Utility Bills

I agree GagaJo you can switch all your heating off and freeze but your bill will still be Sky high because of the standing charge - mine is now over twice the cost it was. I have been thinking how grossly unfair this is.

We are still heating our house but more carefully and for less time. No heating in the morning unless extra cold and a few hours less at night. Batch cooking and wearing thermals under clothes.

The £500 fuel allowance and the £66 every month for 6 months will cover it this winter, not sure why pensioners are not using these subsidies to heat their homes.

Feel very sorry for young families with children getting not much help unless on benefits.

We have oil so that doubled last year and has appeared to stay stable. I'd increased my monthly payments to cover this last year so I have been able to have my heating on. One of the benefits of oil is that you know how much you are using and how much it will cost to fill a tank. Electricity on the other hand, they want £600 a month! I live in a very ordinary sized house

DH has just worked out that our gas and electricity for December has cost £332.
4 bed detached. We have tried to use the gas heating less , wear a extra layer and cutting the hours it is on.

I think I am in the same boat. This time last year my DD was £127 and I wasn’t being particularly careful
I do wonder how much more I can cut back 🥶🥶🥶🥶.

It makes me sad to think people are sitting in the cold

Well we are still on a fixed rate until October so we seem to be ok. This month our bill was just £1 as the governments funding paid the rest. However we heat our home by a multi fuel log burner and buy coal in the summer for the winter. Cooking is also done batch cooking or warming up on the burner. Don’t know what it will be like next winter when we are no longer on a fixed rate. I feel so sorry for those with young families and home all day, must be a nightmare

My thermostat is set at 16.5…

I think posters have misunderstood. Standing charges will be on your bill somewhere if you look, regardless of how much electricity you use or even if you don’t use any at all. Mine used to be 22p a day and now it’s 55p. Turn your thermostats down all you like, the same daily standing charge applies whether you are a poor oap, a struggling family, or a rich person in a mansion. That is what is unfair and causes hardships for some.

so that's £17.05 a month, before anything at all £200.75 a year

My mum is using her £600 plus £400 payments...she says she won't be any worse off this winter and she doesn't skimp on the heating

You got it JaneJudge.

Yes we realise the standing charge has more or less doubled. Nothing much we can do about it though, is there?

The standing charge is a rip off and the energy companies know this. As soon as prices went up they knew the paying public would make cuts to how much energy they are using so covered their prospective losses by increasing the daily standing charge to mitigate their losses.
It should be tiered so that if you use less energy then your standing charge should be tiered by the day. Use more you pay more!! Use less then why the hell should you still pay?!

I'm genuinely concerned my electricity bill has not risen as much as others

My smart meter says I am using £135 a month but my direct debit at £150 says its not enough on my account.

My monthly bill has only gone up about £30

I'm baffled by it all

Our charges, i.e. usage & standing charge like most of you have leapt up this year and of course there is VAT in top of that. Our low tariff stopped in late September and that has made the biggest difference. However since our last bill in November we are £250 in credit, we have increased slightly the direct debits, then with the £66 a month from BG and the £500 Winter Fuel Allowance, we reckon by the time our next bill comes in May 23, we will be fine. We have made lots of changes in usage, our thermostat is 17degrees daily, 18 degrees in the evening and 14 degrees overnight, much lower than last year. Washing machine and tumble driers are very full when used about every 5 days (was every other day). Also husband has designed a spreadsheet that logs our usage and is compared with the Smart Meter and BG Ap. which is needed as the charge per kwh and standing charges keep changing. I think we should be OK. It has made us appreciate how much fuel we have been (over) using and by using less we hope that means no power cuts.

The people I feel most sorry for are those on prepayment meters who even when they don’t use the power for say a week because they have no money to top up, will end paying £3.50 out of top up they put in when they have the money. And that’s each week. A huge amount for people on a very low income and tight budget

The increase to the standing charge was to recompense those firms who had to take on customers from the energy companies who went under.

Sorry that doesn’t wash with me,

On my own, I’m usually quite careful with energy usage, but both DDs and their little ones came for the afternoon yesterday. I put the heating on constant, turned on the radiators in the family room and a bedroom (in case DD2 had a nap) and noted my smart meter read £12.22 not long after they left. First time in double figures, but a real shock.
When DH was alive and going through numerous sessions of chemo, he was always cold. No problem keeping him warm - it had to be done, but I wonder how others manage.

Barmeyoldbat

Sorry that doesn’t wash with me,

If you mean the increase is partly due to failed companies, well, apparently that’s one reason.

Also more people are eligible for the Warm Home Discount, also paid from the standing charge.

My meters were read on December 22nd.
My bill was on line this morning and I am horrified to see my bill for the last quarter of the year was £850, I am with EDF.
I have bought and regularly use an air fryer, my thermostat is kept at 16 degrees during the day and 18 degrees in the evening .
It was ver mild for much of the early part of the quarter and I am now despairing at what the charges will be for the next three months, usually the coldest of the year.

Georgesgran

On my own, I’m usually quite careful with energy usage, but both DDs and their little ones came for the afternoon yesterday. I put the heating on constant, turned on the radiators in the family room and a bedroom (in case DD2 had a nap) and noted my smart meter read £12.22 not long after they left. First time in double figures, but a real shock.
When DH was alive and going through numerous sessions of chemo, he was always cold. No problem keeping him warm - it had to be done, but I wonder how others manage.

I had a similar shock when the whole family came for the day before Christmas. The “gizmo” kept flashing that I had “exceeded my daily budget” but I was using no more than I might have done a couple of years ago or when Paw was alive.
The ultimate insult was that when I came back from 4 days away over Christmas (having turned the thermostat down so that the boiler would not kick in unless really cold) it had the cheek to announce a couple of days later thatI had exceeded my “weekly” budget
No way. 🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶

Annsixty that seems awfully steep to me. Do you live in a mansion? Was it an actual reading or an estimate?