Our energy bill is going up 340%

namenamename

Hi there

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions. Our energy bill is going up from £91 a month to £404 and I have no idea what to do. Our supplier went under and we have been switched to Shell energy. I appreciate bills are going up lots but this feels bananas. We have two young children, one of whom is disabled, we are trying to be thrifty with our boiler but it's not making a dent. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. 

Robin9

Is the tariff that Shell is offering you a Fix ? If so refuse it and you will revert to a standard tariff -  - Shell should inform you of this option. It will still be very high.

Can you give us your actual annual consumption for both gas and electric.

PS your £91 is not your bill - it's a DD and a guess.

Are in credit or debit at the moment ?

MWT

Presumably that is your direct debit payment, not your actual bill?

Have you checked the estimate of your annual use against your actual use over the last year to see if it is correct?

If the estimate is wrong then the monthly DD will also be wrong...

Ultrasonic

Robin9 said:

Is the tariff that Shell is offering you a Fix ? 

Shell aren't currently offering any fixed term tariffs (according to their own website anyway).

namenamename

Robin9 said:

Is the tariff that Shell is offering you a Fix ? If so refuse it and you will revert to a standard tariff -  - Shell should inform you of this option. It will still be very high.

Can you give us your actual annual consumption for both gas and electric.

PS your £91 is not your bill - it's a DD and a guess.

Are in credit or debit at the moment ?

Hi there, thanks so much for replying. My current tariff is 'Flexible 6 Direct Debit ebill'. I'm trying to hunt down my annual consumption but I only have had one bill from Shell since moving and it includes an estimate. Annual electricity is 3396kWh and gas is 30174 kWh (which sounds huge). 

Apologies of course, you're right, that's my direct debit not my bill.

We're in £737 of debt with Shell atm. When we moved supplier in Dec we were in £216 credit.

Thanks so much for your help.

namenamename

MWT said:

Presumably that is your direct debit payment, not your actual bill?

Have you checked the estimate of your annual use against your actual use over the last year to see if it is correct?

If the estimate is wrong then the monthly DD will also be wrong...

Hiya, thanks so much for replying. You're totally right that is my direct debit not bill. Thanks for the tip, that's a really good idea, I can only find annual usage which includes an estimate on my Shell bill atm, will dig up our last bill from our previous supplier. 

MWT

namenamename said:

... and it includes an estimate. Annual electricity is 3396kWh and gas is 30174 kWh (which sounds huge). 

...We're in £737 of debt with Shell atm. When we moved supplier in Dec we were in £216 credit.

The debt and that high gas estimate would explain the high DD payment they are asking for.

Do you have smart meters that Shell are using or have you been giving them meter readings each month?

The gas use is very high, but not unbelievable if you live in a poorly insulated bungalow for example...

One thing to check though is to make sure the gas meter and the units you are being billed in are correct as that can result in a much higher kWh calculation than is real...

So if you could check your last bill from Shell and give us the opening and closing gas meter readings along with the kWh that they calculated from that, also if possible a photo of the meter, but if not look carefully at the meter and tell us if it mentions cubic feet (ft3) or cubic metres (m3) on the meter?  

Robin9

If you haven't already done so -  read your meter and give those readings to Shell -  then ask for a revised bill.

Hopefully up to date readings will bring that debt down a fair bit.

If you are not already doing so read those meters at least monthly , keep your own records on a small spreadsheet and keep track of the costs and the DD's you make.

jbuchanangb

£737 in arrears accounts for just over £60pm just to catch up spread over one year. 30174kWh gas would cost about £2300 at the OFGEM capped rate with effect from 1 April, which is £192pm. 3396kWh electricity would cost about £1100. Using those numbers your monthly DD should be about £290. Try to find a gas meter reading from about a year ago with previous supplier, then calculate how much gas you actually used. Double check that the units on the bill (i.e. cubic feet or cubic metres) correspond to the meter. With accurate numbers you can push back on Shell regarding the DD amount.

EssexHebridean

Were you by any chance on a fixed deal with your previous supplier before they went bust? if so, when you were SOLR'd over to Shell there is a good chance that your payments no longer covered your use as you would have been switched to a variable rate. 

RJames

My energy use this last winter is down considerably on last winter.  I don't appreciate the request for a 200% increase for montlhy payment, because  I am in credit and clearly they are basing this on inaccurate usage from winter before.  I know that the price increase will see my credit disappear but gov are topping up accounts in October when usage will likely be more than it is going to be over the next few months but not by as much as they calculate. Energy companies are not fortune tellers and they seem to have got this wrong just to line their profits. Energy companies nationalised is currently a  preferable position, preferably  with a coalition government so no single party can control the agenda.   No one should be profiteering from what has become an essential for living.