Energy Suppliers, Suppliers of Energy. Gas / Electric

Can I send my supplier higher meter readings this year and pay at the current tariff to build up a buffer for next year?

I asked the same a while back and I think it’s technically fraud.

They are charging me 60% more on my direct debit than I use, I could just "use" that energy.

That's because they don't want to serve you 40% higher bills over winter; ideally the bills across summer / winter should largely be around the same ballpark.

What Howard said, also can you not change the direct debit?

I wasn't serious, I know why it's higher but I am sure they won't have an issue presenting me with a 100% higher bill next year. Maybe I should stop submitting readings and rely on their inflated estimates.

Who are you with? Octopus seem to have stopped asking for readings. They've also told me that our meters are out of date and need to be updated to smart meters.

I am with Octopus too and they send a meter request email each month. They haven't pushed smart meters just mentioned somewhere I could get an appointment.

Well, we've just moved house so need a new electricity+gas supplier. Are there any suppliers/deals out there at all to recommend or is it all pointless to shop around now?

May as well go Octopus. £50 referral each if you use my link:

https://share.octopus.energy/azure-tapir-137

Are they taking new customers?!

No deals out there, the best fix I've seen has been with Utility Warehouse but you have to take on 2 other services such as broadband, mobile, house insurance or income insurance.

Used to be with UW, now moving to Octopus for their cheap rate car charging overnight!

I moved in Nov 21, and didn't fix for whatever reason (I think it was cheaper to not fix then too as all of this was happening then too albeit to a lesser extent). I have been on the price cap since then and will stick at that I think. But going to be watching this thread with a hawk eye

Sorry didn’t mean to reply to you.

Is it correct that if your supplier goes bust your account is migrated to another company without you choosing, and they don’t have to honour your fixed rate? If so, are there any reasonable actions one can take to hedge against their supplier going bust and being landed with a worse tariff?

Yes, if you’re moved to a new supplier you’ll be placed on whatever their variable tariff is called. Normally this is bad news as you end up paying more than one of their fixed rate tariffs, but for the last year or so most fix rate tariffs (if you can find any currently!) have been priced well above the price cap, so you’re better off on variable tariffs.

Obviously if you’re half way through a two year fixed tariff you’ll be worse off than that, but if your supplier’s gone bust there’s not much you can do…

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/what-happens-if-your-energy-supplier-goes-bust

Looks like OVO have updated their projections today, account now showing a significant deficit at the end of the 12month anniversary. Direct debit increase ahoy.

Going to be grim.

Aye its kinda mad out there. 1 house is on a credit meter, but its gas heated and honestly our annual bill is very low even compared to brand new equivalent sized places, so whilst its multi-plying by large amounts, its not the end of the world. The other place though, electrically heated, have spent a year insulating the absolute hell out of it so its performance is now much better, but still electric is 3-5x more per kwh than gas so its gonna be hectic. Best thing we did was load a grand onto all the spare electric keys (£250 in the meter, then 3 keys with £250 max each) back in last march/april/may at the old cap of £17.xxp/kwh, currently I think its 32p/kwh and obviously going to be more as of next month. Used £100 of £1000 since then, but thats just hot water + minimal lights (summer!) + weekly stat tarriff. THe remaining £900 even with the improvements and being careful will run heating from end of sept to mid Jan I would estimate. Leaving rest of Jan, Feb, March and however long it takes april to warm up at a rate of £350-700 per month.

We were in the position of having a spare grand to be able to load onto keys ahead of time, but most folk who rely on prepayment meters (inc our neighbours) are not in such position and are going to be absolutely buggered as their identical flats have the insulation value of a crisp packet. Last few winters (in neighbours flat) to keep temp up inside to around 18c, maybe 19c on the odd day has cost them £10-11 per day average from Sept to mid april, this winter obviously double or triple those daily costs to still only achieve being sort of warm for a few hours a day (2 hours in morning, 3-4 hours in evening max). Their income has only gone down in (less contracted hours and) real terms so have suggested to them already they can half move in with us, turn our living room (freshly rebuilt pretty much the whole flat now) into a bedroom, share kitchen and bathroom, but they can obviously still go next door to their own flat for some privacy and store all their junk, it'll be kept heating almost off.

Props to you, that's a mighty big thing to offer.

Props to you.
I'm really not sure what to do.. going to check MSE latest view and just do that I think

Well, just had a nice email to say my direct debit just doubled from this month
Knew things were heading north but wtf

Going to double again by April.

So riddle me this, if wholesale gas prices are falling across Europe, why are suppliers hitting the fuck-you button right now?

I think, think it's because they buy their energy in advance so have paid crazy high rates. They are also swallowing up the cost of various energy suppliers going bust, again, I think. @C4r1s is the expert on this.

Pretty much exactly that. Hedging energy (buying in advance) works great in a rising market, but does limit the fall back in a falling market. Also, the OFGEM price cap partly looks at previous prices, not just expected future prices and as we’ve come through a period of high wholesale prices, prices are high this time round.

Also difficult to say for certain what will happen, a fall today may keen an increase tomorrow, it’s very volatile at the moment with intra day swings of c.10-15% at times (context, pre 2021 swings of this amount were unheard of)

Suppliers going bust, changes to standing charges, green levies etc also are all part of the mix and add onto bills outside of wholesale costs. Quite a good description/graph half way down the page here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58090533

Ps definitely not an expert, but maybe not quite a lay-person! And also believe the more we know the better informed we can be, especially for something that’s such an integral part of our lives (and finances…)