What this actually means is, I have until 10am to put money on the meter, or @UtilitaEnergy shut down the mains supply, at the mains box.
Not at the smart meter, oh no, that would be quite humane! No, they will do it where it causes maximum pain /physical contortion.
10am ⏳
These are my meters right now. So they will possibly both fail at 10am sharp, depending on if I run the heating tonight.
But look! The power up button... Surely I can just put on the emergency like @UtilitaEnergy would not stop going on about when I called them on it?...
This is what happens when I hit the Power Up button.
Did you see what that text says there? I'll make it clearer for you all look...
To make this mega simple, the ONLY way to avoid getting shut down at 10am is to press buttons on the outside box. The mains box.
You know that white door on your house you never, ever open? Yeah that box. The one I can't access.
So it's pay up now, or bang, all off at 10!
This is why @UtilitaEnergy are the worst energy company of all to get stuck with- they're abusive.
This is what they do when they KNOW you can't access the outside box by the way. This is how it is when your disability is on record, in detail.
Hi Utilita social media team! 👋
It's not even that there is no other box.
There is a smart meter in the property.
It's a @UtilitaEnergy smart meter. Couldn't make it up could you. They issued it to a previous tenant, and, until they became the supplier again, it was working for another company too.
I think you should just admit that shame rewards you well @UtilitaEnergy and that it's good for the bottom line to have people like me living in fear all the time.
Why else would this house be the one where you opt not to use your own equipment that is in place?
I got in at about 7.30pm, after visiting a friend. My children had been gifted some personalised mugs so I wanted to make a stop at the shop for hot chocolate to put in them before bed.
As I'd have to pass the town centre to go home it made sense to swing round that way...
1.🧵
It was only 7.30pm. In pre-Covid, pre-disability times I often walked through that way much later than that. There are shops, pubs, takeaways, restaurants and betting offices that stay open later. My memory held that for this town, at this time, this was fine.
2.
I found town deserted. Just a few outliers standing in the doorways of vacant shops, or wobbling by. I was the only woman I could see anywhere, and the only person who looked sober. For that matter also the only person who looked kempt.
Just getting up this morning and Utilita cut my electric off.
Electric is back, after some raised voices between me and the child that can see it but not understand it, where said child kept trying to put the trip switch off instead of looking at the meter.
Should this be happening? No.
Is it? Yes.
The gas might be on, I truly cannot know until I go upstairs and check the boiler.
The boiler that tends to break when the gas is shut off.
That boiler.
The one that's gonna ultimately cost me my tenancy with a section 21 eviction, I suspect.
It's really not going my way tonight. I've wrecked dinner. It's so hot (spicy hot) that I can't touch the spoon to my mouth. I don't like hot that much, the kids even less. Its way beyond "just put loads of rice with it". 🔥🔥🔥
It hasn't got a name, let me list what's in it..
Can of coconut milk, 2 cans plum tomatoes, tablespoon of curry powder all straight into slow cooker.
Lump of ginger (grated), 4 cloves of garlic (grated), one(!) scotch bonnet chilli, bunch of thyme (leaves stripped) heated in a pan with sunflower oil and dash of soy sauce...
This thing is now Lazer hot. It shouldn't be, but it is.
My options at this point are knock it down by about 90% (is that even possible?) or pour it out on some waste ground and hope no one sees me... I'm joking, but only just.
In light of that bloody article, let me walk you through what is not extreme fatigue...
This morning my ex came to get the children up for school as he now does daily because I can't do that and also do anything else at all in a day...
1.
When I say "anything else" I am not referring to a job, or a social life, I mean ANYthing.
If I had to drive the morning school run I wouldn't also be able to get dressed. I wouldn't be able to take a bath for those 5 days, I wouldn't manage any lunch or dinner.
ANYTHING
2.
Even then, I don't think I would last the full 5 day school week.
So what the fuck am I calling the morning routine then? Do we have a farm to run or something?
I'm talking about a normal get up, teeth, uniform, breakfast, shoes, sign permission slip, car kinda morning.
It means that now instead of 63p being deducted from Universal Credit for every £1 earned, only 55p will be. Meaning claimants in work are 8p better off per £1 wages earned.
That offsets that £20 for some. Who though? How many 8p's are needed to reach £20?
2.
It's actually £250 that is needed in wages every month, to offset the £20 cut. Or to put it another way, that's 59h work a month on the apprentice minimum wage, or 29h on the min wage over 23.
At age 23, if you work 7h a week you should be better off with the new rates?