Email from octopus energy

[thebigpurpleone]

Suggesting increase monthly direct debit to £180!!!! This is nearly double. My god I just feel like the cost of living is crazy.

@MalbecandToast

British gas, I've asked repeatedly but they won't let me so every month I go to the app and make an additional payment. Super annoying

Apparently you can amend your British Gas direct debit online yourself

Every time it states that this is "not available" at the moment so crap.

My bill for JUST electric went from 60 to £198
I sent them a reading it went to £175
My next reading estimated that I used only £82 from nov to December
I can’t understand it

Definitely check your meter readings and challenge the estimate if it looks unrealistic.

If you have a loft, now is a good time to check the insulation - there should be at least 9" to a foot in there, if its the usual fibreglass wool type. And make sure there's no draught from the loft hatch.

And if you can be bothered, write to your MP setting out your difficulties. This is something that is getting political attention, rightly so, and there have been suggestions of a windfall tax on energy company profits that might be put toward helping people in some way (not all of them have been in financial trouble, apparently some are cleaning up). Actual constituents' experience is important for them to know

Mine is the same - £169 for a small well insulated 2 bed flat. More than double than I was lying before and until a year ago I paid £40 pm for years

You don't have to increase the DD - could just wait and see the monthly bill. Obviously set aside funds to pay any increase.

The energy companies have so much of our money in credit.

Same here; our DD had doubled for both gas and electricity. It’s going to make life extremely difficult for a lot of people.

It’s worth sending in a reading every single month just now,. The estimates are all computer generated and the more facts they have the more likely you are to have an accurate DD.

I cancelled the direct debit with Bulb as they would not compromise on the astronomical rise they were asking for. I am paying for the monthly usage (which is expensive enough) but not the extra, wait for it £100 on top of that which they were asking for. I just get the statement each month and pay for the actual usage and we have a smart meter.

I think a lot of people won't be able to afford their bills though and will just have to pay what they can. Companies and government have to realise that bills cannot just double, treble in a short space of time and ask individual customers to cover this. I always thought the energy market was a pile of crap. Energy and water are a basic need.

The last time I spoke to them, the person said the prices will change in April. There is possibility it might get better.

@debbrianna No, there is no possibility it might get better unless the government do something. Utility wholesale prices are fixed in advance, we already know that consumer prices are set to rocket.

I pay £250 on Octopus, but I accept that we are high users. I am being very careful about meter readings and of course one of the advantages of Octopus is that submitting meter readings is very easy, you get an almost instant update and it's very straightforward to make an additional payment. Therefore you can cover periods of extremely high usage - yesterday I made a £38 extra payment for high usage over Xmas (more cooking, more heating, more washing due to houseguests, more rooms in use etc). I've marked the calendar to read again in a month to ensure I'm keeping up. I don't want any surprises.
This morning I've sat on the phone and saved £7 a month on pet insurance, and (eventually after an hour waiting...) over £30 a month with Sky.
Using my oven really warms up my kitchen and downstairs, so I am going low and slow, lots of stews etc, so the downstairs keeps a modicum of warmth through the day. I'm east facing so it's quite a cold house.

Also with Octopus and ours has gone from £130 to £210. Gas and Elec.

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

We went out for a walk the other night and passed a house with the people inside sitting muffled up in their coats

If you walked past my house you'd see us in dressing gowns! Not the most stylish item of clothing but it saves on heating bills.

We are high users - electric car, 4 beds, three dc and one chronic illness that means keeping the house warm is more than just comfort. We are due to fall off a cushy deal, on to the cap and braced for April. Meanwhile I have an offer for a fix at £280, which ridiculously, might be the sensible option.

Just checked my emails. They want an increase from £148 to £170. Bad, but not as bad as some. A year ago it was under £100😟

I've actually just checked my latest bill, they are charging me pretty double compared to last month. This is quite depressing.

Ours have Skyrocketed too. WFH and wearing thermals and coats with heating off. Heating comes on when the children is at home but I'm also making them use fleece blankets and onesies. The cost of living is getting scary.

I've also started buying wool duvet, wrist warmers and fleecey clothing.

I'm with octopus and my fixed rate ends in august. I currently pay £110 a month for both and am hoping and praying the prices are back to a more reasonable level by the time it ends.

We have a large 4 bed, and I wfh so use the heating all day. It's not on overnight. Also a tumble drier is vital !!!

I've just gone and increased my DD to octopus. They'd underestimated usage as we had a few months last year with a broken boiler so gas use was lower last year. This year its more normal so when I put a meter reading in it suggested an increase of 10 a month. I think it should be more though so will see if they want to change it as well.

My son is moving into a one bedroom flat soon. Can anyone give me an idea of what people are paying for a one or two bedroom flat? He’s costed out most bills, but with the current situation, this is the great unknown.

Also, Martin Lewis did a whole programme on energy bills last week. It was very interesting, and fairly depressing, as prices could increase further. Worth watching. Possibly he’ll be talking about it more this week.

I'm not sure you could reliably guess Riverlee. Could he ask the previous owner/ tenant for their annual consumption to give you a ball park figure?

@Nidan2Sandan

I'm with octopus and my fixed rate ends in august. I currently pay £110 a month for both and am hoping and praying the prices are back to a more reasonable level by the time it ends.

We have a large 4 bed, and I wfh so use the heating all day. It's not on overnight. Also a tumble drier is vital !!!

Bloody hell. Ours is a 2 bed bungalow and I am £90 on electric alone. I am waiting on a smart meter to see what’s using so much.

I had an email saying they would put my direct debit up to £317 a month and if I didn’t like it I should change it with my account with them on their website. I followed the link and it didn’t work. I emailed them back immediately and they didn’t reply for two weeks, by that time they had taken the £317

You need to provide readings and validate the increase is reasonable based on usage adj for price increase - they can and do propose huge dd’s even when your account is in a debit balance and you can adjust it down online. We had a £490 balance in our favour and they increased our dd to £180 a month - I reduced it to £50 til the balance is gone