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?

I live in a 1 bedroom apartment in The Hague and below is my usage for March

Electricity € -6.53 (145 kwh)
Gas € 29.38 (10 m³)
Usage for March € 22.15

The minus figure for electricity is because in The Netherlands we get a reduction plus a VAT rebate and apparently my reduction is worth more than what I pay for electricity. I pay a monthly DD of €100, I overpay and get the excess back every November.

The figures quoted in this thread are mind boggling and before anyone says how great the Netherlands government are, don’t the proportion of tax paid on energy was the second highest in the world.

Don't you need to report it to Ofgen if after working out what it should be and the DD is not the correct amount. I would spend some time working it out OP and report them if it's wrong and they don't change it

You’re not obliged to maintain your DD at the ‘suggested’ amount. Ring them up and have it changed.

Surely you can work out your estimated usage yourself if you have a smart meter. Nobody on here can tell you whether it’s correct because it depends on whether you had a cheap fix before, usage, etc etc.

@howtomoveforwards

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.

Well, you and the OP. Plus a number of other threads I can't be arsed to search out.

It's reasonable to assume you want to know why your bill has gone up since that's what this thread is all about, yet both of you ignore the numerous posts trying to help.

Your direct debit might have soared by that amount, but that isn't your energy cost, the amount of energy you use is.

We were on a good fixed rate but this ended in February and are now on the standard variable rate. With the new prices for energy we now pay 42% more. This is based on our usage for March, where we still have the central heating on at times. Where these 200% increases are coming from is beyond me.

We are with Shell energy FWIW, 7p per kWh gas, 27p per kWh electricity. 27p and 48p per day standing charge. Its no big secret.

You could sit down for ten minutes yourself and work it out, then alter your direct debit to suit you. Possibly in less time than you have spent on this thread.

The one thing that has become obvious since the vast increase to energy costs is that many people didn't actually know their usage or didn't worry about meter readings. I've been with BG/Sainsbury's Energy for years. When Sainsbury's Energy was sold I went back to BG and had a smart meter. No issues until recently when the My Energy section on their website failed. I'm on an annual dd plan finishing in Oct but my tariff finished on 31.3. However with the few remaining energy companies becoming SOLR their customer service depts are inundated with enquiries. BG's smart meter updates failed at 16th Feb, my account online shows the meter readings at 31.3 and I've had a bill issued. The meter in the house is showing my old rate for electricity but the gas is correct. I've put in a complaint about the lack of information for customers and I know I am in credit at the beginning of April by £100. I will ask for a bill at the end of April and each month top it up monthly so I'm not in debt. Yesterday the My Energy had updated to 12th March, haven't checked it today

@Chely

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.

I just got a smart meter too, but I don't understand what impact that will make to the DD. They will review it in Aug, I am worried they EDF will increase the DD despite of the smart meter.

I am worried they EDF will increase the DD despite of the smart meter

If they say they are going to do that you can change it online or call and say you want to reduce it. Work out your own usage and set the amount to cover it.

@LetMeTryAgain who are you with?

@Ronnie211097, we were moved from Igloo to Eon Next.

@LetMeTryAgain it's total madness... we are with Shell and they just changed our direct debit from 144 a month to 366 without consulting us first. Same as with you, they base our DD on an estimate and apparently claim that we use 27k of energy a month... a couple uses 250 a month, if that...