Physically don't have the money

PM22

My electricity bill is going up from £88 per month to £410 and neither myself or my son are home all week.

I don't physically have the money to pay the ddr.....what will happen to us? 

Robin9

You may have a good fix which is coming to an end and then the present SVT will come as a shock. October will be even more so.

It's not your bill which is going up but the DD which is a contribution towards the actually cost -  use more and it will cost more, use less and you pay less.

It looks like you are being offered a fixed tariff and an expensive one at that. 

You do not have to accept it -  you can stay on the SVT which will go up again in October and again and again.

What is your actual annual consumption -  hopefully you have your own records or you can find a bill from about 12 months ago with actual readings, read your meter now and do some simple sums. People here will crunch some numbers for you.

Have you had the £150 ? Don't forget you will get £400 in instalments.


PS You will get more replies if you repost under "Energy"

Brie

Is the increase based on something concrete?  Or is it your provider sticking their finger in the air and coming up with a figure??  

If it seems to be a justifible increase then you need to talk to your supplier and tell them it's not affordable.  Also see if you can switch to a standing order rather than a DD although this may increase the amount you need to pay (I think that's true of British Gas but not necessarily other suppliers).

If you simply and completely are unable to pay then I suggest you read through some of the info here on Debt Camel.

Should you cancel your direct debit if you can't pay your energy bill? · Debt Camel

SusieT

Firstly take your meter readings now, and look back on your bills to as close to a year as possible for an actual rather than estimated reading. Work out how many kw you have used. When you know that you can look at the new price per kw and what the standing charge is and see what you would be paying at the same usage as the last year. If you can cut down on lights (if tv is on turn off the light), batch cook, use oven as little as possible etc that could bring the usage down.  There is also the £400 that is being given by the government although it sounds likely to be in staged amounts, and if you are still really having a problem you should be at a level to get benefits to help you. It could well be that if you can keep the usage down and make sure that tou submit a meter reading every month that the dd will be much much lower than that, but you may need to be very firm with the supplier to get them to reduce the bill. 
When you have the readings and usage, post on the energy board lower down and you should get help from them.

Brie

Also you say there's no one there all week so there should be ways to cut back on the energy being used.  Other than the fridge what else is on?  Microwave plugged in with clock running? Turn it off.  TV & PC on standby?  Off.   OK maybe you want to leave your clock radio plugged in too.  If your heat is electric then that can be turned down to a very low temp when no one is a home.  Or if it's on a timer can be set to turn on just once a day or just when you're about to get home.  

I'm assuming as you haven't mentioned gas you don't have a supply and therefore no bills for that.

PM22

I don't think I am currently on a fix

I only have very old meter readings or very new ones 
Old ones are 30th November 2021 - 21st February 2022 energy used 515 kWh @20.53p

standing charge 83 days @ 22.893p/day

Does that help or make sense? 

Robin9

Are the 30th Nov or 21 Feb readings  ACTUAL  or Estimated -  look for the letters A, C, S  our read or your read  - they are the one we want.  Estimated (E) mean the supplier is guessing.

What is todays reading please ?

PM22

I do have gas but it's with another company and I am £365 in credit and they haven't put up my direct debit just yet 

Grumpelstiltskin

Brie said:

Also you say there's no one there all week so there should be ways to cut back on the energy being used.  Other than the fridge what else is on?  Microwave plugged in with clock running? Turn it off.  TV & PC on standby?  Off.   OK maybe you want to leave your clock radio plugged in too.  If your heat is electric then that can be turned down to a very low temp when no one is a home.  Or if it's on a timer can be set to turn on just once a day or just when you're about to get home.  

I'm assuming as you haven't mentioned gas you don't have a supply and therefore no bills for that.

As Brie said make sure everything possible is switched off at the plug every day when you are out.

Robin9

PM22 said:

I do have gas but it's with another company and I am £365 in credit and they haven't put up my direct debit just yet 

The same info re gas meter readings .   Expect similar increases in charges. That credit will soon reduce over the winter month.s

Brie

Assuming those are actual readings then you are using electricity at a rate of £200 a month.  Which is quite a lot considering no one is there all week.  So potentially you are also way in debit as well if you are paying less than £100 a month, hence the big increase.

So as Robin has said - check the reading today (or very very soon).  Compare it to what was on the last bill and see what that comes out to.  Does it show you're in debt or have they been estimating much too high a useage??  (hopefully that's the issue)

Also check what meter they say is your on your bill.  It's always possible you are paying for someone else's electricity as well as your own.  One way to check this is to turn off everything (& that means every single thing unplugged, turned off) and see if the meter still moves.  If it does someone/something else is on the meter.