Gas and electric gone from £134 to £488

[MrsMingech]

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?

Energy companies are increasing direct debits by more than needed, this is being looked at.

inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/uk-energy-suppliers-ofgem-investigation-raise-customers-direct-debits-more-necessary-1578143

WHY?

Were you owing some previously?

I’d ask for an explanation and a breakdown. It could be that you were paying less as you had a credit to spread over the last few months and that’s combined with your tariff ending or being on a variable tariff that has increased. It could also be that it’s wrong.

Don’t forget to mention if your circumstances have changed. Many people worked from home and stayed home for most of the last couple of years so the energy use companies are using for their calculations is based on that continuing for the next year.

@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.

I can see a lot of posters have asked what I asked.(Should read the thread first!}

As has been said @MrsMingech unless you owed a lot of money (as you were underpaying because of an artificially low quote from an energy company,) you should not have more 54% added on.

That can’t be right. Mine has gone up from £100 to £140 to £200 which is much more typical (and having checked my bills, I know they are overcharging). Unless your previous payments led to a huge underpayment at the end of March, you need to check your bills and challenge the fuel company.

The 54% rise only applies to those that were on the existing SVR as that's what increased by 54%. If you came off a fixed rate and onto the increased SVR then your rate could be well above 54%. If you took a new fixed rate then that's likely to be above the capped rate too

@Flapjak

Does anyone know if it saves on gas / electric if you switch off the boiler if you dont need the hot water element . Used to have the standard boiler and only heated the water morning / evening for showers .

I doubt it is worth it. You may cause other issues in the system having it off for long periods regularly.

It will get interesting when people are unable to keep up payments and they are taken to court 😳😳

Will wait for the Government to say, nothing they can do 😾

I think they have made a mistake, I live in a large 5/6 bed Tudor House (so basically no insulation or double glazing) and ours has increased from £160 to £350 which I think is about right. we had been overpaying for 2 years and our monthly payment had gone down to pay us back, we had just got within £50 last month, hence the £160 , I think usage was more like £200. Def query it, we don't have a smart meter but we send our readings in every quarter and they check about once a year.

I'm with She'll energy. My DD has gone up from £76pm to £151pm. But for two reasons, I think. One we normally holiday January to March so we miss those very high energy using months, but obviously covid stopped that. And two, I haven't sent in a reading for ages so o think this is a catch up for the past two winters. I'm quite pleasantly surprised tbh, especially when I see the numbers mentioned on here. I've cancelled sky, which I've meant to do for ages, and that will make up the difference. So far, I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I definitely need to get a smart meter to keep on top of the readings.

I don’t have our on DD either. I take a meter reading each month (no smart meter as had only just had meter changed and it was a massive pita so not doing again before we have to) and keep a good eye on it. Our electric company emailed with the new rates do I know what we’re up against. I put money away each month for the non-monthly bills (smooths out the winter energy peaks) and have nudged that up by £150 to cover energy, insurance etc roses.

Mine went from £197 to £576! I am still waiting for a justification for it - almost 200%. I can’t afford it and have told them so. I am obviously looking at my usage and have made adjustments but our location and high ceilings mean we are frequently on the cooler side even when being careful. I don’t know what we will do come October. And we are not coming off a fixed rate and I have a small debt of £120.

My plan is to take readings monthly so any adjustment can be made immediately I will be making a complaint this week if they do not come back to me - I simply asked them to explain their calculations.

I just don't 'get' how they are coming up with these figures.

People just pay the amount, if you scam £200 credit from every customer and you have say 5 million of them... that's (a lovely amount for the company)

If they go under, well the company is keeping that money and Ofgem guarantees it, then STANDING CHARGES INCREASE AGAIN....

History, can't argue with it, it's the truth.

I think they are trying it on and using it as an interest free loan

Energy providers actually don't make huge profits, hence why so many went bust. The oil and gas industry does, but they already pay the highest tax levy, and their shareholders are mostly pension companies, who I am sure most of you have an interest in, including most civil servants.

