To ask what you're doing in advance of gas/elec rises in April?

[irritablehead1]

I feel like I wade through treacle when i try to work out how to try and minimise rise of the gas/elec in April.

Can anyone offer a short cut through all the advise and pretty much tell me what I should be doing to cut the impact?

Ok I'm going to try out outside drying this week!

We've outside dried a couple of times this week. It's not fully dried, but it's speeded up the process. But it does add extra work and I think unless it warms up a bit, becomes a bit more breezy and dryer, I'll just stick it on the airer and leave it a bit longer - it tends to dry on the airer in 24-36 hours if straight out of the machine.

What's the most effective and cheap to run heater, if you just want to heat one room

If you have gas central heating, it's probably to turn off the radiators in the other rooms and just heat the room(s) you want to. Before we had GCH, we had a gas fire and no other heating.

The gas bill didn't go up significantly after we'd had the GCH installed and could heat the whole house properly without additional electric heating.

Any form of electric heating is generally more expensive than gas, a unit of electric costs about 4-5 times more than a unit of electricity for a start, although this gap will soon narrow.

If you use electric heating, oil filled radiators cost a lot less to run, because you benefit from the residual heat when it's not actively heating.

If you use electric heating, oil filled radiators cost a lot less to run, because you benefit from the residual heat when it's not actively heating.

Thanks for this information

We are Putin's hostages I'm afraid.
We don’t get our gas from Russia.

We don't get our gas from Russia.

You are right, we only get about 3% of our gas from Russia, but Putin cutting supplies to Europe has driven up world prices as everyone competes for scarce resources. We get most of our external supplies from Norway, fortunately, but inevitably their prices will rise in line with the market as new forward contracts come on stream.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

You are right. Putin's actions have nothing to do with the increase in gas prices 😂

Why are we waiting on Putin to make good on a promise to increase supplies to Europe?

Not much I can do. I've been living in poverty for years so already know how to minimise use of electric and gas.
Heating or eating isn't a new thing, it's been affecting some people for as long as I can remember, it's just getting traction now as it's affecting middle.class and not just the underclass and elderly.

I’ve had the shock of my life today on this subject. I keep re-reading the email. It can’t be right. Surely?

We were locked into a deal which expires end of March. So I couldn’t proactively do much on the package. A year ago dual fuel cost us £110 per month. In September they upped it to £160 based on usage. Now I do admit here, in that timeframe I’d gone back to work FT and we’d started using the dryer more. My DC all have sporty hobbies with stinking kits and towels, several times a week. Plus 4 beds to change, uniform and all the usual stuff. So washing machine at least once per day, dryer one cycle per day, dishwasher once a day, and all more at the weekend. Has we are already quite frugal with but electric was too high. So we cut back hoping to see some change in the bill in a positive direction.

Knew full well about the April rise. Assumed (fucking stupidly) that at the end of our fixed price we’d get another deal, expecting it to be higher, but hadn’t thought out the extent CLEARLY. I’d predicted it to be, with cutting back, about £220 a month.

I’m with Octopus. We’ve had the email today warning us the fixed price is ending.

Option a) switch to the variable rate, which will increase in March to £200 and comes with a caveat of another probable minimum of a 50% increase in April with the cap removal, and probably more after that. At which point it’s too late to switch to a deal.

Option b) - switch to a new fixed term deal - 12 months - £390 a month (holy shit!!!!!)

Option c) as a loyal customer, we can have their special loyalty account deal of £344 a month.

MSE says the probable best deal to go with is the £344.

£344 a month!!!!!! On fucking fuel!!!!!!

How in the hell are we meant to afford that?? How many more people are going to get one hell of a shock in the coming 3 months.

I am beyond shocked and quite frankly clueless as to what to do.

What do I actually do?!

Is £344 a fixed tariff which will be available to you at the end of your current tariff or do you need to switch now to lock it in?

It reads like now @FourTeaFallOut. I will call and double check. They’re also saying that as we are at the end of winter we are technically in £120debt, so we’d need to clear that before paying the £344, or the £344 will be even higher for the next few months.

What rate are they charging per kWh for gas and electric?

I think - double check - that ofgem sets the new cap rate on Feb 7th - which should be in your 14 day cooling off period.

