Shit just got my electric bill!!

[2anddone]

Just got my electric bill it's gone up £200 compared to this time last year....it's going to get worse isn't it!
I have night storage heating which works on a thermostat and is set to low (17 degrees) plus a log cabin which I need to heat for my work (childcare so have to have heat!). I don't leave lights on unnecessarily, don't have my hot water heater switched on, only run my washing machine and dishwasher when they are full. The tv is on every evening but not in the daytime, don't have a tumble dryer.
I honestly can't see where I can save money on my electric bill (was over £400 this month)

No matter what you cut down on, the price at the moment will always outpace it, it’s like petrol, less in the tank just more expensive, everyone on the energy side has the consumer over a barrel, at least they have to pay it as well

Have I worked this out correctly that, before any usage is taken into account, a household with both a gas and electric supply will be charged £1.21 per day in standing charges?

Sorry OP if this is ignorant, but can you move from electric heating to gas central heating? We did so last year and our bills have dropped drastically. There are government schemes around the UK which mean the central heating (all pipework, boiler, rads) is fitted for free. Possibly worth seeing if this is available in your area.

I have heard many people say they wash all towels and even bedding DAILY. They don’t want to think that their face is touching a part of their towel their bum touched yesterday.Absolute insanity.Bedding gets washed every 2-4 weeks here and towels last at least a week.
Clothes (except underwear) don’t get washed unless visibly dirty or actually smelly.

This.

@Catkin8

Have I worked this out correctly that, before any usage is taken into account, a household with both a gas and electric supply will be charged £1.21 per day in standing charges?

It's less than that. I make it 72.5p per day (+5% VAT).

Still, that's £264 a year before you use anything...

Does anyone pay as you use on an accurate bill?

@itrytomakemyway

I want every single Tory MP to sit down and read this thread.

I doubt very much that any of the cabinet have to give a thought about choosing which room in their house to heat, are piling on extra jumpers or are rooting about in the yellow label sticker cabinet. Honestly, we seem to have gone back to the 1930s.

I really, really hope that people remember this when they go to the ballot box. It seems unthinkable that our children will have a standard of living lower than the one we had as children. I grew up in a very poorly coal fire heated home. I had a childrhood of the family staying in the living at all times because it was the only room with heat. I had a childhood of jumper wearing, no takeaaways, days out not week long holidays. I worked hard for 30 years so that I and my family would have a better standard of life. It really isn't asking too much in UK 2022 to be able to have a warm home, a decent variety of food on the table and holidays and treats to look forward to.

Here we go Boris. read this thread. THIS is what you have done for millions of people in the UK. It makes me angry, fearful and sad in equal measure.

Can commiserate with every word of this... It's awful. The 1% of the population who are at the very top will be fine, they will be making millions out of all our misery...

This is very pertinent:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60290876

Headline: 2/3 of Britain’s housing stock is not adequately insulated.

I think Rishi should set out a massive programme of grants and loans to improve insulation. In my programme, the amount of money would be sufficient to bring every house up to an EPC of B, if that is physically possible for that house.

The lowest income households would get 100% grant. Then a sliding scale of part grant, part interest free loan repayable over 10 years. People earning above some figure (50K?) can have the loan but no grant. People above some other figure (80K?) can finance it themselves.

In terms of priority, those spending the highest proportion of income on fuel would be top of the list.

The question is, how to pay for it. The first two years: windfall tax on energy companies, and get all the most fuel-poor households done in that time. Thereafter: general taxation. Those on the lowest incomes will pay the least towards that, but will already be getting the benefits from having their homes better insulated, so it should have the least income on them.

Oh gosh….I’m currently £51 a month but it’s fixed rate…I can’t remember which month it was fixed from, because it was 5 years ago and until 2 years ago, I ended up with credit after each year and it dropped, has been £51 for the past two. I’m just bracing myself now for it to soar!
I’ve just cancelled sky because that was beyond the realms of sanity, managed to cut my mobile bill right down and am now looking for other things to scrap, need to tighten the purse strings with the food shopping even more.

One good thing about the price rise is that my neighbour won't be able to afford to switch the lights on his atrocious outdoor Christmas lights in Dec. in fact nobody will be able to afford to light their Christmas trees this year......

Thank you @ButterMeTimbers, I'm currently in bed with Covid and knew I couldn't trust my calculation!

So now I’ve got my head around the additional costs and how they work (thanks MN) how do you any of the mitigation measures work? I think I’ve heard about a council tax rebate, And then something to do with a £200 loan so presumably moving some of the cost of the energy bill to the future. But if they do this how do they know that prices won’t stay high into that future? Or is the global energy price market expected to decrease?

@caringcarer

I was moved to Octopus. I used to pay £180 pcm but after I got moved I increased my own dd to £250pcm to try to get ahead. Have not had bill yet but not looking forward to it.

