Yep, rise in food prices really noticeable - we do our weekly shop in Aldi, was always usually £40-£45, now usually around £55.

Re gas/electric - I've never paid for that monthly, always wondered why people do that - do you usually get a better tariff by paying monthly?

We just pay quarterly for whatever we use. The bill we get at the end of February is always our biggest one as we've had the heating on over the winter months.  This time it was £270 for the quarter, that admittedly was £30 more than last February.  Our other quarterly bills are usually around the £200-£220 mark.  I've seen folk saying their bills are going up from £200 a month to £300 a month and I think to myself what am I doing so different here?

SlatefordArab wrote:

Yep, rise in food prices really noticeable - we do our weekly shop in Aldi, was always usually £40-£45, now usually around £55.

Re gas/electric - I've never paid for that monthly, always wondered why people do that - do you usually get a better tariff by paying monthly?

We just pay quarterly for whatever we use. The bill we get at the end of February is always our biggest one as we've had the heating on over the winter months.  This time it was £270 for the quarter, that admittedly was £30 more than last February.  Our other quarterly bills are usually around the £200-£220 mark.  I've seen folk saying their bills are going up from £200 a month to £300 a month and I think to myself what am I doing so different here?

We were with Bulb Energy and were happy with our Gas/Electricity bill.

But it's way out of control now, and is apparently going to rise again in October.

Genuinely no idea how we are gonna cover the cost as i am currently the only person in my household working.
 

Macbonzo wrote:

SlatefordArab wrote:

Yep, rise in food prices really noticeable - we do our weekly shop in Aldi, was always usually £40-£45, now usually around £55.

Re gas/electric - I've never paid for that monthly, always wondered why people do that - do you usually get a better tariff by paying monthly?

We just pay quarterly for whatever we use. The bill we get at the end of February is always our biggest one as we've had the heating on over the winter months.  This time it was £270 for the quarter, that admittedly was £30 more than last February.  Our other quarterly bills are usually around the £200-£220 mark.  I've seen folk saying their bills are going up from £200 a month to £300 a month and I think to myself what am I doing so different here?

 
I think these websites which attempt to get you the best current dealt by switching have caused big problems.

The reality is that the biggest players - Scottish Power and SSE buy futures contracts 20 years in advance in Crude and NG - hence smoothing the cost. The new entrants buy at spot. So when the new operators have to pay $120 pb, they know they cannot pass that cost on. It is always better to stay with the big, established operators who will survive for the long term.

One of the huge problems for Italy, Greece and former Yugoslavian states is that there is only one gas pipeline coming through Russia, crossing through Slovakia. Prior to the current situation gas prices were already double what we pay in the UK

 
Aye we are with Scottish Gas and have been since we moved into this house 7 years ago.  We’ve always wondered about shopping around but in the end felt our energy bills were not too bad so glad we’ve stuck with them.  Doubt we’ll completely escape any big price rises though.

Bulb and their ilk are merely brokers. Eon, Iberdrola, Npower and OVO actually are in the business of power generation. Make no mistake about it, these are highly efficient, well manage companies. We forget that when “profit” and “shareholder” become terms of abuse, these businesses are not charities, but, they are not profit centres either. What these do very well is to smooth the cost of volatile commodities - particularly NG.

Uswitch and the ubiquitous financial “entertainers” told you to shop around and constantly switch. None of them understood the underlying commodities. Now Uswitch are imploring people not to switch.