Gas and electricity bills to soar

[Cosmos123]

This is worrying as it will push many into fuel poverty.
Rising food prices and empty shelves.
Is anyone worried?

@tiddlysquat : You are right - you don't have to stay with whichever energy company Ofcom put you with if your own supplier goes bust.
The advice is that you let the switch take place so that your energy supply continues.
The allocated company are supposed to contact you to let you know they are your new supplier.
You should also be advised at this point, that you can switch supplier, without penalty, should you wish ( if you can find one who'll take you on, of course.)
Any monies in credit, should be protected.
Any debits owed will need to be paid.

@Corrag : They haven't been named on any news bulletins I've heard or read.
I suspect all concerned are keeping it under wraps at the moment, so as not to cause a stampede of switchers.

Anyone else feels like all the recent news, put together, start looking like a perfect storm. And I am not usually the one to panic or overreact, but got a bit worried.

@HeechulOppa

We are so fucked aren’t we

Yep.

Christmas is coming too.
It's going to be shite.

Almost 2 year sof Covid, lockdowns and poverty. Now hikes in prices of everything, uplift removals etc.

For the last 12 months I've kept a bag packed in readiness for homlessness. It's in the cupboard ready to go. Got a travel stove in there and fuel. A small tent, a sleeping bag and some spare clothes.
It was only ever there as a "I'll never need it, but just in case" kind of thing...
But I'm thinking I best check the stove has fuel and the clothes still fit.

My gas and electricity bill is now £160, up from £83 from this month. my contract doesn't end till next year.

I am in a 2 bed flat!

I've just switched companies, didn't want as was happy where I was but was on standard rate so have moved to a 2yr fixed rate that is same price as my old standard rate as I imagine prices will go up.

This is going to be a shock for a lot off people. DP was moaning he was cold other day and wanted heating on, said no chance, put a jumper on. I'm going to hold out as long as possible.

Major inflation is coming. It's not just energy. Not enough everything = price rises. Well, that'll teach savers a lesson - since 2008 the British government has been desperate for everyone to borrow borrow borrow spend spend spend.

My power company is one of the ones that's gone to the wall, Ofgem has transferred me to British Gas and now I have to wait and see what they're going to charge me. Looking on clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub and the cheapest is going to cost me about 45% more than I'm currently paying. Fuck.

A few weeks ago, I managed to get a fixed tariff for 2 years, 6% up on current prices, but not starting until 13 November (thank you, Octopus!).

This is going to be horrific for households on low incomes. As well as the Warm Homes Discount, there's also the Warm Homes Scheme that funds insulation improvements. This is well worth looking into, a couple of years ago they installed secondary double glazing, insulated the loft and did loads of other draught proofing for a client of mine.

Coming on top of the £20pw cut in UC and the rise in NI, some households are facing a very bleak winter.

We are PAYG we can afford monthly and did for a longtime before we moved here recently looked into going onto tarif £246 a month small 3 bed semi 2 adults one child minimal usage we top up less than £100 a month so will see how we go

@dontdoitlikethatdoitlikethis

*I only pay £42 a month in total for gas and electricity and I live in a three bedroomed house. On my own admittedly but you do have to change your provider all the time to get a good deal.*

Well good for you.

As countless people on the thread have explained, they already switch all the time, check all the comparison websites including cheaper energy clubs etc - and their bills are still soaring.

Your gas and electric are low because there is only one of you. There are four of us and I was paying around £105. My usage last year was 4% down on the previous year. My cheapest switch was almost £150. Wait til yours comes up for renewal and let's see if you're so smug then.

Surely if your paying £150 for 4 people and she is paying £42 for one person, then you are better off as you are paying less than £42 per person. So not sure how she's being smug by paying more than you?!

Thanks for this.
I'd been dithering about switching for weeks as just had an offer accepted on a house so will be moving in a few months.
Found a deal which is fixed (and slightly more expensive but at least fixed) with no exit fee.
On maternity leave so terrified about the prospect of rising prices but will weather it best we can I guess.

@Idyllic

We're with Avro energy, paying £95pm for a dual fuel tariff. Got about 6 months to go on it. Prices never seem to go back down once they're raised. Maybe the government could remove the VAT to help people?

I'm planning on buying my Christmas meat this week and freezing it, also buying the tubs of sweets now, pringles, and anything else I'd normally buy apart from fresh foods obvs. Got my Christmas notebook out very early this year as I think it'll get worse over the coming months. Scary times.

I really don’t understand this type of panic re Christmas.

Ok, maybe buy and freeze a large chicken so that you’ve got a roast of some sorts. But none of us really need the piles of crap we buy for the sake of it.

Christmas food purchases are nuts (I prefer roasted in normal times!)

@dontdoitlikethatdoitlikethis

*I only pay £42 a month in total for gas and electricity and I live in a three bedroomed house. On my own admittedly but you do have to change your provider all the time to get a good deal.*

Well good for you.

As countless people on the thread have explained, they already switch all the time, check all the comparison websites including cheaper energy clubs etc - and their bills are still soaring.

Your gas and electric are low because there is only one of you. There are four of us and I was paying around £105. My usage last year was 4% down on the previous year. My cheapest switch was almost £150. Wait til yours comes up for renewal and let's see if you're so smug then.

I agree, that post wasn’t particularly helpful.

But, TBF, being on your own doesn’t necessarily lessen your bill by much. The house still needs to be heated. Lights still need to be on. The oven/hob still needs to cook, whether for 1/2/4/6. Washing up still happens. Yes, probably less use for showers and washing machine. But it’s not a bed of Roses for single people - it’s hard paying for everything to run a home from just one salary.

