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.

Im checking and inputting my readings every month. Even so last month they put the DD up by £50 again. I would never have a smart meter again as it doesnt refresh until 6 months.

I wouldn't advise cancelling your direct debit as there is often a discount for paying this way.

I would give regular readings and make sure that the amount you pay covers your usage. I would not take a fix right now unless it's a super good deal close to the SVR.

YANBU mine was £60 a month and now it’s £200+.

There’s only 2 of us and 6 days a week we’re out all day so only the fridge freezer is on.
When we are in we don’t use much and don’t have heating on or hot water apart from the shower, so I have no idea how it’s so much.

What do you mean it doesn’t refresh until 6 months?

I get a monthly bill with actual readings from my smart meter, with an hour by hour breakdown of usage. I can see my usage on the app the next day, and that day’s usage on the screen in my kitchen.

Nice. Meanwhile some of us are working 2 jobs to pay for your bills.

We’re paying for them by me taking on a second job and not doing anything fun or having heating on.

I’m a carer…..

I’ve been eligible to be on full benefits for 6 years since dc was awarded hrc/hrm I’ve struggled through and this pushed me over the edge so I gave up

Do you work full time OP?

I've cut back on everything! No heating, turned hot water off unless needed, no tumble dryer, ram dishwasher full before I turn it on, stopped using coffee machine, wash on 30 degrees, stop showers while I wash hair or shave, don't use hairdryer or straightners.

Currently electric is £60 and Gas £45 a month. Work from home and on a PAYG meter.

Hi @cofingalthetime check with your landlord or housing association whether you, or they, are able to access grants for improving insulation. If the property is uninsulated there will be grants available.

Adding extra oil radiators would be no more efficient than your existing set up. Are you on economy 7 with storage heaters?

I have a pre pay card both gas and electric
gas has gone up by 6 pounds and electric a fiver
I swear that everyone I know who is on DD is being ripped off
I put £100 on my prey pay cards and then each week top up the difference

although the GCH isn’t on much we have at least 3 - 4 showers a day and if I wanted to put the heating on I would
washing machine usually every other day
rarely use the tumble dryer anyway
but I’ve not cut back on anything that I used previously

Our bill is quarterly and we haven't set up a direct debit. What we do is pay extra each month which makes our quarterly bill shrink to a more manageable amount.

That can be £20, £30, £40, etc, extra a month. Occasionally, I'll chuck in £100.

No, I don't earn the average wage either. But this more than works for us. No money worries each month either.

We found quite a difference when we turned the thermostat on our immersion right down, and put it on timed instead of constant.

My DH has a flat that he rents out
he recently installed new electric heaters for the tennants and they said that the electric has gone form as previously on storage heating
I think previously they were paying £30 a week and now only £25

I think you need to work out what uses what and how much it cost to run then adjust
Are you using £15 a day or is that a high amount to build a buffer .

I've got a meter it was here when j moved in. My electric has gone up from 60 pounds a month to 80 pounds. Get it checked op or go on a meter

That poster is an unpaid carer. The rules are different when you are providing care and getting carers allowance. UC recognise at least a little that 35+ hours caring for a disabled family member is work

As per PPs, do not go onto the fixed rate tariff. Accept being moved onto the standard variable rate, which short of living in a mansion should be considerably less than £450/month.

@Inthesameboatatmo
same here I’m on pre pay meters and although it’s gone up it’s like by around 20 a month for gas and the same for electric
i don’t get these huge prices that everyone is talking about

Even with a smart meter, still check the reading. If it's a dual/economy 7 meter, make sure the readings aren't transposed. To do this you'll need to complete a load test. Check which rate they have as your day rate, take a reading, use a little electricity (boil the kettle, cook something in the oven etc) take another reading. If it's the night one that's advanced your readings are transposed. It's a simple fix for them. Best to do this between 11am and 12 when positive the day rate is kicked in.
Are you on the cheapest tariff? Your bill tells you if there are cheaper alternatives. You could use price comparison websites too, may be better to switch.
Are you in any debt? If so, they'll have increased massively to ensure your paid up to date by your midterm assessment, which is over 6 months. This is the most common cause of an increase. If that is the case, you don't need to pay the new amount. Contact the supplier, explain it's not affordable, we're entering the summer period so you expect your usage to decrease and would like the payment set at X per month.
Best advice is keep an eye on comparison websites as often as you can, at least every 3 months. Remember sometimes it's worth paying a tiny bit more for a long term fix as it'll protect you against increases. Always pay the same amount every month throughout the year. In the summer you will build up credit, that'll help towards the increased usage through the winter months.
Check your getting any help you're entitled to. The scope for warm home discount is wider than people realise and it's not always automatically applied.
Most suppliers can give energy saving advice, explaining how much each appliance costs to run, you can find the tips online too.
Sorry for the lecture 😅 I worked for an energy company and don't think many realise how happy they are to help and put off calling them.

There must be some huge system errors somewhere at the moment. For you op it sounds like moving would be good if you could afford.

the dd thing I will never understand last months was £160 next month they are only taking £25 which I doubt would even cover the daily standing charged. The system is broken for dds

@70kid. No I don't get it either as on a meter we also pay charge on having it. It baffles me where these massive price hikes you see are coming from because its not reflected in the meter payments .

By using as little as possible.

Right now, in my house, DD is on a laptop, I'm on my phone, both battery power.
There's a bedside clock in my bedroom and DD has a lamp on

Besides the fridge, That's it. We've nothing else electric being used right now. Nothing on standby, plugs off at walls.

I use the washing machine when full, only when full and only on short cycle.

Heating is electric, it's not used, not even in winter.
Water is immersion tank, that's also switched off. We don't have baths, showers only.

Everything we use we consider first. If we can eat no cook meals, we will. If we can leave a light off and open curtains, we will. Etc

by treating it like a precious resource and remembering that each kettle, each washong machine cycle, each microwave use or oven use etc is actually pennies being burnt, my usage is £45-£60 a month.
believe me though, I do it because I'm on universal credit and they expect £343 a month to cover everything.

That’s nuts if someone can be better off on benefits than by working.
No incentive for poorly paid to work - Rent used to take half my pay, but if one gets it paid, that’s a huge benefit in itself.
Do they pay mortgages?!👀

Yes, I know someone else who did this. It wasn't planned but he found himself better off after losing his job during the pandemic.

I find it interesting how the tories brought us austerity, maligned the welfare state and suspected everyone on benefits of abusing the system.

I dont think it is the ordinary joe who is abusing the taxpayer, you have to look further up the wealth scale. Everything benefits them.

Why people keep voting for this is beyond me. Perhaps they think the trickle down effect will eventually drip in, lol.

We have decimated services, poison in our rivers, housing estates popping up with no infrastructure so we become more car dependent. And this is the way we keep voting.

This gov protect their own, and they have the working classes completely fooled into thinking they are represented. But don't worry, anyone who feels safer in these times on benefits will be ridiculed and used as scapegoats for the economic hardships come the next general election - brought to you faithfully but the dirtbag tory mega press.