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@dangourbrain - can I ask did yours go up before Christmas as well? Ours is actually £119>£192>£214. The £119>£241 would represent your doubling example since October 2021.
Combine this with rise on mortgages and the extra ni payments and a lot of people will have very little in the way of spare cash
I calculate all in I’ll be 200 quid a month worse off minimum before you even consider the price rise of daily living such as food
I’m lucky enough to fall into the higher tax bracket (just), so in reality that 200 quid a month means a real world reduction in salary of over 4.5k. When I think about it in those terms it makes me wince
Just had our email from bulb. Bills going up 80% for us. We don't have a big bill as there is only the two of us, but it really is going to hit so many people so hard.
Ours went up a lot.
Solar systems! Talk to me STW! I am loving the idea of fitting a system but not the SEG payment of 5p kWh for paying back in when I think we buy it from SSE at 35p per kwh.
When I do the calcs it seems close to break even with the chance of a slight saving.
The idea of less reliance and price fluctuation still makes it appealing though.
Bulb user here too. Just got an email to say our monthly payments are going up from £116 a month to £197.
I think I need to star fracking.
but not the SEG payment of 5p kWh for paying back in when I think we buy it from SSE at 35p per kwh.
Brown power can't get back through the transformer so it's very localised usage .....
But according to people I know trying to get both costs and leadtimes of solar installs have skyrocketed in the last 6-8 months compared to October 2020 when I started ours. ....I wonder why.
Fwiw it's halfed our bill year to date. 225kwh generated in Feb alone.
Don't export much have it heating the house via oil rads and a solic
@kryton yep, from circa £90pcm
I'm sure it's just my imagination too but I swear my I'm getting less gas for my erm, gas.
Seems to take a lot longer to heat the oven/boil a pan a etc over the last few months.
But, I got my first pay rise in 4 years this Christmas, that just about covers the latest jump. 🙁
Yup bulb here too going up by about 40% I can afford it but it means making a few changes too. Feel sorry for those not in the position I’m fortunately in.
Lots of gas is available in the UK from fracking but people protested it.
The most depressing thing about it is the actual cost of the stuff isn't just cash and is currently being very clearly demonstrated all over the news.
Ours went up a lot.
Solar systems! Talk to me STW! I am loving the idea of fitting a system but not the SEG payment of 5p kWh for paying back in when I think we buy it from SSE at 35p per kwh.
When I do the calcs it seems close to break even with the chance of a slight saving.
The idea of less reliance and price fluctuation still makes it appealing though.
Octopus are now paying 7.5p on there fixed rate tariff. Their Agile output tariff has averaged around 15p over the last year (that tracks market rates).
Bulb customer here too, just had the email today. Unit prices going up I can understand and that is kinda in our control (I can try to use less) but the electricity standing charge is going from 25 to 48 pence per day, gulp!
the electricity standing charge
Is a bit misleading. It used to go to running the grid and was specific, now it is just part of the tariff and doesn't go towards anything specific. For most it will be less than 10% of the total bill. But it is that typical thing with British companies where they compete by confusion. Making it very hard to easily compare one product against each other e.g. like train fares and mobile phone tariffs.
We average 80-90£ a month over the year but Bulb insist we pay 110£ because their algorithm is a money grabbing idiot that doesn't understand we use less in summer so tries to bill us based on winter usage only.
Anyway they just upped it to 187£. Over twice our previous average.
i_scoff_cake
Lots of gas is available in the UK from fracking but people protested it.
That's irrelevant, the gas will end up being privately owned and sold to the highest bidder, just because it comes out of the ground here doesn't mean it'll benefit the wider general public here.
We average 80-90£ a month over the year but Bulb insist we pay 110£ because their algorithm is a money grabbing idiot that doesn’t understand we use less in summer so tries to bill us based on winter usage only.
Anyway they just upped it to 187£. Over twice our previous average
very similar to the increase applied to my mums account with bulb. When I questioned it the snarky woman informed me it's in the T&C's when she signed up that you must maintain a months credit so just paying for what you use isn't enough 🤔
Another Bulb customer here. Monthly payments going up to £275.
We're increasing our electricity unit rate from 21.986p to 29.584p per kWh and electricity standing charge from 23.490p to 47.581p per day.
We're increasing our gas unit rate from 4.065p to 7.365p per kWh and standing charge from 26.112p to 27.219p per day.
