How the f*** are you all managing your electric bills?

[cofingalthetime]

I don't have gas...
Electric has gone up from 139 per month, to 225, and now the latest is 450...

I don't know how I'm supposed to manage.

Do you all pay by DD. I don't want a meter, I had one before, and it was a nightmare, so expensive.

If 450 goes out of my account next month I won't be able to buy food or petrol or clothes

I got the 150 from the council, and paid it immediately into my electric ,b ut that's a drop in the ocean. How are you all managing.

I'm really really scared.

Mine was hitting £400 a month but the electric Aga is the culprit. That’s off now. Your usage seems excessive. Examine everything you use

Ours was a shock this month. Gas and electric together. Paid DD, Dh says we are 'overdrawn' £112 already!
£140, to £170, to £240.

His blind obession with Carbon Neutral is hindering his judgment, oh and the fact that he is a f*cking idiot, also hinders his judgement.

I tried to sort out a direct debit for mine today. The bill a month ago for 3 months was £1250. They needed an up date reading on gas and electric and its come in at £2500.
£1250 for a month without having the heating on!
Thats more than I earn.
What would happen if the whole country went "nope, not paying anymore" or only paid a reasonable sum of money?
Eg, 5p day standing charge and 10p per kw

Could they send debt collectors after the whole country?

Direct your anger to the utility companies making profit, high VAT collected by the government because we are paying more, COVID and PPE tax fraud.

They are not sharing it to the masses.

Yes I fixed in September but asked for it to start in Nov as the fix was more than the tariff I was on. I wish Martin had suggested that people weighed up the costs of getting rid of the fix. Some had a charge per product but if you’d fixed it would have been cheaper anyway.

The food bank in my area is only allowing 3 referrals a year 😢
we are struggling but not at the food bank stage ……..yet

2 bed flat. All usual household stuff - electric oven, combi oven, micro + grill, induction hob, w/machine, stand mixer, juicer, slow cooker, other food prep and cleaning machines.
Gas combi boiler, CH and hob.
Last elec bill 31/04 - 10/05 was 16.80 incl VAT
64 units over 37 days.

Have you rung your supplier to see if you can haggle over the monthly payment? The £450 is probably calculated automatically by a computer, but if you speak to a customer service representative, they can usually get it down quite a bit.

Locked in tariff until Oct 2024.

How much?

That's more than £800 a fucking month!

Eek. That's £5,400 per year, and assuming winter will cost more, surely no one can afford that. 🙁

Round here, in a smokeless fuel, area, I keep smelling wood smoke. I'm half convinced people are burning their furniture to keep warm rather than turn the heating on. 😮

It breaks my heart that people still vote Tory despite the collapsing NHS, poverty levels, food banks, now unable to heat homes.

It's like some kind if dystopian nightmare.

Mine is going to be £7500 they just said (a year) - big house.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people could afford it, most likely including the government ministers who don't seem to care, as they'll be okay. So they assume it's not a big issue.
We could easily afford it and then some, but I still don't think it's okay. I've written to my MP because some of the stories I've been hearing are heartbreaking, but I don't think he'll care. I don't even know what I can do as an individual, apart from rage at a government who will happily watch people being driven into poverty by the cost of living. 🙁

We'd be up to £3.9k in October if we were on the svr. 4 bed detached, 5 people in it, electric car, and one chronic illness that means a warm home is needed for good health. Fortunately we are on a long contract which is just shy of current rates and solar power that is reducing our annual electric consumption. £3.9k is eye watering when we were at less than £2k this time last year.

It’s a nightmare and rising again in October in time for Christmas when we are already stressed about presents etc . I currently feel like we are surviving not living. I work full time above min wage and it is a worry.

It might be worth checking with your current provider if they have you on the right tariff. However I am with a company who have the lowest rate so it might be worth taking a look to see if you can save with us. Send me a message and I will show you and then at least you have something to compare your current provider with. Let me know if I can help.
Cheli

Do you have disability or health related equipment running 24/7? That's not a typical bill.

I think people need to try to use what they can afford, within reason. Disability, illness, or old age may mean high bills, and many struggle with low bills. Mine is £105 a month and I couldn't afford much more. I have an electric blanket and warm clothes I will use before the heating though.

Welcome to Tory Britain…

The WEF told him to do it. And he's their puppet.

I'm on a pre payment meter always have been here

I was worried but I've stopped using the dryer and I'm turning everything off that doesn't need to be on and so far I'm still using the same amount each month which is around £110 electric and just under £ 30 a month gas

To be fair, you would get exactly the same with Lib, Lab, Con or Green. They are all committed to Net-Zero Carbon. The only person fighting this madness is Nigel Farage.

Nigel Farage's new drive for vote to kill off Boris's 'ruinous' green agenda: He got us out of the EU… Now the former UKIP chief demands a referendum on Net Zero

I hear such horror stories about providers hugely increasing people’s direct debits. British Gas tried this with us last year - before the energy crisis hit. We were in the second year of a two year fixed rate deal and they tried to put up the direct debit by £50 a month - we pay the same every month to cover bills over a 12 month period, reviewed every May. My smart meter told me the consumption had stayed pretty much the same so I challenged them. They left things as they were and ended up owing me £50 at the end of the fixed rate - the excuse for the attempted increase was that the computer had overestimated our usage for the year. I’m with others on here in saying that you don’t have to pay what they ask if you can’t afford to. Give them a figure you can afford and agree to review it regularly - most providers will allow you to make one off payments in addition to your direct debit.

To answer your question I was really lucky to secure another fixed rate deal in November 2021 which doesn’t finish until October 2023, so not too bad at the moment. We’ve increased our direct debit from £100 a month to £200 so that we’ll be in credit come the review next year, and to get used to paying more as will inevitably be the case when the fixed rate deal comes to an end. Dreading it.

Posted too soon - meant to say that anyone who thinks their provider is overcharging should absolutely challenge them in view of the fact that a lot of providers have been accused of increasing customer direct debits disproportionately to help with their cash flow.

I live in a labour controlled Devolved Welsh Government, more schools in special measures as a % than England, and an NHS that is on its knees, and below England in every metric (ambulance wait times, bed wait times, waitining lists etc)

It is not a Tory thing, it is a totally inept policital system, designed to benefit the few, be it Red, Yellow, Blue or Green in Charge.

Genuinely look across the bench at the so called opposition, do you really think Starmer, Rayner, Abbot, Lammy, Cooper etc would be any better.