Gas and electricity charges

It’s meaningless to quote what we all pay as our houses and usage are so different. I envy those in modern super-insulated homes who wear shorts and tee shirts all year round but my house has loads of character along with the draughts.
I like that Bulb has one tariff for all and that they are not fitting smart meters yet (because the current ones won’t work if you switch suppliers) yes, their charges are rising fast with rising wholesale prices but there’s no point switching now because all the others will also raise their charges.

I have just switched to Octopus - through M&S, I was with SSE ( through M&S) and they have recently severed their connection with SSE, and now offer Octopus. It's a fairly new fuel supplier, about 3 years old I believe, but has good reviews from Moneysavingexpert, so time will tell. My DD has halved, but whether it's enough to cover my usage only time will tell.
As a bonus, M&S have given me a £50 voucher for remaining with them, so win-win!

18.5 degrees is the normal setting on our CH. We find that is a very comfortable temperature and would not want it any higher.

Lilly, I read that and thought that it is time more government ministers started dealing with household bills.

However there is a simple solution. Change your supplier around the beginning of May so that your heating year starts then, and build up the surpluses over the summer to cover the higher winter bills.

The best thing I did to reduce heating bills was to buy a lovely faux fur throw from Amazon (£22), make myself a hot water bottle to lean against, and sit on the sofa wrapped in the throw. I stay toasty warm, the cat joins me, and I either don't put the heating on at all until it gets really cold, or keep it on low, eg. 18 or 19 deg.

I think it is Martin Lewis who says "Heat the person, not the house."

Challenge the the raised fee. We did and won. The government has said that utility companies cannot allow customers on monthly charges - which are supposed to even out the annual bills - cannot allow those customers to run up large deficits even though the high winter bills will be compensated for by lower summer charges. You really couldn’t make it up!

Hmm, I do like the sound of interest being paid on excess balances. I don’t think our provider does that.

My builders somehow signed me up to Ecotricity for my new build granny annexe - I would not recommend them. They sent me 33 reminders for an imaginary amount before I moved in and now after ten days living here they say I owe them £186 - the builders did not run the central heating, just tested it. To add insult to injury they are also a Labour Party donor ?
Once they come up with a reasonable amount to pay I will switch to one of these companies I have never heard of which are recommended here. In my 'real' flat down South I have never changed from British Gas and whatever name my electricity is currently using after 26 years with them ?

Oh no GabrielleG I didn't know that! I though as all the Dragons wanted to help them it was a good idea.

I'm with Ovo. They too put up my monthly debit but as they pay a good interest I am quite happy as they pay interest on the excess. So easy to do on the computer too.
Would recommend them.

Maggiemaybe
I should have added that it depends on the area in which you live.
Not all areas have access to the same providers and, as I live in the wider Guildford area of Surrey, my choice reflects the cheapest provider in my area.

Just dispute it. My consumption went down, quite a lot actually, but my bill went up, because of the terrible rises in the cost of fuel.

I spoke to my supplier who were Atlantic, and now have joined with SSE, and they saw I was probably not on the best tariff for my needs. They went to a lot of trouble to help me decide which tariffs would be best for me and came out to put in a different electricity meter - not a smart one as our area does not have them. My bill has gone down both in gas and electricity. All the people who dealt with my needs from the company were very helpful.

I would definitely speak to your supplier. All the companies are in competition, you only have to hint that you are making comparisons with other suppliers and they will probably jump to try and bring your bill down.

Dare I say, though, I am very worried about what will happen after Brexit. I am seriously experimenting with alternative ways to keep warm this winter and in the future - quite unusual ones!

My meter will work if I change suppliers tomorrow I believe.

We had a smart meter fitted. Six months later we changed gas supplier and that was the end of a fully functioning smart meter. It now just functions as an unsmart meter.

I had a smart meter fitted around 3 weeks ago and I thought the object of the exercise was that I would no longer have to read my meters. Today I have been asked online to read the meters- they will be lucky because I am partially sighted and that was one of the reasons I had the meter fitted.

I'm with npower on a fixed cheapest tariff paying £60 a month and in credit after paying the latest bill by £89. They increased my DD to £69 a month so I rang them and said I'm not paying any extra as long as I'm in credit. They tried to say that the extra was to cover higher winter consumption so I told them that if my credit amount becomes a debit we'll talk about an increase then and not before. They changed my DD back to £60.

I can bet that I have the cheapest gas price of anyone commenting here.
Mine is the same unit price, but the daily standing charge is 15p, as opposed to your 5.5p, Gabriella. So less than £3 a month more than yours. I could have got a lower cost tariff from our supplier if I'd opted to go for one that wasn't fixed until July 2020.

I’ve just applied for a switch from bulb. Their prices went up as soon as I’d joined, they never used my meter readings and when I complained they sent a ‘happy-clappy’ response that my readings were either too late or too early and so an estimated reading was used every time, and guess what? Their estimation always exceeded my consumption. They’d always say my account was in debit knowing full well the DD would cover the debit within two days. I never knew what was coming up next and it was impossible to make head or tail of their reasoningThis month I sent a meter reading two days before the DD due date and then I got a reminder asking for another meter reading. The third price rise in a year was too much.

No. You can refuse to have a smart meter. I changed to EON recently, and they have been badgering me, like my previous supplier, to have one installed. I change to a new supplier, most years, and the meter wouldn't function then. I don't need a machine spying on me to know how much power I am using. Also, although the companies tell you that it is free, that is not true. They may not charge you up-front for supplying one, but who do you think pays for them? The customers. of course. These companies are not charities.

Shizam
When you change provider you have to have, in all cases to date, a new smart meter.

rascal
They do not scour ALL the market and they get commission.
They did not and do not get the best price and they admitted to the dragons that, amongst other criteria, they take into consideration customer service and length of contract. They admitted that the cheapest price was not the overriding factor AND, they decide when and to which company, you swap.
I wouldn't give them my business, not in a million years. I can bet that I have the cheapest gas price of anyone commenting here.

Agree Willow10 It’s such a pain to do all the research every 12 months for utilities. But I force myself to do it. They just up your rates if you don’t bother. Phones, WiFi, too. Moneysavingexpert is a fantastic site to help guide you through. Smart meters being fitted for free by lots of companies for gas and electric, which help monitor how you’re using fuel.

Here, here, Willow 10

I have signed up with lookaftermybills.com Hopefully they will find the best deal for my electricity. It doesn't cost anything. They were on Dragons Den and all the Dragons said it was an excellent idea.

I use a prepayment meter, so there are no shock bills, but in winter it costs me nearly £10 a day as opposed to just a couple of pounds in summer. I'm with Ecotricity, which is a green energy company, so I don't grudge the money so much!

I was tempted to switch to Bulb earlier this year as they were a bit cheaper. They don’t do fixed term tariffs though, so you will get increases (and possibly decreases?) if the market price changes.