Energy Prices

I live by myself in a flat and in the past 12 months I've used 3,121 kwh's electricity and 6,684 kwh's of gas.  12 months ago with the tariff I had with Pure Planet (which has now ceased to trade) the total price for this energy would have been £507.27 for the electricity and £275.40 for the gas, equalling a total of £782.67.  This price continued until August 2021, less than 6 months ago. I should add that Pure Planet were offering their energy too cheap, hence the reason why they and many other energy companies went under.

I was put with EDF.  Their energy cost for that specific amount of energy I used is £738.66 for the electricity and £394.87 for the gas, equalling a total of £1,133.54.  £1,133.54 compared to £782.67, an increase of 45%.  

That's bad, very bad indeed.  But soon, it's going to get much worse.  In April it is anticipated that energy bills will increase by yet a further 50%.  This will be 50% of the current tariff of £1,133.54 (not of the £782.67).  50% of £1,133.54 is £566.77.  Hence, for my use of energy for a year the new cost will be £1,133.54 plus £566.77 equals £1,700.31

So, compared to a year ago my energy costs will be increasing from £782.67 to £1,700.31.  That's an increase of £917.64 or 217%!  In other words, in the space of a year, energy prices for me will have more than doubled*.

* For those shopping for the cheapest energy deal a year ago like myself, the price of energy will more than double.  However, if one didn't shop for the cheapest deal, then the price increase will most probably be less than double.  It's worth asking ourselves here, though, who would tend to shop for the cheapest energy deals?  Surely poorer people would be somewhat more likely to do so since money is very tight and they will shop for the very cheapest products and services.  Well-off people, on the other hand, may find the whole process of changing energy provider a bit of a hassle. 

The upshot of all this then is that many, if not most, of the very poorest people will be paying more than double for their energy as compared to a year ago.  This sum will likely be in the region of them having to find an extra £1,000 or so.  That is calamitous for poor people.  The Government must provide substantial help.  Not a mere £140 by extending the warm home discount (as has been mooted), that only makes a dent in the £1000. 

3/2/22  UPDATE

From here:

The new price cap, set by energy regulator Ofgem, will come into force in April, adding up to a rise of around £700 for an average household.

People paying default tariffs by direct debit will see an increase of £693 from £1,277 to £1,971 per year, while prepayment customers will see an increase of £708 from £1,309 to £2,017.

The cap is set for six months and could rise further afterwards.

At a glance, this means:

A 54% rise from the current price cap of £1,277.

Government loans will offset £200 of the annual increase, plus a £150 council tax rebate.

New rate comes in on April 1.

The £200 discount on energy will be paid back over five years through our bills.

The net effect is that bills rise by less in the next year, but fall by less in the years to come.

The plan all depends on the market price of energy falling.

Here's what I just said on facebook (or meta as it's now called).

So, a 54% increase in the price cap. My energy usage did amount to £782.67 a year ago for 3,121 kwh's electricity and 6,684 kwh's of gas. This is now £1,133.54 for the same energy. In April this will increase by 54.2%. So £1,748.21. A total increase since a year ago of £1,748.21 - £782.67 = £965.54 per annum.

And we're not even taking into consideration the apparently 20% increase in food prices (at least from my own case), the increase in national insurance, the £20 UC uplift being scrapped and many other strains on peoples wallets.

So how is the chancellor helping? We're being give a £150 reduction in council tax, and being given a loan of £200 to help pay our energy bills which will come in October and which we will pay back over the next few years.

£150, or £350 taking into account the loan. But if one opted for the cheapest energy deals a year ago, energy *alone* has increased by roughly £1,000.

This is utterly calamitous for poor people.

Energy bill

I left the energy supplier Pure Planet in late August, and went to the energy supplier Utility Point.  It was £800 at pure planet for all of my energy (both electricity and gas) but that was due to go up to £960 at Utility Point.  A steep price increase of 960/800 = 1.2 or 20% increase, but energy prices have soared in the past year and that can't be helped.

