Well in my last post I wrote about how I had reduced the family's insurances by £420 per year (a current saving of £35 per month. So, pleased with my results I thought I would go further and see what else I could either reduce or save on.
I looked on one of the price comparison websites to check whether gas and electric would be cheaper with another supplier. To be truthful I found the whole business so confusing that after about two hours of scribbled notes and fruitless calculations on my trusty calculator, in the end I contacted British Gas (my current supplier) to ask if they could supply me gas and electric any cheaper than I am currently paying as I was thinking of going else where.
Low and behold, of course they could. Apparently I wasn't on their cheapest tariff anyway (why not) My fault for not asking before or theirs for not telling me? Anyway as of that phone call I was switched to another tariff, which should save us about 200 pounds per year ! Great news I thought, more savings to save towards the dreaded debt.
Well it appeared to be great news at the time. This morning I received a letter from British Gas confirming the changes made etc but also informing me that they had carried out their usual 12 monthly review of our account and that due to the rises already announced in the price of gas,our monthly direct debit would be going up from £60 per month to £104 per month !!!!!!! An expected spend of over £1200 per year on gas !!
When I had picked my self up of the floor and re read and re read the letter I realised that this amount only covers gas, there is still a letter to follow regarding electricity increases for the year!
Bloody hell what would it have been if we were still on the 'old' tariff??
My potential savings of £200 have now gone totally out of the window, plus we now have to find an extra £300 plus............time for more drastic measures me thinks.......
7 comments:
My goodness! Why is Gas and Electricity getting so expensive in the UK? Are you reaching Peak Gas and have to import it from Russia?
Gav
Gavin - you are absolutely spot on, nearly all of our gas is now bought in - and most of our utility companies are foreign owned, gas, electric and water. The independent island is no longer independent........
Wow that''s a great saving!! Well done!! I changed ours a while back but you've just inspired me to shop around for my breakdown cover which is due soon and saved me £40! thanks
Maxine
http://perfectcupcakes.blogspot.com
Hi, I saw your blog linked from Rhonda's Down to Earth blog. I'm in the UK too.
Sorry to hear you've been hit with a large DD increase with your gas. Hope the electric is better and doesn't increase.
I've spent the last 3 months monitoring our gas and electric and nagging to get things turned off all the time. It's worked with electric at least. We used half what we did this time last year. Gas wasn't so good, but was maybe a 1/4 less.
Kirsty in Yorkshire
its expensive here in the states also..Also i have heard the ramblings of another price hike in the coming year...We have no working heater as it is..We just bundle up, best we can..
take care,
Yikes, that quite a price hike. I hope you can manage it. I wanted to thank you for your warm and friendly comments on my blog. It's such a lovely thing for me to read.
PS, I really LOVE the little enamel teapot in your header. :- )
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