To ask what you’re doing about energy prices?

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Our supplier went belly up so we’re on the variable tariff and the cost of fixing makes me balk, it’s so hideously expensive right now will have gone from £80 to £220 per month.

If you’re on a variable rate, what are you doing? Fixing now or waiting it out ? Martin Lewis’s advice isn’t particularly helpful atm, I think he’s in the wait and see camp, but surely it’s likely when the price cap lifts all the energy companies are going to raise their fixes even more, because they can?

I don’t know what to do

It's all very scary. I've gone from 13p/kw 14p a day to no standing charge and 28p/kw to no standing charge and 33p/KW on 1 Apr. We are using approx 600 units a month and I trying to fathom where..... Its only me in house during the day. Heating is oil and wood burner. But.... My Inlaws are in a static in the garden so trying to fathom how to fit a meter on the junction supply.

But essentially I've gone from £60 to £90 when Inlaws moved in, to £150 since the 28p/kw came in to approx £200 😭

Octopus said my SVT was basically the same as theirs (I'm with British Gas) so no point in moving. 2 x fixed rates I gort from them was £189 pm or 194pm so basically £2300 pa. Same as BG. Gas expected to rise again with the Ukraine thing. So expect this to go 2600

I don't have a slow cooker, air fryer, pressure cooker or anything other than hob and oven. Are any of these worth it, do they use alot less power? I'm not big on gadgets so all a bit of a mystery, I do have a microwave.

@Ithinkimalonenow24 I fixed with sainsburys too on that deal before they pulled it. Just wish I had fixed for 2 years instead of 1

@ancientgran

I don't have a slow cooker, air fryer, pressure cooker or anything other than hob and oven. Are any of these worth it, do they use alot less power? I'm not big on gadgets so all a bit of a mystery, I do have a microwave.

I think slow cookers and air fryers are great, the air fryer is especially good for anything you'd put under the grill or in the oven for 1/2 people, breaded fish or meat, roast veg, chips, sausages etc. They're quicker and a smaller space than an oven so are very likely to be significantly cheaper.

Slow cookers are well known to be very low usage for stew type meals, plus you don't have to watch them like you would with a pan on the hob. We've had a slow cooker for years but don't use it much, but it was very cheap, under a tenner for a basic one, but it's all you need.

The air fryer is newer and was under £50 from Costco. They'd be a game changer for anyone with limited cooking facilities, pay for themselves in no time. Another advantage of the air fryer over a normal free standing oven would be that you just put it on a work top or table, no bending down into the oven.

A normal pressure cooker (not an Instant pot which takes 20 minutes of electricity to get up to temperature) uses about a third of the energy and half the time to make soup, stew, risotto, dried pulses, steamed veg, hard boiled eggs etc. compared with traditional methods. It also makes a great cheesecake. Vitamins are retained well and the flavours are forced deep into the food using the Maillard reaction.

I use my Lagostina pressure cooker every day because it doubles up as a heavy based pan for cooking pasta etc.

I feel so lucky that I fixed my rates last October for two years. It seemed a big increase at the time but, for once in my life, I've taken a gamble and it's paid off. Octopus still tried to get me to increase my direct debit by £40 a month as my balance wasn't as high as they'd like it to be at this time of year ie they wanted me to hold a full months dd in their account!

Im on a variable- but Im over paying into my account every month to hopefully lessen the burden next winter- locking in now doesnt seem worth it, vastly over the amount it is on the variable. So bracing for the year ahead.

Thank you @BarbaraofSeville and @Sgtmajormummy. I will have a think about it, I don't have alot of counter top space which puts me off some of the bigger things.

Anything to save electric has got to be good.

@ancientgran You can buy a multi cooker that does pressure cooking, slow cooking and air frying. I love mine and use it regularly - beef stew and dumplings in about 20m is a game changer.

We are on the SVR and have reduced our heating and shower times for the last month or so. Current yearly usage has come down to 1269kwh electricity and 6793kwh gas for two people in a 3 bed (2 plus box bedroom) semi. Monthly direct debit is likely to be just under £100 from April which I am fortunate to be able to afford. We may continue the same next winter or have to make further changes depending on what happens in October and the cost of everything else!

@malmi

Washing clothes on a cold wash if they just need freshening up. Not 40 degrees, not 30, "Cold". With my machine this means it doesn't heat the water at all. The cost per wash is a fraction of what it costs on a hot wash. Clothes come out fine.

May give this a few practise runs!

We are also doing less washing. One load of towels and bedding a week and clothes every 4 or 5 days.

Huddling under 3 blankets and hoping for some warmer weather

To be honest nothing right now, we are fixed until dec 22 but it is literally our only bill that we cannot opt of, so it is what it is.

How do you opt out of council tax and water, @qualitygirl?

Any recommendations on cheap/decent door seals/draught excluders from anywhere? I remember my grandparents bought some a couple of months ago and keep meaning to get some to keep the heat in.

Ah.

Mine has gone from £172 a month fixed to estimated £420 a month fixed. Variable was going to be £330 but I think that will go up substantially. Looking at ways to reduce usage to bring it down. Absolutely shocking.

Not doing anything at the moment but I might have to! Our is going up from £100 to £190 from April, they emailed me about it a week ago 😞 Couldn't believe it was nearly doubling!

The electricity is going up a fair bit but it's the gas, it is nearly double the unit price. They've massively hiked up the daily standing charges too. Think it works out about £1.50 per day just for the standing charges on gas & electricity.

@NoWordForFluffy sorry we're in Ireland so we don't have those bills.

[quote MrsPnut]@ancientgran You can buy a multi cooker that does pressure cooking, slow cooking and air frying. I love mine and use it regularly - beef stew and dumplings in about 20m is a game changer.[/quote]
That sounds good. I'll have a look for one.

So you get free water and there's no council tax equivalent in Ireland? Interesting!

@berksandbeyond these are my (hideous) options! Current tariff ending in April and we pay £139 which I thought was a lot when we fixed it . It seems obvious to go with the variable but surely there’s a reason the fixed are so much more expensive?! Part me would prefer to fix for the security but not if I’m paying £80 more a munch for the privilege!

We're looking to reduce useage where we can - heating down a degree, trying colder washes, and we've just got a heat pump dryer. Our current fix ends in two months and is much cheaper than the existing cap let alone the new one so having looked at our annual useage in line with the new cap I've increased our dd from £130 a month to £230