However, utility point have just gone bust (I'd signed up for 12 months fixed price for a year about five weeks ago).  So, that plan is no longer valid and I have to make a new plan with a new supplier.  I've just calculated what my total cost would be if I switched today.  Sainsburys energy supplier is the cheapest, and would have an annual cost of £1207!  That's a 51% increase.  £406 extra a year, £33.84 extra a calendar month, £7.81 extra a week!

But it doesn't end there.  I can't switch today; apparently when energy companies go bust you shouldn't do anything yourself as they switch for you .  This is a process that takes many weeks.  And they specifically say don't switch yourself as it causes confusion in the system. So I have to wait for weeks, and energy prices keep rising continually at the moment, especially gas.  And it gets even worse.  The higher prices will also increase food prices.  So, how much extra is it finally going to cost me??  Goddess knows.

This is a nightmare.  Although it's not only affecting me of course.  But poor people will be seriously struggling.  In fact, with National Insurance rises and the Universal credit uplift ending (£20 a week being taken off 6 million people in the UK), many poor people won't know what's hit them.  It's going to be chaos.

Edited to add 3.51pm:  Scratch all that.  There's been another huge price increase in the past 3 hours since I typed the above.  Sainsburys was £1207 for me for a year.  In the past 3 hours it's increased to £1,462.29 per year.  Yet another increase per annum of £254.95 in the past 3 hours since posting the above!

I've also received an email saying I've been switched to EDF.  Cannot find out the tariff, even when speaking to customer services.  But their tariff was £1400 for a 3 year fix.  79% higher than last year so wanted to switch but was told it might cause confusion.  I dithered and now energy has undergone another huge hike. 

Chaos come Christmas?

I've just read the following article:

Millions of Great Britain homes face highest energy bills in a decade as cap lifted

 Article says:

The sudden rise in energy bills has raised concern among fuel poverty campaigners that more than half a million more people may be unable to pay their energy bills as a result of the rise, which will coincide with the winding down of the government’s furlough scheme and the cut to universal credit from September.

Energy prices have already gone up an eye watering amount over the past year (For me, about a £200 increase, from £800 to a £1000 i.e. 25% increase). And they're going to increase by another utterly huge comparable amount come October! With the £20 a week decrease in Universal credit hitting at the same time, it's going to be absolute chaos for many poor people come November/December.

My prediction? Tune into the news November and December and I reckon the news will be filled about those not being able to make ends meet. More people having to use food banks than ever before, a huge outcry about the £20 a week Universal credit decrease etc.  Not to mention that this will happen near Christmas.



29th December 2021 Edited to add:

Almost 5 months later and I haven't really heard much about peoples dire financial problems. Perhaps the news outlets are more or less ignoring this issue?  Having said that, the article below predicts that people will face a financial catastrophe next year:

Cost-of-living ‘catastrophe’ looms in 2022

I think people might just be borrowing money and delaying the pain. Also, as regards the monumental energy price increase (maybe about 50% increase for those whose energy suppliers went under) I still haven't received a bill for what I owe, which will be around £200 (I normally pay in advance). But, yes, next year might be very grim for many people.

My Energy Bill

First of all I live in the UK and npower supply both my electricity and gas. From the 24/4/18 to 25/4/19 i.e 1 year and 1 day, my total energy bill i.e both electricity and gas, came to £952.29. That was for 3,475 Kwh's electricity and 10,744 Kwh's gas. I was paying by direct debit £80 per calendar month.

However, now the tariffs have finished I'm been switched back to the default tariffs, and my projected cost for the next year will be £1,296! But, what if I opt for the cheapest tariffs npower have to offer? Using the same amount of energy it will cost me £101 per month or around 1,212 per year. An increase from £952.29 to £1,212 using the exact same energy and using the cheapest tariffs available on npower. That's a 27.3% increase in price in the space of a year. Inflation rate is 1.9% That's a significant difference!

