Has anyone else had their Gas bill in just got mine and find the direct debit has gone from £60 PM where I am always in credit I know it fluctuates between winter and summer obviously, but always in credit. To......a staggering £97 PM......................................

So a £37 rise of direct debit......forget that I am cancelling and going back to my bills.....or has anyone fixed till 2012 and is that a false saving.........as the jump UP will be so severe in 2012 I was be floored.............

What have you done??????????????apart from sit down after opening the bill.

Has anyone fixed?

We fixed our prices till Sept 2011 as we're planning on having emigrated before then so we won't have the huge price hike to worry about.  Personally I'm happy with the price fixing as the last thing I want to have to worry about is not being able to afford to keep warm this winter.  Beans on toast every night is much easier to deal with if you're warm and cosy in your bed overnight.

Up until last month i was paying £150 per month.  When we first moved in to this house (a year ago last week) I was paying £70 approx per month (gas and elec) but on moving I was told I had to pay more (new figure of £150) as they based the useage on the new house on the previous occupants and what they used etc!!  Last month I rang them up as I was way way in credit, they have now amended the DD to £91.00 and refunded the credit!  (and this is including a rise in prices a couple of months ago)

So hopefully I will not see any change to this for the next few months (fingers crossed).

i am fairly sure that you are charged a fee for having a bill , rather than paying by DD .  Someone else maybe able to give a definate on that .

Yeap you are penalised for paying a bill rather than DD...............I am trying to figure out weather to fix or not.

Just got our gas bill.  The DD has gone up from £68 a month to £106 and we are £188 in credit. Haven't had the electric one yet. 

Thats what U am saying had the gas bill; I am in credit too of £141.......yet my DD has gone up from £60 to £97 a month......................How do they justify that........................

Sees the average increase is about £35-£45 a month.............that is blinking scary,

I am now paying £62 a month instead of £37 a month.

I have never put the heating on in the day but the kids showered and put it on when they were home.

I had a new boiler in May, kids have moved out and other half an I have thermostat down at 15 degrees C or 60F in old money so I am hoping on next review to get the monthly payments back down a bit.

Ours was the same.  OH called and told them that we weren't going from whatever it was (£80 ish I think) to the £160 they said.  They agreed that it seemed excessive and we agreed on upping it to £90.  So, well worth giving them a call.

You are all lucky you can have gas!  Our heating oil costs us £120 a month (and we don't use that for cooking either) for just two of us in a very well-insulated house.

Thought it was just me! Mine has also gone up, from £38 to £72 per month, going to ring and say I will pay £50 :-)

I have stopped using gas... more or less... my bill for the last quarter was about £17. ;-) But I have a feeling I am going to get chilly this winter!

I have a quarterly bill - last one showed I was £35 in credit. Have only had heating on twice so far, once to test it was working ok and then one evening when the temperatures dropped really low. Have my fleece on tonight but the heating will have to stay off until the really cold weather gets here.

I get a discount for prompt payment of my bills which does help out a bit but the continual rise in prices is a worry especially as I now live on a very reduced income. We didn't have central heating when I was a child but would hate to have to go back to a candle in a flower pot to keep the chill off the bathroom but at least it is indoors now and not at the end of the garden :)

Same happend to my brother. He doesnt use the gas hardly at all and is paying the standing charge mostly but they tried to put his dd up double.  He phoned and they just upped it by 20% instead
.

Just had mine and I'm £193 plus in credit!  I pay £17 pm dd which has been dropped since last winters £25 pm dd, I'd only used £13 in the last quarter and had a credit of £90 then!  Needless to say they're refunding me £100 as I'm classed as a light user, am well pleased as I use Gas for heating and water via a condensing combi boiler. 

My electric is a tad more as I keep reptiles and have 3 x 6 ft freezers on the go full of tripe or rodents for the snakes, still its only £49 pm dd, I cook with electric but don't use the oven instead I have a microwave with combi oven and grill, does a great roast dinner in 40 mins including roast potato.

doesnt anyone pay gas and electricity together it works out cheaper? I pay £155 for gas and electricity with eon they seem to be the cheapest for us last bill £135 in credit now its getting colder and the heating goes on that will soon be eaten up no doubt.

Not much help now but there is talk of the gas going down by the spring, so perhaps fixing the rate for a few years ahead is not a good idea and if the rates do start to fall they may well fall some way once competition kicks in, bit like the petrol prices have, from 124p to 97p a litre in the last month.

Yes we are fixed until 2011 as well it may be a false economy but I do know what my bills are so thats a relief.

I've just had my electric put up to £160 a month.

Not sure whether to change and get fixed for next couple of years or not

I believe the current advice is NOT to cap at the moment, as the price rise predicted for early 2009 is not now expected to be as high (although think it is still meant to be going up?). Those of us who capped some time ago are apparently still likely to win, but who knows these days!

