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

donkyboy said:
Just got an email from EDF. Bill has come down from the £70 I was paying to £37pm. Now will be interesting to see how that increases if I turn on the heating during the winter months

Screenshot-20231016-182839-2.png
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Do you live in a Cupboard?
 
AnnaKarpik said:
Here's a horrible warning folks!
I'm changing supplier and checked how much EDF thought they should refund me - we usually agree within a couple of quid over a year, probably different rounding. EDF think I owe them money so I checked the last six monthly bill they sent and discovered that they had charged me roughly double for leccy for April - June because - you will not believe this - they had used the wrong opening reading. WE HAVE A FUCKING SMART METER! They haven't connected meter readings to billing?

Not just a random wrong opening reading either, they had taken the balance for night units in mid-April and used that, almost as though someone had accidentally copied a cell in a spread sheet and dumped it elsewhere. I can't get my head around it. And why haven't they been in touch if they think we owe them going into winter?
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What a fuck up.

I've found it's down to the customer to solve the mystery of their cock-ups, and even once you have, it's bloody hard work trying to get the clowns to agree, I failed with OVO and had to take it to the ombudsman, but at least I got a £150 goodwill payment out of them earlier this year.

I've been dealing with EDF over my mother's place since March, and I've had two £50 goodwill payments out of them. They tend to offer £20 or £30, never accept, ask for it to be escalated under threat of going to the ombudsman and Martin Lewis, tell them you want a minimum of £50, and if by magic they discover they can agree that without further escalation.

cupid_stunt said:
Just had EDF on the phone to sort this out, despite me informing them that mum had passed away, which resulted in this demand for £361.59, he thought he had solved the problem, thinking mum was still in a care home.

Anyway, sorted that out, bill being re-issued just for standing charges, he asked if I was happy with that, I said no and I wanted another goodwill payment as this whole situation was both distressing and frankly unbelievable.

He offered £20, I said that's insulting, I am going to contact to Martin Lewis, I am sure he'll agree, and I am not agreeing to close my complaint, because I am sure the ombudsman will also agree.

He soon agreed to £50. :D

#don'tletthebastardsgetawaywiththisshit!
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After I switched from OVO to Octopus, there was a problem with their website that meant I couldn't input the referral code from gentlegreen that would get us both a £50 credit. I e-mailed, and they confirmed there was an issue with the website and they would add it their end instead, they didn't, so I had to e-mail again a week or two later, and I got a £30 goodwill payment from them too.

So, £280 in goodwill payments so far this year, plus the £50 introductory credit from Octopus, total of £330, which will cover most of my winter heating costs.
 
I have a response from EDF, a garbled version of how meters work -

Hi there,

I have cheked your meter readings from 31st March and when the Smart meter was installed on 30 March 2023. Now once a Smart meter is installed the meter reading starts from 0 reading to whatever usage you have used it will add up later. For example if you have used 50 uints and if your meter reading was 2583, the 50 units you have used after the Smart meter was installed will always add up to show the reading 2633 and thats how the readings are taken into account to generate a bill. Hope that helps and your Smart meter readings are up to date. Thanks
 
AnnaKarpik said:
I have a response from EDF, a garbled version of how meters work -

Hi there,

I have cheked your meter readings from 31st March and when the Smart meter was installed on 30 March 2023. Now once a Smart meter is installed the meter reading starts from 0 reading to whatever usage you have used it will add up later. For example if you have used 50 uints and if your meter reading was 2583, the 50 units you have used after the Smart meter was installed will always add up to show the reading 2633 and thats how the readings are taken into account to generate a bill. Hope that helps and your Smart meter readings are up to date. Thanks
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I had a reply like that from EDF back in May, my reply was -

Good God, this is nothing but complete gibberish, go find a grown-up senior manger to respond to me and negotiate compensation for the stress that EDF has/is causing me.

It's like dealing with a bunch of muppets.

The clock is ticking on this complaint being escalated to the ombudsman - SEE THIS POST
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And it worked -

cupid_stunt said:
Well, sending this e-mail yesterday -

Got a decent response, a groveling call from a manager this morning, who agreed to refund the full current credit balance of £785.30, re-set the DD to £25, and offered £30 compensation, I suggested it should be at least £50, and straight away he agreed to that.

He then asked if he could now close the complaint, I said as long as you carry out those actions and confirm it by e-mail I'll consider the matter closed, I've now got his groveling apology in writing, together with his direct e-mail address, should I need to contact them again. :)
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:D
 
cupid_stunt I was much politer - for now
AnnaKarpik said:
This is no help whatsoever; I know how meters work - this one was installed in 2022 by the way - and I made clear that the issue is with the billing, not the meter. I will try to make this as plain as I can and please read the following carefully. The closing reading for day units on March 31st 2023 should be the opening reading on April 1st 2023; this is not the case as you can see from the bills. On March 31st at midnight the day unit reading is 2583. On April 1st, according to the next bill, it opens at 1904.

I look forward to you putting this right
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Eon Next contacted me via text (confirmed the number and rang off the site one when it matched) and have put me on some half price deal over the winter, so I am fixed til April on half price then they are writing off the £450 I owe them already. Due to being on the warm houses thing or something? Double checked my account online after and its all gone through as they said it would.
 
Ranbay said:
The standing charge at my work is now £275 a day, as we have a 1500Kva incoming supply.... that's over £100k a year just for the meter.
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Got to be a missed p there. £275 a day would be £100,375 per year.
The way power companies were dropping like flies you could've bought your own supplier for that!
 
