ENERGY COMPANIES GOING BUST

We were with Avro but, of course, they crashed yesterday. God knows who we will end up with, or what we will have to pay. As we just have our state pensions, it's going to be a horrible squeeze.

I have never been able to figure out why our bills are so high. We have paid Avro £138 a month, which was a lot more than the amounts mentioned on here. I presume that it's due to the size of our house. Our house is an extended semi (5 beds) but it's not a mansion. We are careful with the heating and don't lie around like lizards, basking in tropical heat. I suppose the answer is to downsize, now there are just the 2 of us, but I don't know if I can face the upheaval.

I saw someone online who had been paying £130 per month to Green, and the best deal they can now find is £201 with Octopus. I am guessing that we're going to be looking at something like that.

I think that it was insanity to privatise the utilities and the railways.

Thanks Hellsbelles. I'm with Octopus for electric and have found them ok. And after money shortage after pingdemic I was able to skip a month and have a month refund which I received immediately. I find them easy to use. Hope they keep going.

I’m with Avro who went bust yesterday. I was on a fixed rate for 12 months and I bet when they decide who we are going with, they put us on the standard tariff. Even if we phone up to switch to a fixed rate, I suspect it will be a lot more than the £105 per month we pay at the moment. They have got us by the short and curlies because they can do as they please.

I am very determined to be as economical as possible at home. I know not everyone can

We're with Octopus on a dual fuel deal which ends this month. We're to be put on a standard tariff, but the fixed rate ones were hugely more expensive, so we'll see how it goes. It does mean we can leave at any time.
Whatdayisit I had no idea you could skip a month and get a refund, that would have been helpful, but I suppose the surplus will buffer a month or two of the increases.

It was so much easier when the utilities were government owned and there were no shareholders.
Also it is ridiculous that different companies own different parts of the railways .

Been with British Gas for twenty odd years for both gas and electricity and have always resisted the sales people outside supermarkets etc, trying to get you to switch to the smaller ‘greener’ suppliers. Our energy deal ended last month and we’ll be paying around £40 per month more on the new one - it would have been increased by 50% but like ‘lemsip’ I rang and negotiated, and it will be reviewed in a few months. Still wouldn’t switch suppliers.

I have been frugal for the past year. I’ve keep the heating to absolute minimum use etc. Even in the sub zero winter periods I didn’t turn on the heating till evening and then only for a short time. With the extra measures I’d taken I was expecting to see at least some decrease in my bills but instead they continued to rise.

When I queried this I was told that the continuing rise in the price of gas had swallowed up my good intentions.

MibsXX

Oh and whilst on this subject , who else just loooves the first question asked when you move house, How many bedrooms do you have? when deciding your tariff... surely it should be priced on what you use not the size of your home and your perceived ability to pay more? We moved to one bed bigger, for occasional step children to stay over in more comfort than the sofa, we use the exact same appliances and have very boring fixed routines, yet our monthly running cost doubled on day we moved no special tarriffs moved form they said was size of house..

Yes a larger house will result in a higher estimate the actual cost will be according to the energy you us.
Some companies - Octopus for example allow you to vary the payments easily, others don’t, if you are not paying enough they will be quick enough asking for more.

Tricia55, have to give a differing experience of SoEnergy. We have found them anything but good, and had been waiting to switch from them before all this blew up.
Like HannahLoisLuke’s friend, they were holding on to £900 of my credit, and did so beyond the time when we could have changed supplier, and though I told them I needed the cash, they wouldn’t refund till a dispute was sorted out. The dispute was over the readings on a smart meter which they had insisted on us having fitted, which we didn’t want, which wasn’t working. The fitter had flitted in, changed it, told us VERY briefly how it worked, and couldn’t wait to leave (he said so, had a long drive home and didn’t want to be late, hardly our fault). Readings were all over the place, took them weeks to re-replace, in the meantime we were being flooded with requests for readings, photographs of meter, denials that they owed us anything, though they eventually “settled”. It appeared our solar panels were making too much electricity for them, and they refused to believe how little power from the grid we had used. Basically we were being accused of fiddling the meter. We think we lost out when they “settled”, our panels had produced more than they said.
The rate they pay for the power you generate is also MUCH less than they pay you, 5p per KWh vs the 19-22p you pay them from the grid, though others companies pay even less, eg SSE pay 3p. Our solar panels just missed getting on the old government scheme because of building delays, the rate used to be better. This is the SEG Smart Energy Guarantee rate. Maybe the rate should be higher to encourage more people to go for it, if there is going to be such difficulty in accessing power from other countries.

We are/were with Peoples Energy who ceased trading last Monday. We have a substantial credit balance with them which I hope we'll get back in due course. Goodness knows which energy company we'll be moved to by Ofgem. I just hope it's not Scottish Power who still owe us £300 from three years ago (the last time we had to be relocated by Ofgem). They don't even answer our letters now. Not sure I can be bothered to keep pursuing it now.

