Gas and electric price increases ?

[Mr Bump]

I'm with Octopus and had the email yesterday, not 100% sure they have the right info in it.
MY fixed rate runs out in April, if I want a new fixed rate it will double in price, but the quote for going on their standard flexible tariff my bill will only rise 4%

Flexible rates

Electricity
Daily charge	24.38 p/day
Unit rate	19.95 p/kWh
Gas
Daily charge	26.11 p/day
Unit rate	4.00 p/kWh

I suspect that quote is simply moving you to the standard rate prior to the increase,
you might just be falling in to the gap in between, hence the fixed is double.

i suspect once you move to standard you will literally receive the big increase to standard standard

 

[Mr Bump]

mine is down to increase from £113 a month to £201

 

[tarric]

I'm with Octopus and had the email yesterday, not 100% sure they have the right info in it.
MY fixed rate runs out in April, if I want a new fixed rate it will double in price, but the quote for going on their standard flexible tariff my bill will only rise 4%

Flexible rates

Electricity
Daily charge	24.38 p/day
Unit rate	19.95 p/kWh
Gas
Daily charge	26.11 p/day
Unit rate	4.00 p/kWh

I suspect that quote is simply moving you to the standard rate prior to the increase,
you might just be falling in to the gap in between, hence the fixed is double.

i suspect once you move to standard you will literally receive the big increase to standard standard

Pretty much it, the rates whiteflyer has quoted are the standard capped rates at the moment before the rise in April then they will rise to around, gas unit rate 8p daily standing charge 26p Electric unit rate 32p and daily standing charge 43p depending on where you live and how you pay.

 

[whiteflyer]

I think you're both right, those are TODAYS standard rate.
The fixed rate from 12 April for 12 months are:

Electricity
Daily standing charge
Unit rate
24.38p /day
35.62p /kWh

Gas
Daily standing charge
Unit rate
26.10p /day
9.70p /kWh

​

 

[seaodyssey]

You would have thought that with all those wind turbines around, electric would stay the same price, but I now think they must just be big Fans.

 

[Cobra]

but I now think they must just be big Fans.

And they need electricity to turn them

I've noted on a previous occasion, driving across Norfolk, not a breath of wind and the smoke from a near by industrial unit, smoke stack, going straight up.
And yet the fans were turning albeit slowly...

 

[Nod]

In Norfolk? Probably inbreathing...

 

[gman]

They probably know that people are probably going to adjust their gas and electricity usage to try and reduce bills and maybe increase insulation in the house where possible. But you can't escape the standing charge by being more energy efficient and/or better insulated.

 

[Craig1912]

I think you're both right, those are TODAYS standard rate.
The fixed rate from 12 April for 12 months are:

Electricity
Daily standing charge
Unit rate
24.38p /day
35.62p /kWh

Gas
Daily standing charge
Unit rate
26.10p /day
9.70p /kWh

​

Surely those aren’t fixed rates from April? They are too cheap to be fixed rates

 

[Steep]

There's a guy on Twitter @RichardJMurphy who is a chartered accountant and LSE professor. He's worked out that the electricity companies are about to start rip[ping us off hugely.

His graphic

Twitter thread explaining it - View: https://BANNED/RichardJMurphy/status/1502671563530948610?s=20&t=dfS8v4Xk95gXD1m8_CxiCg

https://BANNED/RichardJMurphy

 

[Craig1912]

I’m not convinced he is correct. OFGEM wouldn’t allow that to happen and whilst the cost of supplying energy hasn’t changed, the cost of producing it has. Why have so many companies gone bust……because they can’t supply the energy to the consumer at a lower price than they are paying/have paid for it and the cost of producing that energy is continuing to increase. If all our energy was produced by wind,hydro and nuclear we wouldn’t have as big a problem but when it is produced largely by gas we have the current issues.

 

[broc]

We were with Avro until it collapsed, now with Octopus. We were paying a fixed rate of £100 a month last summer, it went up to £130 standard rate when we were switched to Octopus, just been told it will be £230 standard rate a month from April 2022.

 

[tarric]

We were with Avro until it collapsed, now with Octopus. We were paying a fixed rate of £100 a month last summer, it went up to £130 standard rate when we were switched to Octopus, just been told it will be £230 standard rate a month from April 2022.

Snap well nearly, we were with Avro to till they when the way of many. Last April our DD WAS £95 a month went to £113.20 when we were transferred over to Octopus, got my quote for the new price cap starting next month £238.86 a month and the crazy thing is we are actually using less gas and electricity than we were last year. but scary not looking forward to October.

