To wonder how I’m supposed to pay these prices? Energy bill calculated using KwH.

[WhatTheHeckToDo]

I’m on a standard variable tariff as my fix ended in Winter 21. I currently pay £250 per month via direct debit which I’ve now cancelled as my supplier is continuously increasing the direct debit .

I’m disabled and I need heat to prevent an exacerbation in symptoms. I also have a disabled child at home. I plan to use my heating only for 4 hours per day and hope it will be sufficient. No baths, just showers. We have old style radiators so I can’t limit heat to one room.

I’ve calculated my usage based on last winter’s kWh and the new increased costs means I’ll have to pay £650 per month over winter. It will decrease in summer but I still have to find winters payments .

I am sickened to the core by this. AIBU to think this is not a tenable situation?

I really wish utilities and essential infrastructure, like transport, was all publicly owned again. If only for the simple pricing.

I'm in the same boat, disabled, home all day, feel the cold and have asthma and difficulty shaking off infections, even in a warm, comfortable environment.

When the new price cap was announced I looked at how much fuel I used used during the very cold January 2021, keeping the house at 21 degrees while I was awake and 16° while I was in bed (I live in a mild area so the heating rarely switches on during the night.)

I paid £127 for fuel the fuel I used that cold January, but from October this year it would cost £506.85 to keep the same level of comfort. Hoping the winter will be mild or average I checked my usage over the past three years, so I could calculate my average annual fuel usage. Which is when I realised that to remain in credit and keep my home comfortably warm, I would have to raise my direct debit from £100/month to £307.50.

I just ordered a heated throw from Lakeland. I'm hoping that when I snuggle up under the remains of Bambi's mother it will keep me warm enough to turn the heating down a couple of degrees. Though when I catch pneumonia I am turning it back up again!

You shouldn't have cancelled your direct debit

@Lilylizard I cancelled it and still pay for it but I just pay for what use. I had no control over what the supplier was attempting to take out of my bank account .

The news said yesterday that paying as it comes in is significantly more than by dd. You need to talk to them.

My mum has cancelled her care (she has funded care but noone provides it at the price the government pays so she tops up) because if she doesn't she can't afford to heat her house.

You pay more per kilo watt hour if you pay retrospectively for what you've used rather than by DD - so you'll end up paying more overall, not less So you shouldn't have cancelled your direct debit

You can query the amount that they set for a DD, so you can tell them you'll only accept a smaller DD.

Are you getting all discounts you are entitled to?
www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/government-payments-discounts-heating-bills/

Also as others said, you need to speak to energy company and not just cancel dd. Dd usually carry some discount.

The DD is higher than you use in summer to try and even out the massive bump in winter. Can you start "overpaying" now?

I spoke to my supplier about the costs and whilst it is more costly overall paying for what I use , it is not much higher; it is pennies difference.

The discount is around £30 per year for paying direct debit . The supplier wanted to raise my direct debit by £150 per month.

For clarity, I discussed the options with my supplier before cancelling my direct debit. I am not the only person to be doing this; lots of people are refusing to pay ridiculous direct debits for the sake of a small increase in costs.

There are going to be many millions in the same boat and we simply cannot pay the utility companies money that we don't have. Depending on your company direct debit may be cheaper.
I'm going to live extremely frugally, insist my DD is set at amount I can afford and I'll make extra payments as and when I can, if I have to pay the rest back over the next few years so be it.
It won't be long before there is serious widespread civil unrest, so the govt will surely have to step in and do something.

I think you were right to cancel your DD OP. We pay for what we use and each time the bill comes it’s estimated higher, we give the correct reading and it comes down a lot.

i was behind an elderly gentleman in the bank queue last week and his provider had taken over £3000 in one payment out of his account one month which he’s manage to claw back with the help of the bank. Then the next month they’d taken out nearly two grand!!! He was beside himself. Direct debits give these organisations carte blanche to take what they want.

The rise in DD is to smooth out your payments over the year. Your dd would be building up a credit to help pay for your usage through the winter months.

You'd be better off continuing your direct debit even if it goes up so that you don't have to pay such a high amount in winter, the idea is to build up some credit ready for your winter bills. Alternatively you could ask to set up a variable direct debit instead of fixed, you'll still have the high winter bill to pay but you may be able to stay on the direct debit prices.

I understand the smoothing of payments but as I am currently not in credit, this is sadly not going to help this winter.

You need to pay something else you'll accrue massive debts.

I'm sorry for your worry, OP. Have you checked out what's available?

www.turn2us.org.uk/Your-Situation/Energy-and-Water-Bills

How much are you currently using in a month? Can you reduce your usage?

If you pay less now, you'll pay more in Winter. My supplier let's me change my direct debits online. I give regular meter readings to keep an eye on it too. I'd rather have credit going into the winter months than have to find more when the prices have gone even higher.

But if you had kept the DD and increased it as the supplier suggested, you may have built up a credit to help over the winter. By only paying retrospectively you have saved money in the short term but will have to either find more money or cut your usage for the winter.

I paid £127 for fuel the fuel I used that cold January, but from October this year it would cost £506.85 to keep the same level of comfort.

@Stealhsquirrelnutkin , have you been on a fixed tariff that has recently come to and end as though the increases have been huge you shouldn’t be paying that much of an increase in October?

Ps sorry my mistake I missed you said January 2021, I read it as January 2022. Even so the increase still sounds a bit too big. If not on a fix, prices will have gone up around 215 % between 2021 and 2022.

The government will have to announce some kind of help to avoid civil unrest. Feel for you though, it’s very stressful.

Unfortunately I don’t have the funds to pay the increased direct debit they want to charge me. As the prices per kWh are increasing , I’m unable to envisage me being in very much credit by the time October hits.