Massive Octopus price hike - help!

nerion

Just received an email from Octopus saying they're increasing my energy bill from about £50 a month to £80. Quite a hike!

I'm a single person and am really careful with my energy use - eg I only use power in the room I'm in, and when I do have the heating on, it's only 16C to take the chill off.

I'm on a dual gas/electricity tariff - just the regular Octopus one. Is there anything I can do? I really can't afford such a big price rise, especially this time of year.

Spoonie_Turtle

[For the sake of accuracy that's not a price hike, that's a payment increase.  A price increase is when each unit of energy and/or the standing charge costs more than it did before.]

Has your tariff changed?

Do you send regular meter readings, or if you have smart meters have you checked your bills are using readings from it?

Are you in credit on your account?

GrubbyGirl_2

I have just had such an email from Eon but mine is the opposite.  Because I have a balance of £400 credit they state I am using £22 less per month than my current direct debit covers so to keep me at a healthy balance and stop me building up a bigger credit amount they are reducing my DD by £40 a month.

It sounds like you are in the opposite position and don't have enough credit to take you through the winter months at the level you are paying.

Give them a call and explain your situation.  Also are you on a fix?  If not then I suggest looking for a cheaper tariff

dnpark38

I too have had a big increase in the DD so been to my account and reduced it, my aim is to keep my credit to equal 2 month payment, so after next month will adjust up or down as necessary.
I'm wondering if Octopus has people in debt and using other customers to balance their books.

Isthisforreal99

£49 would have been remarkably low for dual fuel taking account that standing charges alone will be almost half of that. But as above are your bills up to date and accurate? Are you in credit or debit?

Keep_pedalling

Your standing charges alone will be around £25 per month so £49 per month is a very low payment. What is your current account balance? Can you tell us how much of each energy you used in November?

Grey_Critic

Can always do what I do. I pay £120 per month, When I get my bill then I pay the outstanding balance. They are happy and so am I - each time their computer tells me they are going to increase my payments I just change the figure back to £120.

WiserMiser

You've confused your Direct Debit with your bill.  Your DD is just a top up of a kitty: there may or may not be enough in the jam jar to pay the bill.

Make sure your bills are based on actual readings (Smart, Customer or Meter Reader).

Find two actual readings 12 months apart and work out your annual kWh usage.  For electricity it's the difference in kWh readings, for gas it's near enough to multiply the m3 difference by 10.8, or 35.2 if it's Imperial (hundreds of cubic feet).

Enter the annual kWh figures into some Ofgem approved comparison sites and remember that separate suppliers can sometimes be cheaper.

Also consider whether Variable Monthly DD would suit you.  You pay only for your exact usage but obviously pay more in winter than summer, but you're slways in control.

prowla

They keep wanting to bump my monthly payment up, but I'm always well in credit, so I just put it back to as it was.
I don't see the point in giving them a perpetual interest-free loan.