My electricity bill has just tripled: how about yours? Alternative suppliers?
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beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
I’ve been told my electricity bill is going up by approx 400/year from January 
WouldBe
Dislicksick
Gold plated electrons?I’ve been told my electricity bill is going up by approx 400/year from January
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
I’ve been told my electricity bill is going up by approx 400/year from January
Are you coming off a fixed price deal, and onto the standard tariff?
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
Something odd going on, because on one hand they say this, yet my direct debit is going up by £31. That maths doesn’t add up
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
View attachment 356408
Something odd going on, because on one hand they say this, yet my direct debit is going up by £31. That maths doesn’t add up
I assume those rates inc. VAT, so your increase is £246pa / 12 = £20.50 pm extra, not £31. At your current £2157pa you should already have been paying a whopping £179,75pm, perhaps you have been slightly unpaying?
I thought it was odd that your rates are going up in Jan, as standard rates are still subject to the energy price guarantee, that's the £2,500 pa for combined electric & gas for the 'average home' that gets bandied about, until 1st Apr when it goes up to £3,000 pa. I see you're with OVO, and a quick dig around I see they are putting up economy 7 rates, but I can't find anything in the energy price guarantee that covers economy 7 rates, which is a bit odd.
Those new unit rates are increases of about +5% daytimes, and +20% overnight, which has me wondering if being on economy 7 rates is actually worthwhile for you.
I am with OVO on their single day & night rate, and they are not increasing those. The exact split between unit rate & standing charge varies from company to company, and there's some small regional variations too, but the energy price guarantee inc. VAT is 34.04p per unit/SC 46.36p per day. whereas I am paying inc. VAT 35.31p per unit/SC 42.67p per day, which suits me as a low user.
Now the big question is if you would be better off on the single day & night rate, and that depends on how much electric you are using overnight at the lower rate compared to the day rate usage, my brother uses both the washing machine & dishwasher overnight and was surprised that he was paying more overall on economy 7 rates and higher standing charge, so switched to the single rate.
Storage heaters, or grow lights running at night, are the big things that I can think of that would make being on economy 7 worthwhile.
I assume you are heating with electric, because 7553kWh a year is a hell of a lot, mine is going to be well under 1000kWh going forward, but I have gas for heating & hot water.
I would suggest you look at your 2022 energy use so far in your OVO account, and see how much you are using at the different rates, calculate those at both the new 40.26p & 24.48p rates, then add the kWh used together and calculate that at the 34.04p single rate, plus make an adjustment to the standing charge you are going to be paying at 49.23p compared to mine at 46.36p per day, and see if it's worth changing.
Or, if it helps, post up or PM me a screen grab of this below, and I'll work it out for you.
(Yours should show 2 different rates of electric, instead of a line for gas).
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
People who have gas central heating, can you tell me is gch meant to cost £1 an hr? Is this usual, cos it sounds a bit high to me.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
At 10p per KWH, that would be 10kw.
I used to have a single gas fire rated at 6kw and it took all that to heat my insanely cold and draughty downstairs room...
Leafster
.
I don't have a smart meter so I can't assess how much the GCH costs to run when it's 'on' but I know for November, as a whole, it cost me £4.63 per day (including hot water and gas hob).
December will be more!
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
There's so many variables TBH, first thing in the morning during the cold snap I used just over £1 in the first hour heating from a very cold start, then it settled down, IIRC it took about 80p to raise the temperature by just 1c, but only about 30p per 1c after that.
My worst day this month cost about £5.75, today I've used just £1.36 and don't expect to use any more, because this place holds the heat well when it's not bloody freezing outside, plus I've gott passive solar gain today with my south facing living room wall being 90% glass and the sun is out.
Depends on the boiler's age and efficiency, the flow rate, how big a space you are heating, outside temperatures, etc., etc.
Leafster
.
As cupid_stunt mentioned the variables, I should have added that my place is a 2 bed, 2 reception detached 1930s bungalow with inconsistent insulation.
It has a 2 year old combi boiler and zoned heating.
ETA: I work from home so the heating is on in at least one room from 6:30am to 10:00pm (ish)
It has a 2 year old combi boiler and zoned heating.
ETA: I work from home so the heating is on in at least one room from 6:30am to 10:00pm (ish)
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MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
Depends on how much your boiler is using at that given moment, it only uses gas when the burner is running. I've seen mine using over a £1 an hour a couple of times but that is at 6am when the heating has literally just come on and the water in the system is cold. Most of that energy is being used in heating that water up from 20C or whatever it has cooled to overnight back up to 60C again. Once it gets the water in the CH hot the consumption will nose dive as it just has to keep topping the heat up.
Currently mine is running at about 15p per hour. What really matters is how long it runs at £1 p/h and the factors affecting that are how big your system is radiator wise since more water requires more time and hence more energy and how cold the house is since the colder it is the more radiators will lose heat to the air (which they're supposed to of course) and the colder the water is when it is returned to the boiler.
Mine is a 30Kwh boiler so I suppose in theory it could use up to £3 p/h but the most I have seen is about £1.08 p/hr if memory serves me right.
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
Storage heaters and an immersion heater for hot water. There’s no gas in the property at all, hence Economy 7.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
That's a bugger.
And, it's possible that Economy 7 is still best for you, but with your day rate going up 5% and night rate by a shocking 20%, when mine is not increasing at all, I would still suggest doing the maths to make sure.
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
My supplier seems to have woken up to the fact that they're only charging me for some of the power I use.
After being able to only input one meter reading rather than both for the last year, they're now messaging me asking for two.
Sadly I can't help as their emails have gone into my spam box and I haven't seen them.
After being able to only input one meter reading rather than both for the last year, they're now messaging me asking for two.
Sadly I can't help as their emails have gone into my spam box and I haven't seen them.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
IME, probably not.
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
They’re perfectly designed to release all the heat during the day when I’m at work, and to have run out almost precisely when I usually get home.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
Don't ever let them install "smart" meters. I ended up with a big bill the month after they did that here.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
They didn't used to be, I've no idea when that changed, but when I pointed it out to my brother, he found he would save money by switching to the normal tariffs.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
That wouldn't be down to the smart meter, but the closing reading on your old meter being higher than what the supplier had expected, due to pervious under estimating, or it being mis-read by the installer of your new smart meter.
Surely you took a closing meter reading yourself, to ensure it was correct before having the meter changed?
Personally I was over-charged by around £500 for electric, which I made sure was resolved first, as I didn't want a dispute over the closing reading, before having smart meters installed, which have proved to be a godsend.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
I had storage heaters in my flat 1978-1986 and the daytime tariff was higher than the "normal" tariff then - so I don't think you are right on this particular.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
Why on earth would anyone not be on E7 then? Granted I've only lived here 20 years, but it's been that way for the entirety of that time. It simply wouldn't make sense to even have a normal tariff if E7 wasn't pricier during the day.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
Because E7 was designed for people with storage heaters, and required special meters, for people using bugger all electric overnight it wouldn't be worth fluffing around getting a replacement meter, which probably wasn't a free option back in day anyway.
Besides, any different in rates would be nothing like what they are now.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
Interesting, that seems to confirm my suspicion, hence me banging on about beesonthewhatnow doing the maths.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
No chance to read the meter. We weren't informed as to when they'd show up. Their notice was a letter at the beginning of year saying they'd be changing them out over the course of the year.
... and don't call me "Shirley."
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