An extra £100 per month for us, going from around £200 to £300 ish ,shell energy.
very similar to the increase applied to my mums account with bulb. When I questioned it the snarky woman informed me it’s in the T&C’s when she signed up that you must maintain a months credit so just paying for what you use isn’t enough
Well that's Bulb on my "energy company *****list" as I normally switch late summer/autumn, the I normally go into debit in the first couple of months. The whole point of direct debits is averaging out the cost to the customer. And providing income certainty to the provider. Fools.
I am bulb also. This may be a stupid question, but how come my standing charge is going up from 25 to 51.675? While others have been a few pence lower? Is it to do with my location?
Bulb insisting on the monthly DD/month's credit is not strictly true. I got fed up with their comedy usage estimations and over inflated DD demands months ago (before they were bailed out), and through a fairly lengthy correspondence they agreed that I could just pay ad-hoc.
Obviously this doesn't suit everyone, but I'm far happier just paying for what I use in full each month, rather than being in debt to them or having them sat on a pile of my money.
Maybe - our Bulb standing charges - North London - are:
Elec = 24.007p to 37.918p
Gas = 26.112p to 27.219p
We're increasing our electricity day unit rate from 22.037p to 29.707p per kWh and our night unit rate from 14.848p to 20.015p per kWh. Our electricity standing charge is increasing from 26.532p to 48.998p per day.
We're increasing our gas unit rate from 3.954p to 7.225p per kWh and standing charge from 26.112p to 27.219p per day.
That’s for where I live. May brother lives a few miles away and he pays less. :/
Octopus have just increased our bill. We were on a fixed rate tariff, not sure what the unit prices and standing charges were without going digging, but the monthly DD was £81, just gone up to £186, again on a 12 month fixed.
Using some of the comparison sites it’s still the lowest price available without going variable.
Our (Shropshire) Bulb standing charges from an email on Friday:
Elec: from 25.083p to 48.127p
Gas: from 26.112p to 27.219p
They intend to increase our DD by 42%.
@simon-e
We're in Shropshire too, and by the looks of it we had exactly the same email as you, yesterday from Bulb.
"We're increasing our electricity unit rate from 20.581p to 27.865p per kWh and electricity standing charge from 25.083p to 48.127p per day.
We're increasing our gas unit rate from 4.046p to 7.367p per kWh and standing charge from 26.112p to 27.219p per day."
That's effectively taken our monthly direct debit from £84 last year --> £127 recently --> £169 in April. So basically just over doubled. I know it's relatively low by comparison to some people's consumption, but still.... sheesh.
Lots of gas is available in the UK from fracking but people protested it.
Gas is a traded commodity.
Gas is traded. But much is from Russia. Is it good being dependent on Putin?
If gas coming out of the ground in the UK was priced at a level the UK is willing to pay then we wouldn't rely on Russia.
Gas is traded. But much is from Russia. Is it good being dependent on Putin?
We're not to any great extent. About 5% IIRC.
Fwiw it’s halfed our bill year to date. 225kwh generated in Feb alone.
What size system did you have installed?
Those of you talking about increases in your bills, are the figures accurate ie any debt built up? Billing Is to accurate usage?
Those of you talking about increases in your bills, are the figures accurate ie any debt built up? Billing Is to accurate usage?
Yes,all accurate with mine,no debt to repay etc
Those of you talking about increases in your bills, are the figures accurate ie any debt built up? Billing Is to accurate usage?
Yes,all accurate with mine,no debt to repay etc
Likewise here; online statement right now says approx £72 in credit, and just recently I've been giving them the two readings roughly every month or so.
To be honest, I'm just resigned to it going up and up for the foreseeable future
I'm in credit, last time I looked over £200. Bulb are rubbish at usage / billing management.
I haven't been billed for gas or electricity since Avro and Green went bust, 6 months and counting, tik tok, tik tok...
I know we've been warned to expect price rises but I've just received the renewal from EDF for my parents which has gone from £106 a month to £355 a month! Their existing tariff runs out in 30 days and this fixed rate is until March 2024. The only other option I have is to drop onto the standard tariff which is currently estimated at £224 a month. Do I gamble and go with the standard in the hope that prices will come down, or fix now before it goes up more.
It actually makes me feel a bit sick as while they can probably just about afford it, it's a huge chunk of their pension, and I do wonder how other people will manage. Before anyone mentions star jumps and pets to snuggle up to, they're in their later 80's, both disabled with no mobility and various other health conditions so the heating is set to 22 degrees all day.
