re garden waste . It also negates your other point re a tax levy. You are paying for an extra service which is out of the scope of required services by the council. The real villain of the peace is central government who have cut to the bone local authority funding.

As an an aside, I would rather they collected large items free of charge. It's about £25 here for three "large items" which is why we see fridges, furniture, armchairs etc in fields and hedgerows. If it means another couple of pounds on the rates I'd be happy to pay.

What about food waste, ours goes in the green bins with the garden stuff which they turn into compost to sell and use on the park areas.

Do people with out green waste bins put food waste into the general waste for landfill ?

 

[Dale.]

What about food waste, ours goes in the green bins with the garden stuff which they turn into compost to sell and use on the park areas.

Do people with out green waste bins put food waste into the general waste for landfill ?

I put our food waste into our foxes.

 

[LCPete]

Talking about garden waste, our council turns it into compost which most do I imagine but our council does provide compost to allotment holders free of charge as well as sell it to cover costs
they are struggling as are most councils due to reduced funding from central government so I have no problem with paying a small charge for the green bin collection
we do also have a compost bin in garden but not everything can be put in it

 

[Box Brownie]

What about food waste, ours goes in the green bins with the garden stuff which they turn into compost to sell and use on the park areas.

Do people with out green waste bins put food waste into the general waste for landfill ?

Food waste is prohibited in our garden waste bin......if you mean anything other than vegetable matter i.e. raw meat trimmings, cooked food waste etc.

We have a kitchen food waste caddy & it's bigger brother kerbside caddy.......they collect that every week.

AFAIK the move to food waste separation was to eliminate it from the landfill waste stream.

 

[Cobra]

Do people with out green waste bins put food waste into the general waste for landfill ?

It looks like it, around here, at least and then they bitch that the bags are being ripped open.
Some never wash out recycled tins and food package, like we are supposed to and then bitch about ... you guessed it.

Food waste is prohibited in our garden waste bin......if you mean anything other than vegetable matter

Any food waste is permitted in the green bin here.

 

[Dale.]

We have the small (council issued) bin in the kitchen for food waste, that is lined with a bag. When full, the bag is tied at the top and then placed in a larger bin outside with a locking handle, collected weekly. I can't remember the last time we used it.

To be honest, we have very little food waste.

We pay £30 a year for our garden waste bin to be collected. That annoys me as it's a recent change, it used to be collected for free. We have a large garden, and I only need so much compost, so this year I have paid the charge, grudgingly, as our compost heap was getting too big, mainly with grass cuttings.

I don't mind the £30 as such, it's just the principle, almost £2k in council tax and we then have to pay extra to have the garden waste bin collected every 4 weeks.

 

[Cobra]

I don't mind the £30 as such, it's just the principle, almost £2k in council tax and we then have to pay extra to have the garden waste bin collected every 4 weeks.

I find it quite amazing the differences in different councils attitude to waste collections, our green bin ( as I mentioned before) is free and collected weekly long with the black waste, and recycling.

But once we switch to the bins, ( imminent) Black and green waste weekly, recycling alternate weeks as we will now have to separate out the cardboard from everything else.

 

[Dave Canon]

I noticed from my recent statement that I was £678 in the black with Octopus. So I wanted to have at least some of this refunded but despite having a smart meter, they insisted that I would have to provide manual readings and be issued with a new statement. They deducted further £1.33 on the new statement and said I could apply for a refund of £271 but If I wanted more it would be a different process. So I requested the £271 and they inform me that will take 7 days to approve and possibly up to 7 more days for the funds to appear in my account. They seem to be keen to hang on to my money.

Dave

 

[Tulipone]

I decided to take some of my credit balance from Scottish Power and also Anglian Water. Both took ages to process the refunds. Neither would refund the whole balance back to me and both have since raised their direct debits slightly.

 

[Cobra]

said I could apply for a refund of £271 but If I wanted more it would be a different process.

That's worth knowing, as I've just recently switched to Octopus.
I'll keep a close eye on any available refunds.

 

[JohnC6]

What about food waste, ours goes in the green bins with the garden stuff which they turn into compost to sell and use on the park areas.

Do people with out green waste bins put food waste into the general waste for landfill ?

We have two large wheelie bins.. One green..one black , a green box for plastic and tin, another one for glass and a small brown food bin. The grass verges are full on bin day,

 

[JohnC6]

That's worth knowing, as I've just recently switched to Octopus.
I'll keep a close eye on any available refunds.

We're with Octopus and they're very good . Which? has them as top supplier this year with a 73% satisfaction rating.

