Energy prices fixed since last year for 2 years, how to estimate next years prices?

[redwingdress]

My husband fixed our energy prices in 2021 for 2 years which means we won't be subject to any of the recent price rises for another year. I believe we will still get the £400 government credit on our account which should sit there as we are still currently in credit.

We are currently paying about £60 a month for gas and electric for a two bedroom house. I am glad we price fixed for the two year period but I am aware that when our fixed period comes to an end we will face a very dramatic rise as we will have missed out on previous price rises.

Does anyone know if there is a way we can check or estimate what we might be expecting to pay come next summer / autumn?

I'm afraid it is crystal ball territory.

The main thing is to be aware of your actual usage by taking regular meter readings or checking your bills for actual amounts (not estimates), plus your tariff rates per kwh and standing charges.

DD amounts are not a useful gauge, as these are estimated.

Then keep an eye on price cap charges for your area/ the standard rate for your supplier.

When you know your actual usage, you can keep track and estimate each time the price cap rises by applying the rates to your usage.

@hedgehoglurker We have to submit out readings to our supplier every month and typically we use it more in the winter and much less in the summer and over the year it evens out.

I will pay attention to what we are using on a typical month in each season going forward to try and get an idea of what is in store for us, thanks for your advice!

The price cap in 2021 was about £1200 and will go up to approx £4200 next year, so 3.5 times. So a rough estimate would be 3.5 x £60, so £210 a month.

Does this help? This is taken from today's announcement.

Great, then you have the data already to help in the future. We are on a 3 year fix until 2023, so expecting a big shock then too.

We get an annual statement from our supplier, so our data is all on one page per fuel - perhaps you get this too?

Then you can keep an eye on price cap rates. Then multiply for a whole year's use at your area/ supplier rates (without forgetting to include standing charge) and divide by 12. This should give a reasonable indication of expected future DD.

If you need any help working this out, let us know the figures you have.

The above info from others is great, but probably doesn't apply as you are on a fix currently, not the price cap.

Find out your usage. kWh for both gas and electricity. This will be on your bill.

Multiply your kWh by the numbers in the last column on the chart posted by @upliftingtwisting above.

Add on 365 x each daily standing charge (in both cases, be careful to do it all in pounds or pence).

That gives you the annual cost which you can then divide by 12 to get how much your monthly DD should be. Obviously need to adjust for any debt/credit and whatever government support you receive.

As a rough guide, if you got a good fix in 2021, you will be facing increase of around 4 to 5 times what you are paying now (early in 2021 you could get a fix where it worked out at around £900 per year if you used the price cap amount and in April 2021 the current prediction is that the price cap will be around £4500, which is five times £900 - that's probably your worst case scenario, but sadly your increase won't be a huge amount less than this).