Neither do I want to be with Eon who never sent us any bills for two years even though we paid by Direct Debit and sent them meter readings. Then they demanded £3000 and threatened court action! It turned out their billing system was an absolute mess and we didn't owe them anything. We never got an apology.

I’m unfortunately with Avro. I have a credit balance of over £200 which I hope will be transferred to whichever company ofgem chooses. My main concern is with the warm home discount which I’m eligible for. This will be the first time I would be applying for it as retired in April this year.

Lazypaws

I'm with AVRO, one that went bust yesterday. Earlier in the year they put my direct debit up by over £40 without asking my permission. I told them to reduce it immediately back to what I'd been paying because to pay that much extra would put me in an overdrawn situation. I'm dreading who the new provider will be that I'll be put with in case they increase my direct debit by too much. I know I can change but if everyone is putting up their prices, one wonders if there is any point in switching.
The pensioners were the only group of people that the government didn't give any financial aid to during the pandemic. I had to stay in my house for nearly a year as I was shielding so like those who worked from home, I had my heating more frequently, and I used my gas and electricity more. Unlike those who worked from home we didn't get any extra help. I'm really finding it very hard financially now.

That's not true. Many self-employed people received no help at all. I was one of them - along with about 3 million others.

@Happysexagenarian. We ended up switching to British Gas from Eon twenty odd years ago after moving home. The vendors’ suppliers were Eon and we switched because they made such a mess of transferring the account after the move - their customer services were useless. Friends of ours also had a similar problem to your own with Eon. Paid by DD and sent in meter readings, but despite repeated requests, never saw any bills for months. Eventually Eon hit them with a whopping bill which they didn’t owe, and they spent weeks trying to get it sorted out. In the end, Eon owed them money - needless to say it took another battle to have it refunded.

Just seen on Sky News that BP are closing petrol stations due to the problem with lorry drivers. What next ?!?

Mine has gone up from £32 pm to £105. I am in credit to the tune of £193. I fail to see how they can raise my monthly DD by so much and am really worried about having to choose between heating and eating this winter.

Counting my blessings that I’m with Octopus after reading many of your post. I re-contracted just as the price rises were happening, fixed for two years. It’s still £44.00 pcm more than last time and very worrying as DH is relatively immobile. I’ve also bought two hot water bottles just in case. I’m really very concerned about the future and wondering how we are going to manage as food prices rise. The car will probably have to go.

I’ve always been against selling the family silver (utilities) to private companies be they British or any other. The same applies to the railways and bus services. This is what comes of letting the market decide over essential services.

Just discovered that People's Energy customers are to be moved to British Gas. That's fine with us, we were customers of theirs many years ago and never had any problems with them. We'll just wait to hear from them now and hope that the process goes smoothly.

Pammiel At one point Eon said if we also bought our gas from them they would reduce what they claimed we owed them. I told them we couldn't do that as there is no gas supply to this village. The rude reply was 'Well get it f***ing installed!!' I would never have anything to do with Eon again.

Mine has almost doubled but having done a comparison it is still one of the best and also recommended by Martin Lewis so I will stay where I am for now. I have already increased my dd so when my new one comes in it won't be so much of an increase. I am switching banks as well as they are offering money back options so that extra will help cover some of the increase as every little helps. Think my log burner will get more use this winter and I will hail out some of my old sweaters that are lurking in the back of the wardrobe.

I have had bad experience with Eo n and would be happy to see there demise. I could finally get released from the supply that they have no trace of but charge me for. I will be spitting feathers if they get our money through the government to keep going.

The energy company I was with have gone bust and I have been transferred to British Gas however as soon as I have my credit back I will immediately transfer to a different company

How do you find out who you have been transferred to? No communication from Avro yet.

Sometimes energy companies put up DDs by way too much. My bills quote a deficit when the DD a day later clears it!
but you can go in to you account and reduce payments and there is always an option for keeping your own money aside for a shortfall (mind you, there’s not much to be gained in interest these days)

Martin Lewis Moneysaving Expert has lots of info on his website.

Germanshepherdsmum

Esspee

My direct debit went up from £58 to £81 per month despite me being in credit. I suspected that was their estimate knowing of the price rises to come. I shall be keeping a close watch and demanding a refund if I end up in credit.

This is why I refuse to pay by direct debit. I could pay very slightly less for electricity (we’re all electric) if I did so but I prefer to submit the meter reading each month and pay when the invoice comes through. That way, there’s no credit balance sitting in the company’s account.

I pay by direct debit but it is variable. I pay what I owe each month so I'm never in credit or owing money. I used to submit a reading every month - if I forgot they estimated - but last time I changed tariff I had to agree to having a smart meter to get the best price so I no-longer need to take a reading every month. The system suits me so I haven't done a comparisson or switched for a while. I'm with British Cas so they won't be one of the ones going bust so I'll just have to suck up the increased costs. I feel particularly sorry for those already struggling to pay, especially those about to lose the additional money in their universal credit.
I expect the pressure on the food banks will increase as a result of these changes!