Energy prices

[Buckman]

I do remember when we were issued with mobile phones at work. One of the reasons given was to help in remote areas, the problem was that in remote areas they did not always work.

I am sure that our first company mobile phones issued in 1995 were analogue and seem to work in most places including rural areas.

 

[Buckman]

Now registered with BGAS and also found out why my DD is so low as they have hugely underestimate dour bill at 2900kwh for us when all previous historical annual consumption averages at over 7500kwh per annum. They state that they revise the DD in Feb 2023 and by that time we will be hugely in debt to BGAS. Sharks springs to mind!
Hope this thread also serves as a warning to others to check their readings and DD amount regularly.

 

[Jcloughie]

The DD with Octopus seems very straight forward. It can be changed up or down easily in your account. An amount is suggested, but how much is paid is left up to the customer. After all, that’s is who has to settle at the end of the year. I just aim to try to keep a credit.

John

 

[otherclive]

Now registered with BGAS and also found out why my DD is so low as they have hugely underestimate dour bill at 2900kwh for us when all previous historical annual consumption averages at over 7500kwh per annum. They state that they revise the DD in Feb 2023 and by that time we will be hugely in debt to BGAS. Sharks springs to mind!

You can increase, or decrease, the direct debit by going into the BG website, or downloading the BG app. So absolutely no reason not to align your payments to something more realistic. I’ve just upped my payment back to £80 as in our annual review they reduced it to around £50 otherwise there would have been a large surplus at the contract end in April 2023. They also credited some money back from the surplus that had been building up. So I just went on the website and upped it back to £80.

 

[Buckman]

The DD with Octopus seems very straight forward. It can be changed up or down easily in your account. An amount is suggested, but how much is paid is left up to the customer. After all, that’s is who has to settle at the end of the year. I just aim to try to keep a credit.

John

I have doubled our BGAS DD as don't like debt to any utility provider, but it is still below what I estimated our annual consumption so will probably increase it again by at least another 35%.

 

[RogerL]

Now registered with BGAS and also found out why my DD is so low as they have hugely underestimate dour bill at 2900kwh for us when all previous historical annual consumption averages at over 7500kwh per annum. They state that they revise the DD in Feb 2023 and by that time we will be hugely in debt to BGAS. Sharks springs to mind!
Hope this thread also serves as a warning to others to check their readings and DD amount regularly.

Most suppliers allow you to change your DD yourself, those who don't would surely accept an email request to increase it.

 

[Jcloughie]

You can increase, or decrease, the direct debit by going into the BG website, or downloading the BG app. So absolutely no reason not to align your payments to something more realistic. I’ve just upped my payment back to £80 as in our annual review they reduced it to around £50 otherwise there would have been a large surplus at the contract end in April 2023. They also credited some money back from the surplus that had been building up. So I just went on the website and upped it back to £80.

Is that for gas and electric? if so wow. About £1000 below what the expected average annual bill to be.


John

 

[Buckman]

Most suppliers allow you to change your DD yourself, those who don't would surely accept an email request to increase it.

Could not change it until today as the account was only registered to BGAAS on 4th Feb. Fairly easy to do, but when you increase it you get a big red warning advising that you will be severely in credit come Feb 2023. Somehow I think not!

 

[otherclive]

Is that for gas and electric? if so wow. About £1000 below what the expected average annual bill to be.


John

Yes our annual energy sits between £800-£900 pa.

 

[Buckman]

With the present volatility of the cost of energy and the number of energy sellers who have got their fingers or worse burned, Its ultimately very difficult to predict how much you will end up being charged for the energy you actually use.

Its of course also complicated by the fact that there is a significant variability in the amount of energy you will need, as that is affected by weather and many other factors. With the pandemic more people stayed at home which probably increased their home heating usage, and people have tended to buy more gadgets becasue they are at home increasing electrical usage.

All this is compounding the situation for many, so yes there will be bigger bills, because you have used more, and that will be additionally compounded by the increases in the cost per unit.

Actually my issue is the fact that BGAS are under estimating my bill by a large amount or nearly £600. This is based on our average annual consumption over the past 10 years.

 

[RogerL]

Actually my issue is the fact that BGAS are under estimating my bill by a large amount or nearly £600. This is based on our average annual consumption over the past 10 years.

Then ignore the BGAS estimate, use your own and set the DD accordingly.

 

[Buckman]

Then ignore the BGAS estimate, use your own and set the DD accordingly.

I have already done that I got dire warnings in bold red from BGAS that I would be nearly £600 in credit in a year's time??? 🤣

 

[Buckman]

Been reading in the news that the Big Six energy suppliers, not distribution companies made over £1 billion in profits for year ending in 2022. Surely this can't be right especially in view of more increases in April? Suppliers only issue bills as they do not generate power.

 

[otherclive]

Been reading in the news that the Big Six energy suppliers, not distribution companies made over £1 billion in profits for year ending in 2022. Surely this can't be right especially in view of more increases in April? Suppliers only issue bills as they do not generate power.

But what was the profit margin on that £1 Bn of profits, and is that profit after distributions. Headline figures from the media don’t give the full picture. Wonder how much was taken with the 5% VAT too.

 

[Buckman]

But what was the profit margin on that £1 Bn of profits, and is that profit after distributions. Headline figures from the media don’t give the full picture. Wonder how much was taken with the 5% VAT too.

