How are you coping with the rise in gas and electricity bills?

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My provider owed me money so far I have not made any extra payments yet but from April or May they predict (looking at my current use age) my payments will be rise to just under £600 from £150 a month currently! That has really shocked me as I my use age is not that high. Tried talking to them but they said they cannot do anything about it.

Anyone in a similar situation? How much has your utility bills gone up by? How are you managing to afford the big rise?

My energy debt is rising but I’m warm

Is that right? Surely you'll be using much less energy at that time of year?
Our British Gas bill for gas and electricity was only just over £1,000 for the period end of august to end of February, and we are three people in a large Edwardian semi (3 bedrooms), though all out during the day for work/school. We have our heating on low around 17.

We’ve noticed it really seems to be creeping up again. Paid nearly £500 last month and haven’t been particularly warm either! I do use the tumble drier twice a week which may have to stop but don’t like washing around.

In the happy position of not really noticing.

So does £150 not cover your usage or are you in debit?

Do you provide regular readings? My usage last month was £180 electricity and £160 gas based on readings. 4 bed detached on scotland with 2 adults and 2 teens

Mine was high last month but only because the smart metre hadn't sent the gas bill in for over two months.

It's getting warmer so my usage will go down I hope. I'm going to do a chemical clean of the system for next winter and buy a dehumidifier and some heated throws in the summer. We don't have £600 per month to spend on gas and electric so it's just not even an option.

How is anyone going to honestly answer this? If people are coping OK (with the £66-67 a month grant from the government for the electric, and a not-too-high gas bill,) and they tell everyone that on here, they will be accused of being smug, thoughtless, and inconsiderate of other people really suffering.

What I don't get is the people who had say, a £130-£150 a month dual energy bill pre 2022, and have had their dual energy bill go up to £450-£500 a month. How and why has it gone up that much? I don't get it. Most people I know IRL have had their bills go from £130-180 a month for dual energy, to about £220-£275. No £400 to £500 a month from anyone I know. Not even families with children, in 3 and 4 bed houses.

Just don’t pay it. You don’t have to pay the rise…..yes it will go up but to go up to £600 per month isn’t available for everyone

just offer to keep it as £159 and pay it off over the summer months surely?!?

I imagine for some, the DD before was £150 pcm, and no one looked at their actual bills. They are looking at the actual bills in high use winter months now (or opted to pay for what they used) and shocked at the difference from previous yearly average DD payment to new actual cost for a high use month.

This was my bill before price increase . I know it’s estimated but when figures were given it only dropped to £613 for 37 days electric and We are not warm and sons asthma is always sever . So my answer is not coping at all. 1 adult 3 children one off whom is home all day every day as she can’t and won’t leave the house .

I'm currently paying £150 and the bills are around £220 ish a month, but the £67 has topped it off. I am in a good position of being around £800 in credit as well.

I can afford the payments, but I would be lying if I said the future of our energy bills wasn't on my mind.

Have you had estimated bills /been potentially underpaying for a while, and/or increased your usage since last year? Your use for a month on that bill is over your projected use for a year.

Your projected use is 1326 kwh of day 1805 kwh of night over a year, but you've been billed 1994 kwh of day and 2324 of night for a month..

Not long lived in to the home few months . I do the actual bill just can’t get hands on it right this min.
my home is totally electric and had new heaters put in when moved in and told nice and cheap to run so when winter came well they wasn’t cheap to run .

Are they storage heaters @Mummyoff3kiddies? You are on an economy 7 tariff which gives cheaper electricity overnight which is when the heaters charge up.

You are also paying on receipt of the bill when a monthly direct debit could be cheaper and will spread high bills across the whole year.

Mine was £200 for February, that's gas heating & hob , heating is on about 6pm - 10 every night . I pay £165 a month and am currently in credit £185 so not too bad .

No electric panel heaters . I got it changed to standard tariff and when I complained to CEO he told me my bill actually was cheaper on the e7 with the electric heaters .

If your bill is going up that much, I’d be paying into it now rather than enjoying the free ride and worrying what’s ahead.

Mine is absolutely ridiculous because I moved house and couldn't get a fixed tariff and no one else is taking any new customers and had no central heating system for over 3 months and still high

By not looking at it and hoping for the best in the summer

I'm finishing a 2 year fix in June so I'm not at crisis point, yet. I've reduced my energy usage a bit (although heating still on 24/7 in winter) and am £600 in credit.
I need to figure out what I do when my fix ends. Heaven knows how expensive next winter will be.

A projected DD of £600 sounds high u less you’re using more energy than you think you are.

I live in a large 6 bed, detached house, with not particularly great insulation and electric underfloor heating in half the house - it really couldn’t be a worse house for trying to keep warm! - and my projected DD is £430/month, or £5200 ish per year. The house hasn’t been particularly warm this winter, but not freezing either - the rooms with gas central heating are set to 17 degrees in the day and 13 overnight and have been on for around 4 hours a day over the past month. The electric underfloor heating is set to 18 degrees at times we want to be in those rooms, and 15 degrees overnight/when not occupied.

I’ve just had my quarterly bill for Nov/Dec/Jan and it came in at £2200. Given those are the highest energy use months, it’s an ok bill. Obviously it’s eye watering etc, but I’m glad it’s not higher. That averages out to £735 ish per month. Your projected DD of £600/month based on usage works out at £7200/year - a third higher than my ridiculous house costs.

Unless your house is worse than mine for energy consumption, or your heating is set quite a bit higher, then something doesn’t seem right.

I keep my monthly DDs low by paying off lump sums. I don't want large outgoings every month. My bills are about £80 for both.
When the bill comes in if it's more than that I do a days overtime at work and pay off around £180-£200 whatever it takes to keep the DDs down then I won't be paying a large amount during the summer months when the heating is off.

I dont see how that can be true as the day rate is so much higher than the night rate and you will use electric heaters during the day rather than at the cheap overnight rate.

Did you switch back to E7?

They've used (on the estimate) 1994 kwh of day and 2324 of night - the total is 4300 kwh. If it was charged at the SVR rate (assuming a rate of 34p/unit) it'd be £1460+ plus standing charges..