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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Has anyone's fuel bill decreased?

42 replies

AlternativelyWired · 28/10/2022 10:25

I was paying £150 for combined gas and electric from EON. That included some of a debit balance I was paying off. I'm on their variable tariff as there was no option to fix anything unless I went for a tariff that was going to be £300 a month. I live in a 4 bed modern townhouse with a rubbish heating system. No combi boiler so the water is on for about half an hour a day. Gas hob. Electric oven. I use the drier occasionally but the washer and dishwasher every day. There's one adult and 2 dc here. My bill has decreased to £83 this month and next with the £60 from the government. I was told back in September my bill would go up to £183 in December but that's nothing compared to what people on here are saying they are paying. The heating isn't on yet but I'd be out all day most days so it won't be on for more than about 5 hours a day when it does go on.
Has anyone else had their bill decrease?

OP posts:
AlternativelyWired · 28/10/2022 10:27

My app reports that I've used £80 this month. £60 of that is electricity as for the past 3 weeks we've been home all day watching tv thanks to covid. The tv would be on a quarter of that time normally.

OP posts:
lozabella · 28/10/2022 10:29

Yep. Eon too. It was raised last month for October. And now it's gone back down to the original amount I was paying. We managed to fix literally just before it all went soaring so I'm hoping we will be ok. I assume it's to do with the gov payments?

RedWingBoots · 28/10/2022 10:31

Yep because my supplier was overcharging me after I left my fix earlier this year.

Without the government discount I would be paying the same.

I only managed to get most of my credit back by putting a one star review on Trustpilot. They ignored my repeated calls to lower my DD or refund most of my credit.

swingsandroundabouts222 · 28/10/2022 10:35

Mine has remained the same, but I assumed that was due to the government payments combined with the credit I built up in the summer.
However I check my account daily as I have a horrible feeling there still might be a nasty surprise in store!

converseandjeans · 28/10/2022 10:37

Mine has gone from £110 a month to £370 with British Gas. The gas alone has increased from £45 to £220 a month which is bonkers. I've tried to contact them but they're always busy.

GasPanic · 28/10/2022 10:37

With DD you pay a constant amount each month. The idea is that you pay more than you use in summer to build up credit for the winter.

The majority of peoples energy usage is heating. So if you don't have the heating on and your getting a discount from the government it is probably not surprising that your bill might not be that bad.

5 hours of heating a day though, at 12kwh per hour for 30 days at the current gas prices would be approx. £8 per day with gas, or £240 a month.

So my suggestion is wait until you start turning the heating on.

AlternativelyWired · 28/10/2022 10:52

I didn't build up any credit over the summer due to having a large amount in debit. I might put the heating on for a test run to see how much it costs per hour.

OP posts:
Middledazedted · 28/10/2022 10:54

Mine is 150 with the govt cash. It used to be 240 before I started making changes!

OxanaVorontsova · 28/10/2022 10:54

Yes, DD reduced by £40 a month and a refund of £270 negotiated last week, still leaving 2 months of DD as a credit balance on our account.

BarbaraofSeville · 28/10/2022 10:54

Your DD might have changed, but that doesn't mean your fuel bill has decreased.

As you're on the price cap, you're paying around 35 p per unit of electricity and 10 p for gas. A year or two, it's likely your electricity was around half that, and your gas under a third of that amount. The standing charge was a lot less too.

Unless you're already quite a light user, or have cut down the amount you use by a lot then it's unlikely your annual fuel bill is less than it was a year ago.

ShineOnYouLikeMorningStar · 28/10/2022 10:55

Yes. We were previously paying £65 ish per month combined but had a fairly large credit on the account, I think about £300-400 as they obviously had the DD amount set too high. We've also had the maximum government help (I think) so our bill has now gone down which I was pretty shocked at, we're with EON. AFAIK the unit rates are pretty standard. It will obviously go back up eventually but it's nice that it's so low for now, I was looking at our bills the other day & the vast majority of our bill is actually accrued in winter, the usage in summer is incredibly low.
We're just in a normal modern shoebox house, north of England. We're frugal with the heating though, always have been. I got thermal curtains & radiator heat reflectors this year, hope they help.

BarbaraofSeville · 28/10/2022 10:56

It's also been quite mild recently, so likely that you've not needed to put the heating on. In past years people will have used the heating quite a bit by now, but even if they have, the cost of the units used will have cost far less than they do now.

