My electricity bill has just tripled: how about yours? Alternative suppliers?

[ash]

We just received this surprisingly from Shell. They are matching the Govt home discount scheme, not sure if any other providers are also doing it :

​

We know these are difficult times for energy customers and are committed to giving extra help where it’s needed. So we’re writing to let you know we’re crediting your ShellEnergy account with £150.​

You should see the credit appear on your next bill, marked as a ‘winter support payment’. It comes from the £50 million support package we’ve set up to help those who need it most - this winter, and beyond.​

The payment is in addition to your Warm Home Discount payment of £150, which has already been credited to your account.​

 

[lazythursday]

After eon refused to adjust mine to what I wanted to I cancelled mine. They seemed to be very inflexible. I Submit monthly readings

That's awful. As I say, with Octopus the online dashboard seems to let me make it whatever I like (though it's very clear about how much it thinks I need to pay, and there's a tool that lets you see the consequences in terms of how you will build up credit / debit over time). But this sort of functionality is something you just don't know about when you change companies for the best price - another way in which the market fails.

 

[poppy60]

My duel fuel bill has gone up from £91 to £173,Octopus were going to charge me £295 from april but i wrote to them explaining that amount was impossible to meet,Still going to be scary and worrying time.

 

[gentlegreen]

Octopus's estimate for the year ahead is probably based on my profligate use pre-October, so I will disregard their suggested new direct debit.
I fully plan to run down the balance...
If i don't get out of this place during 2024 at the latest I'll go nuts.

 

[poppy60]

Glad to hear the government are extending the energy support scheme for another 3 months,That will help me and others.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Latest government advice:

 

[iona]

Been lucky here, looks like my housing association have done some creative accounting Just had this year's rent increase letter and while actual rent (covered by housing benefit) has gone up by £75/week, the service charge for heating, light and water which you have to pay yourself is only going up by just over a pound.

 

[quimcunx]

OFGEM has just announced their price cap from 1st Apr is £3,280, of course that will be discounted down to £3000 by the government's energy price guarantee, which itself is going up from £2500, but at least people will be using the heating a lot less, so the impact will not be as bad.

Last week Cornwall Insight released their final forecast for Q2 and came in very close again, but their forecast for Q3 & Q4 are sort of promising, both basically around what we have been paying recently, £2100 (price guarantee £2500 - £400 payment from the government, which will not be paid next winter), not ideal, but certainly better than £3000.

I'm not so sure about this. When costs went up this winter I kept the cost of my gas down by using a lot less gas than last winter. Basically I went from GCH being on at least 7 hours a day the previous winter to 2, occasionally 3 hours a day. A couple of other minor tweaks which I soon got lax about. But come the time I would normally be switching my GCH off it won't be so easy to make savings. I will have fewer, less impactful ways to save on my gas and electricity use.

 

[marty21]

Just been speaking to a colleague who manages the communal heating charges - they've just sent out the new bills - there was one block I had a query about. For some reason, only Hot water is included in the rent (residents have to go to an outside provider for gas for heating/cooking) , the hot water charge is increasing from about £6.00pw to over £16pw - which is 175% more I think, which is astonishing! (and this wouldn't be covered by any Benefits)

 

[Petcha]

Just got a smart meter (which is pretty cool actually). Me and my flatmate seem to be doing about ten quid a day between us. Is that normal? I had the heating on for a bit but didn't take a shower as I'm working from home today and couldn't be arsed. Is ten quid good? Genuinely no idea as I've only just taken over the bills.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I'm not so sure about this. When costs went up this winter I kept the cost of my gas down by using a lot less gas than last winter. Basically I went from GCH being on at least 7 hours a day the previous winter to 2, occasionally 3 hours a day. A couple of other minor tweaks which I soon got lax about. But come the time I would normally be switching my GCH off it won't be so easy to make savings. I will have fewer, less impactful ways to save on my gas and electricity use.

The bolded bit in my post you quoted was in respect of Q2 price cap period, which is Apr-Jun, I assume you use less heating in that period compared with the winter months?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Just got a smart meter (which is pretty cool actually). Me and my flatmate seem to be doing about ten quid a day between us. Is that normal? I had the heating on for a bit but didn't take a shower as I'm working from home today and couldn't be arsed. Is ten quid good? Genuinely no idea as I've only just taken over the bills.

£10 a day, or about £300 a month, is high compared to my large 2 double bed bungalow, my highest monthly bill for both gas & eclectic inc. standing charges & VAT was for December at £144, but it's well insulated, double glazed, and has a brand new efficient boiler.

It's impossible to say if yours is high without information on the actual property and boiler, I know someone paying a monthly DD of just over £400, but actual use during the winter months would be a lot higher, their place is solid walls with no insulation and only double glazed at the front.

 

[quimcunx]

The bolded bit in my quote was in respect of Q2 price cap period, which is Apr-Jun, I assume you use less heating in that period compared with the winter months?