2021 profit statements.

The highest earner, SSE, made £600m alone in profit before taxes, according to annual accounts published by the energy regulator Ofgem. Last month, the Scottish energy company was forced to apologise for advising customers to “do star jumps” to keep their energy bills down.

E.On, Scottish Power and Centrica, which owns British Gas, made a further £622m

@BigWoollyJumpers

Seriously? Those that went bust, were underselling energy, doesn't mean then didn't go under after paying massive shareholder dividends....

Look back at your energy use for the last year then use that to calculate your new cost per year. I did that and set up a direct debit based on that total divided by 12 so we can build up a cushion before the winter.

We were on a really cheap fix which ends today so our DD has increased from £130 to £299.

@howtomoveforwards

Mine went from £197 to £576! I am still waiting for a justification for it - almost 200%. I can’t afford it and have told them so. I am obviously looking at my usage and have made adjustments but our location and high ceilings mean we are frequently on the cooler side even when being careful. I don’t know what we will do come October. And we are not coming off a fixed rate and I have a small debt of £120.

My plan is to take readings monthly so any adjustment can be made immediately I will be making a complaint this week if they do not come back to me - I simply asked them to explain their calculations.

Could you give us the prices you were paying before including standing charges and the prices you are paying now per kWh and your usage?

@EngTech

It will get interesting when people are unable to keep up payments and they are taken to court 😳😳

Will wait for the Government to say, nothing they can do 😾

If you're on a smart meter they won't take you to court, they'll just switch it to a prepayment meter and they don't even need access to your house to do so.

SSE did that to me earlier this year.

There is a recurring theme on this forum for people to make statements about energy prices that appear insane then disappear from the thread when asked to quantify their energy usage and costs.

There is a recurring theme on this forum for people to make statements about energy prices that appear insane then disappear from the thread when asked to quantify their energy usage and costs

Assuming that is aimed at me, I am not sure I am obliged to provide you or anyone else with that information just to be believed. I have escalated the lack of response on why my direct debit has increased by almost 200% to a complaint.

Sounds similar to ours. £135 to £517 per month but that includes some debt to pay off. Settled on £350 and have gone round switching EVERYTHING off. No hot tubs and have plenty of blankets/ thermal socks hanging around. Fortunately we can pay, but I’m sure there are many households that can’t.
Fwiw Tyneside we had the heating on one hour in the morning and two hours in the evening if it dropped below 18 degrees. Possibly during the day but we tend to use blankets when wfh.

Before we moved to Copenhagen late in 20 , we were paying £210 on gas monthly and £88 on electric on a hugely inefficient 2000 sq ft stone built 20’s semi in Bath with British Gas and EDF . I was always in credit overall and I would expect this now to be £280 on gas and £120 on electric on DD if it was actually based on bills . I have no doubt these companies would be trying now for £400 on gas and £160 on electric. The few companies remaining now have a monopoly — and hence are trying to get punters paying on huge DDs because people have been conditioned mentally that bills have doubled — to quote Del Boy— it’s a nice little earner depositing all these vast amounts of regular payments on the money markets nightly— I know because I used to work For banks on money markets doing just that. The other side of the coin is I think all these new interlopers were essentially a giant Ponzi scheme- totally under allowing for bills to attract lots of new customers but it’s great for cash flow— very easy to ‘enter’ that market- until it totally bit them on the arse. When my son told me he was paying £88 for both gas/electric on a big 2 bed flat- to me it didn’t quite sit right— and what a surprise- he ended up with a £560 underpayment and a bust fuel company— no doubt some Del Boy types though had taken nice dividends before they went bust— get savvy people— pay sensible amounts in- not necessarily what they ask for and keep an eye on it via smart meter. It’s very unlikely anyone’sbills gave actually tripled— and get readings in- don’t just allow continuous estimates