<\/p>\n
19th<\/sup> July 2010<\/p>\n HEAVY WEATHER<\/strong><\/p>\n The only consistent thing about Scottish summertime is its inconsistency.<\/p>\n A pleasant walk along the Esplanade, taking in our beautiful view over a sun-drenched river Clyde, can soon into a disaster when the wind and rain quickly appear from nowhere.<\/p>\n I am sure I am not the only one been caught out by the ever-changeable weather that frustrates us all.<\/p>\n I suppose we should be grateful for the days of sunshine we have had and be thankful we have a few mild months left before winter sets in.<\/p>\n The dry and mild weather can be blessing aswell for the household budget, with heating bills a little lower during the summer months.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t mean we shouldn\u2019t be looking at ways to save where we can and taking advantage of discounts out there.<\/p>\n Dealing with utility companies can sometime be frustrating at time and it can often feel like fighting a losing battle.<\/p>\n But there are signs that consumer pressure is winning through, particularly given the new rules on billing that came into force this week.<\/p>\n From December on, gas and electricity statements will include each householder\u2019s current energy plan, yearly consumption and predicted bill.<\/p>\n Under the new rules, energy companies will also be forced to include comparisons with other deals offered, any discounts that are available and advice on how to change supplier.<\/p>\n Rather than being an annual reminder of how much you have spent, it should act as a spur to make sure they are getting the cheapest price they can for<\/p>\n Money-saving experts estimate that some people could save more than \u00a3200 a year.<\/p>\n It may not make the weather any nicer this summer but the savings could go to a welcome break in the sun next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 19th July 2010 HEAVY WEATHER The only consistent thing about Scottish summertime is its inconsistency. A pleasant walk along the Esplanade, taking in our beautiful view over a sun-drenched river Clyde, can soon into a disaster when the wind and rain quickly appear from nowhere. I am sure I am not the only one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holyrood-message"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1115,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112\/revisions\/1115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}