Well f*ck!

[TickTockBaby]

We received an email from our current energy provider regarding expecting increase in April.

I feel we are potentially completely f*cked! It's so much more then we anticipated.

We were with a company that went bust so we're assigned to Shell.

We are a family of 4 in a 4 bed house. My DH is fantastic at all things energy saving and we've done pretty much them all to the house. We also already do the usual of wearing layers at home once the D.C. are in bed so don't have the heating in into the night.

Just a despairing grumble really, and wondering how we'll find the extra £800 annually. 😩

@Abraxan
Trying to decide if a smart meter would help

Octopus have a tariff that takes 1/2 hrly readings and charges cheaper rates at night but higher at peak times.

So you could charge your car overnight at cheap rates.

In theory, you could charge your car at cheap rates and discharge it back into the house when you need it in the evening.

There is a future in 'house batteries' where you store power at cheap rates for when you need it.

You need a Smart Meter for that

We did look at octopus but for whatever reason it wasn't the best option for us when we had to renew - can't actually remember why, just remember looking at them all.

The smart meter decision is more about if it would help for other stuff mainly as we have no choice in charging as and when we do. And tbh even after the price increases it's still costing us less to charge than petrol and diesel did.

Mine is going up £1200. The standing charge is going from 8p to 49p for gas.

I don’t see how any usage cutting measures are going to make a material impact when it’s the standing charge going up

@OnTheBoardwalk

I don’t see how any usage cutting measures are going to make a material impact when it’s the standing charge going up

It isn't only the standing charge going up. The p/kWh rate is going up by 50%-ish for people on variable, and often a lot more for people coming off a fixed rate.

Fair enough I’m not on fixed rate so didn’t think about that

@OnTheBoardwalk

I don’t see how any usage cutting measures are going to make a material impact when it’s the standing charge going up

But it depends on where you're starting from.

If you're one of those people who heats the house 24/7 to 22C+, washes everything after one use/wear and tumble dries and never line/air dries, uses the oven repeatedly for individual items etc etc, never turns lights off, leaves gaming computers running 24/7,has high consumption lighting, hasn't thought about insulation, has multiple long showers every day etc etc then there probably is scope to cut down.

Plus the standing charges are £20/30/40 a month at most and, come April, your total bill could be ten times that.

Ours is going up by £3k a year. We absolutely do not have it. We just stopped getting tax credits of £800 a month due to my £200 a month pay rise 😩

@StormBaby that's a shocking amount!

I'm currently counting myself lucky that my bill is so low. I have oil CH so no gas. Some of these figures are mind boggling though. My house is rarely properly warm. I tumble dry occasionally, don't use the dishwasher more than once a week. No real "tech" or gaming devices. I am trying to run the washing machine less but can't see what other savings there are to be made.

I do cook most nights, but a couple if nights the DC will have a picnic dinner (when they've had a roast at school) and I will reheat something from the day before. Then again,I have a calor gas bottle for my oven so although gas is going up, I use less than 1 bottle a year.

I am a single parent, working part time. I am definitely not well off.

My bill is around £510 ,per year and is going up to £725.

@StormBaby

Ours is going up by £3k a year. We absolutely do not have it. We just stopped getting tax credits of £800 a month due to my £200 a month pay rise 😩

That's a lot.

Do you know what is driving your energy usage?

@StormBaby

Ours is going up by £3k a year. We absolutely do not have it. We just stopped getting tax credits of £800 a month due to my £200 a month pay rise 😩

Is that a fixed rate they are offering at that increased amount? I have chosen not to fix at the moment due to the extra cost above the price cap levels

Ours (dual fuel) is going up £100 per month from next month when our fixed rate ends 😭 We are with EDF. So an over £1000 increase per year for us.

When people suggest finding out which devices are using the most electricity how would you do that? And what kinds of things tend to use the most?

Anything that heats or cools so ovens, showers, tumble driers, fridges, freezers, immersion heaters, etc

@Jasmine11

Ours (dual fuel) is going up £100 per month from next month when our fixed rate ends 😭 We are with EDF. So an over £1000 increase per year for us.

When people suggest finding out which devices are using the most electricity how would you do that? And what kinds of things tend to use the most?

Best thing is either a Smart Meter, so you can see how much power is being drawn by device or you can get a device that plugs into a plug socket and then you plug your device in.

Then you can see the energy that a device uses.

OP I’d gladly swap yours for mine.

Mine is £104 a month changing to £286

Same here OP. Moved with no choice to Shell after previous company went bust. No idea where we will find this extra money, as well as for everything else - record level of inflation on food, clothing etc; national insurance rise; council tax rise; interest rate / mortgage rise. We are seriously fucked.

I won't be having any kind of holiday this year because of the cost of living going up so much. Tbh it's not much of a sacrifice to me if it means I can keep warm and have decent food to eat.

@StormBaby can you pay the extra 200 into your pension and claim the tax credits?

Ours is going from £125 a month to £240!

Shell tell me that my DD is going up from £68 a month to £406 a month, they informed me of this two days after they announced a £7.3 billion profit in the last quarter! There's something terribly wrong here, if only a whole load of us would refuse to pay such exorbitant rates and mount some protest marches. (I've cancelled my DD and told them I will pay what I can afford)