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)

@choux

Good question.

Regular readings are useful at the moment.
I know that I took a reading when Pure Planet collapsed.
I don't know how they balance out the energy readings, given you would use disproportionate amounts during the year.

You can submit a reading anytime to your supplier. Once a month is a great idea because it keeps everyone right.

@cakeorwine

Also storage on different timescales - daily naturally for solar, but also seasonal. Fortunately winter tends to be windier than summer, but we are still going to need other sources.

@Whattochoosenow one of the advantages of smart meters is that (when they work) they submit readings automatically. It depends on your supplier how visible they make that data to you, and what you can do about.

With Octopus, a bill is generated monthly and I can keep an eye on my usage vs how much I’m paying and adjust accordingly.

With Octopus, a bill is generated monthly and I can keep an eye on my usage vs how much I’m paying and adjust accordingly.

Is this how most suppliers do it? I'm with Bulb and it's the same, but when my friend got a ludicrously high bill recently I suggested he check his actual usage and reduce the payments if the company were overestimating, and he looked at me like I had two heads. He reckoned his DD amount is set by them and he gets no say in it. I wasn't sure if this was down to policies differing between providers or if he just didn't realise it was an option.

He reckoned his DD amount is set by them and he gets no say in it

I think it varies with supplier.

I had an argument with Scottish Power over their DD expectations and my predicted usage. I left them to go to Tonik.

Which collapsed

I told SSE to get stuffed when they tried to raise my DD from 115 to 145 last October... it stayed at 115 and I am putting aside extra in a second bank account every month.
On Thursday I had £23 left in credit after sending in a reading to CORRECT their estimate... so I will be topping up the DD from next month.. but only enough to pay the bill after I give them another reading then... they will get the money I owe them but I absolutely refuse to pay more than the current DD.
Crap interest in the account but it is MY crap interest.

I have previously been with Eon.Next, SSE and Scottish Power. I don’t think any of them offered as much visibility and control as Octopus do….. or it may just be that I wasn’t as interested then as I am now.

I remember when energy was a monopoly (gas board/ electricity board) and you got a quarterly bill which you paid by cheque at the bank….

@Bonbon21

I told SSE to get stuffed when they tried to raise my DD from 115 to 145 last October... it stayed at 115 and I am putting aside extra in a second bank account every month. On Thursday I had £23 left in credit after sending in a reading to CORRECT their estimate... so I will be topping up the DD from next month.. but only enough to pay the bill after I give them another reading then... they will get the money I owe them but I absolutely refuse to pay more than the current DD. Crap interest in the account but it is MY crap interest.

I did similar to EDF. Tried to take me to £195 from £132 when my average monthly consumption since the beginning of Sept was around £132! I told them no, quite firmly.

Oh, and at the same time as attempting to increase my DD, they refunded the £142 credit on my account. I put that into my savings account and will top up any debit when I next give a reading.

I think with most energy companies you have the option online to go in an adjust your DD. Best thing is to submit a reading first so it’s accurate. There is a slider beyond which “computer say no”

I honestly don't think people realise what is going to hit them financially. Those who have money will be OK - they always are. But ordinary families with two average incomes and kids are going to be in dire straits. The knock on effects of the energy price increase are going to be overwhelming - I mean everything we need will go up in price. I read that people who used to donate to food banks two years ago are now using food banks - logically this means that food banks won't get as much stuff donated? I think people are going to starve. I also read that a lot of parents are skipping meals to see their kids are fed. Portugal have elected a socialist government and they have imposed a windfall tax on the energy companies - so no fuel price increase in Portugal....ironically it's a lot warmer in Portugal than here. We have CT, Water rates and fuel increases coming up in April, and there's not enough money to go around. I am worried and terrified in equal amounts.

Don't forget the NI increase, @Diamondsareforever123. This year is going to be a financial shit show for so many. I really hope they're right to gamble on gas / electric dropping next year.

