Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

[Richie]

I'm expecting mine to double at a minimum given the huge 4-fold increase on average of the standing charge.

Fix finishes at end of April where I go from 7p/day for each Gas and Elec and I reckon it will be at least 25p each if I'm lucky as well as a unit increase.

Just checked my usage from Oct to March (using meter readings and bills) and used 478kwh of Elec and 2512kwh of gas over the period making my total bill £180 or circa £35/month over the coldest part of the year.

I'm expecting £60+ from May onwards

 

[squerble]

I'm expecting mine to double at a minimum given the huge 4-fold increase on average of the standing charge.

Fix finishes at end of April where I go from 7p/day for each Gas and Elec and I reckon it will be at least 25p each if I'm lucky as well as a unit increase.

Just checked my usage from Oct to March (using meter readings and bills) and used 478kwh of Elec and 2512kwh of gas over the period making my total bill £180 or circa £35/month over the coldest part of the year.

I'm expecting £60+ from May onwards

That's extremely low on electricity. Do you even run anything? I just checked my power plug and since 12th Jan I've used 110kWh for my gaming PC and two laptops alone, though granted there a few weeks of solid home working, but now back to hybrid working so that usage will come down a bit. Can't imagine how much me and partner will use when running a house on our own once oven usage and car charging is all added on.

 

[jpaul]

just checked my usage from Oct to March (using meter readings and bills) and used 478kwh of Elec and 2512kwh
3 units a day if you have gas hob, don't use oven much - possible

 

[SDK^]

How much differences are there in thermostat readings? I ask as ours is set to 18 degrees for a few hours each day and that's warm enough for a t-shirt, so we'd be saving a bit by not setting it to 21 (not to mention it would then be too hot).

Depends where the thermostat is located. e.g. our's is in the hall which is always colder than the rest of house, so having it set to 14c is enough for the rest of the house to be cosy warm. Also, it's helpful if you have radiators with thermo valves which can switch off the rad based on each room temp.

 

[kinetic747]

Do we realistically expect the prices to return to 2021 levels?

The energy companies are some of the worst for what feels like price fixing … if they see these massive profits I just don’t see it going back down.

Getting pumped with massive standing charges feels like a nice little way for shafting those who don’t use much.

My thoughts exactly on the standing charges, it's criminal.

 

[Delvis]

Do we realistically expect the prices to return to 2021 levels?

The energy companies are some of the worst for what feels like price fixing … if they see these massive profits I just don’t see it going back down.

Getting pumped with massive standing charges feels like a nice little way for shafting those who don’t use much.

Nope, same with fuel. Once it goes up it never goes down any decent amount.

 

[Freefaller]

I legit dont understand how large some peoples monthly bills are on here. Even 4 person families etc £300 a month (before increases) is mental, it just screams energy wastage

Yes that does seem high. I wonder if it could be that people's homes aren't well insulated or very large, or they run a lot of equipment / leave it on, or have electric hobs/ovens, use tumble drier rather than hang clothes up, old double glazing/no double glazing, etc.. it all adds up. I suppose working from home will add to it?

Our house is quite old and the double glazing is crap. But even as a 4 person household we're currently on £150 p/m. However we use our fireplace a lot which saves on heating a little, and wear jumpers rather than wonder around in shorts and t-shirts at home - which would be nice to be fair but needs must!

 

[fez]

Do we realistically expect the prices to return to 2021 levels?

Of course not. They will make up excuses about lower profits over the past few years and how they need the money to invest in renewables and make themselves more resilient to future fluctuations.

This is how companies do business when it comes to the government. Historically high profits for BP while charging obscene prices and they turn around and say, "thats totally fair and there is nothing wrong with that".

 

[Bar]

We are a large family (5 kids) and that generates a fair amount of washing and numerous electrical devices. We live in a 6 bedroom house across 3 floors so a reasonbly large home. There is always laundry that needs doing and living in Scotland the dryer gets used extensively.

Previous 12 months with E.on
Electric - £2,378
Gas - £1,051

Estimated next 12 months post price cap changes
Electric - £3,304
Gas - £1,848

This is on E.Ons SVR

 

[Haggisman]

Dam man that's mad.

Gas is pay card top up thing
Leccy is standing order for £40 a month and actual usage is around 38-45 quid a month

House is energy rated B

What are your unit rates? Just having a fridge freezer running 24/7 will be about £20/month on the new cap rates, plus another £13 for the standing charge, so thats almost all of your £38-£40 gone already

If you have a garden or some land just build a camp fire, there are all kinds of things you can build to keep warm that don't require any electricity.

And burn what exactly? Still need to pay for the fuel - which given everyone else will be having the same idea will almost certainly go up in price (or steal it )

I know lol. It doesn't get cold enough in england to need heating lol

Exactly, just lol if you have your house above 0 during the winter!

 

[Retro6]

What are your unit rates? Just having a fridge freezer running 24/7 will be about £20/month on the new cap rates, plus another £13 for the standing charge, so thats almost all of your £38-£40 gone already



And burn what exactly? Still need to pay for the fuel - which given everyone else will be having the same idea will almost certainly go up in price (or steal it )



Exactly, just lol if you have your house above 0 during the winter!

There are always plenty of things to burn. Furniture that gets chucked out, trash newspapers etc there are plenty of things. There are many ways around things in every aspect.

