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Original poster

Gas and electric gone from £134 to £488

85 replies

MrsMingech · 15/04/2022 10:50

I knew it was going to increase a lot. But for it to be 3.5X more seems impossible?

We don't actually have the money to pay that each month.

Is that usual? Is that truly how much everyone's has gone up by?

OP posts:
WhenTheDragonsCame · 15/04/2022 10:56

That does seem a bit extreme. Are you paying any debts in with that?

I am on a prepayment meter and have gone from approximately £55-£60 a month to approximately £80-£85 I think. They have predicted it will increase by about £25 a month.

LetMeTryAgain · 15/04/2022 10:58

Were you paying the correct amount before? Mine has gone from £130 to £299 but I thought we were underpaying before.

I was surprised to read in the small print of my new gas/electric supplier that the estimated usage, so the monthly DD payment, is based on a standard formula and not on my historical usage. Is it worth checking what you have used before and seeing if they have over estimated your projected use?

rainbowunicorn · 15/04/2022 10:59

What is your annual usage in KWh for both gas and electricity?
You will find this on your bill.

Is the figure that you give above the suppliers standard variable tarrif or is it a fix.

Have you been on a good fixed rate deal up until now? If you have, then de[pending on how long it ran for you could now be seeing more than just the increase from April as the unit prices went up for both last year as well. This would seem like a bigger jump if it is just finished now.
The provider may have calculated the bill with the assumed October increase as well if the figure you give is a fixed deal.

Chely · 15/04/2022 11:04

Gone from combined monthly payments of £100 to £160. We have a smart meter, I keep track of how well the dd's are covering the actual usage and increase if needed.

InDubiousBattle · 15/04/2022 11:09

We have a smart meter too and ours has gone up from £120 to £180. It was £90 (actual usage) a year ago.

Original poster
MrsMingech · 15/04/2022 11:11

We aren't paying off debt and we have a smart meter too.

OP posts:
LindaEllen · 15/04/2022 11:11

There is something not right there. No normal household uses that much energy. Unless you were massively underpaying before, and these are catch-up payments, it's not right.

Did you submit a reading? Are you sure you got the numbers right?

You need to look into it, because there's no possible way that's right.

Tittyfilarious · 15/04/2022 11:13

Are you coming off a cheap fix and that's the cost to fix it again ?

70kid · 15/04/2022 11:20

I’m on a pre pay electric & gas

Gas has gone up by about 6 week
And electric 6 a week so an increase of around £50 a month
3 adults 3 bed 2 bathroom and we all have at least 1 -2 showers each a day
Don’t use the washing machine as much and rarely use the cooker mainly the hob put the heating on when we want .
We are with EDF & British Gas
I don’t know where these crazy prices are coming from

Pinklady245612 · 15/04/2022 11:23

I think some of the energy companies are putting direct debits up a ridiculous amount to try to get us racking up big credits (to offset those who fall behind). My mum and dad's direct debit was increased from £100 ish to almost £500 - the stupid thing about it is that is a home they are selling and subsequently moved out of! They already had a massive credit on their account as they basically have a lamp which comes on and off in the evening and a freezer running for roughly 25 days of a given month (they go for an overnight trip or so every couple of weeks) and that's it. You can usually adjust the direct debit to be whatever you want, so just give them a call and reduce it to something more realistic

rainbowunicorn · 15/04/2022 11:23

Are you coming off a fixed Tariff?

Is the figure you mentioned a fixed Tariff or is it Standard variable rate?

What is your annual usage in KWh?

What is the new unit rate compared to the old and what is the new standing charge compared to the old?

traintraveller · 15/04/2022 11:25

My monthly dd has increased by £30 for gas and reduced by £12 for electricity on British gas std variable.

Bagelsandbrie · 15/04/2022 11:26

That seems extremely high, even with the increases. Ours has gone from £170 to £350 with octopus.

ScarlettSunset · 15/04/2022 11:26

Can you ask to just pay for what you use each month?
That's what I do. Still by direct debit. It does mean it varies from month to month but at least my money is in my own account instead of in theirs

helpfulperson · 15/04/2022 11:27

Can you swop to just paying monthly for what you've used rather than a fixed DD? I think a lot of suppliers are vastly increasing DDs in anticipation.

Mamamia7962 · 15/04/2022 11:30

You haven't given us a lot of information here OP? Are you on fixed or variable rate? If you're on a smart meter, is that for gas and electric? You can look at the smart meter and it will tell you how much energy you are using a day.

AnxiousSquirrel · 15/04/2022 11:31

We're on prepayment meters and have noticed our costs have gone up a bit, only by around £15/20 a month on each though, and our gas usage has dropped massively anyway due to the weather warming up. Now costs us around £100 a month for both gas and electricity.

PugInTheHouse · 15/04/2022 11:36

Have you calculated the amounts yourself? We are with British Gas and on a fixed rate from Sep 21 so our amounts are not going up. Had an email today from them trying to put the bills up by £100 a month. We have a small debt from Dec/Jan, but usage now less than a monthly payment so will only reduce further. I worked it all out and even if the bills didn't reduce we'd only owe around £50 a month so they are really trying it on. They also did not use our most up to date meter reading.

I feel as if they are doing it to get more money in to cover the people who can't pay enough so have just increased it all automatically and hope people won't say anything.

insancerre · 15/04/2022 11:38

Mine has gone from 134 to 200 a month
I’ve got a smart meter and I’m with ovo
I used just over £200 in March, I’m on just under £100 so far this month. Ovo say my payment amount is about right
Yours seems quite high, can you check your daily usage?

Anotherpassengerwantstogetoff · 15/04/2022 11:42

Ours doubled in October.

Blanketpolicy · 15/04/2022 11:45

I came off a fixed rate in October and it went from £130 fixed to £180 fixed. Thankfully I fixed again as their current fixed rate offer is £445. 😱

We were so lucky with the timing when our previous offer expired, but even so we are being very careful with usage since even the October rise and they have lowered our dd to £160 now.

It is an awful time for those coming off fixed tariffs now.

Wingedharpy · 15/04/2022 11:47

Can you not just go into your online energy account and just change it to a figure you feel is more appropriate - taking into account the price rise?
That's what I've done.
My company told me they'd be taking £265 per month, up from £137, and I told them they could have £200 and no more.
I paid off a debt of £115 so we're all square as we go into these new crazy price times but the weather is warmer, other circumstances have changed which mean I'll be using less energy (though my company doesn't know this) so hopefully, I'll build up some credit before the next onslaught in October.

Ted27 · 15/04/2022 11:48

@MrsMingech

I would challenge that. I had something similar £93 a month to just under £500. The very helpful person on the helpline was completely baffled, spent ages on the phone with me trying to work it out, got a manager involved. Eventually it came dowm to £183

BarbaraofSeville · 15/04/2022 12:15

If you've just come off a cheap fix and you've taken another fix, it could well be correct.

However, you probably don't want to fix right now, but without knowing how many units pa you use, no-one knows if the price you've gone up to is correct.

IcedOatLatte · 15/04/2022 12:23

@LindaEllen

There is something not right there. No normal household uses that much energy. Unless you were massively underpaying before, and these are catch-up payments, it's not right.

Did you submit a reading? Are you sure you got the numbers right?

You need to look into it, because there's no possible way that's right.

It's totally possible that it's right but the OP hasn't given enough information for anyone to know.

Everyone who has come off a fixed rate and is now on the standard variable rate will be suffering huge increases, easily doubling or more

What exactly are those figures @MrsMingech, can you give more details?