I know there are probably another 100 threads on this topic but OMFG energy bill price hikes!

[valerianroot]

So do feel free to ignore if you're bored of the subject but I'm really shocked about our fuel bill. It's doubled from £100 to £200 a month for a 3 bedroom house, heating off and reasonably well insulated. It's shocking, well I was shocked anyway!

I’m not sure what I ours will be. We are currently in a house that is totally electric with storage heaters so our bills for the month have always been around £150 ish anyway.

But we are moving to a gas central heated bungalow ( fingers crossed we get the house ) so don’t know how much this will all
Cost. And am worried about the rising costs. I suspect I will be leaving an extra duvet on the sofa for this winter

I know. I thought ours would be going down as kids back at school and only DH and I in the house.

Have they increased your direct debit? We just pay on receipt of the bill (based on exact meter readings).
We pay a higher rate for the privilege of not paying a set amount each month though, and costs go up through winter and back down in summer.

Mine has only gone up 20 quid a month. We are 100 electric though so seem to pay more anyway.

**100% electric

Our fixed tariff ended last Oct - at that point it was cheaper to stay on the flexible tariff with our provider - £80 per month. As soon as I heard rumblings about prices going up a few weeks ago, I switched to a new fixed tariff - £100 per month, and was a bit pissed off I'd not done it earlier as I could have saved £20 per month. Yesterday I checked what it would cost if I'd left it until now, and the cheapest fixed tariff was £130 per month. And all of those amounts are based on our actual usage - I know how much gas and elec we use on average each year and always use the same figures for quotes/comparisons. So the price increase is purely down to the cost of the energy. It's pretty scary!!

Ours has increased by 25%

Ours has gone from 140 to 225 as our fixed deal has just ended. I could cry!

My fixed rate ended recently and I switched to Avro Energy. Just heard on the news that they’ve gone bust and so I have to wait to see which new company I’ll be transferred to and what tariff. Apparently I have no choice as to the tariff, it’s likely to be higher but I must sit tight and wait for company chosen by Ofgem to contact me. 🥺

Our fixed deal with Ovo ends in Nov. Currently £175/month, they want £325

Using Martin Lewis the cheapest fixed deal I could find was with British Gas for £225

(Our bills are high because we have a gas aga. We pay that amount year round so we build up a credit in the summer and don’t go into debt in the winter - our usage Oct to Mar is around £200/month)

The smaller the company the bigger the price increase. This is because they buy on demand rather than hedging. The business model isn't sustainable in a volatile market as evidenced by the multiple suppliers going bust this year. It's fine when prices are low, but when the prices go up (250% this year on wholesale) and there's a price cap there's only so much they can do to recoup the costs and keep paying staff.

The big companies are more expensive generally because they do hedge and buy energy in advance of need. This is also why the government are leaning towards supporting the larger companies in taking on the custom of unplanned customers rather than bailing out those with a risky business plan. Someone has to cover that debt and honour those credits otherwise SoLAR would be a failure and no companies would come forward to be the supplier.

The whole thing is a mess and even companies with very long term plans are getting twitchy about the flex in their hedging plans. Taking on an extra £1 million customers in the space of a few weeks will definitely be creating some very big headaches.

Even Bulb are wobbling, many analysts predict that they are on the precipice and likely to topple before year end...they're the 6th largest supplier in the country. Predictions are we'll be left with maybe 10 suppliers for 2022.

As a customer who has seen outgoings increase by almost £500 a month recently this is hammering me and I'm seriously worried about the impact this will have on people. I can really see desperate people doing dangerous things to bypass meters for 'free' energy.

Try Eon next. Our fixed term just ended with British Gas and they wanted to increase it from £115 per month to £220 for another fixed term contract.
I just locked in for 12 months with eon next for £130.

I have a referral code actually for £50 for both parties if they sign up if anyone would like one!
Not the reason I first posted I promise!!! Just remembered.

Ps. Eon next are a branch of eon so should be fine as backed by an established company.

I have just had my electric bill nearly £700 for 3 months it’s gone up at least £200 from last bill.

We're with Bulb but have decided to sit tight for now... however we are in credit with them so I've reduced our monthly direct debit.

We're in 4 bed semi and currently paying c. £100 per month DD.

Currently at the end of an EDF fix paying £108.

New EDF fix £175. Ones if the cheapest fixes around.

Moved to octopus on their variable tariff, so will pay £145.

Scary stuff.

It's bonkers. I don't know how a lot of people are going to afford it.

Ours if fixed so from what I assume wouldn't go up? I think it's due to be renewed in January

I know.the government keeps saying there will be no problems with supply but I was around in the 70s the last time something similar happend with energy prices and there definitely were power cuts eventually. I'm getting some safety candles in and making sure the camping gear is easy to get to ( for emergency cooking if needed). Hopefully it won't be needed but as the government keep reassuring us that there will definitely not be any problems with supply , I get more nervous the more reasurances they give . I also keep keep remembering the assurances that Covid wouldn't be any sort of problem and that lockdowns could never happen here

I imagine I'm being very pessimistic but you never know ....

It's terrible.

Can you now use it as an incentive to take a serious look at your usage and try and get the family onside to see how much lower cost they can achieve by turning things off and watching power use?

We are with octopus, fixed in June, but that might disappear if they fold.

We use about 60 electric and 10 gas this time of year. We pay 110 a month to cover for winter too which we would expect to be about 70 electric and 70 gas.

Our supplier has gone bust so we can't even get a deal yet 😔 ours was only £100 a month so based on what I looked at last night it'll probably be at least £130-150

We are with octopus, fixed in June, but that might disappear if they fold.

DH told me Octopus are Which's highest rated so you should be ok. Plus the fact he's heard of them shows they must be a decent size!