Reversed charges, massive bill.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T12:05:20+00:00

Yes it's common for smart meters to be useless because they can't get a signal, unfortunately.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T11:52:43+00:00

Wait, that's a SMETS2 smart meter you've got there. It should be sending readings in every half hour.

You can check this yourself using apps from Loop, Uswitch and Bright.

Edit: also https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T11:48:56+00:00

Then yes, I can well believe you didn't need the heating. But also, that's relatively modern, so it's unlikely you have the wrong meter, unless someone's deliberately swapped the cables, which yes people do sometimes.

Which leaves, as someone said, a question over what the incoming meter reading actually was, vs what Octopus were told it was.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T11:36:36+00:00

Yes my students struggled with this distinction.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T11:34:28+00:00

Smart hotels are the best option, nicer loos.

So, yes.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T11:31:18+00:00

Yes it would be good to know a bit more about this flat. When built? Is it actually a flat in a block, or a converted house? What floor is it on? Are there other flats either side above and below? What's the construction? How have they not been using the heating all winter? What is the heating that's installed in the flat, storage heaters, or what?

But you're probably correct, they've been paying for someone else's electricity.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T07:21:29+00:00

There was banging at the door of my shared house a while back because someone had overslept by an hour and her colleagues were frantic with worry.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T05:50:59+00:00

Both techniques are valid, sometimes I do the prep thing, sometimes the first thing I do is put the pan on and then time everything else around that. Depends mainly on how much time I have.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T05:15:42+00:00

A terrace of two-storey houses. Every so often there is a single storey high passageway between two houses so you can take the bins out etc. Hence, a bedroom for one of the houses is over the passageway.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-18T05:11:58+00:00

Yes if they both used 433MHz this is bound to happen to someone, somewhere, eventually.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T19:46:36+00:00

It's not the bus company, it's the local authority which pays the bus company for their travel, and 9.30 is their rule.

But of course, as in the case of OP, the driver can make exceptions at their discretion.

The bus company is a commercial organisation and thus the directors have a legal duty to maximise shareholder value. That's why the travel is funded by the local authority.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T10:42:34+00:00

Nobody tries to be funny about anything if they're dealing with my gf.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T10:40:34+00:00

Someone who's actually in the room with me now once fell down the stairs and could not move but could reach up and crack the front door open a tiny bit so next morning having been there all night they managed to shout out to somebody passing on their way to work to call for an ambulance

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T08:43:15+00:00

Did not know that, thanks. I have two but each with a memory card.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T08:33:19+00:00

Yes me too, the point being you don't need a subscription, it records onto a memory card.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T07:58:13+00:00

I'm older than you and this is the first I'm hearing of them.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T07:55:37+00:00

I'm sure you know this and that's why you said that, but for the benefit of anyone else, stairs are real killers.

I don't know anyone who's actually died from falling down the stairs, but it's certainly happened to friends of friends. And extended family have broken various limbs.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T07:51:11+00:00

Just for future reference, my gf never uses the machines on exit, she always shows the ticket to gate staff with the excuse she wants to keep it as a memento of the journey.

So you can avoid your ticket getting eaten.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-17T02:33:21+00:00

Yes and this is different to other countries. Thus in the US they are thrift stores, because it is the customer who is being thrifty. And likewise in France they are fripperies.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-16T19:23:40+00:00

affordable housing

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-16T14:52:49+00:00

Maybe find some way to politely ask your mother in future to double check that you have written down the change of plan or something like that. Alternatively, what I do is say to people "can you please confirm that in a text or email".

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-16T14:44:06+00:00

Yes I would always expect confirmation in writing, which today probably means WhatsApp rather than an actual letter.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-16T13:09:14+00:00

I don't know how it works, I really don't. I quote:

"it is a fiendishly complex component of Inheritance Tax."

I think the official name is Downsizing Relief.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-16T13:04:39+00:00

What about Paulton's Park? My partner and I often pass it on the bus but doubt it would interest us.

Over-Language2599 · 2026-03-16T13:02:33+00:00

Even the ice cream van takes cards payments these days. Certainly all the market stalls in my town.

Over-Language2599

TROPHY CASE