 

[Haggisman]

There are always plenty of things to burn. Furniture that gets chucked out there is plenty of it old wood and tree branches. There are many ways around things in every aspect.

So just to confirm you are advising people to steal fuel then?

Unless you live in a forest then the amount of old wood and tree branches generated by the few trees on your own land is going to last you a week at most, so you'd need to find a friendly forester/farmer who doesn't mind you taking their wood. Not particularly practical if you live in any kind of urban area.

Most modern furniture is man-made timber, e.g. chipboard, MDF, so isn't exactly very pleasant to burn since it's full of chemicals from the glue to hold it together, and again, you're going to be very limited to the actual volume of stuff you can find for free.

 

[Greebo]

I think the average dual fuel is 3100/12000 kWh in electric/gas or something close to that.

That’s what the ofgem cap of £1277 to £1971 is based on. To be paying £300+ a month on a dual fuel is some serious consumption.


Loft insulation is really cheap, an easy DIY install and has always been cost effective to install even when energy prices are low, other things like quality modern windows are quite expensive.

Wow. Admittedly there are only 2 of us but we live in a massive 300 year old 5 bedroom house and our annual energy consumption is 5,500 kWh.

I can't quite believe it! 60? To get down to 60ppm I think id have to not shower and not wash clothes, heat one room and ration to an hour of TV!

I think I could only get to 60 in a one bed well insulated flat

Ours is currently £64 per month,. Granted when our fix deal runs out that is likely to double.

And we tumble dry everything

My partner works from home 5 days per week as well.

Is helped that we have 4 hours at night at 5p per kWh and have the washing machine, tumble drier and dishwasher all on smart plugs to take advantage

 

[Retro6]

So just to confirm you are advising people to steal fuel then?

Sorry I edited my post before I saw your reply.

Stealing? I don't think taking tree breaches would be stealing unless it was somebody else's land or collecting up trash to burn.

 

[Haggisman]

Sorry I edited my post before I saw your reply.

Stealing? I don't think taking tree breaches would be stealing unless it was somebody else's land or collecting up trash to burn.

Np, I edited mine too

Yes, taking tree branches from someone else's land is stealing. Whether they are likely to care is a separate matter. If you're in the middle of nowhere and you gather a few branches to make a small fire while you're camping - chances are no one will care, but if you're turning up in a van every week and filling it with logs then I doubt you'd get away with it for long!

 

[Puzzled]

Is helped that we have 4 hours at night at 5p per kWh and have the washing machine, tumble drier and dishwasher all on smart plugs to take advantage

Hope you have a smoke or heat alarm in your kitchen / utility as running a tumble dryer overnight isn't the wisest thing to do.

We try to air dry most of the washing but you just end up with washing everywhere and some things never feel fully dry (bedding / towels etc). Looking at a heat pump dryer now as they drop the energy consumption from 5-6kwh a cycle to 1-2 kwh. Will still take a while to cover the purchase cost though.

 

[Retro6]

Np, I edited mine too

Yes, taking tree branches from someone else's land is stealing. Whether they are likely to care is a separate matter. If you're in the middle of nowhere and you gather a few branches to make a small fire while you're camping - chances are no one will care, but if you're turning up in a van every week and filling it with logs then I doubt you'd get away with it for long!

You wouldn't need logs when there are plenty of other things to burn, recycle the rubbish before cutting down trees would make more sense. Burning the rubbish would also clean the place up a bit.

Its all these big businesses and corporations who waste the most energy. Households waste very little if much at all. If you go into a city or even a town there are big tower blocks, offices and other buildings that have an average of 30 to 40 fluorescent lights to a single room which are always on when they don't need to be, computers that are always on and other things that are always on. I understand that servers need to be left on at night and CCTV systems etc, and that is fine but there are a lot of things that get left on when not in use eating up power that don't need to be on. A single office block must waste a hell of a lot of energy.

Whats done to tackle the problem? Nothing

Who pays the price? We do.

 

[ci_newman]

What are your unit rates? Just having a fridge freezer running 24/7 will be about £20/month on the new cap rates, plus another £13 for the standing charge, so thats almost all of your £38-£40 gone already

I think that's a little extreme. A fridge/freezer on 24/7 might now cost an additional £20/year to run, but no where near £20/month extra.

Typical consumption is ~ 375kWh /year, which works out to around £112/year with an assumed rate of 30p/unit. On old rates of 20p/unit it would be £75/year.

 

[Feek]

I honestly thought I'd never be in the 'heat or eat' category but that's basically happening now. Our heating kicks on for a couple of hours in the morning and then drops back to 17°C. That means that due to thermostat hysteresis, it fluctuates between 16.5° and 17.5°.

We just put more jumpers on.

 

[Greebo]

Hope you have a smoke or heat alarm in your kitchen / utility as running a tumble dryer overnight isn't the wisest thing to do.

We try to air dry most of the washing but you just end up with washing everywhere and some things never feel fully dry (bedding / towels etc). Looking at a heat pump dryer now as they drop the energy consumption from 5-6kwh a cycle to 1-2 kwh. Will still take a while to cover the purchase cost though.

Yeah we have smoke/fire alarms. Never really thought about the risk of running the tumble drier at night. We used to put it on and leave the house when we used it during the day.