Compare that to Sky who recently had an advert extolling the virtues of...."having less complaints than any other provider"

 

[Cobra]

We're with Octopus and they're very good . Which? has them as top supplier this year with a 73% satisfaction rating.

Extremely long story, but I've recently left EDF who were charging me way over the price cap, claiming that I was using "that amount"
Going on my year to end consumption, Octopus immediately quoted me 1'3rd less. Taking it below the cap.
I cancelled the DD once Octopus confirmed they were now supplying my energy.

EDF then set up another DD using the details they had on file for £233/ month!
My bank cancelled the DD again, and refunded the payment under their indemnity policy.
It seems that EDF now owe me just under £100 which will take 3 weeks to process ( 1 week to go)

That's the abridged version ...

 

[Dave Canon]

I used to be with Atlantic who were very good. I used to keep a detailed spreadsheet of my Gas/Elec consumption which calculated the payments using their rates. They also had a formula for the DD payment which I also built in. On one occasion when prices were falling, I had a surplus so telephoned and found I was talking to a UK call centre and a lady who was clearly from N. Wales but spoke very clearly. In a short time after referring to my figures she brought her figures to her screen and I was impressed that she had exactly the same as me. I suggested that they could decrease the DD to a slightly smaller amount and refund all the surplus to which she agreed and actioned it immediately. Sadly, Atlantic were taken over by SSE and their operation changed for the worse. I then moved to Bulb but they failed and were absorbed by Octopus.

Dave

 

[nog]

who was clearly from N. Wales but spoke very clearly.

 

[realspeed]

tradesmen who ring to say when they are coming and never turn up, wasting yet another day in my life

 

[Dave Canon]

who was clearly from N. Wales but spoke very clearly.

This was not to suggest I would have expected any less but in a recent conversation with a bank, the lady from the call centre had a strong Indian accent and she had to repeat almost everything 5-6 times. I have friends who are from India but they speak more clearly. I would have though a call centre should ensure that their employees could be understood by most callers. I have heard it said that the best spoken English can be heard in Inverness. A colleague who came from that area was well appreciated by Scandinavians to whom we provided regular lectures and who commented how this accent was so much clearer for them. Any other bids for best spoken English?

Dave

 

[JohnC6]

Extremely long story, but I've recently left EDF who were charging me way over the price cap, claiming that I was using "that amount"
Going on my year to end consumption, Octopus immediately quoted me 1'3rd less. Taking it below the cap.
I cancelled the DD once Octopus confirmed they were now supplying my energy.

EDF then set up another DD using the details they had on file for £233/ month!
My bank cancelled the DD again, and refunded the payment under their indemnity policy.
It seems that EDF now owe me just under £100 which will take 3 weeks to process ( 1 week to go)

That's the abridged version ...

Damned annoying. We were with EDF, too before we switched and had no trouble. I think we got about a 30% reduction.We declined a smart meter from EDF so we send readings online to Octopus. If you don't have a smart meter you will get an Email request for a reading once a month,infact,I took a reading for them yesterday. Sometimes within hours after sending the reading you will get a balance. If they can be so efficient and decent value what are the others up to ? A rhetorical question. Before the Ukraine war we paid £118 a month. Now it's £225. That's for a four bedroom house.

 

[Cobra]

We declined a smart meter from EDF so we send readings online to Octopus

Same here, its no big deal both meters are easily accessible.
EDF even acknowledged the switch over with a we are sorry you are leaving, and yet a couple of weeks later had set up a new DD! rissoles!
I even contacted Octopus to confirm they had notified EDF of the switch, which they said they would and had done within a couple of day of me going with them.

Before the Ukraine war we paid £118 a month. Now it's £225. That's for a four bedroom house.

mine went from 86 - 96 - 160 -233 in a very short space of time.
I'm now paying a tad over £160 with Octopus.

 

[Box Brownie]

We are slated for an obligatory water meter sometime soon, because this is a "water stress area".

We surmise that we might end up paying more for our water compared to currently?

 

[Cobra]

We are slated for an obligatory water meter sometime soon, because this is a "water stress area".

We surmise that we might end up paying more for our water compared to currently?

I swapped some years ago, and my water bill was slashed from £50 odd a month to £15 / per month, some years on its just over £23 / month.

 

[Dave Canon]

We are slated for an obligatory water meter sometime soon, because this is a "water stress area".

We surmise that we might end up paying more for our water compared to currently?

