Gas and electric price hike

[viper]

Im a bit lazy when it comes to these things but ive just got a bee in my bonnet and wanted to share it

I get my gas and electric from British gas .Im on a standard tarrif which isn't that good

currently the billing is to pay more per unit for the first chunk of your electric/gas and then a lesser amount for the remaining units

the new pricing is going to do away with this and introduce a daily standing charge of 26p for each gas and electric and just charge you a new unit rate for all your gas and electric.

the unit price for the gas has gone up by about 4%
the unit price for the electric has gone down by about 0.7%

however the introduction of the daily standing charge has increased my bill , im on standard tarrif
by about

5% on the electric and 4% on the gas

the press quoted figures of 10% is an average across all the different tariffs .

if you are not on direct debit ( cash or cheque) the unit cost for the energy will rise by  6% on the electric and 10% on the gas

But the most interesting part is when you go onto money supermarket and compare, the search engine will need your current tariff and your energy consumption for the last 12 months, this is all on your bill.

my comparison changed me to Scottish energy on a fixed rate to march 2015 and saving

£440 per year

hell, that's gonna pay my bike insurance and some money towards canyon cages !!
just thought id share

[Lonewolf]

Viper we are with Scottish Power and although when we moved to them from British Gas and some other bandit company we were promised similar savings to your forecast, regrettably it never quite panned out that way. They kept telling us that we weren't paying enough each month/quarter so increased our direct debit payments and before we knew it we weren't that far off what we used to pay to the rivals.

However having said that I'll have a gander at Scottish Energy.

[nightrider]

You will find that you can swap once for a better deal , then that's it , any body still on a standard tariff  must be paying a lot more than needs be ,,

[O.C.]

Viper we are with Scottish Power and although when we moved to them from British Gas and some other bandit company we were promised similar savings to your forecast, regrettably it never quite panned out that way. They kept telling us that we weren't paying enough each month/quarter so increased our direct debit payments and before we knew it we weren't that far off what we used to pay to the rivals.

However having said that I'll have a gander at Scottish Energy.

Good point Steve. The village where I live doesn't have any gas supply so no joint tariff deals are possible.

I was with Scottish power for years and they seemed to be quite competitive, I submitted a meter reading and because I had elected to be a 'paperless' customer I got an electronically generated bill in return, as a result I was paying about £90.00 max per month on average

I moved to EDF as they promised reductions/savings, I have also cut down the electricity that I consume, however being ill coupled with bad weather during 2012 meant that my monthly DD rose to a staggering £173.00 per month, its now been reduced to £103.00 per month and I'm about £300.00 in credit.

I think its time for me to shop around for a fixed price deal, but I'm very cynical about the whole scenario with power supply companies. after all, the power you consume comes of the same national grid the only difference is the supplier of your bill.

I think we will all see massive profit declarations from these 'power supply' companies within the next 12 months...its yet another scam if you ask me 

[Lonewolf]

Our alternative however is to move to warmer climates and then worry about which is the most efficient air con unit to run. 

[Kwikasfuki]

Last year both Gas and Electricity on a dual fuel tariff cost me £3300. I intend to knock 800 off that this year.

However this year the supplier, Ovo, decided to hike the price up and my forecast bill for next year is £4300
So I went to uswitch.com and fixed with another supplier that would cost me £3300 based on last years consumption.

Which then got me investigating why they call the power companies 'a cartel'.

When they go on the news and state that they are only making 5% profit, that part is actually true. The actual profiteering happens earlier in the chain by the parent company.

As an example, imagine farmer Joe Bloggs sells milk at 10p a litre to a company called Acme Ltd.

Acme Ltd is a parent company of Diary Ltd.  Acme resell the milk to Diary Ltd for 100p a litre (a ten fold increase on what farmer Joe sold it to them).

Diary Ltd then sell the milk to the public at 105p a litre. The public goes wild at the price. Diary Ltd go on the news and say they are only making 5% profit. Which is correct. But the real profit is made by the parent company Acme Ltd which is where the sleight of hand happens.