 

[JohnC6]

Today people are getting their mobiles and photographing their meter readings to send to their suppliers so that they are charged at the old rate up until midnight tonight after which up up goes the tarrif. We're with Octopus and a friend,also with them, has been waiting 55 minutes to upload his readings.

 

[whiteflyer]

Today people are getting their mobiles and photographing their meter readings to send to their suppliers so that they are charged at the old rate up until midnight tonight after which up up goes the tarrif. We're with Octopus and a friend,also with them, has been waiting 55 minutes to upload his readings.

On the Octopus website

"We're super busy today so you might have a long wait if you call. The best day to give us a meter reading is this Saturday (our standard variable prices don't change until 00:00 Saturday 2nd April.) Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive this reading we will apply it to your account from 00:00 midnight on the Saturday. You will have a week to submit them to us, so please don't worry if you can't get it to us that day."

I'm guessing with having a smart meter I don't need to bother.

 

[robj20]

Snap well nearly, we were with Avro to till they when the way of many. Last April our DD WAS £95 a month went to £113.20 when we were transferred over to Octopus, got my quote for the new price cap starting next month £238.86 a month and the crazy thing is we are actually using less gas and electricity than we were last year. but scary not looking forward to October.

Why not just ask to pay for what you use?

 

[Fuju]

Mines gone from £150 to probably £300 p/m. I've just bought an electricity meter you plugin so I can see what certain things are costing like PC's, PlayStation's, TVs etc.

I think I'll cook dinner over a bonfire and wash my clothes in the stream lol

 

[tarric]

Why not just ask to pay for what you use?

Whether I pay as I use and have high bills in the winter and low bills in the summer will make no difference as to how much I will pay over the year circa £2800, spreading the bill over 12 equal monthly payments suits me better as I'm on a fixed monthly income.

 

[JohnC6]

On the Octopus website




I'm guessing with having a smart meter I don't need to bother.

.Ok..Thanks for that. It will still be busy on Saturday I think so if my wife gets up in the night she'll try again. I'll tell her about your info. all the same. ..Lol..

I've just told her and she said she told me that this afternoon. She was able to upload the electric meter reading but not the gas. This price hike..and it is a hike..is going to bring grief to many and there's another coming in October.

 

[camerassassin]

I'm with SO Energy .

Been trying to upload gas and electric [ night and normal ] readings all day - to no avail

Just tried it again - SUCCESS

I'm in a 2 bedroom house semi-detached with a BIG sitting room upstairs and a smaller one [ my 'normal' living/work room] downstairs. I pay them £81/month. We'll see what happens next month when after doing my readings I get my bill. At present I'm nicely in credit

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Scottish power - can't enter anything. Not by app, not by phone. Thanks for wasting my time on top of all the mess!

Meanwhile SSE robbed me of £20 from previous house contract and even openly admitted it but I may have to actually sue them to get it back. What a bunch of scum. Connect me straight to GAZPROM please. I'm sick of these humbugs

 

[tracybradbury]

I was with Igloo that went bust so was transferred to E-on, I was paying £110 a month but have now been told it’s being increased to £321 from April.

I was also informed that if I wanted to move to a fixed price tariff I would need to pay £380 monthly!

No idea where I’m supposed to find the money to pay this?

 

[LongLensPhotography]

No idea where I’m supposed to find the money to pay this?

Really? Like all normal people make at least 10-20k per month in their work from home bank job

/irony

 

[tracybradbury]

Really? Like all normal people make at least 10-20k per month in their work from home bank job

/irony

I’m a single parent and have a disabled child that I care for 24 hours a day - I cant work unfortunately

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I’m a single parent and have a disabled child that I care for 24 hours a day - I cant work unfortunately

We are all pretty screwed to some degree. Explain that to the members of the House of Lords and the US equivalent of the same... They have no concept of low or middle income. Summer will be just OK as we essentially need no heating (but do notice massively higher standing charges!) then come next winter may be the final nails in the coffin.

 

[tracybradbury]

We are all pretty screwed to some degree. Explain that to the members of the House of Lords and the US equivalent of the same... They have no concept of low or middle income. Summer will be just OK as we essentially need no heating (but do notice massively higher standing charges!) then come next winter may be the final nails in the coffin.

Totally agree, with the gas/electric rises and fuel not to mention food prices going up weekly I think there is going to be a lot of people struggling soon, if they aren’t already, next winter will be a nightmare!

 

[Cobra]

I just tried to log in to EDF and got this.