If there are 4 in your house, your bill will be similar but as we are down to two our bill was less than half. I was also asked where the meter should be placed either on the edge of my property (preferred by Water company) or, if I wished the same place as the existing meter in the house. The contractor tried to persuade me to go for the former but fitted in the house as I requested. After, he explained that I had made a good choice but it was his job to promote the companies interest. The fact is that if there is a leak between the edge of my property and the old meter, I would have been charge for the lost water but would not have known about it until I had an enormous bill. Whereas, with my meter positioned in my house, I am only responsible for water used after the meter.

Dave

 

[Box Brownie]

I swapped some years ago, and my water bill was slashed from £50 odd a month to £15 / per month, some years on its just over £23 / month.

Ah! yes ours is currently £50 per month and there are two in the household.

Food for thought.....the advisory letter mentioned that by our choice we could be billed as we are for two years following fitting the meter and AFAIK it will be an AMR smart meter so should be able to told the readings over time to aid our understanding of the actual costs vs the current £50 pm

 

[Box Brownie]

If there are 4 in your house, your bill will be similar but as we are down to two our bill was less than half. I was also asked where the meter should be placed either on the edge of my property (preferred by Water company) or, if I wished the same place as the existing meter in the house. The contractor tried to persuade me to go for the former but fitted in the house as I requested. After, he explained that I had made a good choice but it was his job to promote the companies interest. The fact is that if there is a leak between the edge of my property and the old meter, I would have been charge for the lost water but would not have known about it until I had an enormous bill. Whereas, with my meter positioned in my house, I am only responsible for water used after the meter.

Dave

Interesting, yes the advisory letter said on the kerb where the company isolater tap is (from a plumbing job sometime back I know the tap is an arm's length deep ~ the plumber, to reach it, was flat out on the ground with his arm in the hole up to his armpit.

If they could put it in the house that would be useful as I have no idea how we would read the guage (even with a torch) that deep in the ground.

Having said that would the AMR signal be readable from approx 25ft away from the road if it was in the house???

 

[tijuana taxi]

We are slated for an obligatory water meter sometime soon, because this is a "water stress area".

We surmise that we might end up paying more for our water compared to currently?

Better not try that on here, my buildings insurance doubled when they said we are in a flood risk area.
House is over 130 years old and has never flooded, certainly not a water stress area then.
My water and sewage bill is 40 quid a month over 10 months and not sure we would save much on a meter.

 

[Dave Canon]

Interesting, yes the advisory letter said on the kerb where the company isolater tap is (from a plumbing job sometime back I know the tap is an arm's length deep ~ the plumber, to reach it, was flat out on the ground with his arm in the hole up to his armpit.

If they could put it in the house that would be useful as I have no idea how we would read the guage (even with a torch) that deep in the ground.

Having said that would the AMR signal be readable from approx 25ft away from the road if it was in the house???

Ours is and it is very easy for me to read if I needed to.

Dave

 

[Tulipone]

WAMT? Facebook Marketplace. Granddaughter has a Nintendo Switch with a game and wife wants to be able to play it with her. Thought it'd be easy to pick one up locally and contacted the 8 closest to us this morning. Only one answer and that is someone who is prepared to throw in loads of extras if I transfer the money to them and they post it to me despite being in the same town as me. 1. Obviously I look that gullible on my Facebook page and that disappoints me. 2. The other 7 were motivated to place adverts and take some (awful) pictures but cannot be bothered to answer.

Now personally I can very much live without a games machine but 'she' doesn't complain when I spend money on stuff - but £350 to play one game seemed a bit steep to me so thought secondhand the likely best compromise. Trouble is that if I don't come up with something fairly swiftly my planned Sigma 105 is going to get me a severe talking to and likely sanctions.

 

[Box Brownie]

Ours is and it is very easy for me to read if I needed to.

Dave

Ah! so in the house by agreement with the engineers that came to install it in the street? And as you say because in the house 'easy peasy' to read it but still remote readable by the "reader" when they walk/drive the street?

At this time none too clear when they will come, so hard to say if I will have the opportunity to discuss the location ???

 

[nog]

Interesting, yes the advisory letter said on the kerb where the company isolater tap is (from a plumbing job sometime back I know the tap is an arm's length deep ~ the plumber, to reach it, was flat out on the ground with his arm in the hole up to his armpit.

If they could put it in the house that would be useful as I have no idea how we would read the guage (even with a torch) that deep in the ground.

Having said that would the AMR signal be readable from approx 25ft away from the road if it was in the house???

