Bill has doubled!

Robin9

@Foxymum - as above just check those meter reads and look for the letters A, C and E

It's time to be ultra energy conscious.  Turn off those lights, turn the temp down a degree or two or three, wear an extra layer.

bagand96

Foxymum1977 said:

Thank you and yes I know it’s going up again, I’ve looked further into my billing and what I was paying before I’m basically paying now for each electricity and gas now which I can’t understand! 

So come April I’ll be possible paying £350 a mont which is crazy for a semi detached house, my eldest has moved out so also one less person living here, 
we had a smart meter out in by Octopus so BG said they are taking the reading from that.

If the unit rates from your PE tariff are similar to the new BG tariff then you definitely need to look at the bills and double check the readings and understand exactly what British Gas are billing you for.  You say you paid them for £220 for October 28th - January 11th but there's another bill for December - January?  Are these different fuels?

Was your £132 a month to PE actually covering your use? Was your account in credit or debit when they failed?

A final thought - you moved to BG in October just as we enter the winter.  So although the bills BG have generated so far are big, they are all in peak winter energy use months.

booshya

Foxymum1977 said:

Hi all, we live in a 3/4 bedroom semi and have always paid around £120 a month for gas and electric, I do use a tumble dryer so I know my bill will be higher than a lot of others. I was with Octopus for 2 years fixed at around £122 per month, then it was going to rise a lot so I changed to Peoples Energy for £132 a month and then they went bust so in October I was switched to British Gas, anyway I’ve just paid a bill to them from October 28 up to 11 January for £220, but they have emailed me last night to say that I owe another £249 for my December-January bill due to me paid by the end of this month. Really helpfully they are closed today so got to wait until Monday to ring them, I’m so worried that this is out new monthly payment more than double 🙈 
And also worth the rises coming again in April, I’ve looked to switch but no deals really for anyone. Anyone else in a similar position? 

Please stop thinking about what you have paid per month over the last 2 years and what you are expected to pay per month now.

Think instead of the how much you use (as that is what you can control) and the tariff details (unit charge, daily standing charge, etc)

Your previous supplier went bust because they were not charging you enough money.
You would have been advised of the tariff details of the SoLR, which would have been much higher than the loss making tariff you were previously charged at.

Yes, the default tariff will be increasing again in April, as it is currently charging less than the supplier is being charged themselves for the energy because of the regulator imposed price cap, but it is still (for almost everyone) the best tariff to be on; there is nothing meaningfully cheaper currently available elsewhere.

Foxymum1977

booshya said:

Foxymum1977 said:

Hi all, we live in a 3/4 bedroom semi and have always paid around £120 a month for gas and electric, I do use a tumble dryer so I know my bill will be higher than a lot of others. I was with Octopus for 2 years fixed at around £122 per month, then it was going to rise a lot so I changed to Peoples Energy for £132 a month and then they went bust so in October I was switched to British Gas, anyway I’ve just paid a bill to them from October 28 up to 11 January for £220, but they have emailed me last night to say that I owe another £249 for my December-January bill due to me paid by the end of this month. Really helpfully they are closed today so got to wait until Monday to ring them, I’m so worried that this is out new monthly payment more than double 🙈 
And also worth the rises coming again in April, I’ve looked to switch but no deals really for anyone. Anyone else in a similar position? 

Please stop thinking about what you have paid per month over the last 2 years and what you are expected to pay per month now.

Think instead of the how much you use (as that is what you can control) and the tariff details (unit charge, daily standing charge, etc)

Your previous supplier went bust because they were not charging you enough money.
You would have been advised of the tariff details of the SoLR, which would have been much higher than the loss making tariff you were previously charged at.

Yes, the default tariff will be increasing again in April, as it is currently charging less than the supplier is being charged themselves for the energy because of the regulator imposed price cap, but it is still (for almost everyone) the best tariff to be on; there is nothing meaningfully cheaper currently available elsewhere.

I was previously paying £122 a month for 2 years with Octopus and if anything our usage is less due to one person not living here anymore and I am conscious of moaning any everyone to turn anything unnecessary off and we only have a lamp on in the evenings and the tv. I’m basically stuck with BG paying an extortionate amount of money to them. 

Verdigris

Your monthly payements are irrelevant. It is you monthly usage that matters. You pay for every kWh consumed. If your monthly payments are too small you'll end up with a, potentially, huge debt, which will prevent you from changing supplier, until it is paid off.

QrizB

Foxymum1977 said:

I was previously paying £122 a month for 2 years with Octopus and if anything our usage is less due to one person not living here anymore and I am conscious of moaning any everyone to turn anything unnecessary off and we only have a lamp on in the evenings and the tv. I’m basically stuck with BG paying an extortionate amount of money to them. 

I'm sorry to hear that you're having to pay so much to BG.

Can you tell us some details of your tariff? Either the rates you're paying, or the name of the tariff? Are you still on the variable tariff you were moved to when PE failed or have you taken up one of BG's fixed offers?

And do you know how much energy you use in a year? There should be a reasonable estimate on one of your final Octopus bills?

Foxymum1977

Also to bags 96 it won’t let me tag you, I was in over £200 credit with PE and I’m waiting for this to come back to me, I wasn’t really with them for that long a few months I think. Yes you are right about moving over in winter but the bill before have been £80 per month for years with Scottish power, then £122 with Octopus but now paying that times 2!

bagand96

Foxymum1977 said:

Also to bags 96 it won’t let me tag you, I was in over £200 credit with PE and I’m waiting for this to come back to me, I wasn’t really with them for that long a few months I think. Yes you are right about moving over in winter but the bill before have been £80 per month for years with Scottish power, then £122 with Octopus but now paying that times 2!

As others have said above you really need to stop thinking in terms of pounds per month. That's just a DD amount.  Just because your recent bills from BG may be £250 it doesn't mean they will be that in July and August when your energy use will be significantly less. A bill and a monthly DD payment are not the same thing. 

What is your annual usage in kWh for Gas and Electric? 

QrizB

Foxymum1977 said:

Also to bags 96 it won’t let me tag you, I was in over £200 credit with PE and I’m waiting for this to come back to me, I wasn’t really with them for that long a few months I think. Yes you are right about moving over in winter but the bill before have been £80 per month for years with Scottish power, then £122 with Octopus but now paying that times 2!

If you were paying Octopus £122/month, then PE £132/month, it's likely that you're using more than the "average" amount of energy for a 3/4 bed semi. If you could give some of the info I asked for a few messages ago it would help us understand your situation and make some suggestions.

We're 4 people in a 3-bed semi and a couple of years ago our bill was under £55/month. If we were on a default tariff today it would be more like £100/month. Paying twice what you're used to is quite possible.

p00hsticks

You say you are on a smart meter - are you looking at the monitor to see what your actual usage is costing on a daily basis ?