Help me understand the energy prices/energy cap and bills

[bellac11]

Im a bit ignorant about this and have been trying to work out what will happen to us come October

We are on the Eon flex rate which for electric is about 29p per thing and then gas is about 6p I think

At the moment we pay 175 per month, all year on DD, this apparently is to even it out, obviously we dont use that amount per month in the summer. We have some debit with them but that should be wiped out by this 400 that is being given by the government (aka taxpayer, aka me)

But, come October, if I read that the energy cap is removed, then what is the likely amount I will be paying? Is there a way to work it out? There doesnt seem to be any clear indication of what the prices will be given that its only about 6 weeks away.

Any ideas?

The price cap isn't being removed in October, it's just going up again, current estimates are around 100% I think, possibly more.

It's probably a good idea to keep an eye on what Moneysaving Expert are saying, but make sure you read the whole article, I've seen a lot of people complaining that they followed the headline advice to fix/not fix and they now think it's cost them a lot of money, which it often hasn't, because the advice was always 'fix but....' or 'don't fix, but.....' and they never bothered to read the rest of the advice and make sure it actually applied to them.

Or they overlooked the fact that if they'd have fixed at the time, they'd have immediately started paying more, whereas if they'd have stayed variable, they'd have been protected from price rises for a little while longer.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/-are-there-any-cheap--fixed-energy-deals-currently-worth-it--/

I think the short answer is that it's currently not worth fixing as the fixes include the expected price rises and then some. But check what your own supplier is offering, a loyalty fix is currently your best chance of something that compares favourably with what the variable rate will be in October.

I dont think I want to change as such, I just want to know what I might expect

So are you saying that my payments are likely to go up double??!!

So I would be paying 350 pm, each month over the year. Crazy

Ive been looking on uswitch and went into British Gas just as one example, they just say 'there are no deals available for you at the moment'. Thats also what Eon are saying too

So looks like I couldnt change to anything even if I wanted to.

Yep, at the moment it's estimated as going up 82% in October and then 19% in January so it will more than double from current rates It really is a crisis for a lot of people.

Thanks, well at least I know what to expect, so by January 350 a month

I think it said our electricity use is an average of 10 thingies a day

I dont know if that is considered high or low?

It will double if usage stays the same. If you are paying £175 on a low fix then you may be able to reduce usage, depending on circumstances of course! Ours is fixed at 36p electric and 9.7p gas and we pay £95 a month but there are only two of us.

I currently pay 127 a month for gas and electric. I looked at fixing they quote me £356. Not a chance. I'll struggle with double what I pay now but I will be crippled with that fix! Money saving expert has a fix calculator that tells you if I fix is worth it for you.

We're on a variable rate, not a fix

The quotes that did come up for British Gas were around 650 pm for a fix!!

No way

I tell a lie, just checked Eon again, I could get a fixed rate from them at 306 per month but I think you have to agree to a smart meter

So its a gamble. If prices dont go up that much then Im going to overpay. If they go up to what Ive predicted above then I lose out. Plus I have to have a meter which I dont want.

Sorry, assumed a fix as your gas unit price is low!

Join this group - it will explain the unit price increases etc.

www.facebook.com/groups/966754150512356/?ref=sharewww.facebook.com/groups/966754150512356/?ref=share&exp=9594

Also - the governments £400 isn’t paid in one go. It will reduce your payments by approx £66 over a period of months. So it won’t wipe out your debt in one go. Just so you know what to expect.

You'd need to look at the price per kwh rather than the monthly payment to see if it would be worth fixing.

My fixed offerings with Octopus are 147% and 155% higher for electricity and gas respectively so I'm not fixing

The price cap is meant to go up 82% in October then 19% in January (1.82 x 1.19 = 2.17, 117% higher than now in January). If you have a bill that shows your yearly cost then you can estimate what it will go up to.

A tiny positive is that there could be extra help above the £400 as the situation has got a lot worse since that was announced. I'm sure I read that it might be doubled but we'll have to see what the new PM and Chancellor put in place next month.

Im not on facebook

Yes its 66 a go, we're currently in debit of 55 so at least it will be wiped from the first payment but there after, who knows

Do you think? I thought I was alone in thinking this may be the case. I suspect it's a card for whoever is appointed to play once they have been made pm to boost their ratings and mitigate some of the damage done to the party during the leadership campaign.

Its 29p for electricity and 7 for gas, I just checked - currently

I appear to use 5000 units of electricity and 4700 of gas - per year

Thats the current years usage

My plan is not to have the heating on at all over the winter, we have a log burner and I will use hot water bottles and more blankets/socks although mornings will be diffcult and cold

Your gas usage is pretty low and your electricity costs are pretty high. You'd get more bang for your buck trying to reduce your electricity usage.

Electricity usage, not costs.

For comparison the average is 12,000kwh gas and 2900kwh electricity.

Yes, assuming electric hot water with that usage? If so, cut shower times?

Yes I thought that

I wonder why that is

Only 2 of us in the house, I have a shower every day. He is less hygenic than me!!

He cant sleep without lights on so he does leave the bloody lights on too much but I read that they are pennies

We dont have a tumble dryer. We do have a dishwasher which is on every day

Other than that, the usual telly on sometimes, kettle for tea, laptops (on my laptop now). oh and electric cat water machine, I wonder if that is high use?

Usually the energy guzzlers are anything that's heating stuff up or cooling it down over a longer period. Do you have an immersion heater?

Right my figures are all over the place

Its 5088 for gas
its 4677 for electric

I dont tend to spend a long time in the shower although ive noticed in the last couple of months that the water seems to take ages to heat up (combi boiler, only 3 years old) and Im wasting water while that happens

Electric showers can be as high as 10kwh, so if you were in for an hour at current rates it's £2.90. Obviously you won't be in for an hour but you can scale up or down.

No immersion

And when the heating is on in the winter we set the temp to around 18 to 20 dependent on the weather outside, we dont like it hot

Its a bit sad to admit this but I had to time myself in the shower the other day over a few showers (had to put a mask on my hair and time it) so im pretty confident that usually (apart from the time waiting for the water to heat up which is probably about a minute) Im in there for about 3 mins, plus waiting time.