Money Saving Expert is normally good at tracking and advising.

Of course, those who have been with the same supplier for a long while are probably best filling in a comparison and are likely to benefit from switching, even if you don't cap.

M.

> Just had mine and I'm £193 plus in credit!

I can beat that, we've just switched from s power to b gas & had a cheque for about £34 credit on electricity but a whopping £400 in credit on the gas!  This was a very very nice surprise, always thought we were paying too much to s power on gas but they wouldn't let us reduce our monthly dd's - their loss now not ours!!  We're off to the races on Saturday to spend it!!! or maybe double it!!

I can beat this hands down.......... We don't have gas, but got an electricity bill for £3620 !!!!!!!!!!! (That was for a year.) British Gas wanted £597 a month! Hence we're now washing up in cold water and freezing wearing double layers of clothes indoors. :( Our only solution has been to buy a new more efficient boiler AND ask for a prepayment meter to be fitted instead so we only pay for what we use.

If your direct debit bill has gone up ring them up and negotiate.  They tried this with me I got a letter saying they were going to double the direct debit (despite the fact they had to give me a refund last year because I was so far in credit).  I just rang them up and said you are not going to double my payments, the price has gone up by 30% so we'll start negotiating the price from there.  They did try and scare me by saying if  I got to far in arrears they could take the whole amount from my account (they can't they have to inform me first).  After a little bit of negotiation we compromised on a 25% increase with a review in three months.

Gosh I'm dreading getting mine then, can only live on what I'm paying now and I only use gas for heating and the occasional use of my hob, the cooker is electric.

I was in credit of £200.00 last time and asked for them to send me £150 of it as I wanted the money in my bank account rather than theirs.

All this credit is better off in your own accounts earning interest!  I pay as soon as my bill comes in and so get a prompt payment discount.  They only want you to overpay by direct debit so that THEY can earn interest on your money. :(  I didn't realise that so many people did it......

Trouble is with quarterly bills is finding the money especially when you don't know wheat is is likely to be and especially the winter quarter for heating.

I am already in credit with just the two increased payments and one old, but they won't adjust down even though I told them I have a new boiler and reduced usage with just my OH and myself keeping heat on much lower.

Also you get discount  for paying my monthly direct debit.

It would be a lot simpler as in days gone by if they told you the price per Unit used as opposed to KWH, as you could then read your own meter on a regular basis and have a good idea what your spending as you go.

If they won't adjust down complain:

Once you have complained, your supplier must tell you the steps they will take to sort out your complaint how long those steps are likely to take. If you aren't happy with the way your supplier is handling your complaint, you can ask for an internal review.

If your supplier is unable to sort your complaint out to your satisfaction, they must tell you this in writing. This is called a letter of deadlock. Once you have been sent a letter of deadlock, if you want to take the complaint further, you can contact the Energy Ombudsman. If you have not been sent a letter of deadlock, you must wait at least eight weeks (twelve if your supplier is one of the smaller energy companies) before you can contact the Energy Ombudsman - see under Complaining to the Energy Ombudsman.

Also you get discount  for paying my monthly direct debit.

The difference between the dd discount and the prompt payment reduction is much less than you can earn in interest.  Just have your direct debit amount paid into a savings account instead of to the energy supplier.  You take control and make money - to pay towards the next bill. :)

Supposedly this discount for DD payers is going to end.

Ha HA I had forgotten all about the prompt payment reduction..........that settles it I am going back to bills and will pay when they come in................I will leave the money going into my bills account but leave it there to pay the bill rather than the DD.....

Ta all.

Saw a news item on the BBC recently about energy suppliers - make sure you get your meter read - any estimated bills will accrue, but then you may not qualify for the actual (possibly cheaper) price for gas/electric used when your rate was lower.  It's always worth having your meter read or calling your supplier to tell them a reading every month so that you make sure you're paying the proper price...

after reading this post yesterday in post was a cheque from southern elc/gas for £200 pounds i guess where we have payed to much over the year.

We just got our gas bill in for the last quater (July - October) and its £50.
Theres 2 of us in a 3 bedroom semi so it isnt a small place to heat and I have had it on early, the real way to tell our bill differences is in the Jan/Feb/March months when we all really use our heating!
But we havent really noticed a jump in ours, muct be lucky so far!

im on a pre-pay meter for both gas and electric and have just had a letter about a price rise.
29% for gas and 24% for electric so i am looking to change supplers.
Does anyone have advise?

If you go to "uswitch" web site they will show you the cheapest suppliers for you in your area.
jane

> If you go to "uswitch" web site they will show you the cheapest suppliers for you in your area.
>

Those sites arent all their cracked up to be sometimes tho.
Some companys wont put their prices on there and you miss out potentially on an even better rate, just a word of caution as they were exposed on GMTV a while ago for not having accurate info on there as well.