energy

rstocker48

hi i'm disabled and both my wife and i are in our mid seventies.we had an email from our energy supplier,it states,as from april your d/d will increase to £311.that's our pension gone,i phoned our energy company,and was told to get in touch with C.A.B.this i did,now wait for it,the agent told me to go into debt,then we will help you,i do't want to get myself into that situation,how can that be right.thanks for listening

MSE_James

We have a guide here which may offer you some helpful pointers: 
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/how-to-get-help-if-you-re-struggling-with-your-energy-bills-/ 

jbuchanangb

Quite commonly the energy suppliers are excessively overestimating the amount of energy customers will use, and then calculating very high forecast monthly payments. You can push back on this with a bit of help. I'm sure you understand that each bill (electricity/gas) is made up of two parts, namely Standing Charge, an amount for every day irrespective of energy used, and unit charge, an amount for every kWh (kilo Watt Hour) used during the billing period. Find a bill from about a year ago which shows the meter readings. Read the meters to day. Then if you put those readings and the dates on this forum someone can work out how much a year's energy will cost you at the new high rates. It would be useful to know which supplier you are with and which region of the country, as well as, shown on your latest bill, the name of the tariff.

QrizB

rstocker48 said:

we had an email from our energy supplier,it states,as from april your d/d will increase to £311.

We're going to need a bit more information.

What is your current monthly payment?

What are the rates on your current tariff, what rates are you being offered from April, and what is your Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC) for each of gas and electricity? All this information will be given on your bill (current rates and EAC) and in the email from your supplier (new rates).

wild666

What was the previous 12 months usage? Take this as an estimate of the next 12 months usage then divide by 12, your provider could have overestimated and taken Octobers predicted increase into account, say 20 or 30%.

You can save money by lowering the temperatures on the combi boiler to 55 degrees or a bit lower for the heating and lowering the thermostat temperature to between 18 and 21 degrees, not leaving appliances in standby mode might save a few pounds for each appliance but it all counts to saving money.