justmyopinion,

Thanks for your post.

I totally agree with what you're saying in that rooms should not be left unheated as such. The point we make, or are trying to make, is to not leave radiators on "full" in a room that is not being regularly occupied. I suppose the correct way to say this is to turn down the radiators to a lower setting rather than completely switch them off.

Finally, the comments made about customers taking responsibility mirror the comments I've been issuing in the press and on here on MSM.

Ultimately, we as individuals need to a take a more active role in managing our energy bills. I'm sure you know just how easy it can be to manage an energy account online and what benefits such products bring financially i.e. improved discounts, reduced unit rates, ability to submit "actual" meter readings quickly = more accurate billing.

I do feel we're making progress and that we as consumers are becoming more "savvy" but there is still some way to go.

not so much a question as a comment I would have to disagree with Scotts advice for saving money in respect of singles or couples NOT heating all the rooms this is counter productive and the mind set of the older generation It is important that all rooms are heated to some degree. if a room is left unheated and the door is opened to this room it will allow the cold air to mix with the heated air, in a similar way to opening the outside door if less extreme, it is not 'healthy' either for a room to go un heated, it needs to be kept 'aired' at least. Radiator valves are most useful in this respect, the main thermostat sets the general temp the radiator valves controlling individual rooms.

The same goes for the idea of just putting heating on only when it drops cold, on off on off again this is false economy, if a property is allowed to become too cold the boiler will then spend an excessive amount of time at full pelt and a lot of energy trying to warm the property up again, you would not empty aired water out of a kettle and fill with cold water just to boil it up everytime, simmer not boil!!!!

Having worked in the industry for many years most recently for a BG call centre some of the mistakes made by this and other utility companies begger belief!!! sometimes the problem lies with the computer being king as opposed to real people and the 'real' people at the other end not always understanding or caring enough to sort things out HOWEVER the end customer must always remember that it is not always down to the utility company that problems arise, customers have to take some responsibility for themselves, ie, checking their DD's are being made, checking their meter readings are correct and contacting utilities if they are too high but ALSO if too low, too many are happy to leave the UNDER estimated bills as they are but all will out in the end and it will eventually catch up resulting a higher than wanted bills, unfortunately like it or not if you use it you have to pay for it! The meter readers are human they DO get it wrong, they DO have to do estimated bills sometimes so CHECK YOUR METER READINGS!!!!