http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30949156

Make of that what you will.

Can't move at the moment. Although our fixed price deal with nPower just ran out, the idiots has been reducing and reducing our DD for ages saying we were paying too much. Turns out they cocked up and we owe them six hundred quid. If we left now we'd have to pay it all in one go rather than over a year which is our current plan.

Had exactly the same concern with EDF. Could it be a ploy on their part?
Now with OVO who don't play this game.

We've been with British Gas for years, for both the gas and electric, using pre-payment meters. The main reason we've stuck with them is that they sent us the USB key/card readers, which means we can buy gas and electric on the Internet, which saves so much messing about having to walk to the shops.

We don't have a monthly bill because we prefer to keep an eye on what we spend, rather than having an unexpected bill at the end of the month.

DD shouldn't be unexpected as they fix it to the same amount every month and then review it automatically every so often.
However as Npower have shown, they can cock up that review process.

So on the one hand they will overcharge and hang onto your money until you notice and shout at them and ont he other they mess up things so you owe them a large wedge which then acts as a disincentive to switching.
Either way it's a scam.

I'd welcome a change in the rules so that if the energy company cocks up like that they have to swallow the cost becuase it was their error. Somehow I don't see it happening though.

We are lucky, we switched from oil to gas in December 2013. They calculated our monthly payments in January 2014, based on 1 month's usage... In the middle of winter... That means a nice large rebate, just in time for all the insurance renewals etc.

We did try and get a smart meter installed a year or so ago, but there wasn't enough O2 mobile signal strength under our stairs (where the meter is) for it to work.
I could think about asking again as the bloke did say that future meters would be able to use any mobile network, and the Vodafone signal strength is very good since they upgraded the local masts for 4G recently.

That wouldn't work over here. Most gas meters are in cellars, where the is no signal on any network.

I surprised they haven't devised a meter that could use wifi to connect to people's ADSL connections. Generally people get a stronger wifi signal in their house than the do mobile signal. And you can easily extend a wifi signal to a basement.