How am I going to pay this?

[Muminneed123]

'm not sure if you know but the energy prices in the UK have increased twice this year. I believe the went up in April/May and they went up again Yesterday.
I'm currently with Bulb. I moved from a 2 bed house to a 2 bedroom flat in December.

They quoted me about 2 weeks ago that I need to increase my payments to £99 per month 'to decrease my chances of going into debt' with them. I rang spoke to someone to find out why it has gone up so much. They explained its estimated and that nothing will change.

I went on this morning to see that I am almost £130 in debt to them and that they want me to increase my monthly payments to £130 per month.

I don't understand where the debt has come from and of course the day I get the email, is the day they are closed and I can't contact anyone to talk about it

I have already restricted myself as much as I can to afford to buy my sons school uniforms and that doesn't stretch even far enough to be able to pay what they want each month.

For years I have been asking them for a Smart metre but they have said they don't have them yet because 'they are waiting for the servers to change'

I really don't know what to do? If this is what its like now, what is it going to be like in December when its freezing?

Any advice would be really appreciated

Thanks

I have just registered my interest but I am waiting for them to tell me I can apply

Move from Bulb as fast as you can. They're diabolical. They did this to me......kept upping my direct debit to extortionate proportions. I was never in debt with them so no reason to keep upping my payments

£46 sounds too low and will be why you are in debit. I'd look at moving tbh.

I like Octopus for the fact you get asked for monthly readings and get your balance updated so you can see exactly where you are with them

I submit readings monthly and I have put a screenshot to show how they present the info each month. They also give a referral bonus for introducing new customers so I am quite a bit in credit and have reduced my payment from £130 to £100 (4 bed detached in Scotland)

I'm with bulb and had much the same issue lately but I am quite sporadic with reading s but not to the extent they say.

I was paying 120 and am 52 in debit they've been taking 235 and want to increase it! I plan on submitting another reading pay up to date and leave as there was no discussion with them no delaying the hike

Sorrynot much help

Does the property have storage heaters? Or gas central heating?

That sounds really high. We are with Bulb in a 4 bed, 3 storey house and pay £150 a month but I have 4 teenagers so we use a lot of energy, despite my best efforts! I would check that your meter isn't faulty or that you aren't paying for someone else's energy bills!

Whatever you do, don’t switch to GoodEnergy. They are appalling.

It won't be because its faulty; looks like the payment was too low at £46 and they have allowed the debit balance to build up.

What payment could you afford that would chip away at the debit balance? Also look at how you are using your heating to see if you could use less

Bulb are expensive. I'm now looking to switch suppliers as I've been notified by the MSE tracker that I'm paying over the odds

I am also with bulb and my bills have more than doubled since getting a smart meter.
I'm in a small, fairly modern 3 bed detached. They have just suggested I increase my payments (for both gas and electric combined) to £160 per month!

Since around April I have barely had the hearing on and only put the hot water on twice per day for half an hour. I can't possibly restrict it any more than that!

I'm going to look into changing supplier.

Look at ways of reducing your energy usage as that’s the only way to reduce your bills
Then when you are no longer in debt, switch suppliers to a cheaper one

I'm with bulb and the rates went up recently and now just been notified to say they are going up again. First one was removal of price caps and then this one seems to be pricing. I was paying £74 ish for 3 bed house. It's now about £86 and I think they are saying an extra £10 a month. I did a price comparison with octopus and there rates looked similar. I need to do a proper one and may move.

If any of you do move to Octopus make sure you get a referral link as it will give you £50 credit to your account (and also to the person who provided the link)

Every tariff on u switch has just told me it will cost me more!

That's because prices have gone up

I'm interested in switching to Octopus if anyone has a referral link?

share.octopus.energy/aqua-race-453

This is mine if you decide you want to switch

I was with them until recently. The way they work out their accounts is strange. They wanted me to pay £230 a month for a small terraced house to bring the debt down because I was £200 in debt. But they take their payments in advance, so after I paid my monthly direct debit of £160, I was only about £40 in debt, not £200, which is what they based my payments off. Then they gave me a large final bill, which when questioned, turned out they owe me money. They were saying I owe money to them for 2 months before I even signed up to them. I've never known a company like it.

Do check with moneysavingexpert.
I change energy supplier every year, as well as car & household buildings & contents insurance.

Are bulb tariffs variable and they're only really cheap if you earn sign up bonuses by persuading others to sign up?

The general trend for energy prices is upwards at the moments which might be one reason why it's gone up. £46 pm does sound too low, which could explain why you're in debt. They also want you to be overpaying at this time of year to get ahead before your energy consumption increases in winter.

What sort of heating and hot water system does the flat have? £99 to £130 pm does seem like quite a lot for a 2 bed flat, what are the insulation and windows like? If you rent, what was the energy performance rating?

Do you qualify for any help with energy costs due to low income (Warm Home grant?).

Have you reviewed your budget in general? Do you think you have enough money to pay everything you need to pay for? Have you done an energy comparison to see if other providers are cheaper? But sadly I think energy is getting more expensive at the moment.

I work for an energy company and prices are high right now because wholesale has massively increased over the last year because of volatility in the global oil markets (and other things). There’s some decent info on it here octopus.energy/blog/the-state-of-wholesale-energy/
In fact a lot of energy companies are actually making a loss on the energy they sell you - do shop around but also do keep up to date with meter readings and as people above say, some energy companies do offer referral credit if you switch using an existing customers code (try Google) - octopus, bulb and I think British Gas and pure planet

(And do ask your energy company if you’re eligible for the warm home discount - £140 credit at some point over the Winter - many pensioners are, and people who get any kind of income support/credit)

My energy bills increased massively this year. Well massively to me. Currently paying 30 more a month than I have ever paid in the 10 years I have been here. I have always been in hundreds of pounds of credit until now! It scares me. I changed supplier in May to the cheapest I could find. That being £30 more than I was paying. I then submit monthly readings to discover my monthly DD is being nearly entirely used on one month's usage. I am not using more units either. I havent never ever worried about using the heating. This autumn/winter will be very different as I will really have to watch what we use. A 30 a month increase is money I already don't have. So to increase again will cripple me. I imagine my payments will be increased soon due to them not wanting me to fall into a debt over the colder months.

I'm finding the cost of basic living is getting so expensive

You weren’t paying enough at £46pcm so you were building up debt.

They told you this, and tried to increase your direct debit to £99. Obviously doubling the payment was a bit much! So you queried it. But instead of leaving it at £46 you should have agreed to increase it to £60-70 and then you’d not have been building up more.

Now prices have gone up twice this year so it’s worse.

You also should get into the habit of submitting monthly readings.

All you can realistically do is agree a monthly payment you can afford, keep a really close eye on your usage and chip away at the debt. Energy is expensive.