NEED HELP TO UNDERSTAND MASSIVE ENERGY PRICE INCREASE

cassie13

My fixed rate with Shell acmes to an end on 31st January 2022. I am currently paying £884/year . On  energy club site it states that my bill will increase to £1275 which I was expecting to pay but Shell have put me on a Flexible 6 tariff and are increasing charge to £1441 which I cannot afford.. I understand that this is above the cap rate and did not think that this was allowed. "Our flexible tariff prices are based on a unit rate of 20.391p per kWh for electricity and 4.010p per kWh for gas, and a standing charge of 24.86p per day for electricity and 26.11p for gas." My estimated Energy consumption is 17,237kWh of Gas and 2,769kWh of electricity. Please can anyone advise me if this increase is correct.

QrizB

The Shell Flexible 6 rates are consistent with the Ofgem cap on variable tariffs.

17237x4.010 + 2769 x 20.391 + 365x(24.86+26.11) = £1441.87 so yes, Shell's calculation is correct.

Why do you think your bill should be £1275?

If you can't afford £1441 a year, your only real option is to use less energy. Your gas consumprtion figures are well above the national average; do you have a particularly large and draughty house?

Astria

Those prices don't seem that bad to be honest, and are certainly cheaper than some of the fixed rates out there!

Note that the price cap only affects typical usage, and your usage appears higher than typical so you will be paying more than the cap rate.

I'd ignore the yearly prices as those are complete guesswork at best and the actual figure could be higher or lower as prices are likely to change next year, or new tariffs become available.

[Deleted User]

Yes these tariff numbers appear to be very similar to what my MIL is facing moving from a Shell fixed tariff due to end on 31st January 2022 to a flexible tariff.

Are you on a smart meter and are Shell able to pull off your readings automatically?  If not have you given regular maunual readings throughout the last year? My MIL is on a smart meter with Shell and the estimated energy consumption tallies very closely with her consumption over the last year.

So the rates are about right - are their estimates correct?  Look at your bills over time and you should be able to work out if your consumption figures, that Shell are using. are roughly correct.  17237 kWh is really quite a large Gas consumption.  I'm surprised that a current figure of £884 pa would be enough to pay for the usage numbers you have quoted.   

dggk

I live in a village with no gas. We changed from oil to an air source heat pump seven years ago. Our electricity consumption is c12000kwh pa.
Initially our monthly cost was about the same c£1500 pa. Over the years by judicious switching we have managed to limit the cost to c£1800.our last supplier was Symbio and we have been switched to Eon Next. They tell me that with them my bill will be c£3000. Any tips would be appreciated 

Fairzo

dggk said:

I live in a village with no gas. We changed from oil to an air source heat pump seven years ago. Our electricity consumption is c12000kwh pa.
Initially our monthly cost was about the same c£1500 pa. Over the years by judicious switching we have managed to limit the cost to c£1800.our last supplier was Symbio and we have been switched to Eon Next. They tell me that with them my bill will be c£3000. Any tips would be appreciated 

I think you'd be better reposting this as a new thread.

QrizB

dggk said:

I live in a village with no gas. We changed from oil to an air source heat pump seven years ago. Our electricity consumption is c12000kwh pa.
... our last supplier was Symbio and we have been switched to Eon Next. They tell me that with them my bill will be c£3000. Any tips would be appreciated 

12000kWh will cost around £2500 at current Ofgem-capped variable tariff, plus £90 standing charge per year. Currently there's nowhere to switch to that's significantly cheaper than the Ofgem cap.

12000kWh with an ASHP is quite a lot. Do you have a large property (or a particularly draughty one)? do you know how much of that is used by your ASHP, and how much by everything else?

Fairzo said:

I think you'd be better reposting this as a new thread.

Agreed, if you want a proper discussion you'd be better served by a separate thread.

MWT

cassie13 said:

My fixed rate with Shell acmes to an end on 31st January 2022. I am currently paying £884/year . On  energy club site it states that my bill will increase to £1275 which I was expecting to pay...

There is a figure of £1277 often quoted, but that is based on 'typical electricity consumption of 2900kWh and gas of 12,000kWh, and is an average of the different regional prices.

If you were using the typical amounts of each energy type, you would be paying £1259 a year, but your gas use is well above the typical figure and more than compensates for the small amount you save by using a little less electricity than is typical.

This leads to the £1441 figure which is correct unfortunately.

So to get your costs back down to where you thought it was going to be, you will need to reduce your gas use by about 30%.

Currently the weather is mild and that should be helping, so take a look at your gas use and see what you can do to reduce it.

Swipe

Maybe time to think about only heating the rooms you use to a comfortable temperature rather than the whole house to 18C+?

wild666

QrizB said:

The Shell Flexible 6 rates are consistent with the Ofgem cap on variable tariffs.

17237x4.010 + 2769 x 20.391 + 365x(24.86+26.11) = £1441.87 so yes, Shell's calculation is correct.

Why do you think your bill should be £1275?

If you can't afford £1441 a year, your only real option is to use less energy. Your gas consumprtion figures are well above the national average; do you have a particularly large and draughty house?

Try turning the thermostat down by 1 degrees and if the heating is above 21 degrees and lower it until it begins to feel a bit cold then increase by 1 degrees, that should be the temperature that suites you. Don't do it in one step but one degrees every few days until you are happy with a temperature.
Turn off everything in standby mode, the longer these appliances are off the more kWh you save, charging leads are a big consumer of power left in standby. Some appliances like the TV, DVD player, games consoles, surround sound amps, stereo's and PC's & monitors plus HDD attached to them use power in standby as does the cooker, microwave and other kitchen appliances left in standby mode.  

jimjames

If you can afford £1275 but not £1441 then that's a only difference of £3 a week that you need to find so maybe look at other options for saving as well as on fuel. With electricity at 20p or so per kWh if you can reduce by 15kWh a week then you'd be back into the amount you can afford.