Energy bills price increase

[fizzypop100]

Our fixed rate ends in April. How can I work out approx how much our new monthly direct debit will be ? It's currently £86 every month (some credit builds in the summer months).
Have e mailed Octopus but expecting a long ish wait for a reply

We are with octopus and our fixed rate ends in April. I can’t find the tariffs anywhere - we’ve just had emails saying the prices aren’t available at the moment. I’m absolutely dreading it. We already pay £170 a month for combined gas and electric and get the warm front discount as Ds and I are disabled. We already do everything we can to spend less. There is no room to cut down anything.

Or if you do fix, be mindful that it's not necessarily the cheapest option that is used to be, keep an eye on the price in case they come down later this year, and be aware that some providers are tricking people into long term high priced fixes where they quote a monthly price that is based on a low use, and they will increase what you pay later.

Always check the unit price and daily standing charge, because this is what is fixed, not the monthly payment, unless the initial quote covers your annual usage.

Another octopus customer here. Their predicted combined fuel bills for us have gone up from £2.2k per year to £4.2k per year. £2000 increase. We started overpaying a bit in order to soften the blow but I’m still really worried, especially with the upcoming NI rise and general inflation as well, it’s crippling. We don’t even live in a grand house, just a draughty one but can’t afford to fix that because all the money goes on heating the damn place.

@Leonberger

Just heard about the potential NI increases on the news too.

Not sure how they think we are all going to afford to loose £100s a month when our wages haven’t gone up for years

I believe the answer is to work harder.

People forget, don't know (or pretend they don't) that at it's heart, that's the Tory mantra in a nutshell. If you are poor, it's coz you don't work hard enough like Rishi, and Jacob, and Owen and Dominic. Now stop whining and get back to work.

I'm so worried, and not just for myself. What are we going to do? It's an inconvenience but affordable for some but for most of us, it's catastrophic.

Most people can't afford to pay double. By not afford, I mean they do not have the money. For some people, it will mean not going on holiday and not eating out but for a lot of people, it will mean not heating their homes properly and not eating properly.

There's bound to be consequences for people's health which leads to more pressure on the NHS. Also, not many people going to pubs, restaurants, concerts, cinemas, theatres, holidays - it's surely going to affect whole industries.

Please can someone tell me I'm being ridiculous and dramatic?

Not you're not being ridiculous and dramatic, the price rises are going to force an impossible 'heat or eat' dilemma onto millions more people.

Campaigners like Martin Lewis and Jack Monroe and probably others are lobbying the government over this reality of the situation, but as to whether or not there's going to be any help, any meaningful help, when it is actually needed, ie now, I really don't know.

I fixed recently for a rate that will be under the expected new price cap. It's over two years so I honestly have no idea if that will even out the current premium we'll are paying between now and April over the current cap to secure it.

On the upside, at least I know what I'm looking at but on the downside, what I'm looking at is my smart meter climbing at a rate of knots across the day.

We are comfortable enough that we won't need to worry about the basics in life but not so comfortable that all the expected increases across the year are not unsettling and so it will be those thing you mentioned gettingthereslowly2020 that we'll cut down on to absorb the impact.

@SeeminglyOblivious

Martin Lewis recently recommended not fixing. Wait to see what the new rates will be

No, that's not correct.

What he's said is that for many people, doing nothing may be the best thing - because a lot of suppliers' fixes are ridiculously high.

He also said that some are better and if you're being offered a fix at a 40% increase or lower than the current variable rate to consider it...because a 40% rise is likely going to be cheaper than what's coming in 2022. Its not just the projected 51% increase in April but then an additional 20% again potentially in October.

We fixed last week and I'm so glad we have. Our 12m Loyal Octopus fix offer for Electric was 30% higher than the current price cap. We jumped at it.

However - that fix is no longer available - the cheapest fix with Octopus already went up last week.

The pp who said they're waiting to see what the cap is before deciding - by then, you'll be too late. As soon as the variable cap is announced, it's likely that all the fixed rate offers will jump to higher than it anyway.

At the moment some are still lower than a 50% increase because its a bit of a gamble in case the price cap rise isn't as high as expected.

You'd be better off fixing now if you have an offer available for a 40% or lower rise, then cancelling it if the price cap rise is less - because after the cap announcement, that offer won't be available to you so the choice is gone.

I just checked mine and the loyalty fix that Octopus is offering me is 64% higher for electricity and 121.46% higher for gas than the flexible rate!! I am better staying on the flexible tariff even if prices rise 60% in April

@TwoleftUggs

Another octopus customer here. Their predicted combined fuel bills for us have gone up from £2.2k per year to £4.2k per year. £2000 increase. We started overpaying a bit in order to soften the blow but I’m still really worried, especially with the upcoming NI rise and general inflation as well, it’s crippling. We don’t even live in a grand house, just a draughty one but can’t afford to fix that because all the money goes on heating the damn place.

Also with octopus (just out of the fixed deal), same increase. I got quotes from other providers, octopus are the cheapest still.

And in their normal 12 month fix my prices would be 85.7% higher for electricity and 151% higher for gas than the current flexible Octopus rate.

Hello. Popping in to let you know that we're doing a Q&A with fuel poverty charity National Energy Action about these energy price hikes on Wednesday 23rd Feb at 12 noon. The thread is now open for questions here.