[mowflow]

Very little point to this post but just want to have a little rant really.

So I got my quarterly combined energy bill in on Friday and the monthly payments are going up yet again. It is now £136 per month. Now I know some of you are uber rich and live in palatial mansions so this will be nothing to you but it's all relative and what I'm comparing to is what I was paying only 3 years ago. We have not started running more electrical goods, still the same low energy boiler which we actually only had fitted 3 years ago. Nothing has changed unless you count changing 2 light bulbs from traditional to low energy a change. So 3 years ago my monthly bills were £88 per month. Now I know this may sound low but it's a modest 3 bed, well insulated, conscientious energy use, modern low energy boiler etc.

So it seems like around a 50% price increase in 3 years. I personally don't think that's acceptable and it sticks in your throat even more when they announce record profits every year and inform you that prices will continue to rise. It would be so good to say FUCK YOU to these companies but we are all more or less held to ransom and the governments attempts to do anything about it are embarrassing. No doubt because all the companies are owned or run by Eton College class mates.

[DanTheManc]

I too live in a modest 3 bedroom house and recently received a letter saying our monthly bill has gone up from £118 to £128.

[creepy coupe]

Have they gone up because you're in arrears due to the very long cold winter we had a few months ago?

[mowflow]

Since about September last year i've been paying £126 per month so it's not making a massive increase from it's current pricing. It's just the realisation of how much it's went up in 3 years. I think the whole "colder than expected" winters thing is a crock of shit that they have convinced us all of to justify robbery.

The winters aren't any longer or colder up here. If anything the winter of 2012 was practically non existent... summer was the same but then that means everything should average out.

I'll switch provider for a better deal but they all pretty much price fix so you get screwed no matter what really. There was actually something on the radio the other day about the pore cast of the average energy bill being £1400 per year by 2015 or something. Mine will be about £2500 per year at this rate, are they basing the average on someone living in a 1 bedroom cave or something?

[AlwynMike]

Originally Posted by mowflow

No doubt because all the companies are owned or run by Eton College class mates.

I thought that all our utility companies were French.

And yes, they are Robbers - although not quite as much as Insurance companies . . . .

[mowflow]

Sorry, I meant major share holders and CEOs. In other words the people that stand to make the most profit from robbing us all blind.

Don't get me started on insurance.

[djgandy]

Long cold winters cause this. You have your heating on more and your hot water is harder to heat up.

[wallsmk2]

you can query the amount though and suggest a different payment over the phone. My payment was reduced to £100/month from £160 last year, which was daft as we live in a 5 bed, drafty house with high ceilings. Because of the longer cold spell this year we've only just broken even so they put up the payment to £160 again. Queried it and now at £130/month which appears about right.

[dobbo99]

you can query it as other have said, they usually set a payment figure that suits them, not you!
we've got a 2 bed cottage, and I'd expect £120-130 a month through the winter months as its got no modern insulation at all and only 3 radiators in the whole house.

on a slightly different tangent - we rent our old 1 bed flat out, and the tenants have just had their first electric bill, which was £65 for the qtr (Apr, May, June) and they think its too high!!!! £20 a month!!
so they have queried it with us and complained that something in the flat must be faulty and using electricity, and can we get all the appliances tested. absolute jokers.

[mowflow]

I'll give the fuckers a call.

[gangzoom]

Our monthly bill has just done up by £20/month, i think it mainly down to the amount of extra gas used in the winter months. We all need gas/water/electricity nothing really you can do about it but pay up?

[Mani59]

As someone who used to work for one of the biggest energy companies, the advice that I can give is make sure you supply your own meter reads every month without fail, (normally 2 or 3 days before the end of the month is best). That will help to produce an accurate bill based on actual reads, rather than estimates.

Also consider home insulation as well as looking at how efficient your boiler is.

Hope that helps!

[AlanQS]

Funny, my electric and gas bills have stayed fairly static over the last few years but that's only down to reducing the amount of energy we consume and not any largesse from energy companies.

