What the fuck do I do about my gas/elect tariff expiring?

[AntiMaskersAreTwats]

Our gas/elec tariff expires tomorrow with EDF. If we drop onto the standard variable tariff it goes up from £100 a month to £161 a month. The only other deal EDF offers at the moment is a long term fix until 2024 at £306 a month!! We can’t afford that! I can’t find any other deals with other companies that we can afford as every penny per month is accounted for. What the fuck do we do?

Go to standard variable

Turn off the lights.
Stop washing clothes so much. Etc

Recommend checking this, if you haven't already:

clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

Stay on variable and hope a better rate comes up somewhere

Have you used a comparison site? Octopus are pretty good.

Oh hang on. You’re not one of the utility warehouse people are you?

I'm the same I've just switched to bulb but actually it was the same tariff as the EDF one I'm moving onto, but compared to other tariffs with other providers it's the cheapest I could find, when I find the cooling off period clause I'll probably stay with EDF because I probably owe them money and would have to pay it to be able to switch!!

I did the energy club thing. Lowest was £296 a month

I'd stick with EDF then on the standard variable, if that's cheapest, and see if you can in any way cut down on energy use?

Same. We're ending on 30th November. Currently pay £59/month. Cheapest fixed deal is £124.

Everyone is in the same boat, gas and electricity are going up massively... Ours looks like its going up from £265 per month to £475.... (our energy company just went bankrupt, so have no choice, but everyone is in the same boat as low deals expire)

I don’t think you will be the only one in this boat op!! Especially with people stretching themselves to afford bigger houses that they now won’t be able to afford to run.
Since this was all announced we have been really mindful of how much we are using and switch a lot more off. Makes me realise how wasteful we were being before.

Make sure your deal has a get out clause for free then you can keep looking

If you look on Money Saving Expert he's just done a session on this. Basically says to stay on standard variable as because of the price cap it will be cheaper than anything else on the market at the moment. But keep an eye out for new deals because when the price cap is increased again (April) the SVR will shoot up again.

I wish I had suggestions OP, my current plan is to have the heating on a lot less and wash myself/clothes as little as possible

Presumably you've done all the price comparison sites?

Are you using your usage figures for comparison rather than the price per month?

Stay on variable rate and wait for offers to open back up

@girlmom21 a lot of comparison sites aren’t doing it at the moment with the recent hike in gas prices
The market will settle soon though

Yep it's bonkers. Ours is going £40 a month on variable and cheapest fixed is going up £90 a month. We are fortunate we can afford it, but what about those who can't? Just absurd.

Fixed deals are based on your usage.

Keep your costs down by a) checking your meter monthly and submitting meter readings so you arent overpaying - nearly all tariffs build in you overpaying so the energy company owe you money rather than vice versa so that they have better cashflow.

Cut your usage as much as you can. Get the lights off. Wrap up in jumpers and slippers and lower the heat to 18 degrees. Don't run your hot water on a timer cycle, only heat it when you need it. Shorten showers.

my direct debit doubled form £80 to £160.

I am working in a jumper and a long dress with fuzzy slippers. Probably better to be thrifty if it may increase even more!

@onlychildhamster Did your usage go up or was £80 not covering what you were already using?