AIBU to be feeling bleak about bills?

[PocketRocket12]

Quarterly electricity bill arrived… am actually in tears. Could people possibly share what they’re paying at the moment, just for some sort of anxiety relief that we are all in this together?

AIBU to let it get me down so much? I can’t sleep through worry.

I would recommend ringing up and haggling, my friend did and her bill was cut by £200 a month it pays to ring up and complain

No her direct debit might’ve been cut by £200 a month the bill will remain the same.

It’s not the bill that’s cut but the inflated direct debit. We submitted a meter reading a couple of weeks ago and our direct debit was immediately reduced by £60 a month.

I have been offered a £50 cut in direct debit as we have reduced usage, but I’m not going to accept the reduction so as to help cover the anticipated price increases in the autumn

So basically you are going to allow the big corporation to earn extra interest on your £50 and millions of other people‘s £50 rather than you pop it in your bank account and save it so that you might get some of the benefit of that but more to the point they won’t

I took out a 2 year fix in late 2021 so my payments will luckily stay low through this winter at least about £120 total for electricity and gas joint tariff. I imagine the government will have to do something by the end of this winter anyway so I’m hoping 2023 won’t be too bad.

It makes no odds whether the £50 is in the energy suppliers’ account or @HairyKitty’s. There’s no interest on current accounts and a miniscule amount on easily accessible savings accounts now. With inflation the way it is the energy supplier may as well take the hit.

Those £50 all add up so it most definitely makes a difference to the energy company as to who’s accounts they’re in.

I have a friend who works for a big multinational and it is literally his job to move the money around on a monthly, weekly, and on a daily basis to make the cash in their account work for them as effectively and risk free as possible but even if they only get 0.5% interest on something overnight that could be £10,000 x 365

2 adults, 2 kids here in old and draughty 3 bed semi.
Our electricity costs have shot up recently, more so than the gas, so I dug about in the bills looking for increased usage. Of course what I found was that our usage has been really steady and the costs have just gone up.

However I do think it is very high compared to other people here so I am wondering...how can I tell which appliances/devices are incurring the highest usage?
Kids don't game, we all charge phones. Tumble drier on just for 10-15 mins when I use it to finish off stuff that's still damp from outside.
I cook a lot, wondering if a big fan oven could be a culprit?
Is there a way of finding out what's using what?

None of which affects the benefits or otherwise of prepayment. The money will make no difference whatsoever in an individual account. And frankly if energy suppliers make millions by moving their cash reserves around that would be a good thing if they used the money to keep prices down or had it taxed away.

You can look at manuals or google the aplliance. They will have usage indicated.

Thank you!
I've also looked at these plugs you can get on amazon for c£15...they apparently show the usage (a lot of our appliances are ancient which is probably part of the problem)

I would think so with the age of appliance.
Some appliances are not suitable to be checked with the checking gizmo (like oven) so just find their manuals.
Oven eats a lot!

It’s not about being “offered” a cut to your direct debit and it’s certainly not “haggling” @MotherOfRatios . You can, within reason, set the direct debit at the level you want. Set it too low and there will be a big bill for you in the future. Set it too high and you’ll save up a big credit with the energy company (which you can obviously use to offset against future use so it’s not gone). If we both use £150 a month energy and you “haggle” to pay £100 a month and I am conservative any pay £160 it doesn’t mean you pay less than me. At the end of the year I’ll have £120 off next year’s bills and you’ll have a nice bill for £600.

Some of the people paying lower direct debit amounts will be people who would have rather their money sitting in their own accounts and are perfectly aware of what they are using and owe. Some of the people who don’t pay enough will be completely unaware of the fact that they have a big bill coming and may be unable to pay and eventually moved to pre-payment.

Yes. This works much better for my budget as I have little flexibility in it.

Yes, there needs to be more awareness of the difference between the monthly direct debit amount, the amount you actually used in the past month, and one twelfth of your annual bills taking account of future price rises.

Totally agree. The amount of people I ket who thought their DD is their use is astounding

I know I am overpaying. Said before. It’s about £100 less I use at the moment so will hopefully help cover winters bills

but paying £250 a month means I spend /use £3000 a year. Insane

Can't you? Last month I averaged 2.3kWh per day for electricity. I live alone and the only energy-intensive electrical appliances I have are the washing machine and the oven.

Obviously if you include the gas consumption it's more (gas was 4.5kWh per day) but my electricity consumption really is that low.

@DdraigGoch dont you have a fridge freezer microwave dishwasher WiFi phones or lights plugged in as basics

or are you saying this all run at low cost

I have all these plus fish tank , robot hoover . Laptop and printer plugged in and fans x 2 when hot

summer months hot tub which I know uses 3 ish a day

bur mine is usually 12/14 without hot tub

bur mine is usually 12/14 without hot tub

I think 12/14 is as high as 4 is low usage. It is well above national averages.

I have all the normal appliances and use 7-8 but I just try to be mindful. Switches off when not in use. Washing every other day on lowest energy setting. I choose not to tumble dry. Etc.

I don't use anywhere close to 14 even woth all my Christmas lights on😳
More like 6 then. I have lots of them but on timers

I use between 7 and 8 kw a day and I have solar panels. My solar system is only 8 panels due to the configuration of my roof but every little helps.
We. Are a family of 5 adults and in the winter our energy use will sky rocket as my mum is a housebound wheelchair user. I can’t let her get cold so I am over paying now to build up as much credit as possible. Plus her winter fuel payment is being doubled this year plus she will get the £150 cost of living payment as she is on DLA at the highest rate for both care and mobility so both will go straight into the energy account. My son is getting the £150 cost of living payment as he gets pip which is also will be added to the energy account. Working out on last years usage I expect my bill to be over £900 on the 3 coldest months of winter and around £650 to £750 for the other winter months.
Going to be a hard winter for us as I must make savings to bring those bills down to a level within my budget so I will turn off the heating for most of the house and just heat the areas mum uses. My sons are getting a heated throw and a power bank so that he can charge it at work. I won’t use the tumbler dryer this winter and have bought two airers which I will put in a corner of mums room. I have also been stock piling any essentials that we use like toilet paper and toiletries.
I am becoming a bit obsessed and also worry about any rolling blackouts so will keep mums wheelchair charged just in case as without it she is stuck in her armchair as I can’t get her in and out the Manuel chair anymore. Maybe even get an extra power bank as a back up for the chair.

Large 4 bed detached house, family of 4, £95 monthly (dual fuel) but set to increase to £150 per month once the fuel cap goes up. Variable tarriff.
I set the DD to be a little more than what we actually use, so we have a little credit. We're planning on just increasing it when needed, even though they keep trying to in advance, to "build up credit"!

Very bleak indeed. We are currently paying £175 a month for gas and electricity, but been asked to increase to £260 from next month. I dread the October increase, and those after that. We are fortunate we can afford it without too much hardship though.