If so, you should ask and double check - I'm not 100% certain, you could fix the tariff now and drop back to the SVR if the figures don't work in your favour?

Nothing, turn the heat down, wear jumpers? Take less baths/showers? Make sure all clothes
Washing is full load and don’t wash clothes as much?
It’ll make many of us more energy efficient i would imagine.

It’s a no commitment offer anyway…. As in there is no penalty to leave it. I may call and ask them how long I have to decide as that’s not clear at all judging by the email. It simply says ‘ Your fixed tariff is coming to an end on 13th March 2022. While it's still a little way off, we thought you'd like to know your options. We've outlined them for you below.’
So I would assume that means I have to make a choice and execute it PRIOR to 13th March and doing nothing switches to a variable rate.

@Isaw3ships

Nothing, turn the heat down, wear jumpers? Take less baths/showers? Make sure all clothes Washing is full load and don’t wash clothes as much? It’ll make many of us more energy efficient i would imagine.

The Mumsnet orgasm. Everyone will be just as minging as us highfive

We have just got solar panels, will take ten years to pay off but we will get 40 years of electricity from them, they are future proof- panels have 30 year warranty and they greatly exceed the he amount of electricity we need, yet we can add more if we need too. Looking forward to free energy in 10 years!

@Littlepaws18 - conservation area so I’m not sure we’re allowed. Sadly. Although I may check again.

@FourTeaFallOut these are the rates on the £344 per month offer:
Electricity
Daily standing charge 25.08p /day
Unit rate 33.01p /kWh
Exit fee £0
gas
Daily standing charge 26.10p /day
Unit rate 8.80p /kWh
Exit fee £0

The thing I’m confused about is the prediction is a rise of around 51% after the cap change, meaning on the standard variable I SHOULD expect a 51% increase which would lead to the bill increasing to £250ish.
So why would I be asking to fix it at £344 for 12 months?

If I've understood your post correctly, then it sounds like you will be looking at a monthly charge of £200. And if there is a 51% increase on that figure, that's £302 - rather than £250. That's still less than your fixed tariff offer so I suppose some people might still opt for it because they want to insulate themselves for a rise in October, which might be around 20% - or because it insulates them from the stress of worrying about it. I don't know.

I'm surprised that mse said that it was the best option for you to go with though, was that on the forum or the energy club widget thing they have?

then it sounds like you will be looking at a monthly charge of £200 ...based on the current cap in play.

We've (DH actually) spent time over the last 2 weeks working out the cheapest way to heat our home at various times of day.

When WFH the cheapest option is a fan heater, at 20p per hour. The most expensive is the central heating at 97p per hour. We have tado, so only heat rooms we are using. After work but before kids bedtime we need to heat most rooms (kitchen, bathroom, kids bedrooms and lounge) so the central heating is more cost effective at £1.47 per hour, but it's only for 2-3 hours.

Sad that we've had to do that!

We have replaced our draughty front door which has already made a huge difference and just paid the deposit for replacing the two draughtiest windows as well. We’re hoping to redo our bathroom later in the year and it is absolutely freezing so insulation is high on the list for that. It makes so much sense to get extra insulation and block up draughts if you can afford it because otherwise the heating you’re paying for is literally going out the window (or wherever).
Electricity - limit use of the oven, turn everything off at the plug at night except fridge and clock

@PattyPan

We have replaced our draughty front door which has already made a huge difference and just paid the deposit for replacing the two draughtiest windows as well. We’re hoping to redo our bathroom later in the year and it is absolutely freezing so insulation is high on the list for that. It makes so much sense to get extra insulation and block up draughts if you can afford it because otherwise the heating you’re paying for is literally going out the window (or wherever). Electricity - limit use of the oven, turn everything off at the plug at night except fridge and clock

Hope you leave the boiler on as well ,it just might need to kickin on frost stat

@FourTeaFallOut

then it sounds like you will be looking at a monthly charge of £200 ...based on the current cap in play.

Yes I think your maths is better than mine @FourTeaFallOut - thank you.

Yes using the energy club thingy link on MSE.

Well I'm on a pre payment metre. No way can I afford to pay much more than I already do, I guess we will be cold

I've started to.go up to bed at 7.30 p to read, watch TV work on laptop. No need for heating on if I'm in bed !!