Sorry, access to MyAccount is limited
It's only available for smart Pay As You Go top-ups while we update our system.
Full access should be back after

So I can't check my account, but if I want to pay them money I can ;thinking:

 

[Mr Bump]

smart meter

 

[Cobra]

smart meter

Its just a shame that they aren't though.
Besides it'd make no difference to me, anyway, I use what I need nothing more nothing less.

 

[Mr Bump]

Its just a shame that they aren't though.
Besides it'd make no difference to me, anyway, I use what I need nothing more nothing less.

but if you had one instead of whining on another thread about how crap they are you could just sit in your chair smoking your pipe smugly

 

[Cobra]

but if you had one instead of whining on another thread about how crap they

I wasn't moaning about it I was asking opinions and the general consensus was they were crap.
So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it

 

[Mr Bump]

I wasn't moaning about it I was asking opinions and the general consensus was they were crap.
So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it

your over whelming opinion as allways

 

[Mr Bump]

anyhow my point is a smart metre updates the leccy/gas people with the usage on a daily basis automatically.

 

[Cobra]

anyhow my point is a smart metre updates the leccy/gas people with the usage on a daily basis automatically.

And I read my meter every few months, when they ask for it.
It really is no hardship is it?
Plus I know its right because I sent it.

 

[tarric]

Unfortunately this is just the start, fortunately we are coming into the warmer months, so hopefully heating won't be to big a problem in the short term but come the colder months from October it will really start to bite. One bit of slightly better news is that they lowered their prediction for the October increase from 50% to around 30% so rather than an average of around £3,000 it hopefully will be no higher than £2,600 per year based on their figures of the average user, what ever that is of 3,100kWh for electricity per annum and 12,000kWh of gas per annum. For me personally I recon my monthly DD will go up by another £60-£70 to around the £300 a month.

 

[robj20]

Whether I pay as I use and have high bills in the winter and low bills in the summer will make no difference as to how much I will pay over the year circa £2800, spreading the bill over 12 equal monthly payments suits me better as I'm on a fixed monthly income.

I prefer to keep my account at £0. O don't know how people spend so much on fuel even in the depths of winter I was only using £120 a month combined. Gone below £100 now it's warmer. That's not being careful either, baby and toddler so heating on at night as well, wife at home all day so 20c all day.
I'd rather be earning interest on any surplus money than my energy company.

 

[LCPete]

smart meter

Trouble is they are rubbish we are on our second display unit and that doesn’t work properly either

 

[Cobra]

One bit of slightly better news is that they lowered their prediction for the October increase from 50% to around 30%

Usual trick, a 30% rise and its "better news"
If they had said 30% straight off the bat, there would have been the same uproar.
But by lowering the predicted increase by 20% they are now the good guys.

I'm sure there is a word for that, I've no idea what it is, though. Scam is too harsh, (Maybe)

And just as I predicted back in February
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/gas-and-electric-price-increases.734655/post-9098323

 

[broc]

And I read my meter every few months, when they ask for it.
It really is no hardship is it?
Plus I know its right because I sent it.

Same here, I read our meters once a month, take photos of both and then report it via the energy company website. It takes a few minutes at the most.

 

[tarric]

I prefer to keep my account at £0. O don't know how people spend so much on fuel even in the depths of winter I was only using £120 a month combined. Gone below £100 now it's warmer. That's not being careful either, baby and toddler so heating on at night as well, wife at home all day so 20c all day.
I'd rather be earning interest on any surplus money than my energy company.

For me my account is normally in deficit by December (so it's like free money as they don't charge interest) and credit by August so it pretty much balances it's self out.
Yes with the sky high interest rates I just wouldn't know what to do with all that money.

Now I don't know where you live, how large your property is, who your account is with or even if you are one of the lucky few still on a fixed term tariff but even before the rise we have just had I wish I could have spent as little as £120 a month on my winter fuel bills.

Usual trick, a 30% rise and its "better news"
If they had said 30% straight off the bat, there would have been the same uproar.
But by lowering the predicted increase by 20% they are now the good guys.

I'm sure there is a word for that, I've no idea what it is, though. Scam is too harsh, (Maybe)

And just as I predicted back in February
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/gas-and-electric-price-increases.734655/post-9098323

I didn't say it was better news just slightly better, for some the April rise is going to hurt but as I said we are coming into the hopefully warmer months when bills should not be as high but come the October rise whatever it ends up being with winter and the colder months to come it's going to force some people to make some really hard decisions. As I have said in a little over a year my monthly DD has gone from £73 to £238, I haven't moved and I'm actually using less energy than I was a year ago.