Every quarter I get an email from EDF saying my bill is due and I can either pay £x or submit readings. I do the latter, 3 days later I get a corrected bill online and 2 weeks later that exact amount is taken out of my account. Nobody owes anybody anything.

@NoWordForFluffy

Don't forget the NI increase, *@Diamondsareforever123*. This year is going to be a financial shit show for so many. I really hope they're right to gamble on gas / electric dropping next year.

It is a gamble.

And it's going to hit people who are maybe not expecting to be hit.

@DdraigGoch

Personally I did not vote for this shit show and I'd rather it was the tossers who voted for it that paid for the mess, not me.

Slight issue - the green levies which now make up a quarter of your bill were Ed Miliband's idea. It doesn't matter which party is in power, there's little real difference in their policies. The Blair government shouldn't have dithered over nuclear power, we are now horrendously dependant upon gas turbines for our generation.

@DdraigGoch Hate to break it to you but Hinkley C, the UK latest Nuclear power station, was commissioned in 2005..... with construction only starting 8 yes 8 years after the Tories had been in power....2018... talk about dithering! Wasting time on Brexit instead of dealing with the very real problems the UK has.

Cameron doubled Miliband's Green levies

I think after 12 years in power, it might be a good idea to stop blaming Labour for the countries ills.

Boris cannot even honour his Brexit promise to lower VAT on energy bills, then again he does say the first thing that comes into his head.

I don't know how much more the people in this country will be able to put up with! We were in austerity, then came Covid, now we will be in such severe austerity we will drown. I know Labour did a few stupid things (the Tony Blair contracts for dentists for instance - it's a deregulated profession now and they charge what they like) but please never, ever, ever vote Tory. We have a PM who couldn't care less, a chancellor whose personal wealth is £200m (his wife's is £4 billion...), a cabinet of more millionaires or twits or both. I think they want to get rid of a few more poor people......terrible state of affairs all round...

Hate to break it to you but Hinkley C, the UK latest Nuclear power station, was commissioned in 2005..... with construction only starting 8 yes 8 years after the Tories had been in power....2018... talk about dithering!
Hinkley Point C was originally granted PP in 1990

www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-t-z/appendices/nuclear-development-in-the-united-kingdom.aspx

the green levies which now make up a quarter of your bill

8% actually.

@Tulipomania

the green levies which now make up a quarter of your bill

8% actually.

the pedantics are out in full force this evening 🙄

Another issue is that private companies don't want to invest in building power plants as it takes years to get a return on their money.

For them, it is better to wait until the Government is forced to put up much of the money.

Power generation should be publicly owned.

the pedantics are out in full force this evening
I apologise in advance if I am pedantic later on but I can't help myself

Sorry

@StarCat2020

the pedantics are out in full force this evening I apologise in advance if I am pedantic later on but I can't help myself

Sorry

Fair dos

I’ve been saying for yrs at least 25. It should be mandatory to put Pv panels on every new roof built, now we r in serious trouble

[quote StarCat2020]Hate to break it to you but Hinkley C, the UK latest Nuclear power station, was commissioned in 2005..... with construction only starting 8 yes 8 years after the Tories had been in power....2018... talk about dithering!
Hinkley Point C was originally granted PP in 1990

www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-t-z/appendices/nuclear-development-in-the-united-kingdom.aspx[/quote]
er PP isn't the same as commissioning at all, the exact reactor being used at Hinkley hadn't even been built in 1990

But whats really so very wrong is NS oil and gas is sold by private companies on the world market, sold back to the UK at huge profit, meanwhile the old rigs are decommissioned using tax payer grants and rebates, over £4 billion so far.....

We should be using this stuff ourselves not paying through the nose for it.

@mogsrus

I’ve been saying for yrs at least 25. It should be mandatory to put Pv panels on every new roof built, now we r in serious trouble

...would be better (as well as) to build far better insulated and better built houses.

Companies are making billlions profit whilst at the same time build v poor quality housing but making v large donations to the Govt of the day