Wailywailywaily · 28/10/2022 11:00

Bulb have reduced my DD to £1! I do have about £600 credit which I was planning on using up over the winter with fuel cost rises. I don’t have an option to increase my DD at the moment so I guess I’ll use up that credit a lot quicker than I planned.
my usage is currently about £80/ month. It’s a new and very efficient 3 bed semi.

alloalloallo · 28/10/2022 11:00

Do you pay a fixed amount direct debit each month?

I submit meter readings each to British Gas each month through an app, and then pay by direct debit.

Mine has gone down a bit this month, I’m assuming due to the £66 ish a month government help.

We were over paying so we could build up a bit of a cushion, we were paying £150 a month but they’ve put it down to £132 this month.

fyn · 28/10/2022 11:03

Our combined gas and electric for a four bed house last month was £22 after the credit was taken off. We are one a variable tariff, it just hasn’t been cold enough for heating yet!

AlternativelyWired · 28/10/2022 11:03

I have a smart meter and that's what's telling me how much I've used.

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 28/10/2022 11:05

my usage has decreased but the amount in cost has still increased evening though Im using less gas and electric

notmyrealmoniker · 28/10/2022 11:09

EON We are fixed at £110 until spring. So far we havent used the heating very much and have solar panels so do the diswashing and washing separately to take advantage of this electric. Using the washing line as much as possible. So far we are £250 in credit which won't last long when it gets colder.

notmyrealmoniker · 28/10/2022 11:09

The sods won't set up a smart meter and the current one wont work

IncessantNameChanger · 28/10/2022 11:14

Mine is less but that's just because I'm being mindful about what we are using after all these hikes. The unit prices I'd definitely higher, I'm just using as little of it as I can. With that and gov discount I think our bill will be about £30 this month.

luxxlisbon · 28/10/2022 11:15

I mean without saying how much of your 150 a month was paying off debt this is a pointless comparison really.

You were paying off a debt, now you aren’t so your bill is lower. That seems obvious.

For your bill to actually have gone down compared to October last year you still probably need to be using about 40% less energy than you were then, this is accounting for the £60 government credit.

PantyMcPantFace · 28/10/2022 11:18

We have a ridiculous amount of credit built up (over £1100) which I am trying to speak to someone (anyone) in Scottish Power about a refund. Still got another DD to go out before the quartly bill comes in. Jun - Sep bill £400 Mar - May bill £550.... So by the time the Oct-Nov bill comes in they will have near enough £1500 in their bank account!

Our useage has drastically reduced (DH no longer WFH with electric radiator in converted garage/office). So they are basing DDs on what we historically used. I get that. But I would like them to recalculate - seeing as our useage has halved. And recalculate given our amount in credit. Instead they are suggesting we increase our DD by another £10 a month.

Speaking to someone thought seems a pipe dream....am currently waiting on Faceache (desparate measures) for someone to get back to me....

Tadpoll · 28/10/2022 11:20

converseandjeans · 28/10/2022 10:37

Mine has gone from £110 a month to £370 with British Gas. The gas alone has increased from £45 to £220 a month which is bonkers. I've tried to contact them but they're always busy.

Check what you’re actually using and cancel the DD if you can’t get hold of them and it’s way above what you’re using. They’ll soon get in touch.

Tadpoll · 28/10/2022 11:20

PantyMcPantFace · 28/10/2022 11:18

We have a ridiculous amount of credit built up (over £1100) which I am trying to speak to someone (anyone) in Scottish Power about a refund. Still got another DD to go out before the quartly bill comes in. Jun - Sep bill £400 Mar - May bill £550.... So by the time the Oct-Nov bill comes in they will have near enough £1500 in their bank account!

Our useage has drastically reduced (DH no longer WFH with electric radiator in converted garage/office). So they are basing DDs on what we historically used. I get that. But I would like them to recalculate - seeing as our useage has halved. And recalculate given our amount in credit. Instead they are suggesting we increase our DD by another £10 a month.

Speaking to someone thought seems a pipe dream....am currently waiting on Faceache (desparate measures) for someone to get back to me....

Just cancel the DD.

InMySpareTime · 28/10/2022 11:23

My bill has decreased, mostly because I switched to a tariff with a cheap night rate. Around half our usage is charging our EV so now that's on a cheap rate we're saving even with a higher day rate.
Most of our day use is covered by our solar panels, so now our bill is about £55 a month while we get the rebate. Once we don't I'll start using the £500 credit on the account.