Bloody price cap is going up from 1st Jan, by about 5%, from the current £1834 for the 'average house' to £1928.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

Energy price cap

The energy price cap is a limit on the price people pay for their energy.
www.ofgem.gov.uk www.ofgem.gov.uk

Forecasts for the 2024 Default Tariff Cap (price cap) have risen in response to growing volatility in the global wholesale energy market. Latest predictions, place a typical1 dual fuel consumer’s January energy bill at £1,923 per year, with a small rise to £1,929 in April 2024.

While already predicted to increase in January, the cap had been expected to fall below the current £1,834 typicalbill rate for the rest of 20242. However, the most recent forecasts indicate that the price cap is likely to remain above the current level at least until the end of the year.

Recent events around the world have left their mark on energy price predictions. Disruptions to the Finnish Balticconnector, the Israel-Hamas conflict and industrial action at gas production facilities in Australia have collectively caused price cap predictions for April, July and October to jump by 5-6% (£91-£110) since September.
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The UK’s increasing reliance on Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) as it moves away from Russian pipeline gas has made it particularly susceptible to disruptions in the LNG market. The ramifications of events in Gaza, which caused production to cease at key Israeli gas fields, saw lower gas output to Egypt where it is processed into LNG, impacting supply and prices. It has been a similar issue with Australian production, where LNG exports have been affected by industrial disputes affecting some of the country’s main assets.

While supply was not directly affected as in the Gaza conflict, the Finnish Balticconnector, primarily used for exports from the EU, experienced a disruption that has raised questions about the potential for similar damage elsewhere, leading to increased market volatility in the global market, once again pushing up prices.

The uncertainty over potential disruption going into winter will raise more questions over the supply-demand balance as temperatures start to decline.
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www.cornwall-insight.com

Price cap forecast to remain above current level until end of 2024 - Cornwall Insight

Forecasts for the 2024 Default Tariff Cap (price cap) have risen in response to growing volatility in the global wholesale energy market.
www.cornwall-insight.com www.cornwall-insight.com
 
Hello​
Let me be the first to welcome you to Octopus Energy.​
Yesterday, Octopus purchased Shell Energy Retail Limited’s home energy & broadband business. We can’t wait to bring you the outrageously good customer service, long-term value, and green innovation we’ve become known for.​
We’ll next get in touch when your account is moving across to Octopus systems, and we’ll share your new account details at the same time.
 
CH1 said:
The November bill is now in - £272 (up from £156 in October).
Interesting to see what happens over the next 3/4 months, Maybe we need a snap election - and the reinstatement of the monthly subsidy?
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The prices this winter are about the same as last year with the subsidy, so don't expect any further help.
 
cupid_stunt said:
The prices this winter are about the same as last year with the subsidy, so don't expect any further help.
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Not sure why this post got 'WOW' reactions from CH1 and muscovyduck. :hmm:

Last winter the OFGEM price cap sky-rocketed, IIRC it hit a peak of over £4k, but that was reduced to £2500 by the government's price guarantee, then every household got £400 extra help for heating, so basically bringing it down to £2,100.

The current price cap is £1,834, from 1st Jan. it increases to £1,928, which is still £172 less than last winter with that grant included.

Although I expect most people will see higher bills for this November compared to last November, because it's been a lot colder this year, whereas it was very mild last year.

On the plus side, it looks like this December is going to be mild compared to last year, looking at the data from my local Worthing weather station, this time last year we started 10 days of overnight temperatures below zero, the forecast for the next 10 days here, is overnights between of 4c & 9c. :)
 
weepiper said:
My combined gas and electricity standing charges alone are going up to nearly a pound a day in January.
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Blimey!

The price cap is a combination of the standing charges & tariffs for use, and do vary between suppliers, but that seems a hell of a hike, I am paying 73p per day, I doubt Octopus will be more than doubling that.

Sounds like it's time for you to look for a better deal and switch supplier.
 
Energy price gouging has left a lot of people unable to pay their bills, so we thought we'd rob the extra off everyone who still can instead:

www.theguardian.com

Ofgem plans to add £16 to energy bills to help suppliers recover £3bn in bad debts

Extra payment would be levied at £1.33 a month between April next year and March 2025
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Ofgem being totally uncaptured by the industry it's supposed to protect consumers from there. Ain't privatisation marvelous, really puts the control back in our own hands.
 
Last edited:
Ideal opportunity for those huge profits we've been hearing of to repay the poorest who are being forced to pay them :mad:
 
Meanwhile in the face of utility companies pleading poverty Shell still making bumper quarterly profits ($6.2bn), BP making bumper profits ($4.9bn), Exxonmobil making bumper profits ($9.1bn) etc etc. It's almost as though what's happening is that big O&G firms are simply being allowed to rinse the public through a middleman with the connivance of a regulator and zero attempt at confrontation over the wider problem of gouging, from either the UK domestically or any other major government internationally.
 
Rob Ray said:
Meanwhile in the face of utility companies pleading poverty Shell still making bumper quarterly profits ($6.2bn), BP making bumper profits ($4.9bn), Exxonmobil making bumper profits ($9.1bn) etc etc. It's almost as though what's happening is that big O&G firms are simply being allowed to rinse the public through a middleman with the connivance of a regulator and zero attempt at confrontation over the wider problem of gouging, from either the UK domestically or any other major government internationally.
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They are doing a fast exit though - presumably hoping to avoid any future claw-back.
They have sold out to Octopus.
Octopus latest results are for 2022. You'd think with results like this THEY would be the ones seeking to divest

Octopus Energy Group results for FY21-22: Revenues up 110%, from £2.0bn to £4.2bn Adds +1.3m retail customers, growing to 3.4m globally​

  • Retail revenue doubled from £1.9bn to £3.9bn (+106%)
  • Group made £141m operating loss due to the decision to absorb £150m of wholesale cost increases on behalf of customers
 
Octopus have a very full-on strategy for growth happening, their solar export rate is a good 50% better than their nearest rival if you've signed up to both export and import.
 
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