Wow! First month's new energy bill

[JadeSeahorse]

Received our bill for the month of April - first one including huge price hike. (Octopus)

Have cut down where we can. Unplugging things at night, line drying washing much, much more, economy setting for washer, dishwasher etc. heating on 14 degrees so hardly ever on, (We are just using gas fire occasionally in the sitting room as house is really well insulated.). Never even bothered previously as the cost wasn't really an issue.

Last year the bill for the month was £102 in total for dual fuel when we weren't cutting back at all. This year - £183! Fortunately, we can easily afford the extra but, my God, how on earth are people on low incomes/tight budgets going to afford this sort of rise? This is seriously scary!

Anyone else had their first month's new bill as yet and how was it?

Thank you so that leaves heating and hot water. I’ll have to look at hot water coming on less.

If you have a condensing boiler you can reduce the flow and make a good saving.

Thank you, yes need to keep thermostat down and I need to cut down on my baths.

www.trustedreviews.com/news/whats-best-temperature-condensing-boiler-set-3649148

Octopus, in my experience, is by far the easiest provider for you to have control over DD amounts. Very easy to do online (as well as making one off payments) and don’t forget to spin the wheel each month!

We’re with Octopus also and we’ve gone from £45 (dual fuel) to £104 per month. I know it’s still small compared to others but it’s a massive hike. We have a new home so well insulated.

mine has gone up and Ive been charge £52 gas and £47 electric - thats charges from 31 March - 1 May.

My direct debit I changed in April and raised it before they did, hoping the summer months I would build up a credit
Im paying 44.5p per day electric and 27.25p per day gas, so thats going to be added all through the summer regardless of how much gas or electric I use so £22 per month £267 per year I can't save on

@Morenamesandpasswords are you growing cannabis?
That's massively high usage!

We're with Octopus also.
Our gas bill was £36 and electricity £50.16, cheapest one yet! Last month's was £69.54 gas and £64.75 electricity.

I know we haven't had heating on as much so that might explain that, but haven't made many changes with electricity.

We're £259 in credit and DD is £170 - hoping we can keep banking up the credit for the price hike due in October, but slightly nervous about next month's bill!

I'm on pre pay meters and haven't noticed a significant leap. I did use the heating a fair bit last week too when it was cold. I am having to top up the electric a day or so earlier than I used to but it's not a massive jump up. My gas is lasting really well. I am going to keep topping up through summer and expect to have approx £200 on there by the time it gets cold again, at my current rates of top up/use.

I am actually more concerned about keeping cool than warm! I don't see any issues with having enough gas but I use my portable air con a lot in summer and I can see that's going to cost me a lot in electric.

£290 for a family of 4. Most of it is the gas but there's no way I can handle colder temperatures. Our windows are pretty crap though, you can hear the wind whistling through. I didn't realise it's so bad but can't afford to replace them. Will have to buy thermal curtains for the patio doors and the front door as we're losing a lot of heat through those as well.

We're with Octopus. Dd went from £140 to £260. Shocker. I didn't change it as I really hope we are building up lots of credit for winter when prices are expected to go up further. I'm also going on mat leave in Sep so hoping it's a sensible plan. I did just have to google if you're credit is protected it energy firm goes bust and thankfully it is. Perhaps we will use that much though. I'm trying to be more mindful of use but it doesn't seem easy to make changes that will significantly impact the bill.

2 bed flat, barely any heating on this month (electric blankets when cold). Used to be around £80 per month averaged over the whole year. This month was £88, bear in mind we didn't have heating on (last year I expect that it was around half or less for this month). The new bill amount is £160 per month (their guess as to how expensive it will be averaged over the year!).

Safe the refund somewhere and then use it to help pay the increased DD? I do that when EDF stupidly refund me! Apparently it's automatic when you hit £100 credit. I'm not entirely sure that's useful, when the point of monthly payments is to spread the year's cost equally over 12 months. 🤷‍♀️

Our DD has gone from £65 to £116, so more than 54%. I regularly do calculations to check where we are, but burying my head in the sand. So many are going to struggle, and quite a few of us will have to be more careful if we're hoping to have disposable income for a few simple treats.

That is the average increase ... could be a lot more if you are coming off a fixed rate. And standing charge increases vary round the UK too.

My direct debit is £105 (fixed above the cap but hoping we will come out better off when the cap goes up again in five months). Actual usage £65 for the last month.

DH fixed ours at £260 per month. It’s a huge increase that we are struggling with. DDs are away at Uni so just us two now, downsized, more efficient and much better insulation, and our utility bills have doubled.

50% increase for us. We've made a massive effort to reduce usage as well but DH is put of work at the moment and at home a lot, so that isn't helping. Plus two weeks of school holidays.

I am with British Gas.This time last year my monthly DD was £85. This month it is £205 !.What I could not understand is that I have credit of £95.I complained and will be on £160 a month from next month.
I am dreading next winter.

Prepay- my April dual fuel spend was £114. Three bed terrace, mostly someone in all the time, I wfh a lot. Realise I am lucky!

That is 100 percent correct.

a large fish pond (22000 liters which has 6 water pumps going 24/7) and an 8 seat hot tub

I'm with EDF. I submit a quarterly reading, they email me a bill and then they take that amount 2 weeks later. I'd never give them money up front.

I’m with Octopus and clearly got a manager on a good day back in March as he gave me a fixed rate that is almost the exact same as I was already paying.

Don’t know what I’d do if it had shot up. Disabled household with a low income - there's no spare money!

Octopus also took £30 off my April bill (can’t remember what it was that deduction was called on the bill but it was some sort of 'poor people' help, I think 😆) so that took it to just over £90 for combined gas and electricity bill.

They also sent me a free electric blanket so that was nice!

@wonkygorgeous what is the app you have to show the solar panel generation please? Thank you