It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

enthusiasticsaver

That’s not that bad. Our energy costs are horrendous and British Gas say there is no cheaper deal. We have been paying £166 per month so £100 after the cost of living contribution and it has now gone up to £239 a month from January as they just reviewed it. Ironically they sent us £100 back as we were £300 in credit. 🙄

Sea_Shell

We've been overpaying for months (Santander cashback!) and have had a couple of hundred back in refunds.

We're currently sitting on about £300 credit, so will keep an eye on how that whittles away over winter.

This way we get "used" to paying £160 a month, and so if we go up to £170 it won't seem quite such a jolt.

enthusiasticsaver

We used to have the Santander 123 and annoyingly closed it just before they increased cashback on energy bills. Sounds sensible to keep some credit. That is what I thought British Gas would do with ours but apparently on annual review they send it back if you are in credit. 

Nebulous2

Sea_Shell said:

In energy news...

As the cold weather continued, we've just hit our break even point with Eon Next V12 versus the Ofgem October cap.   We're 3p up on the deal, as of this morning.

It will be interesting to see what the total difference will be come April, and then we get thrown back in the pot with everyone else.

For us V12 is looking like its going to cost ~£1510 annually
The current October cap ~ £1670
and the April 23 cap ~ £2025*

Electricity - 1521 kwhs
Gas - 8786 kwhs
Estimates as per last bill (1/11/22), which are slightly above our actual usage over the last 12 months to 1/11/22 of 1470/7700, so we may come in slightly under those figures.

*Based on the rates we think they're going to be.

I've got a fix and reward v18 from Sainsbury's Energy which is a white label for Eon Next. 

Fixed for two years in October last year which was fortuitous. We are still making efforts to limit usage, but with the £400 government support we are going to be considerably better off this winter than next. 

An added bonus is that Eon Next are giving us £100 credit (£50 per fuel) for fitting smart meters, which is happening on Tuesday. 

Albermarle

enthusiasticsaver said:

That’s not that bad. Our energy costs are horrendous and British Gas say there is no cheaper deal. We have been paying £166 per month so £100 after the cost of living contribution and it has now gone up to £239 a month from January as they just reviewed it. Ironically they sent us £100 back as we were £300 in credit. 🙄

For next Winter add the £66 on to £239, and then add 20%......

Sea_Shell

Albermarle said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

That’s not that bad. Our energy costs are horrendous and British Gas say there is no cheaper deal. We have been paying £166 per month so £100 after the cost of living contribution and it has now gone up to £239 a month from January as they just reviewed it. Ironically they sent us £100 back as we were £300 in credit. 🙄

For next Winter add the £66 on to £239, and then add 20%......

I think they'll be a lot of political pressure to make more payments next winter, if prices haven't fallen.

It'll probably be means tested somehow, or only the first X units discounted.


I've been ignoring the £400 plus £150 from our costs, as I've logged them under "income" rather than "negative spends" IYSWIM 

DT2001

enthusiasticsaver said:

That’s not that bad. Our energy costs are horrendous and British Gas say there is no cheaper deal. We have been paying £166 per month so £100 after the cost of living contribution and it has now gone up to £239 a month from January as they just reviewed it. Ironically they sent us £100 back as we were £300 in credit. 🙄

Horrendous? We’ve gone from £184 p.m. just before our energy company went ‘pop’ to £395 p.m.
Unfortunately we live in a converted stone barn so few options for insulating the walls. We are doing what we can and have 4kw of solar panels producing over £2k p.a. On FIT so not all doom and gloom. Might get assessed for heat pumps but not sure if that is goer with poor insulation.

NedS

DT2001 said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

That’s not that bad. Our energy costs are horrendous and British Gas say there is no cheaper deal. We have been paying £166 per month so £100 after the cost of living contribution and it has now gone up to £239 a month from January as they just reviewed it. Ironically they sent us £100 back as we were £300 in credit. 🙄

Horrendous? We’ve gone from £184 p.m. just before our energy company went ‘pop’ to £395 p.m.
Unfortunately we live in a converted stone barn so few options for insulating the walls. We are doing what we can and have 4kw of solar panels producing over £2k p.a. On FIT so not all doom and gloom. Might get assessed for heat pumps but not sure if that is goer with poor insulation.

We are similar, paying £230/month just for electricity and around £2000 per year for heating oil, so averaging out at around £400/month energy costs.

I'm not an expert, but from everything I've read about heat pumps, I'm guided to believe they work best in smaller well insulated properties, and in your scenario (we have a similar property) they will either struggle to provide sufficient heat and/or will cost a huge amount in electricity to run.

Audaxer

Sea_Shell said:

Albermarle said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

That’s not that bad. Our energy costs are horrendous and British Gas say there is no cheaper deal. We have been paying £166 per month so £100 after the cost of living contribution and it has now gone up to £239 a month from January as they just reviewed it. Ironically they sent us £100 back as we were £300 in credit. 🙄

For next Winter add the £66 on to £239, and then add 20%......

I've been ignoring the £400 plus £150 from our costs, as I've logged them under "income" rather than "negative spends" IYSWIM 

I logged the initial £150 we received back in April as income, but the £66 per month from October has just shown as credits on our Bulb account. 

Our usage cost for month to 21 November was £163, and because of our credit balance has been increasing and is now well over £500 they have reduced our DD from £108 to £96 a month.  As our heating has been on a lot in the last few weeks our usage will be way up this month, so the £96 plus the £66 credit will not cover the usage. However that is what the credit balance is there for, but it will be interesting to see when I take and submit a reading next week, just how much of the credit balance will be needed.

Albermarle

but it will be interesting to see when I take and submit a reading next week, just how much of the credit balance will be needed.

Ignoring discounts our November energy bill was just over £300. I can monitor daily usage, and in the cold snap it has been almost £20 a day. Luckily it is going to warm up, but on the other hand there will be a couple of extra rooms to heat over Xmas, so probably December will be around £500. Maybe that gives you an idea of what to expect?