Best to have in the house but my MILs was at the end of her drive, I used to use a torch and take pic with my mobile, watch out for the spiders though

 

[Box Brownie]

Best to have in the house but my MILs was at the end of her drive, I used to use a torch and take pic with my mobile, watch out for the spiders though

Thanks, yes seems the best idea on the house.....as mentioned I think the kerbside tap is something like 2'6" down the hole

In regard the what they do.......AFAIK as the meter takes up a bit of space they enlarge the hole (some neighbours have a meter (not smart?) already and those kerbside plates are notably larger than ours plus our tap location is in close proximity to the BT access chamber! That makes me wonder if that will compromise their intention to put the meter there???

Oh, the team that spray the house numbers in advance have made a mistake.....they have marked a main "stop valve" (there is a nearby identifier post stating so!). But our residential tap kerbside cover was obscured by our hedge..... cleared it today so much more visibly identifiable. I am unsure whether I should report their not properly marking our residential supply and alert them to the fact that the wrong kerbside plate has been marked as "ours"??? Don't the marking team have a pipes map let alone that the SV ID post is there to see!

 

[Cobra]

If there are 4 in your house, your bill will be similar but as we are down to two our bill was less than half. I was also asked where the meter should be placed either on the edge of my property (preferred by Water company) or, if I wished the same place as the existing meter in the house. The contractor tried to persuade me to go for the former but fitted in the house as I requested. After, he explained that I had made a good choice but it was his job to promote the companies interest. The fact is that if there is a leak between the edge of my property and the old meter, I would have been charge for the lost water but would not have known about it until I had an enormous bill. Whereas, with my meter positioned in my house, I am only responsible for water used after the meter.

Dave

That's interesting and something I had never even thought about.
We were never given the choice, water meters were fitted as a matter of course , at the edge of the properties, here many years ago, to all the houses.
You had to phone up (Anglia water) if you wanted them turned on.

Ah! yes ours is currently £50 per month and there are two in the household.

BTW I'm not sure if it's still the case but I was given the option to revert to the old system within 2 years if I found the meter was more expensive.

 

[Tigger.ufo]

Interesting, yes the advisory letter said on the kerb where the company isolater tap is (from a plumbing job sometime back I know the tap is an arm's length deep ~ the plumber, to reach it, was flat out on the ground with his arm in the hole up to his armpit.

If they could put it in the house that would be useful as I have no idea how we would read the guage (even with a torch) that deep in the ground.

Having said that would the AMR signal be readable from approx 25ft away from the road if it was in the house???

Down here they still have meter readers that manually read the ones that can't be done by drive by. I would think that all water companies still have meter readers to do that.

 

[tijuana taxi]

WAMT? Facebook Marketplace. Granddaughter has a Nintendo Switch with a game and wife wants to be able to play it with her. Thought it'd be easy to pick one up locally and contacted the 8 closest to us this morning. Only one answer and that is someone who is prepared to throw in loads of extras if I transfer the money to them and they post it to me despite being in the same town as me. 1. Obviously I look that gullible on my Facebook page and that disappoints me. 2. The other 7 were motivated to place adverts and take some (awful) pictures but cannot be bothered to answer.

Now personally I can very much live without a games machine but 'she' doesn't complain when I spend money on stuff - but £350 to play one game seemed a bit steep to me so thought secondhand the likely best compromise. Trouble is that if I don't come up with something fairly swiftly my planned Sigma 105 is going to get me a severe talking to and likely sanctions.

Gumtree any good?

 

[Cobra]

Down here they still have meter readers that manually read the ones that can't be done by drive by. I would think that all water companies still have meter readers to do that.

They do that here every Jan. "our's" are sunk in the ground, and the cover has to be lifted.

 

[Tulipone]

Gumtree any good?

Will give it a go. Thanks.

 

[Box Brownie]

That's interesting and something I had never even thought about.
We were never given the choice, water meters were fitted as a matter of course , at the edge of the properties, here many years ago, to all the houses.
You had to phone up (Anglia water) if you wanted them turned on.


BTW I'm not sure if it's still the case but I was given the option to revert to the old system within 2 years if I found the meter was more expensive.

As read the letter we received the 2 years was a grace period in regard to the billing method and all newly metered accounts will roll over to the meter billing. The only option was whether or not to switch to that before the 2 years are up. It said one cannot revert to the old billing method.......perhaps vague as to whether one is obligated to 'go meter billing'???

Down here they still have meter readers that manually read the ones that can't be done by drive by. I would think that all water companies still have meter readers to do that.

Interesting that.....
Some of the houses here are already metered but the letter spoke of, where appropriate, the meters (might?) be updated to the AMR version.

They do that here every Jan. "our's" are sunk in the ground, and the cover has to be lifted.

Clearly no system is perfect!