Electricity costs up 200%??

TrickyNicky

I was with Neon Reef until November 2021 when I was transferred to British Gas. My Direct Debits with Neon Reef were £30 a month but these stopped when British Gas took over. I had a bill from British Gas in March for £140 to cover November to March i.e. around £30 a month still. I am on a variable tariff, so I knew it would change at some point. They have now finally set up my Direct Debit, but it is for £90 a month.  I know prices went up in April, but surely not by 200%. I was expecting around £45 to £50 per month (with the expected 54% increase). They have now sent me an option to go onto an exclusive Fixed rate until May 2023. They estimate my annual costs will be £1124 instead of £963 if I stay on my current variable rate. Until the end of March I was only paying around £350 a year for 2200kWh.  They seem to be estimating my usage at 2,800kWh per annum but the maths doesn't make sense to me. They are estimating a 30% increase in kWh but the payments are up by 200%.  I know of several other folk who are seeing huge jumps in their monthly payments after being moved to new providers.  They too are going to be paying far more than the stated 54% rise in electricity charges. Am I missing something here? Can anyone help me understand what is going on.

Reed_Richards

I am currently paying well over 100% more per unit of electricity than I was a year ago.  My  new supplier has increase my Direct Debit by more than this percentage but I plan to wait  until my account is in credit by more than my monthly DD, ask for some money back and negotiate down the monthly payment to something more realistic.   

BUFF

TrickyNicky said:

I was with Neon Reef until November 2021 when I was transferred to British Gas. My Direct Debits with Neon Reef were £30 a month but these stopped when British Gas took over. I had a bill from British Gas in March for £140 to cover November to March i.e. around £30 a month still. I am on a variable tariff, so I knew it would change at some point. They have now finally set up my Direct Debit, but it is for £90 a month.  I know prices went up in April, but surely not by 200%. I was expecting around £45 to £50 per month (with the expected 54% increase). They have now sent me an option to go onto an exclusive Fixed rate until May 2023. They estimate my annual costs will be £1124 instead of £963 if I stay on my current variable rate. Until the end of March I was only paying around £350 a year for 2200kWh.  They seem to be estimating my usage at 2,800kWh per annum but the maths doesn't make sense to me. They are estimating a 30% increase in kWh but the payments are up by 200%.  I know of several other folk who are seeing huge jumps in their monthly payments after being moved to new providers.  They too are going to be paying far more than the stated 54% rise in electricity charges. Am I missing something here? Can anyone help me understand what is going on.

Were you still in debit? If you paid Neon Reef £30/month then went to SVT with BGas from November then your bill will have increased then & then on 1/4/22 up again (certainly did for me - I was paying NR ~£21, BG ~£27 from Nov. & now from April ~£40). That suggests that you should have been paying ~£39 & now ~£53 .
So the increase may at least partly include getting you out of being in debt to them.

The 54% figure was the average increase for the average acount over both electricity & gas from the previous SVT to the new SVT - electricity went up less than 54%, gas by much more than 54%

You should be able to set your own DD in your account on the website or in the app.

rp1974

Is that all?,mines increased by 259%!.

Best prepare for the further rises coming in October,if you can budget for it I'd leave the Direct Debit where it is for now to build up a bit of credit before winter hits.

pochase

TrickyNicky said:

I was with Neon Reef until November 2021 when I was transferred to British Gas. My Direct Debits with Neon Reef were £30 a month but these stopped when British Gas took over. I had a bill from British Gas in March for £140 to cover November to March i.e. around £30 a month still. I am on a variable tariff, so I knew it would change at some point. They have now finally set up my Direct Debit, but it is for £90 a month.  I know prices went up in April, but surely not by 200%. I was expecting around £45 to £50 per month (with the expected 54% increase). They have now sent me an option to go onto an exclusive Fixed rate until May 2023. They estimate my annual costs will be £1124 instead of £963 if I stay on my current variable rate. Until the end of March I was only paying around £350 a year for 2200kWh.  They seem to be estimating my usage at 2,800kWh per annum but the maths doesn't make sense to me. They are estimating a 30% increase in kWh but the payments are up by 200%.  I know of several other folk who are seeing huge jumps in their monthly payments after being moved to new providers.  They too are going to be paying far more than the stated 54% rise in electricity charges. Am I missing something here? Can anyone help me understand what is going on.

With 2200KWh your new direct debit should be in the region of £65.

Are you maybe in debt? £30 was not enough to pay on SVT from October to March. It was around £45 that was needed based on your use of 2200KWh.

Does that include heating with electricity?

Mstty

Hi there

With their estimate of 2800kWh it comes out roughly at £80 a month and with the upcoming expected rise in costs again this October that would explain the £90 per month to allow you to build up credit so it's not a shock.

If you are adamant your usage is 2200 kWh a year only and you don't have any debit on the account ask them to set that as your annual usage and recalculate.

wild666

I was paying 14.54p for electric and 3.91p for gas to Avro now I'm paying 27.09p and 7.22p to Octopus. My bill has gone from £40 per month to £65 per month. That's nearly 100% more plus the SC was 16.8p that's gone up nearly 200% and the gas has gone from the same 16.8p with Avro to 27.22p increasing just over 62%.

ML is predicting a 34% increase in October and those wanting to fix should fix if they are offered a plan at no more than 24% over the capped rates we have now.

Mstty

That's dangerous and ML needs to recalculate and the wholesale prices for April and predictions. 

Some say "all finger in the air" the rise could now be between 20-30% so it's a gamble taking a fix on the ML guesstimate IMO.

QrizB

TrickyNicky said:

Until the end of March I was only paying around £350 a year for 2200kWh.

If that was on your old Neon Reef tariff, it would be correct based on around 13.5p/kWh plus 12.5p/day standing charge.

However when NR went bust you were moved to BG's new tariff of 21p/kWh and 25p/day SC (£550/yr, £46/month), and from April 28p/kWh and 45p/day (£780/yr, £65/month).

Your account will be in debit due to underpaying through the winter plus your current BG tariff is more than twice the price of your ond NR one.

molerat

My pre Oct 21 electric use was £37, my post April is £92.  You likely need to be paying £72 to stand still without taking any built up debit into account.

jbuchanangb

Neon Reef in May 2021 unit rate 13.01p/kWh. EON Next in May 2022 unit rate 26.68p/kwh (both exc. VAT) Neon Reef daily rate 11.53p/day. EON Next 40.23p/day. Figure it out. Anyone whose supplier went bust, or was on a good fixed rate which has just ended are having the same experience. The folk who aren't too badly off are the ones who went for a 2 year fix early in 2021. They are in for a shock next year.