Reply With QuoteMartin Lewis said yesterday that if, after the price cap rise next month, you find a fixed price deal that is about 30% above the fix, then you should seriously think about taking it (if you can afford it)
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Someone on the radio this morning who was being interviewed as an expert on such things said that our utility bills for October onwards are likely to be three times as high as we were paying in October 2021.
Martin Lewis said yesterday that if, after the price cap rise next month, you find a fixed price deal that is about 30% above the fix, then you should seriously think about taking it (if you can afford it)
Remember while looking for deals is important, the biggest one thing anyone can do is reduce their usage.
I have been experimenting recently with no heating, I am lucky that my flat picks up some heat from the building/other flats, so never gets freezing.
However i have now gone 2 weeks without turning the heating on once.
only changes I made was to wear hoodie / socks ect indoors. I used to think it was normal to only wear t-shirt and shorts indoors in the middle of winter.
A de-humidifiler - these are great for keeping damp out of the air
Also a thick good quality extra warm duvet for the bed, and now wear full set of pyjamas.
It really has not effected my quality of life at all, it is surprising how quick you climatise and I feel better for reducing my carbon footprint.
That's great if you're healthy and can manage that. I have bad circulation (Raynauds syndrome) and frequently my fingers turn orange and purple as I feel the cold badly. My heating is on constantly at the moment.Originally Posted by chris lee
We didn’t go that far but reduced our usage and saved £30 by reducing the time it’s on. It’s a balancing act.
We use heating oil for C/H and hot water as there is no main gas where we are. By extensive insulation (and I mean extensive, including IWI) we have reduced our annual oil consumption from 3000 litres to 1500 litres. Current price of heating oil is around 90p per litre and no means of paying monthly by D/D - it all has to be paid for upfront! Pretty scary stuff. Thankfully we filled up well before the Ukraine invasion so we have enough to last until probably Nov/Dec.
Just had this from Shell about new rates from April 1
They haven't said what my new DD will be, but they say my estimated annual cost will go from £2221 to £3183, and increase of £962. That's roughly £265 a month.Your electricity rates will change from 21.180p to 28.289p per kWh and your standing charge per day will change from 24.86p to 48.14p.
Your gas rates will change from 4.174p to 7.443p per kWh and your standing charge per day will change from 26.11p to 27.22p.
I can divide by 12 - why can't they?
Time to shop around.
Luckily I got a 24M fixed rate with Octopus in September so my leccy "only" increased to 24.86p/day and 20.42p/kwh. My problem is with the oil I need for heat and water. 18 months ago I needed to spend approx £1000/year and now it's £3300/year and rising!
Time to cut some more trees down to supplement the boiler...
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I need to look at this in more detail but, just had an Octopus email and monthly payment (dual fuel) could go from £68/month to £142/month for a 12 month fix. Not that long ago we were paying £49/month.
I'm with SSE who have suddenly become OVO.
SSE would never do joint billing so in about Nov/Dec the upped my gas DD and then about 3 weeks later increased it again quoting "anticipated" rises in costs and the government allowed charging levels.
SSE then suddenly became OVO and I got a dual fuel bill of £191/month without any warning of the change, but it equalled the 2 separate bills so nothing being hidden.
As I said in an earlier post I got my forecast for the next 12 months a week or so aga and on the figure they have quoted my DD from April should £182. Now everyone is reporting increases I am starting to worry that I may have missed something but I can't see anything. The standing charges which were my first thought are included in the forecast.
This what I am in for with Octopus
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I heard something on the radio about the standing charges going up so much is a means of clawing back on all the money lost by the companies that have gone bust. Apparently the surviving companies that take on the customers of the failing companies have to cover this....or something like that.
Interesting you should say that! We are in the same boat but as I said in my post above, we recently filled up with heating oil at about 60p/litre so should be ok until December I would think. Nevertheless we are just starting researching wood burning stoves and I guess a lot of other folk who are not on mains gas will be doing the same. We already have a chimney which is capped off at the top and bottom but easily reopened to fit a liner. You can bet that the price of logs will see an unjustifiable increase in price soon!
Thankfully we installed a solar thermal system years ago and we get ample free hot water from about May to September every year.
Blue Dwr: Just noticed that prices in Scotland, England and Ireland are around £1.30 per litre - there must be something wrong with the Wales data surely! (£2.10 p/litre according to today's graph on Boiler Juice!!).
Yes £30 a month to be expected.
We have turned down the heating only use its really cold , also turn lights off that you'd leave on ,and drive slowly to reduce fuel costs will hopefully drag back that £30 without much pain.
Take no notice of boiler juice. Funded by big Irish oil supplier.
Mind you where I live I cannot get a quote for oil 'due to demand'. Fortunately I'll be ok for a few months.
thats the same as martin lewis said this week
£30
I'm with Octopus and just out of a 12 month dual fuel fix at £52pm.
New offer is £98 variable or another 12 month fix at £108.
May go with the fix because from October the price may double, or more according to some experts.
that looks pretty good with prices at the moment
I was paying £112 a month with Green until they went bust last Autumn. Shell took over and increased me to £183 a month.Just had this from Shell about new rates from April 1
They haven't said what my new DD will be, but they say my estimated annual cost will go from £2221 to £3183, and increase of £962. That's roughly £265 a month.
I can divide by 12 - why can't they?
Time to shop around.
They have just changed my DD to £305.00 to cover the arrears and the next 8 months at the higher prices.
My council tax has only gone up by £6.
these new prices make you think so i decided to refuse their sugestion of £154 a month and asked to go on a variable pay bill in full each month, my first one came in at £47 still thats the lower rate for march but even if the next one doubles thats still well below what they suggesti just had one from them as well £64 up to £154dual fuel
sorry thats for half a month ,so would have been £94 for the month still well below the figure suggested
My electricity is £30 DD a month with Shell (2 bed flat live on my own).
Been with them one year and only used £11 more than my DD which would have been covered over the next month or 2 as we leave winter so my DD was about right.
Shell have just informed me that it is going up to £78 a month.
150% increase.
i thought the rise was 54% ?
£153 is my new electric/gas bill. Luckily for me by pay is going up by a whopping 2.4% this month.
What's the point.
we've just had a similar pay increase, it feels like they were overestimating how warmly it was going to be received
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