Saturday morning saw me trying – yet again – to ring them
using the precious free minutes on my mobile. Even at 8.05 (their lines open at
8) there was a 37 minute wait to get through. Thus had it been all week.
In September I was informed that my monthly energy bill
would rise by just under 1/3 despite the fact that my usage has not risen
significantly. I complained. A letter arrived stating that my monthly bill
would not go up by that staggering amount and that a little of the credit that
they hold to ransom (and cream off interest – times however many million customers)
would be refunded. Wohooo!
On further reading I noticed that the letter was addressed
not just to me but to someone called Mrs Tims (hello whoever you are). I tried
to ring; I did e-mail but answer came there none. I could not find out whether
the contents of the letter were for me or the mysterious Mrs Tims.
In any event the monthly payments did increase dramatically
– along with yours I’m sure – and they held even more of my monies on credit
now than they did then.
In response to the sever hurt that people are feeling at
massively above inflation increases in their energy bills along with the
introduction of standing charges, investors are having tantrums and threatening
to pull out, WHICH IS WHY UTILITIES WHICH USED TO BELONG TO THE NATION SHOULD
NOT HAVE BEEN FLOGGED TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR.
On Saturday I trekked to the library, registered my account
online so that I could message npower (nine times) to say I no longer wished to
pay by direct debit and that I wanted all my credit returned. Really it’s a
lovely way to spend a Saturday morning – you should try it. AMAZINGLY they were
suddenly able to spring into action. I arrived home on Monday to find the doors
of my external meter boxes hanging open. Either npower had been able abruptly,
in the light of the new arrangement where I might owe them money, to galvanize themselves and had done an emergency meter
reading or people round my way like to peak at their neighbours’ meters.
This week’s ‘cross cartoon’ is a little raw I admit. I have put
this (with some of the others) in the photo section (because I haven’t worked
out how to put pics in the main body of the blog (see I suffer from PANTS blog 53) You can access it by clicking on the orange
‘Amanda Baker’ next to my blog pic at the top of the right hand column of this
blog or the ‘view my profile’ at the bottom and go to photos.
There just seems to be so much to be cross about. If it’s
not eye-wateringly rich people not paying tax, its corruption in institutions
that we need to be able to trust. Our youngsters are blighted by student debt;
workers are struggling on poverty wages or reapplying for their own jobs only
to find reduced terms of service and eroded salaries. You can almost sense the get-up-and-go
leeching out of people – the life force being worn away. I mean if you care and
are aware.
The knack of the rich to sense when the poor have had about
enough and need to be thrown a bone seemed to me to be what kept British
society from real rebellion. In modern times it has been the tax system that
has made Capitalism just about acceptable with, more recently, rampant
consumerism and T.V. to keep the proletariat tame. But things are badly out of
kilter now. You wouldn’t know it to listen to the news which is an ongoing self obsessed chatter about one
section of the elite bickering with another – but we must be close to a perfect
storm of discontent. Maybe the only thing keeping Britain from mutiny is that
we can’t afford to put the heating on and we’re too bloody cold. (But then that
didn’t stop Russia!)
This week’s cross cartoon is not for the faint hearted. But
for anyone paying energy bills, who – like me – will have to wear outdoor
clothes indoors to get through this winter – you may find it cathartic!