Shell Energy

Sidarigirl

I was advised by them that my bill would go up from £115 a month to £225 a month and now they say it will be over £300 in April. 
Don't know what to do. I am a pensioner living off what
Savings I have and my state pension. I was promised a smart meter which never materialised.  Any ideas?

eskbanker

It seems unlikely that a smart meter would make much of an impact but if they promised you one then push for it, if you're keen to have improved visibility of your usage.

However, fundamentally you're in the same situation as many others - it's not really a Shell Energy issue as such but an industry one.  There are promises of some government contribution towards the increased bills that everyone faces, but beyond that all you can really do is shop around and/or earn more and/or spend less.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/reduce-debt-boost-income
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/spending-discounts
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razord

With Shell, you need to book your own appointment for a smart meter install online. You can do so here: https://www.shellenergy.co.uk/smart-meters

You pick the day and AM/PM.

jimjames

You might get more info on the Energy board but have you actually checked your meter readings? It might be that they are using estimated numbers. The prices you are quoting are just DD amounts, they aren't the rates you pay per unit or the actual bill amounts.

born_again

Just send them a meter reading each month & only pay for what you use. not what they estimate you use.

We pay Eon £85 a month, since we were transferred to them in Oct last year. Was paying £95 to old provider.
We are £200 in credit as monthly cost is just over £100 a month.
House is heated all day due to WFH.

Zanderman

Sidarigirl said:

I was advised by them that my bill would go up from £115 a month to £225 a month and now they say it will be over £300 in April. 
Don't know what to do. I am a pensioner living off what
Savings I have and my state pension. I was promised a smart meter which never materialised.  Any ideas? 

Join the club. Everyone's energy bill is going up by similar amounts. And it will be worse in October when the next energy cap rise is due. Nothing you can do apart from either be frugal (probably difficult, at least to any significant degree) and/or try and find a cheaper tariff (ditto).

Martin Lewis's guide on this is worth reading/watching f you haven't already - details at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/how-to-get-help-if-you-re-struggling-with-your-energy-bills-/

Also worth reading up about the fixes available - which aren't inspiring. See the guardian article from last weekend here: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/mar/05/fixed-rate-energy-deals-households-in-great-britain-quoted-up-to-3500-a-year

I've just been through the sums for our house with Octopus - who we currently pay 110 pcm on a 12 month fix ending soon. Their best offer (for existing customers, mentioned in that Guardian article as a decent deal), for a 12 month fix that takes into account the April and anticipated October increases will take our monthly payment to about 260. And that's said to be a 'good deal'!  A whole 2k a year more. Without a fix the total might be much more, but how much more is impossible to say. And we need to go through it all again in 12 months, when prices may be even worse. .

Not cheerful at all, sorry!  The only thing you can do is accept that prices are rocketing sky-high - a situation that has been anticipated for months, but made worse now by Putin's war.

Smart meter won't help, except to eliminate the need for meter readings