Not quite as helpful for families, but for anyone living alone it’s worth looking into getting a heated throw. I got mine (think it was a Dreamland faux fur) a few years ago. Quite heavy, so warm enough without being turned on during autumn. And during winter was a godsend, could often keep heating off in the evening and snuggle under that instead.

Am sure they’ll hike prices up, but if you’re buying any new clothes, then pick up some basic thermal leggings, tops etc - they do help you feel warmer.

I can’t do “real” candles due to my idiot animals! But LED battery candles are just as good and will last a fair while.

Bit random, but maybe look at indoor/outdoor electric barbecues for cooking rather than gas oven/hob etc.

Slow cookers and sandwich toasters rather than gas for cooking.

Ah, who am I kidding? This winter is going to be shite.

We’re with bulb, next month they will be putting up prices for the 3rd time since March. Gas has gone from 2.82p/kWh and 19.42p/day standing charge to 3.284p/kWh and 24.46p/day the next rise will see gas over 4p/kWh and standing charge over 26p/day
And electric has gone from 14.62p/kWh and 19.13p/day standing charge to 18.72p/kWh and 23.95p/day. The next rise will see electric over 20.56p/kWh with standing charge going up to 24.43p/day.

We did a price comparison as we’re spending £150/month on energy (family of 2 adults and 2 toddlers in a really old 3 bed terraced house) and every single price comparison site said there is no cheaper deal available and advised not to change!! We didn’t drop our DD in the summer like we have in previous years so have built up a decent buffer on the account (currently over £500) but expect to see that wiped over the winter and hope we are successful in getting the warm home discount again this year as it will help otherwise I can see us struggling come the winter.

@Etherel

Why are some companies so much cheaper?

I have just signed up to an estimated £73pcm dual fuel deal, fixed for 2 years (although I can cancel anytime). Was offered to me by a big company while I was doing my weekly shop and is about £20pcm cheaper than I am currently paying.

Sometimes they lure you in with a cheap monthly payment….then a few months down the line you’re in negative balance and they ramp the payments up. Remember fixed deals don’t mean your monthly direct debit is fixed, just the price per unit used is fixed.

I really don’t understand this type of panic re Christmas. Ok, maybe buy and freeze a large chicken so that you’ve got a roast of some sorts. But none of us really need the piles of crap we buy for the sake of it.
This. After Christmas was cancelled at short notice last year, we all stayed in our own homes and made do with a lot less. Apart from missing the extended family, we didn't miss the huge amounts of food and snacks that often ends up in the bin (who eats Christmas cake these days?). This year we'll all get together (hopefully) for a more streamlined Christmas - surely heating your home throughout winter is more important than yet another tin of Quality Street or plastic tat for the children?

Our deal has just come to an ended with Bulb. We've switched to a two year fixed deal with Eon, up from £65 to £85 per month for electricity only, four bed. Bulb's new deal was much costlier. DC1 has just gone off to uni so hopefully likely to be using less.
Stocking up on logs for the fire. Dead cheap in Aldi at the minute.

I've usually got a decent balance in credit by this time of year, not the case this year! Haven't had the heating on since April and I'm dreading the winter months.

I agree about not going all out on spending at Christmas. Surely if you're worried about money, not buying great tubs of cheap crappy chocolates and the like is an easy saving?

I buy barely anything extra these days because in reality I don't want to eat much of that sort of stuff and people buy it for me for Christmas. Even though we have a really limited gift exchange circle compared to most people, I still ended up with about a dozen packs of chocolates/biscuits etc.

For the Christmas meal, it's only a slightly more elaborate than usual roast, and lends itself really well to leftovers so quite economical, although I suppose we might not be able to rely on the 3 for a pound bags of veg this year like recently?

Sometimes they lure you in with a cheap monthly payment….then a few months down the line you’re in negative balance and they ramp the payments up. Remember fixed deals don’t mean your monthly direct debit is fixed, just the price per unit used is fixed

This is a really important thing to remember and appreciate. The average monthly bill is currently around £100 and rising, so if you're quoted significantly less than this, it's likely to be an underestimate, unless you live in a small and/or exceptionally well insulated property, you have solar panels or similar, or you don't put the heating on.

I also think the point about not panicking and trapping yourself into an expensive fix right now is something to consider. Prices might come down again next spring, you never know. If the variable tariff is less, you might be better off on that for now, or at least a fix with no exit penalties.

Although I am quite jealous of those who got a 2 year deal earlier this year, that's some luck I feel I missed a trick there as we're on a one year fix with Avro until next Feb/March, but you can't win them all.

We were with Igloo, variable tariff, started with direct debits of £83 a month in January, after 3 price increases (and that's before before next round in Ocotber!) It went to £130.
Apparently we used £97 worth of gas and electric in august!
No heating on, washing hung out, lights weren't even on as it was still daylight!
This is for a tiny 2 bed semi, with 3 of us living here.
I've just switched and fixed us on a 2 year tariff with Sainsburys at £123 a month.
There's no exit fees so I'll keep an eye on it but at least that covers us for the next 2 Winters.

It's horrific, we can manage (just!) But a hell of a lot of folk will be choosing between heating or eating this Winter.

We used look after my bills and were auto switched in May i think? But switch wasn't smooth so not sure I'll continue with look after my bills. And now our supplier is one of the ones rumoured to go bust next week :(

www.simpleenergyadvice.org.uk/grants For anyone that is worried about paying energy bills this year it may be worth checking if your entitled to funding for things like cavity wall insulation to help bills a bit lower.

@TiddleTaddleTat definitely get a plug in heated throw. Saved me a fortune in heating bills as I'm snug wfh

@TheGoogleMum

We used look after my bills and were auto switched in May i think? But switch wasn't smooth so not sure I'll continue with look after my bills. And now our supplier is one of the ones rumoured to go bust next week :(

Which supplier is it ?