£400 a year energy cost increase, is this right?

blinkydamo

Hi all,

After some advice please, I have to change my energy tariff by the end of the month, I am currently with British Gas on their "Energy and Home Services Jul 2021v2". I am currently paying a combined £110 a month and this seems to cover the years usage well.  I am looking around and the tariffs are saying I will increase to around £135-145 a month, this seems like a fairly huge increase, is this correct?

If it is I will just have to bite the bullet but after any advice on reducing this the best I can.

Cheers in advance,

Damian

Robin9

Quite possibly - energy costs have risen.

Have you worked out your ACTUAL ANNUAL CONSUMPTION in kWhs ?  (hopefully you have actual rather than estimated readings to work from) You will need that to do comparisons.

Don't forget that separate suppliers for your gas and electric is generally cheaper these days.

chrisw

Yes, that's about the same mine has gone up when I renewd last month.

spiro

Also ignore how much they say per month, look at the annual figures and compare them.

JJ_Egan

Not seen a rise that big for me going forward , certainly less than £100 .

But i give monthly meter readings and usage is reasonably accurate and that means estimates are also in the right ball park .

Malbur

Received mine from Avro today, current direct debit £78.00 mthly and £150 in credit , so £786 a year in theory. New "cheapest" quote £101 per mth so £1212 anually -£426 a year rise , or 55% increase! Obviously checked price comparison sites but most coming out higher. Absolutely disgusted, gouging customers for all they are worth with absolutely no protection from the "watchdog"

[Deleted User]

Malbur said:

Received mine from Avro today, current direct debit £78.00 mthly and £150 in credit , so £786 a year in theory. New "cheapest" quote £101 per mth so £1212 anually -£426 a year rise , or 55% increase! Obviously checked price comparison sites but most coming out higher. Absolutely disgusted, gouging customers for all they are worth with absolutely no protection from the "watchdog"

There is protection from the Watchdog. Ofgem sets a price cap twice a year. The problem is the increase in wholesale prices over the past 12 months plus Ofgem decided to impose a £23 levy on all our bills in April to cover Covid bad energy debts. Despite what you might think, suppliers do not make vast profits from the energy that they supply.

To put these rises into context: wholesale prices account for c. 40% of the unit price that we pay. If you look at the righthand column of the link below, you can see that on this day a year ago that the wholesale price of electricity was 3p/kWh: today it is 9.733p/kWh. As I post, Ofgem is currently consulting about adding the cost of providing energy supplies to EV charging points to all our bills - and they have yet to address the costs associated with Net Zero.

https://energy.guylipman.com/sm/electracker

Malbur

Dolor, thanks for the reply, you obviously are far more versed in this area than I am. However, I would genuinely suggest that any essential service that has a 55% increase in prices in a year is unacceptable. We can afford it, but others can't, particularly those already being penalised by the various overpriced "plans" of the suppliers (charging the poorest more for the same commodity). Especially if ,as mentioned in your reply, part of the cost is being added by the people who are there to ensure the service is affordable.

[Deleted User]

Malbur said:

Dolor, thanks for the reply, you obviously are far more versed in this area than I am. However, I would genuinely suggest that any essential service that has a 55% increase in prices in a year is unacceptable. We can afford it, but others can't, particularly those already being penalised by the various overpriced "plans" of the suppliers (charging the poorest more for the same commodity). Especially if ,as mentioned in your reply, part of the cost is being added by the people who are there to ensure the service is affordable.

I don't disagree with you; however, what do you suggest that Government does to freeze wholesale energy prices at a time when prices have risen around the World? Informed journalists suggest that the energy Cap will increase by over a £100 in October: about £250 for the year.

There is one piece of good news which is that OPEC has agreed to increase oil production. Whether we like it or not, a lot of our electricity is produced from gas when the sun isn't thing and the wind isn't blowing.

tim_p

Malbur said:

Received mine from Avro today, current direct debit £78.00 mthly and £150 in credit , so £786 a year in theory. New "cheapest" quote £101 per mth so £1212 anually -£426 a year rise , or 55% increase! Obviously checked price comparison sites but most coming out higher. Absolutely disgusted, gouging customers for all they are worth with absolutely no protection from the "watchdog"

What we’re you paying per kWh and what’s it gone up to?  Same with standing charge? 

Robin9

Ditto  - Electric certainly not 55%  - going up from 12.93 to 16.023 and s/c 20.37 down  to 20.18  - 25%   (GNE/Edf tp PFP)

Gas went from 2.4225 to 2.9918 ; s/c 19.0 to 26.25   (remained with ZOG a couple of weeks ago) - 2 year fix - about 26%

@blinkydamo - cast your net wider and forget dual fuel - separate suppliers !