Yes, but I wasn't comparing it to winter months but the same period last year.

 

[Petcha]

£10 a day, or about £300 a month, is high compared to my large 2 double bed bungalow, my highest monthly bill for both gas & eclectic inc. standing charges & VAT was for December at £144, but it's well insulated, double glazed, and has a brand new efficient boiler.

It's impossible to say if yours is high without information on the actual property and boiler, I know someone paying a monthly DD of just over £400, but actual use during the winter months would be a lot higher, their place is solid walls with no insulation and only double glazed at the front.

Hmm.. ok. Ours is well insulated, quite new. Gah. I hate being in charge of this shit. The previous tenant seemed to think his bill was £130 a month but then he hadn't actually done a reading for four years or something so it was all based on estimates.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Yes, but I wasn't comparing it to winter months but the same period last year.

I'll use my monthly bills as an example, £144 in Dec + 20% is an increase of £28.80, whereas once the heating is off it'll drop to only £50 + 20% an increase of £10, so the impact will be less during Q2, my point was whilst unwelcomed, it's fairly low compared to winter, so the impact will not be so great.

After that the price cap is forecast to drop well below the government's price guarantee, so we only have 3 months of an 20% increase, and that assumes that increase actually happens, there are suggestions it will not go ahead as wholesale prices have dropped so much, we will know next Wednesday, budget day.

 

[HoratioCuthbert]

I managed to get my usage down to 6 pounds a day here, I was really losing my shit about this year but now I'm a bit calmer, even if it doubled I could easily tighten my belt I think.

SSE just sent me 200 quid for alternative fuel. I don't use alternative fuel, but no fucks given ....bought a new laptop as this one is threatening to conk out and some headphones

 

[Elpenor]

Just got a smart meter (which is pretty cool actually). Me and my flatmate seem to be doing about ten quid a day between us. Is that normal? I had the heating on for a bit but didn't take a shower as I'm working from home today and couldn't be arsed. Is ten quid good? Genuinely no idea as I've only just taken over the bills.

Is matey still washing his single pair of pants every day?

 

[BusLanes]

We live in a small, badly insulated old Victorian house converted into flats and we've been up to about 9£ at worst but usually around 7 during the cold bits. Higher when we had people staying but generally it's because I have the heating around 16°

 

[Petcha]

Is matey still washing his single pair of pants every day?

Haha.. good memory...

He's got better. I mean I did have to threaten him with eviction, although that was more related to his (in hindsight quite understandable objection to me jamming on Irish folk songs with a friend at 1am on a wednesday night). But yes, he's bucked up his act since on all fronts, even the Y ones. Two cycles a week now. I'll get him down to one. We hugged that out. Anyway. Gonna speak to e-On - actually whos the best one, that's just the one i inherited

 

[CH1]

I've been feeling pretty paranoid lately - not helped by Shell sending med an email telling me I need a new meter (for the nth time), lucky ash to get £150 off instead!
Funnily enough they seem to send out emails demanding I have a smart meter every time my bill goes DOWN - as mine did in February, as became clear when the February bill arrived - one hour after the meter change email.

Meanwhile what is this:

Rota Load Block
Alpha Identifier K

Hadn't noticed this before. Google suggests there is a rota for Electricity power cuts - should this become necessary!!!

 

[spudulike]

Whenever OVO put mine up to £190 last year and didn't allow me to change it, I just cancelled it & set-up a new one for £1, until Oct when I changed it to £67 to take account of the government pay outs, until my credit amount dropped, and I finally in Feb I accepted them putting it up to £99, which seems about right now.

You could get them to put you on a variable direct debit.

I did this with Octopus. 1st of each month I give meter readings. A couple of days later they send a statement telling me how much they'll take by DD on 15th.

I don't need to build up a credit buffer for winter as there are no £200 council tax DD payments in February and March.

 

[CH1]

You could get them to put you on a variable direct debit.

I did this with Octopus. 1st of each month I give meter readings. A couple of days later they send a statement telling me how much they'll take by DD on 15th.

I don't need to build up a credit buffer for winter as there are no £200 council tax DD payments in February and March.

I left Ovo for Shell because Ovo didn't do variable direct debits. That was October 2019 pre covid.
There was a counter argument from my brother's partner who is an Ovo fan. They pay 3% on positive cash balances she said.

 

[Aladdin]

Bill for the past 2 months...
Electric €1200 and Gas €1000

Fucking pissed off too cos electric Ireland are cutting prices for industry and business but NOT for households.

 

[High Voltage]

We’ve just had our Bulb account transferred over to Octopus

This was my trigger to change our payment from variable DD to a monthly £125

We should go into next winter with a fairly healthy balance

Can anyone confirm if octopus still pay 3(%) on balances in credit?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Bill for the past 2 months...
Electric €1200 and Gas €1000
I've no idea how to keep paying this if the next bill is similar.