I think it's time to switch energy suppliers. "Which" informs me that Avro is cheapest at £985.76 assuming the same energy I used last year. Significantly cheaper than npowers cheapest at £1,212. However, it's still more expensive than what I actually paid npower for the previous year i.e £952.29. So even if I switch to the cheapest energy company I will be paying £985.76 - £952.29 = £33.47 extra. But what choice do I have?

Update (about 30 mins later). The monthly payment of £101 for the cheapest tariff was based on the figure that an npower person gave me, namely if I am to use 3,855 kwh's electricity (he never provided the details for gas). However, over the past year (I summed up the amount in each bill), I've only used 3,475 kwh's. Furthermore, the "which" site is saying the cheapest npower tariff for my energy use will only be £94 a month. So this 27% increase will be incorrect, it'll be less than that. Apparently it'll be 12 * £94 = £1,128. That's still too much though since I paid £952.29 last year.

If I do nothing it'll be going up to £107 a month.  Presumably that's a projection of how much I'll need to pay given my energy use over the past year.  12 * £107 = £1,284


These energy suppliers appear to go out of the way to try and confuse people as much as possible!

Changing from prepay energy meters to normal meters. Be leery of being overcharged!

I'm getting both my electricity and gas meters changed today from prepaid to the normal type of meter. Since moving into this new flat (apartment) 2 years ago, I have had to keep going to local shops to buy electricity and gas on keys/cards every month or so. It was a confounded nuisance! But this flat came with these prepaid meters, and it was going to cost me £60 to change each meter, so £120 altogether. However, recently I heard they will now do it for free. So decided to get them changed.

I'm not sure though that the company that supplies my power -- npower (I'm in the UK) -- won't try and pull a fast one and overcharge me, utilising the confusion over changing meters.

My old meter yesterday afternoon read 20579. I assume this refers to kilowatt hours. Just had my new meter installed 2 hours ago. Immediately after being installed the new meter read 21347. An increase of 21347-20579 = 768 kwhs.


Accessing my npower account, my consumption per day of electricity averaged over 2 years is 9.33kwh's. So essentially this new meter reading is around 760kwh's more than it should be, representing around 11.5 weeks of electricity usage. This represents roughly £100.

Best to see it in graphical form on excel. There's a sudden sharp rise at the end.

So, presumably these readings can't be related. I regard it highly unlikely that npower are trying to nick a £100 off me! But, I thought I'd better contact them, just in case. I was informed via webchat that these figures are not related and that their database needs to be updated, and this will take around 45 days. 

OK, that's great! But, I've just been thinking over the past 30 mins or so. I'm going from paying in advance, to paying in arrears. Let's say on the prepay meter I pay upfront for one month, say November's, but at the end of November I switch meters to a normal meter. If I still pay every month I won't pay December's electricity until the beginning of January. Then it'll be just as before, paying every month. I'll be better off of course since I skipped one month's payment. That's the advantage of going from paying in advance to paying in arrears!

Of course, in reality, one won't actually skip a month (I wouldn't imagine?). Rather over a specified number of months, let's say the next 12 months, one's monthly bill will be 11/12ths of what it was previously (assuming comparable tariffs). So I should either skip paying for a month, or more likely, be paying less over some specified number of months in the future (if 12 months, then I'll only be paying 11/12th each month for these 12 months of what I paid previously. Then it'll go back to its normal price).


However! Conceivably the opportunity is there for them to pull a fast one. They could simply screw me out of this 768kwhs, and the amount I'll pay in future months might be comparable to what I've always paid, so that I'll never notice.

That's a very cunning way to screw people out of their money! Who the heck would notice??

UPDATE Same day around 4 hours later.

A guy has just been round and changed my gas meter. I was thinking "it looks like the same guy who changed my electricity meter earlier, surely?".

After he finished he said:

"I don't know why I couldn't have done that this morning".

Yep, the same guy! When I rang up 3 weeks ago to book appointments to get these meters changed, the lady said the same guy wouldn't be able to do both, so 2 different people would need to come. Sigh...


The reading on this new gas meter is vastly higher than on my old one, so I strongly suspect what I was told in the webchat was correct.