Energy price rises - what are you paying?

[Matt..]

Welshbeef said:

C13k gas units
C7k electric units

There will not really be a volume variance merely rate

That Shell plan doesn't look very good for those numbers.
There are many better plans for my quick scan, eg. Avro, Ovo, Sainsburys (£60 of Nectar points for Switching).

[Welshbeef]

Matt.. said:

Welshbeef said:

C13k gas units
C7k electric units

There will not really be a volume variance merely rate

That Shell plan doesn't look very good for those numbers.
There are many better plans for my quick scan, eg. Avro, Ovo, Sainsburys (£60 of Nectar points for Switching).

When I put my details into uswitch with that data Ovo saves barely £30 assuming like for like usage. The hassle of changing for up to £30 isn’t really appealing.

[Matt..]

Welshbeef said:

When I put my details into uswitch with that data Ovo saves barely £30 assuming like for like usage. The hassle of changing for up to £30 isn’t really appealing.

Fair. I've found that many suppliers aren't on uswitch so have looked around at their own websites for my comparisons. Or perhaps they just don't show for me for some reason.

My usage is 1.5k elec, 13k gas. Currently paying £70/month, cheapest to change to is Avro at £77, but I will probably just stay with Ovo at £83.

Sainsburys is probably most interesting with the £60 Nectar points and good rates.
Octopus are the most standout for horrendous rates. My yearly gas bill would increase by 50% with them.

[anxious_ant]

So EDF finally came out to sort my meters after almost 6 months of chasing. I've now got working smart meters.
Gas meter won't connect but to be fair the manager assigned to my case had been extremely helpful.

I've been issued with a first bill on new rates, showing my estimated usage.
2,900 kWh for electricity and for gas it's estimated at 12,057 kWh annually.
No idea what I actually use as GNE billing is online only, but I would think I use a bit more electricity, perhaps closer to 4,000kWh. For gas I would think it's lower than that as I only use for cooking and central heating.

Currently paying monthly "budget" direct debit (£250/pm) but once I get everything sorted I would want to change to actual direct debit billing. Hopefully this is something I can do myself online.

Tariff is not bad I suppose for ,my usage:
Electricity : 18.90p kWh 19.57p standing
Gas : 3.799p kWh 19.82p standing

Based on the estimated usage above I should be paying about £92/pm so not too sure where this 250 came from, unless my calculations are way out.

Edited by anxious_ant on Tuesday 7th September 07:18

[defblade]

Matt.. said:

flashbang said:

I put my dad onto octopus and they're fantastic. They sent an email saying instead of passing the increase onto the consumer, they're cutting their profit margin. None of this you have to have at least a month of credit at all times nonsense either.
He also went from paying 170 a month from his previous supplier to 140 a month and is still always in credit.

Octopus are horrifically expensive right now for new customers.

Massively more expensive than most other companies. They are over 5p/unit gas!

Another GNE-sent-to-EDF refugee here.

I've just started the switch to Octopus, although electricity only.
They were certainly not the cheapest, but they were a long way from the most expensive, and also pretty much top of the list of "providers what I have actually heard of" - which feels more important after just being burnt by GNE. Referral bonus as M-i-L is with them didn't hurt, either.

What really convinced me to use Octopus was that (eventually) we should be able to get one of their smart meters fitted and switch to Go, which drops the unit cost from c. 20p to c. 15p... and we use around 10,000 units/year, so that's a sizable saving. Add that we can probably shift some usage onto the 5p/unit 00:30-04:30hrs rate (despite not having an EV (at the moment)) and it should see significant savings for us.

As I type this, I'm hoping there's not something I missed in planning the above - it was done quite late at night after a long day in work...

Although I've avoided smart meters for years, the current potential savings are too much to ignore. Maybe it'll help us identify just how we get through 10k units a year, too!

[so called]

My consumption is approx
Gas - 22,500 kWh
Elec 10,500 kWh

4000 sq ft
Elec Car
5 TV's etc., etc.

I renewed my Gas contract with Octopus late August with the following-
Flexible rate
Standing - 23.85p
Unit - 3.32p variable.

Renewed my Electric a few days later and changed from Octopus 'Go' to 'Go Faster'
Standing - 25p
Unit - 16.67p - 1:30am to 8:30pm
Unit - 5.5p - 8:30pm to 1:30am

I was surprised but very pleased to see that the elec unit rate only went up 1p and the night rate only 0.5p but I get an extra hour.