Fucking pissed off too cos electric Ireland are cutting prices for industry and business but NOT for households.

Fucking hell, that's nuts!

You seem to have taken measures to keep your bills down, and I thought you were mainly using an open fire for heating, are you sure they have got that right?

Have you had any help from your government towards winter heating?

Every household here has had £400 off the government towards Oct-Mar costs, paid as £66/£67pm, my Jan & Feb bills together came to £260 minus £134 in government pay-outs, leaving me paying under £130 for the two months.

My mother got the £400, plus the usual £300 'Winter Fuel Payment' for pensioners of her age, plus £150 for being disabled, and another £300 as she's on pension credits, so a total of £1150 in support, and she's been in hospital for most of winter, so is well in credit, as I just left her heating on very low to avoid freezing pipes.

 

[Aladdin]

Fucking hell, that's nuts!

You seem to have taken measures to keep your bills down, and I thought you were mainly using an open fire for heating, are you sure they have got that right?

Have you had any help from your government towards winter heating?

Every household here has had £400 off the government towards Oct-Mar costs, paid as £66/£67pm, my Jan & Feb bills together came to £260 minus £134 in government pay-outs, leaving me paying under £130 for the two months.

My mother got the £400, plus the usual £300 'Winter Fuel Payment' for pensioners of her age, plus £150 for being disabled, and another £300 as she's on pension credits, so a total of £1150 in support, and she's been in hospital for most of winter, so is well in credit, as I just left her heating on very low to avoid freezing pipes.

There is €200 due from the government and there was €200 before Christmas.

We have gas fires but they've only been on once in 2 months
The heating is gas boiler and again its rarely on. When dad was unwell we had the heat on but only from 7pm to 8pm to take the chill out of bedroom.
We have two electric heaters running from 9 am to 9pm. But they are supposed to be energy efficient.
I cook on the gas hob but I also use the slow cooker which is energy efficient.
I do two washes per week for clothing, bedding, towels. And the tumble dryer has been on because there's been no drying out.

My battery lights are used all the time. And we have electric blankets on for 45 mins before bed. But they're turned off then

I dread to think what the bill would have been if we heated the house every day.

I've been boiling the kettle a lot more recently. Well since Christmas. I needed boiled water for cleaning operation wounds. And again this past 9 days

But we don't use the electric shower every day. And the microwave gets used maybe twice a day.

I'm flabbergasted ...

 

[gentlegreen]

We have two electric heaters running from 9 am to 9pm. But they are supposed to be energy efficient.

Electric heaters are always 100 percent efficient at burning money and electricity costs several times as much as gas.

 

[cupid_stunt]

There is €200 due from the government and there was €200 before Christmas.

We have gas fires but they've only been on once in 2 months
The heating is gas boiler and again its rarely on. When dad was unwell we had the heat on but only from 7pm to 8pm to take the chill out of bedroom.
We have two electric heaters running from 9 am to 9pm. But they are supposed to be energy efficient.
I cook on the gas hob but I also use the slow cooker which is energy efficient.
I do two washes per week for clothing, bedding, towels. And the tumble dryer has been on because there's been no drying out.

My battery lights are used all the time. And we have electric blankets on for 45 mins before bed. But they're turned off then

I dread to think what the bill would have been if we heated the house every day.

I've been boiling the kettle a lot more recently. Well since Christmas. I needed boiled water for cleaning operation wounds. And again this past 9 days

But we don't use the electric shower every day. And the microwave gets used maybe twice a day.

I'm flabbergasted ...

I am not surprised you are flabbergasted!

The electric heaters are probably not very cost effective compared to gas TBH.

But, that still just doesn't sound right at all, have you double checked your actual usage and worked out what that should cost?

 

[Chz]

Electric heaters are energy efficient, but that fails to account for electricity being 4x the price of gas per kWh. Depending on the size of the house, it could easily be cheaper to run the GCH for a few hours instead of electric heaters.

Edit: Ninjaed quickly there!

 

[marty21]

I've been feeling pretty paranoid lately - not helped by Shell sending med an email telling me I need a new meter (for the nth time), lucky ash to get £150 off instead!
Funnily enough they seem to send out emails demanding I have a smart meter every time my bill goes DOWN - as mine did in February, as became clear when the February bill arrived - one hour after the meter change email.

Meanwhile what is this:

Rota Load Block
Alpha Identifier K

Hadn't noticed this before. Google suggests there is a rota for Electricity power cuts - should this become necessary!!!

Our utility companies were hassling us to put in a smart meter , so we arranged for them to come & do it. The meters are in the basement are , which is in front of the flat downstairs, accessible either through their flat, or via a 5 rung ladder , it seems staff at both companies can't climb down ladders but insist that I do , to send them readings. I don't mind climbing down the ladder , I could arrange for them to access the meters via the lower flat, but I can't be arsed