Martin Lewis says stick to the cap. That said my brother fixed back in early Jan, looked a bad deal at the time but the early cancellation fee was only about £30 so it seemed low risk, and the deal like good now! Check the early cancellation fee and ensure you can move if the fixed tariff doesn't work for them
I'm in a protracted dispute with E.On Next about non-working smart meters for gas & electric.
Last evening in my newsfeed a post from Martin Lewis (mse) about a 12 month fix from my supplier with a strong recommendation - take it if you can but it's limited to existing customers.
Straight onto E.On - you haven't offered this to me; why not and I want it.
Outcome - OK you've got it.
12 month fix at the ofgem cap in April which means I duck the probable increase in October.
Focus now is what to do when fix ends.
Martin Lewis latest. In a nutshell worth fixing if you can get rates no more than 15% higher than the April price cap. Octopus offer to me is 25% higher when my current fix runs out this month.b So onto the variable it is.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/03/energy-price-hikes-is-now-time-to-fix/
Those of you talking about increases in your bills, are the figures accurate ie any debt built up? Billing Is to accurate usage?
I don't think so at all. We used to do monthly readings with People's Energy, somehow still ended up £870 in credit when they went bust. Scottish Gas now saying based on People's Energy readings we're going from £1600/year to £3500/year.
A question at the breakfast table today in our household.
How come 80-90% of our electricity in Scotland comes from renewable or low carbonz*, yet bills continue to rocket and forecast for more? At some point does the 'we have paid for the turbine / nuclear cost, therefore costs don't rise' kick in, compared to carbon heavy generation?
And how come electricity is so much more cost per unit of power than carbon heavy gas or oil alternatives already?
.
.
.
*nuclear
How come 80-90% of our electricity in Scotland comes from renewable or low carbonz
Was discussing this the other day having been lumped with Shell following demise of Pure Planet. Allegedly, Shell say 100% of their electricity comes from renewables, so why the price hike? Gas prices, OK, if that's what the market is saying (still wrong IMHO), but why the hike in electricity is none of your electricity generation is coming from gas???
There’s still a significant amount of fossil fuel generation within UK / European supply, and the cost of that governs. Interesting question with renewables increasing at what point the electricity price diverges from gas, but we’re not there yet.
Because the price of the renewables isn't any different to the price of the non renewables. They're both traded and they're both "just electricity" at the point they are.
More renewables in the market makes the market more resilient to oil and gas prices but ultimately, unless they ring fence Scottish energy for Scotland only, you're going to pay the market rate because they'll simply sell the power generated elsewhere at a higher price if you don't.
Until global demand is lower than production you'll not see that dividend in price. The low cost isn't predominantly about £ it's about 🌡️🌪️🔥🌊 etc.
(Of course we'll keep pumping public subsidy into building the private generation capabilities here so the power can then be sold to the highest bidder and since it's all private it's very much in the interest of those generation companies to see production costs massively below market rates)
Gas is a commodity traded on the global market, the market sets the rate, where it comes from is irrelevant. Supply and demand, demand is currently outstripping supply and price goes up.
Electricity is linked via the 40% or so of gas powered generators still in use in the UK, again how this is generated is irrelevant as it's a market rate. Being green/renewable/low carbon also doesn't equal cheap.
So once again the ambition for, investment in and growth of renewables in Scotland, halted and thwarted by Westminster and their investment in things like fracking, means that Scottish residents don't benefit as much as if we had been independent? hmmmmmmmmm
So once again the ambition for, investment in and growth of renewables in Scotland, halted and thwarted by Westminster and their investment in things like fracking, means that Scottish residents don’t benefit as much as if we had been independent? hmmmmmmmmm
Not really, unless you mean independent of the whole world, or reality, in which case yes.
Generation from private companies in IS would still have been sold to the highest bidder exactly as it is in SiUK. You'd still be paying broadly the same.
So once again the ambition for, investment in and growth of renewables in Scotland, halted and thwarted by Westminster
You do know that the price of energy is rocketing all over the world don't you?
Fwiw, Costa Rica, despite having nearly 100% clean electricity production isn't a (comparatively) cheap place to buy electricity.
Just to cheer everyone up, price per therm for gas reached an all time high in December of 335, today we've absolutely smashed it out of the park with a new record of 453, it's settled back a bit to around 400. Best hope it calms down a bit over summer....
