Has British Gas increased tariffs in last few days

stu12345_2

I pay variable tariffs for duel bills, gas and electricity with BG on bill on demand monthly.I noticed in last 6 days when I awake in morning around 5am my smart meter is showing £1.70 , it used to show around 90p.
 I used to end up at end of day using £1.90, now it's closer to £3, I haven't used any more appliances than usual.

I'm not in arrears , and all bills have been paid.

BarelySentientAI

Not generally.  But they might have updated which tariff shows on your display (not the one they use to actually bill you).

born_again

When you say "Smart Meter" Do you mean the IHD, the little box in the house?
As our smart meter does not display cost, only units used.

stu12345_2

yes little black box on kitchen worktop, ive had it for 3 years, I have it set for pounds and pence,( total today mode) yes it goes blank in sleep mode around 10pm to 5am approx,
I don't view units, easier to see real time useage in pounds and pence

it's the fridge that's only on during night, so it used to show 90p ,now it's £1.70 in morning.
 I read BG had lowered units in last  month or so, and  my bill dropped alot, but read they are increasing standing charge again, not units, but it still lower than what it was months ago..but in last few days, I awake to see it starting off higher.

think I read that in the news recently about them being sneaky and raising standing charge

Scot_39

If your on a standard variable tariff - there is no headroom for them to be sneaky - the cap is the cap - and the suppliers have to follow. 

Fix rates however might have increased a tad - as current and so near future predictions by likes of CI have increased as of end of Mar.

So no idea where you read such reports - or what deals they were referring to - but their is a lot of badly presented - even misinformation - out there on the web.

But there are too many times when the prices on an IHD are wrong - often for days - in rare cases weeks or months - after every cap change for instance - unit rates on many meters are not accurate.

And even then on gas that perhaps better to track on m3 rather than charge rate kWh units  - which is also generally only approximate as the calorific value used in the conversion from m3 to kWh is often also only approximate. 


In past my rates have excluded SC in daily costs, were ex vat now Inc vat - and last Apr to Jul set to more expensive standard credit not DD rates I was paying on actual bills.

The only definitive tariff rates - and for gas - conversion factors - are those on your paper or electronic bills.

So start looking at kWh and m3 - and on your actual meter if accessible.


Unit rates for Ofgem cap on gas and electric dropped on Apr 1st - but SC increased slightly - between 1 and 2p on gas - suppliers have to follow that drop.  Find your regional caps and changes on Apr 1st here

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/get-energy-price-cap-standing-charges-and-unit-rates-region


The electric Standing charge has gone up more in some regions tjough - Northern iirc by c14p  - average by lower c6p - one region going down c0.6p iirc.  And unit rates down c4p.

In most regions only very light users will have seen an increase in total prices. 

But nothing to explain a rise of over £1 a day.

Are you sure heating hasn't been kicking in last few nights - many parts of uk have had hard frosts overnight.  1C here couple of nights ago.

You should not have therefore ever really relied on IHD alone - its only there as an aid - not just been looking at £/p or even kWh on IHD in isolation but also looking at bills.

My IHD actually tells me what the meter has been told by an OTA  update  - so what thinks my current SC is and what it thinks the unit rare per kWh is.  Check yours against above tables if can see them.

It's remarkably late after the last Ofgem cap change though in Apr 1st for them to have updated SVT pricing- my prices updated on the 2nd or 3rd of Apr.


Gas is now c6p per kWh electricity c25p per kWh - last winter despite £10bn s in govt subsidies - thanks to Liz Truss no less - we were paying on average c 10.3p and c34p.

So long term use comparisons in £/p are pretty meaningless in terms of tracking actual consumption.

stu12345_2

could be heating it's set at 17 during the night, gas combi boiler

I know at 15 it never comes on though