To ask what your dual fuel DD is and for what size property?

[MamaDuckling]

EDF have put my DD up again from £404 per month to £517. This is up from £230 ish a year or so ago.

I’d had a substantial credit on the account (which is now reduced since I plugged in meter readings this morning as requested, but still almost £1K in credit). If there’s still such a large credit on the account I’d have thought they’d be reducing the DD, not increasing it??

Can I please ask what size home you have and how much your DD is so I know how “typical” ours is likely to be? We have been careful with energy since at least March.

We are a Victorian terrace, 5 beds, 4 stories (inc a converted lower ground which is used as playroom). We also have my mum living with us so an extra adult in the house all day.

The bill just feels wild, I know prices have gone up massively but it feels like it’s just spiralling.

I am so confused. We are on standard variable rate. I cannot get through to them on the phone today.

2 bed mid terrace, just me and one child, WFH

With Bulb paying £70 per month
Credit of around £400 as pay the same throughout the year plus the £66 has been added twice now.

Just started putting heating on here and there so may creep up to £100 which is still manageable for us.

3 bed Georgian mid terrace, £60 dd pm dual fuel. £400 in credit, actual spend is £54 pm. Live alone.

If you were paying £230 last year on std tariff and had credit but now even with £407 you are eating into the credit it sounds about right you are obviously a large user, look at your KWh a year usage and work it out that way, you can ask to leave your payment at £407 until you've used all your credit up and then you can look at it again

£450 a month £700 in credit currently using £250-£300 but the heating has hardly been on.
6 of us including 4 adults although 3 often not here, but then sometimes there's 8 if DC's partners stay over.
5 bedrooms
3 reception rooms
hot tub

3 bed 1930s semi (extended on ground floor plus converted garage which is on electric heater) 2 adults a 4 year old and a cat. Dd 105 a month with eon next (38 with the government payment over winter) and about 280 in credit which is rising about 20 a month.

Our fix ends next August which is a bit scarey.

£130 pm, 3 bedroom Victorian terrace, well insulated, 3/4 double glazed, thermostatic valves on radiators . 2 retired, active adults. Use tumble drier for fluffing towels from almost dry or for occasional other use- not a new practice, I don’t like what tumble driers do to fabrics. House has always been relatively cheap to run, even when with profligate teenage daughters.

EDF have just raised our dd to £450 a month. We are not even living in the house and on gas have only been using the standing charge for months. Its literally made up.

You would always be in credit at this time of the year though, that’s the point. It’s to carry you through the winter so your bills average out rather than paying nothing in the summer and suddenly 10x that in December.
In a 4 story house if can’t imagine the 1,000 credit would carry you for that long once you start putting the heating on regularly.

Some of these posts with low costs must surely still be on a cheap fix that started before the price hikes so aren't really comparable to your situation OP.

Ours is £96pcm on a fix that I signed up for in September 2021. We also only have a small modern mid-terraced house which is well insulated and kept warm by our neighbours' heating.

I've got £300 credit on my account which I'm hoping to build up to give us a bit of help when we come off our cheap fix as I'm estimating our DD will probably treble unless prices have calmed down by then.

We pay £120 a month combined but it’s a 2 bed flat. I imagine that probably won’t quite cover the winter spend this year.

4 bed 1930’s semi, 3 adults, people at home all day. £210pm £1k credit Ovo

What others pay is irrelevant. You need to look at how much your bills cost. Moneysaving Expert has produced a guide to help you calculate what you should pay and how to challenge it if it's too high:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

We're in a 4 bed detached "new build" just under 25 years old with a heating system as old which still has a water tank.

I WFH and am disabled so use a bit more heating than I otherwise would, have an autistic young adult who is constantly on his pc apart from when sleeping or his 2 days at uni. He also has an inability to switch off lights.

We currently have credit with Scottish power of £885, have been putting in readings on the last day of the month for the past 6 months and the suggested DD has been gradually reducing, from £450 in the spring to the latest adjustment down to £300 this month. We expect that the credit we have will be eaten into a fair bit over the winter as we use the heating more. Though our gas fire has been condemned on the last inspection so at least it stops us using that as a first resort and instead make sure we're using jumpers and blankets!

I would recommend putting in your reading in each month as then you will get to know your usage, it does make you more conscious of it!

4 bed semi, 2 adults and a toddler and someone is home 90% of the time. Relatively new house and well insulated.

DD is £21pm, but if you add the government funding it would be £88pm. Did a meter reading a few days ago and we spent £100 last month. Hardly have the heating on at the moment though as we just haven't needed it.

Not on a fix either - that finished end of September

We pay £200 a month for a three bedroom detached. That is without the current government subsidy of £67, as I wanted to pay a bit more in to get a cushion for the winter. At the moment our bill is around £100 a month because we've not had the heating on yet, that covers WFH electricity use and hot water which is powered by gas.

Dual fuel DD with EDF going up from £135 to £165pm with a £45 credit, billed yesterday with accurate readings.
2 bed 1st floor flat, built 15 years go not converted, one bathroom, 2 adults, 3 kids. No outside space so tumble dryer used daily. Gas hob, central heating & hot water. Electric oven & shower. I WFH with laptop & lights but rarely put the heating on.

£120 a month for a 3 bed Victorian semi. Actual usage last month was £85. But we haven’t had the heating on yet

You need your actual usage over a period of 12 months to calculate roughly what you should be paying.

Do you know what you are actually using a month? - in terms of money or in kWh?

I give monthly metre readings on the same day of the month and it’s easy to keep track that way.

My direct debit is around the £200 mark
but that’s too high - it’s only high because the £66 a month from the government is subsidising and I’d rather overpay right now, even though I’m sitting on a credit. My energy provider lets me pick my own direct debit amount though. I wouldn’t pay an arbitrary amount they set unless I agreed with it.

Most people use far more than double in winter. Central heating and heating your water for bathing and showering in winter costs far, far more.

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful and somewhat reassuring to see others with quite high DDs like ours.

And, I finally got through to EDF!

They have suggested that we go to a monthly payment based on monthly meter readings (smart meter coming next week).

Apparently their algorithms want to increase everyone’s DDs but he said they often “get it wrong” and we have been affected by this. He suggested we should be closer to £270 per month! No idea how he estimated that but that is the new monthly figure we will pay if we didn’t submit a monthly reading (which we will as it’ll come straight from the smart meter).

So, a good outcome. We can foot the higher bills in winter and I’d far rather have an accurate monthly bill than estimates every 6 months.

Previous poster is correct - it’s not easy to break down and understand usage, in Kw or units. The energy companies should be more transparent about options to pay monthly based on regular readings. I certainly feel like I’ve gained a bit of control back!

thanks all.