News: Energy bills to rise by £700/yr for many | Chancellor unveils up to £350 households support

Mati

I am with Octopus and reading my meter weekly - paying about £11 per week for joint electric and gas. Able to keep a close check on usage.

MadMat

Would it be illegal to"pad" my Feb and March meter readings and effectively pay for some energy in advance at the current price ahead of the hike??

stewie_griffin

Yes as it is fraud.

MattMattMattUK

MadMat said:

Would it be illegal to"pad" my Feb and March meter readings and effectively pay for some energy in advance at the current price ahead of the hike??

Yes, it would be illegal, fraud is never advisable. Energy suppliers are not stupid, they will be looking for this (surges in usage ahead of the end of a fixed deal) and may well act if they suspect this, what they might do (in person meter read, request photo verification) to see if this is happening is a guess and what action they would take if it were discovered is a bigger one.

PennineAcute

MadMat said:

Would it be illegal to"pad" my Feb and March meter readings and effectively pay for some energy in advance at the current price ahead of the hike??

On top of fraud, it may also lead to a case of energy companies then legitimately using this double months' worth of figures to recalculate your direct debits, leading to increased payments being made, further hardening the hardship that some people may have to go through.

Remember, they are quick to increase direct debits, but can be very slow in decreasing direct debits.

AndrewKnight_2

MattMattMattUK said:

You keep posting inaccurate information, the energy providers consumers deal with are not costing us 30-40%, their net margins are in the 2-3% range in normal times, they are currently losing money and will likely continue to do so until next year. 

They could easily have narrow margins but still cost 30-40%. The two are only loosely connected. If they are very inefficient, they could be costing a huge amount but still have a small margin. On the other hand, a very efficient supplier could add little to the bill but have a significant margin as most of the additional price is profit. I don't know if this is the case here as competition should keep their costs AND margins down, but it could happen.

lorainwal

We have just been notified by Shell Energy that our annual personal projection will increase by £1,258 on the 1st April,  this is a bit more than the £700 forecast.  Has anyone else had such a big increase and any advice on how to get this reduced.

€urofile

Surely, at the moment, A fixed would be a good idea at any price given Putin's whims

Alcorn60

I've also just had my shell energy increase through today also equates to well over a £700 increase plus a huge increase on standing charges. Which I wasn't expecting at all ? What a nightmare

Your electricity rates will change from 20.207p to 27.090p per kWh and your standing charge per day will change from 26.46p to 48.91p.

Your gas rates will change from 3.954p to 7.225p per kWh and your standing charge per day will change from 26.11p to 27.22p.

Alcorn60

lorainwal said:

We have just been notified by Shell Energy that our annual personal projection will increase by £1,258 on the 1st April,  this is a bit more than the £700 forecast.  Has anyone else had such a big increase and any advice on how to get this reduced.

Ours also just gone up a lot more than £700. Plus huge increases on the standing charges ,which we didn't expect.