Householders are set to be hit with rising energy costs from this week after Ofgem confirmed an energy price cap increase from April 1.
On April 1, energy regulator Ofgem will hike its energy price cap by 54%. The energy price cap, which limits the rates a supplier can charge for each unit of gas and electricity you use, will jump by £693 from £1,277 to £1,971. Prepayment customers will be worse hit, with a jump of £708 from £1,309 to £2,017, and that's without the possibility of further hikes, with wholesale gas prices increasing regularly.
Customers at three of the major energy companies have revealed how their bills have increased and what they plan to do to help keep bills down.
Shell
Logging into the Shell Energy app it was plastered with warnings that we should increase our direct debit to £409 a month to ensure we covered the rising prices.
Shell's latest email tells me that from April we'll be moving to a Flexible 7 tariff which will see electricity go from 20.871p to 29.239p per kWh with a 37.92p standing charge (up 13p a day) while case goes from 4.055p to 7.344p per kWH with the gas standing charge from 26.11p to 27.22p.
A Shell Energy spokesperson added: "Many families are worried about what rising energy prices will mean for their finances, particularly when the prices of so many other goods and services are also increasing.
"Our priority is to provide help for our customers. We have set up a support hub on our website which shows the additional measures we can offer, signposts government schemes and debt support, as well as giving energy-saving advice.
"We would urge any customers that are struggling, to get in touch with us. We have a dedicated Payment Advice Team on hand who can put in place supportive measures including payment holidays and reduced payment amounts, and we will help ensure that customers are receiving all the support available to them."
This month's bill is £263.21 and that is basically with me being hyper vigilant. I work from home five days a week and now only take off the Snuggy I got for Christmas for video calls. We've abandoned the idea of buying a new tumble drier, instead embracing the Aldi heated airer that's £100 cheaper than Lakeland's one.
I am following my children round the house switching lights off as fast as they switch them on. The heating is down to 18.5 degrees and all doors to non essential rooms are closed, especially the kitchen which, for reasons I can't quite understand, turns into an ice box of an evening.
Eon
In February our bill shot back up to £72 for both gas and electricity but we felt okay to pay that as it wasn't the most expensive bill we've had from them. However, our new tariff will change dramatically if we choose to stay with E.ON and I don't think we will ever pay just £44 for gas and electricity again.
E.ON sent their email to us this week which read.
"Thanks for being with us. Your tariff's ending soon and we'd like to help you choose your next deal. The quickest and easiest way to get our best deal is to visit our website.
"You can switch today or set your account to switch when your tariff ends on 25 April 2022 without paying any exit fees on your existing tariff.
"We've shown our cheapest offer below, but visit our website to check out all of your tariff choices. They might have changed since we sent this."
According to the figures, we would be paying an extra £83.29 a month, and an excruciating £999.42 more a year. That's a combined 123.5% increase on our monthly bill.
n the coming weeks we are going to look at energy switching sites like Energyhelpline and TheEnergyshop to see if we can get a better deal. If not, we will then speak to E.ON to see what can be done, if anything, about lowering our costs.
I think it's best to avoid panic, which is easier said than done, but it's better waiting rather than jumping into a contract you'll regret. We are going to wait until the very latest we possibly can before making a big decision, because next week, deals could change, it's really hard to predict right now.
British Gas
British Gas has revealed that based on a typical household, credit customers will pay £693 (excluding VAT) more on their annual energy bill, which will work out at £58 per month. This figure is only an average, some customers may be quoted a higher figure based on their current usage, tariff and location.
Prepayment customers will see an increase of £708 (excluding VAT) per year, or £59 per month. As mentioned above, price increases will be different for each household and vary depending on the amount of energy you use and how you pay.
British Gas is offering extra help to customers who are struggling in the light of the fuel cap increase. The energy provider have said they've invested £2 million into funding grants to help keep vulnerable customers keep warm in December 2021, which they say they have now added a further £2 million to.