@caringcarer - I’m with Octopus, and I’m pretty sure they don’t send you a bill until you send them meter readings. It’s a bit odd, but they have something about the reason why on their website. It makes it even more important to send in monthly readings.

I just wanted to add actually because saying I’m cancelling sky makes me sound like a right middle class snob who has no idea how the bulk live. I promise I’m not! Just in case that upset anyone I want to apologise. Easy to type a post and forget no one knows you and how it will be interpreted. It was essentially my luxury purchase. I have no car, no gym, shop at Aldi, search eBay high and low for clothes…..once I’ve paid the mortgage and bills I certainly have to watch every penny and like most people, I now need more to cover those bills.

The person who may have to get rid of their animals, that’s heart breaking and I’m really sorry, that’s horrible. I would love a pet dog or cat but just can’t afford the expense especially if something went wrong, so I really feel for you.

Yes, I’m with Octopus too and it means you do get some strange bills over more than a month period if you forget to read the meter. I do find their website very useful and transparent in seeing usage, and getting credit back (don’t know why I bothered doing that now!)

@Alrightqueenie

One good thing about the price rise is that my neighbour won't be able to afford to switch the lights on his atrocious outdoor Christmas lights in Dec. in fact nobody will be able to afford to light their Christmas trees this year......

Might be time to switch to battery lights….

They don't know that @Leftbutcameback

The £200 is expected to work like this, I think...

• in Oct 22 every energy account will have £200 credited to it, leaving it £200 better off than it was
• in April 23 every account will have £40 dedicted from it (unclear if this will be all at once or spread out over the year in monthly increments
• same again in April 24, 25, 26, and 27 - total is £200 paid back like this

If you don't have an energy account in Oct 22 but do have one by Apr 23, you will still have the £40 deducted. Similarly if you do have an account in Oct 22 but don't have one by Apr 23, you will be £200 better off and not have to 'repay' it.

If, by Apr 23 we are facing even higher bills = tough luck. We still have the £40 to pay on top of them

@Leftbutcameback

So if it’s gas that’s gone up most in unit price, but hardly at all in the standing charge, priority should be to reduce gas usage. So where I have an electric oil filled gas radiator I’ll be using that to heat a couple of rooms and turn the heating off during the day. And definitely short showers not baths (we don’t have electric shower though). Thanks to *@Pinkflaskfor* sharing the figures - easier to see where to make the most savings.

Electricity is way more expensive than gas. For example mine is 4p per kwh for gas and 20p per kwh for electricity. Its still way cheaper to use gas.

@bananabuddy3, do you have a bill or statement anywhere which tells you your gas and electricity usage for a full year? I'm with EDF so I have one for each. Once you have the kwh usage per year you can use the grid I posted above to work out your yearly bill, divide it by 12 to get your new estimated monthly bill if you are on the variable rate after April. Better to know (and possibly over-estimate) than be horribly shocked when the bill comes or dreading its arrival.

@Bluesheep8

It shouldn't have gone up yet?

Why shouldn't it? Genuine question, but just because the price cap is due to increase doesn't mean prices won't increase before before that

Unless people choose to sign up to a new fix (all current fixes available on an open market are vastly more expensive than the current price cap and the April price cap) people will be either on a current fix (in which case their bills won't change) or on the price cap. People moving from a fix to the price cap will see an increase in their bills, but people already on the price cap won't have an increase to their bills (unless their usage dramatically changes or they have debt to repay) until April. The current price cap is far below the current cost of energy to the providers (hence the big jump in the price cap in April), but they are not allowed to charge costumers on the price cap more to account for this.

Thanks @buttermetimbers - that seems simple enough to understand. Obviously lots of issues with it but at least I get it now.

Mine is 17.5p pkWh and 25p per day for electricity but I get a 7% discount on the overall bill (bar VAT) as it's paid by DD to EDF. Tariff ends April 2024. Jan- Feb was 14.64.

@Katela18 that would be lovely but no mains gas in our area unfortunately so don't think we would qualify

Back to the question of ways to save electricity - acknowledging that there is a fixed standing charge. I guess modern fan ovens are quite energy intensive so better to use a ceramic dish on the gas hob to do roast potatoes etc. But what about stuff on standby? I don't turn our TV/ WiFi off at night for practical reasons. Would this help?

Kettle not boiled much - three times a day on average. We do use the microwave for something most days.

I do WFH so my laptop and phone are plugged in a lot. Radio tends to be on too.
I don't use a hairdryer very often (not for energy reasons, because I don't like them).

What am I missing in terms of reducing energy use?

£7.75 in standing charges and £6.89 in electricity usage for Dec- Jan Lois? Just over a kWh per day?