Increasing Fuel bills

[LoveCurryPies]

British Gas have informed us our annual gas bill will increase from £1,200 to £2,200. That’s quite a leap!

However, there must be huge numbers of people who won’t be able to find the extra money and especially if they have recently lost their universal credit. How the hell are they going to get through the winter?

Is anyone here really in trouble with these increases?

[Bosscat]

We were lucky to change to a fixed price deal until 2023 in August ... you have to feel sorry for those on low incomes or who's deals are ending soon

[Paul Waine]

British Gas have informed us our annual gas bill will increase from £1,200 to £2,200. That’s quite a leap!

However, there must be huge numbers of people who won’t be able to find the extra money and especially if they have recently lost their universal credit. How the hell are they going to get through the winter?

Is anyone here really in trouble with these increases?

Have BG explained why you are faced with this increase? Are you on a variable rate or fixed rate? Given what's happened in the gas and power markets these past several weeks, it's probably the wrong time to look at moving to a fixed rate. These will all be higher than the capped variable rate - which is actually some way below where prices would be without the cap.

Are they saying you need to increase your monthly direct debt from £100/month to £183/month? It could be that you gas usage is higher than it was previously for you. How much we use firstly depends on how big your property is. Next thing that will have an effect is how many people have been "working from home," particularly through last winter.

If anyone is in trouble with their gas and power bills they should speak with their supplier. There are some obligations on the supplier how they handle these situations.

[Lancasterclaret]

Going to be a tough winter I fear

[Bosscat]

Have BG explained why you are faced with this increase? Are you on a variable rate or fixed rate? Given what's happened in the gas and power markets these past several weeks, it's probably the wrong time to look at moving to a fixed rate. These will all be higher than the capped variable rate - which is actually some way below where prices would be without the cap.

Are they saying you need to increase your monthly direct debt from £100/month to £183/month? It could be that you gas usage is higher than it was previously for you. How much we use firstly depends on how big your property is. Next thing that will have an effect is how many people have been "working from home," particularly through last winter.

If anyone is in trouble with their gas and power bills they should speak with their supplier. There are some obligations on the supplier how they handle these situations.

Martin Lewis programme on last night had the catchphrase "DO NOTHING" regarding Energy firms ....

[Quickenthetempo]

Going to be like 1985 again.

Put that extra jumper on. No central heating this year.

[claretburns]

So far the bills have stayed at the same amount of normal, but I am braced for an increase in the next month or two.

[SussexDon1inIreland]

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/fac ... out-of-gas

[claret2018]

Interestingly my fixed deals ends next month. I looked at fixing until 2023 and the quote was £200 per month, where as if I let it roll onto the tracker rate it estimates that my monthly bill will remain the same around £120.

Surely I’m better off doing nothing then?

[Billy Balfour]

Pretty disgusting and incompetent how we have become energy insecure in this country. We shouldn't be reliant on imports, and there's no need to be either, if this and successive Govt's had energy policies that are fit for purpose, instead of always kicking the can down the road and not living in the real world.

Too much decommissioning of our fossil fuel infrastructure without securing home-grown, reliable replacements. Now we are all going to pay more, and the poor will suffer the most, but still, at least we will reach our green targets while people shiver in their own homes, or indeed worse.

[Paul Waine]

Interestingly my fixed deals ends next month. I looked at fixing until 2023 and the quote was £200 per month, where as if I let it roll onto the tracker rate it estimates that my monthly bill will remain the same around £120.

Surely I’m better off doing nothing then?

If by "tracker" you mean the capped standard variable rate - which is not tracking gas and power prices - the cap for Oct21 to Mar22 has just started. The cap will be assessed again and a new cap commences Apr22 until Sept22, then a further cap will be set for the next 6 months. At present Ofgem is indicating that the Apr22 cap will be up quite a bit from the Oct21 level.

A couple of things to think about: 1) we all use more gas and power in winter than we do in summer - it's both cold and the days are short and the nights long; (2) you could stay on the capped rate and then look at what gas prices are doing early next year. Global gas prices are extremely high at the moment because the world is coming out of "lockdown" - demand for gas is high, but, as the world wasn't using as much gas through the lockdown period producers had stopped producing. Given where prices are, I'd expect gas producers to be aiming to ramp up their production - subject to the workers being available around the world to make it possible to raise production quickly. If gas production is increased, gas prices will come down.

