Just worked out the difference in energy costs from last year. Am in disbelief.

[FayeGovan]

I mean i knew it was going up. I knew we were on a fixed rate. Im frugal, always have been. Am always in credit on energy bills as o overpay. But I've found last years prices and am in shock.

Electricity..this yr 34p p/kwh
last yr 16p p/kwh [ standing charge this yr 51p per day last yr 23p per day]

Gas.. this yr 10p p/kwr last yr 2.6p p/kwh (!!!!!!) [Standing charge roughly the same]

No wonder i feel poor. How on earth do we cope? Im in Scotland, its mild tonight but has been cold and damp for ages. Ive taken all the tips on board.

But this is terrifying. Along with everything else.

We are paying about 2.5 x more than last year - on a fix and now on standard rate.

I stocked up in the summer on wool layers, a heated throw, electric blanket, radiator valves, an Oodie. I've spent about £300, but I feel I've saved a lot of that through October not having heating on and not using tumble dryer. I've also cut back on using my oven, leaving stuff on standby - lower use but it all adds up.

I'm lucky - I can afford to turn on the heating when it's cold, to stop the house getting damp etc ... I'm choosing to keep energy costs a reasonable proportion of our income. Lots of people won't be able to buy energy - they will top up their prepay meters when they're paid and not have energy when they need it when winter kicks in.

It's true and starkly illustrated from the increase in unit rates.

Electricity has more than doubled and gas has increased by 3 to 4 times compared with a year ago.

And sadly there will be people who are still blissfully unaware of this - I've seen many threads from people saying their DD has only gone up by 10/20% 'so they don't know what all the fuss is about'.

Yes, some people are on fixes, but I think now, more than 80% are on the standard rate, so as those fixes run out, nearly everyone will feel the full impact of the increase. And it could get worse after April if wholesale prices are still high and the government don't provide any more help. Plus the added effect of food prices and mortgage rates also increasing, in a background of salaries not increasing by anywhere near the same amount.

If people think it's bad now, it could be even worse in 6 to 12 months time when people have come off cheaper mortgage fixes, utilities have gone up again, and people have had a few months of living on a vastly reduced disposable income.

I had a look yesterday at the same two weeks last year and what I was paying.

I was in variable then and same now

im paying 3x as much this year for

fortunately I’ve managed so far to reduce my usage, not had CH on but as it gets colder it’ll get harder

It's about 2.5-3 times as much this year if similar usage to last year, if you use gas a lot it will be about 3 times, we have been quoted just under £3k, last year it was just over £1k

63kwh for the previous week 2022 £8.40
126kwh for this week 2022 £14.51

that includes the daily charge

in comparison to last year on a variable rate, for the same week, same supplier
190kwh for the previous week last November 2021 £8.81
317kwh for same dates of November 2021 £13.85

this is treble almost

How is this coming as a surprise to people?
It has been going on for months now….

Yup and to me the help is in the wrong area. The lack of help to go green to me is not only bad for the environment but also keeping prices high. Interest free loans for solar and ground source would have been a more long term solution. We are being more fruggle using the log burner more to heat the lounge not the whole house and turning things off at the wall which we wouldn't have done before (smart home).

Our goal is to be basically self sufficient by this time next year but at minimum to be fully self sufficient for the summer months

As it gets colder and usage increases, you really do start to see the full impact of the price rises and it's sobering stuff.

I think people haven’t had the heating in until about now and do the impact hasn’t yet kicked in.

I think people haven’t had the heating in until about now and do the impact hasn’t yet kicked in.

Many people have no idea about their actual usage of kwph, as the system is set up in a monetary fashion that is ambiguous. For some their direct debits have even reduced so they are in a different mind set.

I'm on the standard rate, never was on a fix (bulb) and mine dd went down this month due to the government rebate. So much depends on where you live and if your in a energy efficient homes like ours (newish) take little to heat them so 2 hours per day is enough to keep it at 18 degrees in all but the coldest temperatures (being by the sea it's rare to go below 3/4 degrees).

Electricity use varies a lot too - if you are home a lot, have medical equipment, teenagers leaving lights on etc. apart from cooking and the tv on for a couple of hours most evenings we only are using a few lights, charging phones and background use like the fridge most days 3-4 loads washing and heat pump tumble dryer, all under 3 years old. Quite different to a large family with teens

This really.

I suspect when the last Qs bills (Oct-Dec) become due in January we are going to be deluged with posts about how much the prices have gone up.

Yep gas is 3 times as much

lve been very good this year and used 21 oct to nov compared to 57 last years oct to nov

so used almost 2/3 less but bill is £1 different due to 3 times as much

so used almost 2/3 less but bill is £1 different due to 3 times as much

This is massively sobering.

I have setup a spreadsheet that shows our weekly expenditure.

We have cut back as much as we can and yet we are still either breaking even or just over from the equivalent time 1 year ago.

Was paying 3p. Now pay 10.39

that was bulb - being transferred to octupus. Not sure what will be paying

I do like a warm house. Would think nothing of having on 6/9/10am and maybe 3/9pm last year

now have 30m am and maybe hour pm

yes sometimes a bit chilly and have a blanket over me daytime so ok

guess we get used to having a colder house

it’s not freezing

that was bulb - being transferred to octupus. Not sure what will be paying

the figures I gave above are fir octupuss gas, it’s about 44p a day and 10p per kWh

That's because it's not freezing outside yet. It's been easy so far to stay warm but give it another few weeks and it's going to be a totally different story.

That my thinking too. It’s hardly a surprise.

I've managed to cut my gas usage (heating & hot water) by 65% Warmer clothes, less hot water, log burner & free wood on cool evenings.

My electric usage is up slightly (I now wfh)

I've done my absolute best & my bills are still up by 40% 🙁

Its not a surprise. Mocking people doesn't actually add anything to the discussion. I've followed martin lewis for ages and almost fixed when i should have, but i really really couldn't get my head around paying X amount for 2 years, which edf was offering, not a 1 yr fix. I just thought it was utterly ridiculous what they were offering. Now i wish i had snapped it up. So we are where we are. The increases across the board are shocking.

I know right 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's quite shocking. My energy company put my direct debits (I have both gas and electric from them) up to £400 per month in April. I thought they were taking the piss and we've banked a lot in credit over the summer. But all of a sudden our bills are looking like £300 per month and we've been cutting back on using our oven, having showers instead of baths etc. As it's been so warm we've hardly had the heating on. I dread to think what they'll be when it gets cold. We're fortunate in that we'll be ok as we've a lot in credit and can manage but I dread to think what people who've just been ignoring it will do. I have some friends who are just pretending it's not going to happen - one treated herself to gel nails and a pedicure last week with her £66 rebate!

No head in sand here. I know damn well. It is still a fucking shock to see a spreadsheet where even mad levels of frugality = more money per month.

I've been keeping a spreadsheet for the last 4 years as we're an all-electric household so always expensive and worth trying to cut back.

So I know that we've used less energy every year for the last 4 years and paid (slightly) more every year.

Next year (luckily have one more winter of fix) it will shoot up but there's nowhere left to cut. And we already use far less energy in KwH per year than a gas heated property of similar size.

This November has been much warmer than usual, but even so I could feel the cold and damp in the evenings with no heating on. Couldn't get clothes to dry for days so gave in and turned it on.

I consider myself to be a pretty intelligent person, educated to post grad level, senior job etc - i find really hard to decipher an energy bill and get any concrete, numerical idea of what is going on!