Matt.. said:

Octopus are horrifically expensive right now for new customers.

I checked Octopus rates out on line and didn't think they were that bad.
I haven't found anything better than what I've just accepted.
Having a higher Standing charge and lower Unit rate is the best solution for me with having a high consumption.

Edited by so called on Tuesday 7th September 07:56

[Matt..]

so called said:

I checked Octopus rates out on line and didn't think they were that bad.

If I check rates for the normal Octopus plans the cheapest OctopusFixed 2yr one is:
- Electricity: 20.35p/kWh, 24.86p/day
- Gas: 5.03p/kWh, 26.59p/day

Their gas rates are very high compared to most other suppliers and would be 50% higher than my current yearly gas spend. Electricity pricing is very similar though. So if you're mostly electric then they are a good option.

[so called]

Matt.. said:

so called said:

I checked Octopus rates out on line and didn't think they were that bad.

If I check rates for the normal Octopus plans the cheapest OctopusFixed 2yr one is:
- Electricity: 20.35p/kWh, 24.86p/day
- Gas: 5.03p/kWh, 26.59p/day

Their gas rates are very high compared to most other suppliers and would be 50% higher than my current yearly gas spend. Electricity pricing is very similar though. So if you're mostly electric then they are a good option.

Blimey, Octopus looked after me then !
That rate would add £340 on my annual bill compared to what I accepted last month.

With the electric split rate, I'm now training my wife and daughter to switch on the washing machine, dish washer, tumble dryer etc after 8:30 pm.

[Danns]

I haven't seen Symbio mentioned on here, probably for good reason.

BG were putting my tariff up in March, Symbio came out less than 66% of the price,

Currently on 12.6p /kWh and 16.2p standing charge - heavy user at 12000 kWh annual consumption (electric only, old house ASHP)

There's one caveat here, when I set it up, something went wrong with the DD, and they didn't seem interested in correcting it. As a result I pay each month by CC for what's been used (well month in advance or however their billing works)

They have tried the usual trick mentioned of increasing the DD amount taking it up to an estimated 16000kWh with no basis, but obviously doesn't go anywhere, have been paying circa £60-70 a month for the last 5 months with no outstanding charge/credit on the account.

I'm looking forward to winter - January this year came in at £360 if I recall when I was with BG (before the price hike!)

[Condi]

defblade said:

What really convinced me to use Octopus was that (eventually) we should be able to get one of their smart meters fitted and switch to Go, which drops the unit cost from c. 20p to c. 15p... and we use around 10,000 units/year, so that's a sizable saving. Add that we can probably shift some usage onto the 5p/unit 00:30-04:30hrs rate (despite not having an EV (at the moment)) and it should see significant savings for us.

Assuming GO is available at those rates when you want to switch. I don't understand how they can make any money at that, or indeed even cover their own costs.

Danns said:

I haven't seen Symbio mentioned on here, probably for good reason.

BG were putting my tariff up in March, Symbio came out less than 66% of the price,

Currently on 12.6p /kWh and 16.2p standing charge - heavy user at 12000 kWh annual consumption (electric only, old house ASHP)

Suspect they won't be around much longer to be mentioned....

[defblade]

Condi said:

defblade said:

What really convinced me to use Octopus was that (eventually) we should be able to get one of their smart meters fitted and switch to Go, which drops the unit cost from c. 20p to c. 15p... and we use around 10,000 units/year, so that's a sizable saving. Add that we can probably shift some usage onto the 5p/unit 00:30-04:30hrs rate (despite not having an EV (at the moment)) and it should see significant savings for us.

Assuming GO is available at those rates when you want to switch. I don't understand how they can make any money at that, or indeed even cover their own costs.

That's always the gamble when switching, isn't it?
I'm not too bothered as, like I said, their basic rates weren't the very cheapest, but are a long way from the most expensive for electric only; either way I'm away from EDF

Oh, and I am 100% assuming these rates are loss-leaders to get a decent smart meter base installed, and then pull our pants down in years to come. But I figure that's happening whatever, and people who hold out with non-smart meters will probably get raped even harder, so I might as well join the sweetener train while it's there.

[Danns]

Condi said:

Suspect they won't be around much longer to be mentioned....

Did just have a news search on this, wonder if they paid the £450k fine last week, it reads that they were at risk of having license revoked if they failed to do so.

[Condi]

defblade said:

either way I'm away from EDF

Those GNE tariffs were stupidly cheap! Much cheaper than anything else at the time and that was maybe 4 or 5 months ago. You must be paying a lot more now that you were on that unless your deal had ended.