I'd expect some better fixed price deals to be available next year - all other things being equal.

[claret2018]

Thanks Paul, yes I used the term tracker to mean the standard variable (the default one basically).

Probably worth me doing nothing for now then. I’m £250 in credit as of yesterday so that should contribute to the increased usage over winter. Will look at again in the spring.

[Paul Waine]

Pretty disgusting and incompetent how we have become energy insecure in this country. We shouldn't be reliant on imports, and there's no need to be either, if this and successive Govt's had energy policies that are fit for purpose, instead of always kicking the can down the road and not living in the real world.

Too much decommissioning of our fossil fuel infrastructure without securing home-grown, reliable replacements. Now we are all going to pay more, and the poor will suffer the most, but still, at least we will reach our green targets while people shiver in their own homes, or indeed worse.

We don't want to frack, Billy. Though, even if we were fracking, UK gas prices would be following the upward move in global gas prices. It's no different than the transfer window, the highest price is the one that gets the deal done.

Agree with you about kicking the can down the road. The country should have been planning new nukes in early 2000s when governments started to get serious about Kyoto and climate change.

Great opportunities for the wool industry and for (re-cycled plastic) fleeces. Wearing an extra layer will be like the days when some of us were growing up and no one had central heating.

[Billy Balfour]

Paul, I'd kickstart fracking and ringfence it. Granted, it wouldn't help the current situation, though it would do in the long term. I agree about nukes. We import French electricity produced by their nuclear power industry, but we should have expanded our own, massively so.

Maybe the current situation will concentrate minds. The current Govt policy is to do away with gas. Pie in the sky, if you ask me. It's all very well and good being green, when you have a reliable alternative, which we currently don't.

[Paul Waine]

Paul, I'd kickstart fracking and ringfence it. Granted, it wouldn't help the current situation, though it would do in the long term. I agree about nukes. We import French electricity produced by their nuclear power industry, but we should have expanded our own, massively so.

Maybe the current situation will concentrate minds. The current Govt policy is to do away with gas. Pie in the sky, if you ask me. It's all very well and good being green, when you have a reliable alternative, which we currently don't.

Was it Kermit that said "it's not easy being green."

I think the problem is that it will be a lot worse for people if we don't go green. The days of "cheap" energy are, for the moment, behind us. Maybe 2 or 3 decades down the road things will get better. There are some "exciting" new technologies being looked at. I've read of one that can convert natural gas (methane) into "turquoise" hydrogen - though at the moment its in the experimental stage. There are also possibilities of new battery technology, cheaper, lighter and faster charging than the current EV batteries.

[Billy Balfour]

Was it Kermit that said "it's not easy being green."

I think the problem is that it will be a lot worse for people if we don't go green.

I'm all in favour of low carbon emissions and being as green as is practically possible, but not at the expense of throwing our energy security under a bus. These islands should not be in the current situation. Anyway, I suppose we are where we are, and I blame past and present politicians.

[Hipper]

The gas we buy from our North Sea gas fields is just as expensive as Norwegian gas.

Energy security is another matter.

[Boss Hogg]

I faced a £1,000 increase in a month from Scottish Power. I used no more electricity than normal but they took it anyway. They failed to check the faulty meter and when they did arrange it the engineer failed to show up. They wouldn’t send another one so I took them to the Ombudsman and Scottish Power have ended up looking incompetent. I’d be ashamed if I worked for that outfit. £1,000 increase in a year will be nothing compared to what I have had to put up with. Will be a struggle for some though for sure.

[Hipper]

They can't just take your money. If you are on Direct Debit you can stop it.

[Boss Hogg]

I did after I knew they’d taken it. They can take whatever amount they like though if it is in force.

[JohnMac]

My BG Fixed deal expires on 30th October and I am going to do nothing.

The SV Rate will be cheaper as I really don't believe Putin will try to starve Europe of Gas.