Of course it's a bit more complicated than the example above, but the principle is the same.

The whole point of privatisation was to increase competition to being prices down. Instead the Govt are quite happy to let a monopoly form which then drives prices up.

[O.C.]

Yep, point well made Asif 

Apparently much of the extra cost now being levied at the customer/user is to cover investment made in the windfarm projects, which were initiated under the last political administration..i.e a policy of "buy/invest now and worry about how you pay for it later" 

Don't get me started on the pension ripp off   

[viper]

when comparing prices between energy companies , focus on the unit energy cost and not the monthly direct debit cost they quote you

Im currently paying 4.65 pence per unit and will sign a contract with Scottish power at 3.90 p per unit fixed for 18 months. people who say well I used to pay £80 per month and now I pay £90 per month so the new company are now more expensive, is not logical, you may be using more energy than last year or you maybe behind with your bill . everytime I get my bill I always check my unit price is still the same as the agreement .

[O.C.]

when comparing prices between energy companies , focus on the unit energy cost and not the monthly direct debit cost they quote you

Im currently paying 4.65 pence per unit and will sign a contract with Scottish power at 3.90 p per unit fixed for 18 months. people who say well I used to pay £80 per month and now I pay £90 per month so the new company are now more expensive, is not logical, you may be using more energy than last year or you maybe behind with your bill . everytime I get my bill I always check my unit price is still the same as the agreement .

Good point, I worked with an electric company for about 10 months selling their product, mainly to agricultural users, and price per unit consumed was an important factor as was the standing charge

[Kwikasfuki]

I look at the unit price and the standing charge to work out if I'm going to be better or worse off.

But then again, I have a spreadsheet that does daily calculations on my energy spend.

[Rusty]

I have been with EDF for about 3 years now and pay for both gas and electric via Direct Debit at £150 a month ... Usually in credit by a fair bit at the end of the summer but of course that gets eaten up as soon as it starts getting chilly ! It's about right.

[Lonewolf]

The wider consequences........

I met a guy through work very recently who had a staggering £6 per week left after his other expenses, such as rent, gas & electricity. With that £6 he's expected to feed himself and live his life. Just the wrong side of being a pensioner so didn't qualify for any heating allowances from the Government, (if that still exists), he had no food of any description in the house, no cereal, no bread, no veg's, nothing other than a couple of inches of milk in a bottle. He couldn't even afford tea bags or coffee.

Regrettably it's people such as this gent who really suffer at the hands of the big companies. We moan about the price of fuel, of course we do its human nature but thankfully we can still afford to pay the bills and keep warm in the winter, we always manage to find the money from somewhere. I dread to think how much we might be paying for gas and electricity when I'm this chap's age, it's a sad, sad world.   

[O.C.]

The wider consequences........

I met a guy through work very recently who had a staggering £6 per week left after his other expenses, such as rent, gas & electricity. With that £6 he's expected to feed himself and live his life. Just the wrong side of being a pensioner so didn't qualify for any heating allowances from the Government, (if that still exists), he had no food of any description in the house, no cereal, no bread, no veg's, nothing other than a couple of inches of milk in a bottle. He couldn't even afford tea bags or coffee.

Regrettably it's people such as this gent who really suffer at the hands of the big companies. We moan about the price of fuel, of course we do its human nature but thankfully we can still afford to pay the bills and keep warm in the winter, we always manage to find the money from somewhere. I dread to think how much we might be paying for gas and electricity when I'm this chap's age, it's a sad, sad world.

Very Very sad, more so when you consider that we are still able to enjoy riding our bikes which in most cases is a luxury.

The winter fuel payment does still apply Steve, and he should qualify if he's over 60

[Lonewolf]

Viper I've just checked my account with Scottish Power, thankfully I'm on a fixed tariff until May 2014 so no price hike for me this winter. 

[viper]

Viper I've just checked my account with Scottish Power, thankfully I'm on a fixed tariff until May 2014 so no price hike for me this winter. 

well that was a smart move 12 months ago !