‘we have paid for the turbine / nuclear cost, therefore costs don’t rise’ kick in,
No matter how much wind power you have you need a gas power as a backup. Even with links joining neighbouring countries there is often periods of low wind.
If you look at wind generation it varies from up to around 12GW , a third of UK demand to near zero. Treble the number of wind farms and you would still need back up. Much of the time there would be too much wind and you will pay wind farms to stop producing (already happening). Gas output mirrors wind. Wind goes down gas goes up. With large amounts of wind you need gas to back it up. The more wind you have the more expensive gas generation is since it needs to cover capital costs from fewer hours generating.
Just listening to Martin Lewis on 5live looks like the price cap will go up another 25% in October. I'm lucky that we are fixed until then but then our price will likely double, I can see ours being over £4k a year. More people are going to have to make decisions about eating versus heating next winter.
eating versus heating next winter
You just leave the oven door open whilst you're cooking. Job jobbed.
Thanks for the explanations STW ^^^
So our Shell fixed price tariff just ended. We were on an average monthly payment of £120 (actual usage). Looks like this will hit £300pcm after April 1st and go to at least £375 in October. Blimey.
Just listening to Martin Lewis on 5live looks like the price cap will go up another 25% in October. I’m lucky that we are fixed until then but then our price will likely double, I can see ours being over £4k a year. More people are going to have to make decisions about eating versus heating next winter.
He's produced an excellent video recently. In short, yeah 24% rise in Oct 2022 is likely, this is of course on top of the 54% rise in April which compounded is a 92% rise between the 31st of March and the 1st which will last until the 1st of April 2023.
The decent fix at the moment is only open to Eon customers, they're offer a fix at the April cap, so anyone who takes it will be saved from the rise in Oct, which is the one that will hurt the most 'because Winter' the rest of us are screwed because there aren't any deals out there.
The main thing to consider though (IMHO anyway) the bit we can't avoid is the standing charge, it's £21 a month if you have both, but most people bills are multiples of that and the majority of the unit cost rise is the gas - that's really where we all need to cut back usage. At home that means turning the heating and water to the most efficient setting and stopping heating rooms the Mrs insists are left with open windows 365 days a year.
Also, and this is a bit shady. Every Unit of Gas you buy this month is 54% cheaper than next month, if haven't got a smart meter and you want to be certain you're not paying too much, get a meter reading in on the last day of March... if you're a shady type then maybe you might misread the meter and add a couple of units whilst it's cheaper???
Also, and this is a bit shady. Every Unit of Gas you buy this month is 54% cheaper than next month, if haven’t got a smart meter and you want to be certain you’re not paying too much, get a meter reading in on the last day of March… if you’re a shady type then maybe you might misread the meter and add a couple of units whilst it’s cheaper???
Unless you're prepared to stick 1000+ units on then it's a drop in the ocean
The E.On v11 one year fixed was sold-out incredibly quickly; replaced by v12 which is nothing like as good and is for two year term.
Both only available to existing E.On customers paying by dd.
I've just checked what I used last year. £153 for gas and £240 for electricity. The amounts many of you are paying is quite frankly terrifying.
Stainypants
Full Member
Just listening to Martin Lewis on 5live looks like the price cap will go up another 25% in October. I’m lucky that we are fixed until then but then our price will likely double, I can see ours being over £4k a year. More people are going to have to make decisions about eating versus heating next winter.
He's just posted on FB saying Cornwall analysts have upped their estimates to a price cap rise in October of 47% over April's rise
You do know that the price of energy is rocketing all over the world don’t you?
Although that is just the spot price. Most energy will be delivered on long term supply contracts and the price won't change till the contracts next get negotiated eg after 3-5 years. It's only any shortfall / excess which is actually sold at the spot price rate.
I’ve just checked what I used last year. £153 for gas and £240 for electricity. The amounts many of you are paying is quite frankly terrifying.
Well tell us your secret then? Are you living in your car? I live on my own in a small flat and even mine was about £1500.
Well tell us your secret then?
Temp no more than 14C, light on only when really necessary, short showers, charge my ebike at work.
Temp no more than 14C, light on only when really necessary, short showers, charge my ebike at work.
What do the other residents at your house think of this ?
Temp no more than 14C, light on only when really necessary, short showers, charge my ebike at work.
Cheers. Encouraging that it can be done. I've got electric storage heaters so I'm doomed.
What do the other residents at your house think of this ?
The mice seem fine with it.