[MJNewton]

MJNewton said:

I'm glad I stumbled across this thread, or at least insofar that it forewarned me of impending price hikes.

In November we'll be at the end of a 1yr fixed tariff and have been paying an accurate £68/mth (£816/yr) for gas and electricity... taking a look at what's out there at the moment reveals that if we maintain the same annual consumption (8287 kWh gas, 3807 kWh electricity) the best (cheapest) fixed tariff out there is a whopping £97/mth (£1168/yr). That's a 43% rise - ouch! I can see that the bulk of the increase is down to electricity rises where we're looking at going from 11.781 p/kWh to 19.661p/kWh. Even the variable tariffs aren't looking much cheaper (£93/mth / £1111/yr). Maybe that big new TV wasn't such a good idea after all...

Oh joy... Just to add to the fun it's just been announced that my supplier PFP Energy has gone bust... Ofgen say to stay put whilst they appoint a new supplier so no doubt by the time that's all sorted I'll be left with the most undesirable 'deals' one can imagine.

[defblade]

Condi said:

Those GNE tariffs were stupidly cheap! Much cheaper than anything else at the time and that was maybe 4 or 5 months ago. You must be paying a lot more now that you were on that unless your deal had ended.

Yep, 'fraid so. There's a lump to go out when we switch as well, as EDF guessed at some readings, claimed surprise when I gave them a real one, and have just left the DD amount alone. Not too bothered because at the end of the day, we've burnt the electric, but I do wonder if those original readings were... ummm... accidentally leaning in EDF's favour. They certainly didn't make giving them the opening reading easy - they sent an email giving a rough date about 3 or 4 weeks in advance (along with "relax, we're sorting everything"), then another saying "oh, too late!"

[anxious_ant]

defblade said:

Yep, 'fraid so. There's a lump to go out when we switch as well, as EDF guessed at some readings, claimed surprise when I gave them a real one, and have just left the DD amount alone. Not too bothered because at the end of the day, we've burnt the electric, but I do wonder if those original readings were... ummm... accidentally leaning in EDF's favour. They certainly didn't make giving them the opening reading easy - they sent an email giving a rough date about 3 or 4 weeks in advance (along with "relax, we're sorting everything"), then another saying "oh, too late!"

Great to know I'm not the only one suspicious of EDF's estimated readings.
I have also been told to pay EDF a final bill when I have cleared everything with GNE.
Tried to expain this to them and they won't have it.
Also estimated my monthly DD to be 250 when I know I use half of that.
Including the "final" payments and the DD i have spend close to £3,000 since April.

[NMNeil]

so called said:

With the electric split rate, I'm now training my wife and daughter to switch on the washing machine, dish washer, tumble dryer etc after 8:30 pm.

I had to train my better half to do the opposite, only run the appliances during the day so they use the power from the solar panels directly.
Gas bill averages about $16 a month in the summer (hot water and gas clothes dryer) and $40 in the winter, with the added central heating.
Electricity bill is $0; 6kW solar array and a 20kW lifepo4 battery bank takes care of our power needs.

[so called]

NMNeil said:

so called said:

With the electric split rate, I'm now training my wife and daughter to switch on the washing machine, dish washer, tumble dryer etc after 8:30 pm.

I had to train my better half to do the opposite, only run the appliances during the day so they use the power from the solar panels directly.
Gas bill averages about $16 a month in the summer (hot water and gas clothes dryer) and $40 in the winter, with the added central heating.
Electricity bill is $0; 6kW solar array and a 20kW lifepo4 battery bank takes care of our power needs.

Solar Power......but you live in New Mexico, you have sunshine.
I live in the UK. The sun came out on Monday for the first time in ages and is due to retire for the winter tomorrow.

[J210]

Annoying my fixed rate from Octopus is up at the end of this month.

Do they offer you a new tariff or do you just have to in to account and klick change my tariff. As all that shows is the standard rates. Do they have better options if you call ?

[iambigred]

J210 said:

Annoying my fixed rate from Octopus is up at the end of this month.

Do they offer you a new tariff or do you just have to in to account and klick change my tariff. As all that shows is the standard rates. Do they have better options if you call ?

If you have a smart meter the best electric tariff on Octopus will be Go/Go Faster (designed for EVs), ~15p peak or ~5p offpeak (4hrs) depending upon your region. If you switch you'll lock in for 1yr.