As a supplier none of their are distribution companies as all they basically do is manage the billing. None of them generate power as that is done by the distribution companies. the supplier part of a distribution company buys power on an open pool market and not from their parent company. i am not sure how the 5% VAT works, but did nto think it was included in any profits. One billion between 6 suppliers is still a big profit.

 

[otherclive]

As a supplier none of their are distribution companies as all they basically do is manage the billing. None of them generate power as that is done by the distribution companies. the supplier part of a distribution company buys power on an open pool market and not from their parent company. i am not sure how the 5% VAT works, but did nto think it was included in any profits. One billion between 6 suppliers is still a big profit.

The VAT goes to HMG and wouldn’t be considered in profit. It’s similar to the fuel companies at current prices HMG are laughing all the way to the bank. But after the last two years the Treasury coffers do look somewhat depleted. So I guess that we can look at it as payback time, and our duty is to drive more 😱

 

[Buckman]

The VAT goes to HMG and wouldn’t be considered in profit. It’s similar to the fuel companies at current prices HMG are laughing all the way to the bank. But after the last two years the Treasury coffers do look somewhat depleted. So I guess that we can look at it as payback time, and our duty is to drive more 😱

Thanks for info on VAT as I also did not think it was included in profits. That could be an expensive option taking into account the current price of diesel. Cheapest around us is £1.519. I get 4p off if buying Esso, but not even the supermarkets can match the discounted price. However HMG gets the VAT plus the duty, but un fortunately that pushes up the price of goods so you pay even more VAT so either way HMG wins even more. 😏

 

[Raywood]

As a supplier none of their are distribution companies as all they basically do is manage the billing. None of them generate power as that is done by the distribution companies. the supplier part of a distribution company buys power on an open pool market and not from their parent company. i am not sure how the 5% VAT works, but did nto think it was included in any profits. One billion between 6 suppliers is still a big profit.

In fact some of the suppliers do generate some of their power, although it may be through associated or subsidiary companies, but all do buy in power, which is why they are currently losing money at an alarming rate and why the smaller ones have gone to the wall. The ones that are left look to be well funded and should survive, but only time will tell.

 

[Buckman]

In fact some of the suppliers do generate some of their power, although it may be through associated or subsidiary companies, but all do buy in power, which is why they are currently losing money at an alarming rate and why the smaller ones have gone to the wall. The ones that are left look to be well funded and should survive, but only time will tell.

The supplier is probably a subsidiary within a distribution company, but they cannot buy from the distribution company. It all goes into a common pool and they bid there for their kwh requirements.
Smaller ones have gone to the wall because many of them bought from one of the big six and when prices were raised they could not compete. Smaller companies would have had limited resources and would probably have only been able to buy ahead for a year and to compete, their profit margin would have been a lot smaller so when it came to buying atfer prices jumped up they needed bigger loans, but if the bank calls in the loan earlier to prevent further losses, end of story for smaller supplier.

 

[Buckman]

Although BGAS transferred the DD to themselves they never closed the old DD. Subsequently today Bristol Energy and BGAS took DDs. Obviously not small amounts.
We cannot recall the Bristol Energy DD due to it being administration. The money will eventually be transferred to BGAS, but this could take a couple of months and in the meantime we are out of pocket!
Best course of action for us is to probably recall the BGAS DD under the DD guarantee.

 

[RogerL]

Although BGAS transferred the DD to themselves they never closed the old DD. Subsequently today Bristol Energy and BGAS took DDs. Obviously not small amounts.
We cannot recall the Bristol Energy DD due to it being administration. The money will eventually be transferred to BGAS, but this could take a couple of months and in the meantime we are out of pocket!
Best course of action for us is to probably recall the BGAS DD under the DD guarantee.

The moral is to cancel DDs yourself as soon as the last payment is made.

 

[Haslander]

On our third supplier, firstly Yorkshire Energy then Pure Planet went to the wall. Ofgem moved us to Shell Energy which took about 3 months in all to complete, but now as happy as we can be. No new fixed rates around obviously, so variable rate is now the norm. Certainly feel more comfortable now with one of the Big 6, having religiously followed Martin Lewis' advice for years.

 

[Jcloughie]

My neighbour is with Scottish Power. They pay £150 and are in credit. SP have just told them they need to raise their monthly payment to £350. Unbelievable.

I don’t know, perhaps we may have saved a few bob elsewhere. But the service we had from the the Co-op which was later taken over by Octopus has been excellent.

John

 

[Hutch]

We changed to Bulb, last April, and they went into administration, I was paying £215 pm. Dual fuel, Which is the Normal cost for us in a Feburary, we are now £280 in credit, and this Feburary only used £193. They asked us to drop our DD to £175, I will stay as we are for now as from May we will run the Hot tub again, until October, (Maybe depending on the cost of Electric.)

A case of go away in the van, whilst no hospital appointments, so low home costs, or end up staying at home and pay more for home comforts. Swings and Roundabouts, and slides at times.

 

[otherclive]

Am I glad that I took out a fixed price contract with BG in April 2021 lasting until April 2023. My bill fir dual gas and electric from 20 Jan to 19 Feb was £86.32. Our consumption is down compared to last year probably due to all new windows, getting rid of an old Rangemaster with all electric ovens, less guests at Christmas, and possibly slightly milder weather. Respective annual 2021 cf 2022 usage for gas is 1329 kWh cf 1576kwh and electric 124 kWh cf 177 kWh. Our only problem is that we keep being exhorted to turn the thermostat down 1 degC and after successive reductions the thermostat is now down to 7 deg C its frost setting, even the dogs are wearing fleeces. 😀