Flexible or fixed aka rock & a hard place

theblackcatman

Hi all just after some advice as me & the wife are going round in circles

We currently pay £85pcm for gas/electric our plan comes to a end next month & this is were the fun begins as we all know 

So we have choice out of flexible at £235 or fixed at £275, what with everything else going up in price & the fact we have all the other bills to pay we can't afford this madness! 

I spoke with our provider who was as useful as a chocolate teapot & wouldn't stop reading the script when I seid we can't pay this every month 

It's soon going to be more expensive than my mortgage just to have a light on

Any advice for a way forward? 

Robin9

Are you by any chance underpaying at the moment  and/or are your bills based on estimates ?

What is your actual annual consumption (in kWh not £'s) please ?   Look back 12 months and find a bill where the readings are marked with A, C , Smart, Your read , our read (definitely not any with E)

What is the reading today ?

Have you had your £150 ?  Other than the £400 what of the other benefits recently announced will you qualify for ?

BUFF

& what have you done/can you do to cut back on energy consumption?

pochase

Unfortunately coming from a good fixed tariff you energy cost is very likely to double for electricity and almost treble for gas, so the £235 doesn't seem unlikely.

From the £239 it seems that  your usage is higher than the national average used by Ofgem to calculate the cap, 3100KWh electricity and 12000KWh gas for £1975. So as @buff has advised you will need to look into what you use your energy for and how you can reduce the usage.

Please give us the numbers @Robin9 is asking for, plus let us know if you were in debt or credit on your  last bill, and by how much and the date of the bill.

Otherwise there will not be that much that the energy supplier can do, we are all feeling the pressure of the higher cost, and many were not as lucky to be on a fixed tariff are paying already now the high cost.

The difference between the SVT and new fixed seem to be very low. Can you give us the details for the fix also, that people can help you decide if it is worthwhile? Don't forget at the moment it seems thee might be another increase of 40% in October.

theblackcatman

Hi all thanks for the replys, yes had the £150 ages ago & apart from the £400 in the pipe don't think we qualify for any extra help 

We're in credit with them & they have just refunded us some money, we try & use as little electric & gas as possible, only take showers, washing machine/dish washer only on when full, lights off in rooms we ain't in etc central heating only goes on when it's proper cold all because we don't like to waste things 

Last year we used gas 6990.8kwh & electric was 3087.2kwh 

I think £85pcm is already more than enough for some hot water & a few lights 

Speaking with family there all saying go for the fixed before October gets here, fact is we can't afford to pay nearly £300 a month this is what I was trying to explain to them on the phone we have other bills to pay then we need petrol & shopping etc they just kept going on a about global prices rises couldn't get them to answer my question of we can't pay that so what can we do 

BUFF

some very quick calculations suggest that at current SVT rates your indicated usage should result in a level monthly payment of ~£150. Because electricity is about 4x the cost of gas per kWh that is what is costing you most so probably the best place to try to cut back.
If the SVT rates do go up on average by 42% in October that should result in a level monthly payment of ~£210.

Can you check that they are using your actual usage for their estimates (& can you share their calculations on the forum)?

QrizB

theblackcatman said:

we try & use as little electric & gas as possible, only take showers, washing machine/dish washer only on when full, lights off in rooms we ain't in etc central heating only goes on when it's proper cold all because we don't like to waste things 
Last year we used gas 6990.8kwh & electric was 3087.2kwh

On those numbers, you're a lower-than-average gas user but a little above-average for electricity.

On the current capped variable tariff, your consumption works out as roughly £1660/yr, £140/month.

I can't explain why your nameless supplier thinks your flexible bill will be £235/month, as that's roughly 2/3rds more than the calculated figure?

I think £85pcm is already more than enough for some hot water & a few lights

Sadly the days of £85/month are long gone, and unlikely to return for a year or two (if then).

Speaking with family there all saying go for the fixed before October gets here, fact is we can't afford to pay nearly £300 a month this is what I was trying to explain to them on the phone we have other bills to pay then we need petrol & shopping etc they just kept going on a about global prices rises couldn't get them to answer my question of we can't pay that so what can we do

If you dig into the details of their offer, you should be able to find the unit prices and standing charges for gas and electricity that they've used when calculating their numbers, pus details of how many kWh/yr they used to calculate them. Can you share those numbers here?