I’ve got electric storage heaters so I’m doomed.
Only if you turn them on 🙂
The mice seem fine with it.
Ah yes it's easy to live in the dark and cold if you only have to think of one. Not really representative of the real world.
Only if you turn them on 🙂
True. I've turned all but one of them off now. But everyone has different priorities. I quite like chilling out in the evening without seeing my own breath and being able to feel my fingers.
One thing I am considering is buying a microwave. No idea why, but I've never had one in my life. Would it be more economical over the electric oven? Must be, the oven takes about twenty minutes to even warm up.
I’ve just checked what I used last year. £153 for gas and £240 for electricity. The amounts many of you are paying is quite frankly terrifying.
I just checked what I used last week. £28.21 for gas and £22.60 for electricity. That is in a fairly modern house, 3 of us, using blankets to keep warm at night on the sofa...
I live on my own in a small flat and even mine was about £1500
Blimey, but seeing you have electric storage heaters explains it. Less than £1200pa currently for 4 bed detached with 4 adults in the house so cheaper per person than Mr Barnes and his mice 😃
Edit and a whole 4.5C warmer to boot
If you have a condensing combi gas boiler, it is worth considering turning down the flow temperature on the boiler. Condensing boilers only work efficiency if the return temperature is below 45 degrees C, this would normally correspond to a flow temperature around 50-60 degrees.
Typically they are set-up to operate with a flow temperature of 80 degrees and return at 60 degrees. At these temperatures the boiler is not condensing. This can be clearly seen as as a plume of steam coming out. This will knock the efficiency back by around 10-25% when heating. This equates to 6-8% on overall gas bills (including hot water).
If you reduce the temperature, you may need to have the heating on a little longer. Depending on how your radiators are sized, you may struggle to get up to temperature on very cold days. From our own experience, it has not been a problem at all, as the house is much better insulated than when the heating system was installed.
https://www.theheatinghub.co.uk/articles/turn-down-the-boiler-flow-temperature
I just checked..... We were 561 for last year's electric according to ovo....
That's 3 of us...2 of us working from home.
Then last year we got through 400 quid of oil thanks to the low prices......
This year was 800 to fill it.
And some logs.
47%! I expected it, but.... Cripes!
I still don't understand the increase though. My average payment per month was set to be £105. (£80 for 6 months, and 130 for 6 months.) I'm now being told that my payment should £200 per month. That's nearly a 100% increase. That's not in line with all of the %s being talked about as part of the price cap increase in April. For the last 11 years I sent meter readings every month to ensure my figures were accurate, having previously been royally shafted by nPower. So a near 100% increase now and the prospect of a further near 50% increase again in October. Markets may be markets but this is disgusting. And did I read this correctly that Opec are keeping oil prices high? Is this not rank profiteering?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-6059110 7" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Oil prices
No wonder this world is goosed. Sorry - I'm in a bad place atm and maybe not thinking clearly enough to understand.
Martin Lewis says stick to the cap. That said my brother fixed back in early Jan, looked a bad deal at the time but the early cancellation fee was only about £30 so it seemed low risk, and the deal like good now! Check the early cancellation fee and ensure you can move if the fixed tariff doesn’t work for them
I did this yesterday and kinda wish I did it sooner! My old deal was due to end in May 2022, picked up a 2 year deal yesterday at cap till 2024, old deal had no exit fee, new deal has low exit fee. My DD is going from £75 to £150 though! If I had acted in Jan I could have got version 1 of the new tariff and my increase would have been less. When rates eventually start to fall, the low exit fee on current deal means I can jump onto a cheaper tariff when needed.
When rates eventually start to fall, the low exit fee on current deal means I can jump onto a cheaper tariff when needed.
I dare say that you'll be way past the point of the exit fee being applicable by the time wholesale prices fall.
As for retail prices, what makes you think they ever will come down?
oikeith - which supplier was offering the tariff you refer to?
I did this yesterday and kinda wish I did it sooner! My old deal was due to end in May 2022, picked up a 2 year deal yesterday at cap till 2024, old deal had no exit fee, new deal has low exit fee.
AFAIK the best offer available was from E.On; V11 was a one year fix at the capped unit rates, sold out immediately and was then replaced by v12 which is a two year fix at 15% above the cap.
and of course a fixed rate deal is only good if the company ofering it don't go bust. Not sure the current Ukraine situation was fully priced in, and things could get worse yet if Putin cuts the gas to Germany etc