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!

@Kezzie200 we are already really strict with our usage, if we want to cut down it will literally be not having the heating on even if it's cold 😔

WFH over winter won't help, not sure if it's cheaper paying for gas/electric or the petrol for commuting. Anyone got any idea?!

It only seems a year or two ago that our DD went up from £120 to £160, the latest cheap fix I could get (three weeks ago) was £200. Now I need to go round the house and work out where I can reduce it!

To ask a silly question, is it just the gas prices that have seen these increases? Would it be worth my while getting electric heaters for the rooms we’re in and trying as far as possible to keep the gas central heating off?

Octupus should be OK as it is one of the "challenger companies".

It is the small companies that are going under.

DH told me Octopus are Which's highest rated so you should be ok.

Most of the cheaper companies were also highly rated. Popularity does not equate to financial security.

To ask a silly question, is it just the gas prices that have seen these increases? Would it be worth my while getting electric heaters for the rooms we’re in and trying as far as possible to keep the gas central heating off?
Much of our electric is made through burning gas.

I wouldn't bother.

"made" should have said "generated"

I'm on a smaller company. My current DD is £78 a month for just electric (we don't have gas here, use oil instead). The fixed term ends in November. I'm sitting tight hoping that something will change before then. Did a comparison and the cheapest I could find was £140 a month. With things like petrol for the car to get to work, food etc going up I really am concerned TBH. Very concerned.

Still just ordered some more oil so at least we should be warm.

I do have a feeling that I may end up getting into debt* at some point this winter

*well more than I'm already in.

Wait til next April when the wholesale cost is reflected. I'm genuinely nervous about it.

My understating is that a lot of our gas production uses electricity. So both things are affected?

I don't know how much mine will rise yet. I dread to think tbh

@Gooseysgirl

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.

Bulb are trying to gouge their customers at the moment, while they try to get a government bail out.

I've just had an email from them asking me to top my account by £200. I am already £100 in credit and my average monthly usage is currently £80 but will go up in October.

I'm not prepared to have so much money in an account with bulb when they are at risk of going bust.

I may cancel my DD with them, if I think they are about to go bust.

@YouHaveNoAuthorityHereJackie

To ask a silly question, is it just the gas prices that have seen these increases? Would it be worth my while getting electric heaters for the rooms we’re in and trying as far as possible to keep the gas central heating off?

We have an exceptionally high rate of gas fired power stations in comparison with a lot of other European countries. People aren't keen on nuclear for obvious reasons and renewables just don't make up enough supply to be reliable. So gas prices in the UK directly and massively effect electricity prices. You're best off just using the most efficient heating you have rather than just switching to plug in heaters. For most people this is a boiler and radiators.

Thankfully at least 3 of the big suppliers also have 'upstream' aspects to the business (sourcing the energy to sell to suppliers) so they'll have decent long term plans to at least ride this out and hopefully avoid blackouts.

I'm on a prepay meter. Currently £50 a month electricity and £40 gas a month.

People always say this is more expensive but I've always found it keeps the costs down.

3 bed semi, though London so may keep the heat slightly higher.

People always say this is more expensive but I've always found it keeps the costs down
Whilst it is more expensive, people are often more aware of what they are using and do more to minimise their costs.

@theworldsbiggestcrocodile Wait til next April when the wholesale cost is reflected. I'm genuinely nervous about it.

Sorry to be a bit dumb here, but what do you mean? What's going to happen in April?

I’m not sure if anyone knows the answer to this but here goes…we are with Ovo, and just started a new fixed price contract. Because of the time of year I am £300 in credit. I’ve left it there to top up our winter usage but if they go bust would I lose it? Am I better off withdrawing it and putting it in my savings account?

Ovo are one of the"challenger companies" so are thought to be unlikely to go bust.

Gas

The price cap reflects wholesale gas prices for the 6 months to end of July 21. The wholesale price went up a bit during that time but nothing like the hikes we are having now. They review the cap every 6 months so the April 22 review will reflect what's going on in the energy market right now. Which is a huge increases in price. Hence lots of companies going under-they can't afford the whole sale costs. I think those that stay afloat will need to pass on the hike in wholesale cost to us the consumer come April.
Think the cap is set to go from 1250 to 1550 on 1st October-so that's the most you should ever pay spread over monthly figures-but it seems likely it will rise again in April.

Martin Lewis did a good bit about it all on five live today-might be worth a listen back

@StarCat2020

Ovo are one of the"challenger companies" so are thought to be unlikely to go bust.

Thank you, that’s reassuring! I think we have been lucky - my dd has gone up since we switched but at least we are ‘tied in’ to that pricing for a while yet

[quote ChimChimeny]@Kezzie200 we are already really strict with our usage, if we want to cut down it will literally be not having the heating on even if it's cold 😔

WFH over winter won't help, not sure if it's cheaper paying for gas/electric or the petrol for commuting. Anyone got any idea?! [/quote]
It depends how far you travel and so how much fuel you use. I know it won't actually be the case but you could semi assume that theoretically working from home would be fairly constant for most- computer on for x hours, additional heating, using the kettle for brews etc, but how far people commute and so how much fuel they use will vary wildly.

Thank you, that’s reassuring! I think we have been lucky - my dd has gone up since we switched but at least we are ‘tied in’ to that pricing for a while yet
I obviously cannot give you a personal guarantee but I am with Octopus (also challenger) and I think that we will be OK

@FlyingFlamingo

I’m not sure if anyone knows the answer to this but here goes…we are with Ovo, and just started a new fixed price contract. Because of the time of year I am £300 in credit. I’ve left it there to top up our winter usage but if they go bust would I lose it? Am I better off withdrawing it and putting it in my savings account?

I would personally. Its likely that if they do go bust whoever it's decided will take those customers will honour the credit, as has already happened for at least one supplier (not sure if more), but sat in your bank you aren't really losing the money but its much less risky.