Massive hike in energy bill

Mrs_Chelle

Hi there - so my situation is I was due to switch energy providers just BEFORE the price increases. My quote was £72 p/m with Pure Planet (from my EDF £62 p/m). Fair enough, could live with that. However for some reason the quote didn't go through (I was getting emails stating i needed to 'confirm' something or other. I kept 'confirming' then receiving another email asking the same thing). The website was glitching and when I eventually got a response from  Pure Planet I had lost the £72 pm quote - by which point the prices had rocketed. I was quoted then £127 pm, which I stuck with as I was unable then to use any comparison sites to switch (no available tariffs etc). Pure Planet went bust, I got transferred to Shell Energy, as of this morning I now have to pay £140 pm.

So from £62 prior to October 21, to £140. It's more than doubled - I was prepared for an increase but never to that extent. Has this been the experience for most other people? (I recall doing a poll on here and at the time I was in the minority of people for whom energy bills had doubled).

Is there anything I can do about this? I've tried to switch again but there are still no tariffs I can switch to. I didn't choose Shell Energy. I've spoken with them, they could only advise that the government loan will be in place from October. Am I within my rights to request that it is at least reduced to the £127 I was paying with Pure Planet? Not that it makes a massive difference.

Ive just received my first bill from Shell - £664.57. This covers a 4 month period from the October transfer from Pure Planet. I was in credit with Pure Planet £383.82. I've today paid the total amount due to Shell £280.75 and will pay £140 pm from 15th March.

I'm not very well up on these things at all - my experience with energy companies is that after a few months my energy bills have always reduced as they always way overestimate my usage. Will this happen with Shell?? I'm grasping for any positives. I'm on the flexible 6 tariff, which is apparently their cheapest. 

I dont think I can pay this amount and I don't know what to do. Any advice much appreciated.

EssexHebridean

How much energy are you actually using?
Are you submitting regular (at least monthly) meter readings?
Do the readings on the Shell bills tie up with your meter readings, or are they estimating?
Is the closing reading with PurePlanet and your opening reading with Shell the same?

400ixl

It is all a bit of a sorry state at the moment for many unfortunately.

If your transfer was a SOLR transfer and you were in credit at the time the old supplier went bust then that credit will eventually get credited to your account. It just take quite a while unfortunately.

You should have had to do a meter reading at the point of transfer so that your old usage and new usage could be agreed, and you should ideally have been supplying regular readings to Shell from then on in order for them to get your estimated DD calculation right.

You do not have any rights to having Shell drop your bill to the fixed rate you were paying the failed supplier.

Mrs_Chelle

I dont know the closing reading with Pure Planet. I can no longer access my account to check, and I've received nothing via email. I've always provided monthly meter readings to whichever company, and do recall giving a last reading to Pure Planet before transfer.

However -  this first bill from Shell states that its based on estimated meter readings.  I've provided them with exact readings since I was first able to in January (and obvs again in Feb). There's no reason they shouldn't be going off my usage, however I'm concerned that it does say 'estimated' when they've had exact. 

The bill also states my personal projections are £661 for elec and £526 for gas per year. So around £100 per month! Where's the 140 come from....

Thank you for the replies

Mrs_Chelle

I've just checked on my account - Shell received reading via Pure Planet at transfer point, and have def received jan and Feb readings from me so I've no idea why my bill is based on an estimate 😞

MWT

Mrs_Chelle said:

The bill also states my personal projections are £661 for elec and £526 for gas per year. So around £100 per month! Where's the 140 come from....

Thank you for the replies

Unless that projection incudes the price rise due 1st April, that is where the difference comes from.

Check the actual kWh they suggest you are going to use, and then calculate your annual total using the new April tariff rates.

That will give you a good estimate, but do check the kWh used makes sense in terms of the energy you have used over a year in the past.

If you have problems with the tariff rates etc. then just post your kWh estimates here and we can help.