The biggest change is electric. My quarterly consumption in 2006 was between 1500 and 2000kwh but now it's between 1,000 and 1,200kwh. The big differences between then and now is replacement of CRT TVs and CRT monitors for LCD and the scrapping of the electric water heater when I got a combi boiler. This has reduced my annual electric bill to about £650.

Gas consumption is up a bit due to the cold winter and spring up here so it's just topped £1k per year.

[Cyprio]

Originally Posted by Raj59

As someone who used to work for one of the biggest energy companies, the advice that I can give is make sure you supply your own meter reads every month without fail, (normally 2 or 3 days before the end of the month is best). That will help to produce an accurate bill based on actual reads, rather than estimates.

Also consider home insulation as well as looking at how efficient your boiler is.

Hope that helps!

The trouble is Raj, at the end of the day they're all robbing-criminal bastards, who are taking the piss and seem to be getting away with it year-on-year. Fuck-knows how poor people and the average pensioners are coping.

Mowflow - for what it's worth you could try a 'fixed' rate, but even with these you still have to try and keep within your usage, so all they are good for really is that you won't pay more if, or rather WHEN prices go up again!

[peterg1965]

I pay £230 a month for my gas and electric, it has gone up by about 50% in 4/5 years or so, it is a lot of money. Who do I blame? Well, I think we are paying the 'green' premium who do you think is paying all these foreign companies the feed in tariff from the thousands of wind farms that have sprung up over the last 10 years, it isn't the energy companies, it's us as bill payers. I may be wrong but the Government is obligated by the EU to achieve 15% total renewable energy to support Uk energy demand. The companies doing the wind farms aren't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, wind energy is comparatively inefficient and the FIT makes it very attractive for them.

I change my energy company every year chasing the cheapest fixed rate tariff and I have accurate annual consumption figures, makes me sick ow much I have to pay.

[chris330D]

Its good advice to make sure your meter is read. I insisted that my supplier did so each quarter which they now do. Also make sure you shop around and are on the lowest tarrif, it will make a big difference if you are still with your regional supplier as they rely on people not changing. Takes a few minutes on any of the comparison sites, have found uswitch.co.uk to be ok. HTH

[zltm089]

My bills go up and up as well... no reason whatsoever...my usage is roughly the same...

It's as almost as bad as the car insurance industry...

Fucking cocksucking thieves...hope karma gets them one day...

[rogerxp]

Originally Posted by zltm089

My bills go up and up as well... no reason whatsoever...my usage is roughly the same...

It's as almost as bad as the car insurance industry...

Fucking cocksucking thieves...hope karma gets them one day...

Kev for Prime Minister

This thread has reminded me to chase up my 'new' energy supplier. Changed in January and heard fuck all from them bar an initial contact e-mail. Cannot gain online access for some reason. I notice they're collecting my dough OK though. BG fucked me over so determined not to let it happen again but a bit difficult with no contact - e-mail just sent...

[mowflow]

I wonder if anyone at all is actually happy with their supplier and doesn't feel like they are being screwed in some way.

I just don't understand how the companies can continually increase prices, claim it's due to increasing costs then report record profits every single year. The "colder winter" explanation doesn't wash with me. We had a seriously cold winter 2010/2011 and my bills were roughly 50% less. Have prices really increased that much or am I really using that much more? 10 or 20% increase maybe. 50% is criminal.

[Hotcoupe]

Originally Posted by mowflow

am I really using that much more? 10 or 20% increase maybe. 50% is criminal.

Maybe it's not you?

Ask the other half to buy normal batteries for a while, and give the rechargeable ones a break.

It might make a difference

[doughboy]

Ask to come off monthly payments and go on to proper quarterly bills.

We have quarterly electric and bi-annual water bills based on readings only. (no gas here)

That way you only pay for what you use every quarter based on your readings (make sure you give the readings).

So you pay less in summer and more in Winter, what could be fairer? That way the summer money accumulation happens in your bank account not theres.

[mowflow]

Originally Posted by doughboy

That way the summer money accumulation happens in your bank account not theres.

Probably not wise. I'd spend it on car parts.