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Gas and Electricity Prices

I can't help feeling just a tiny bit smug at the moment.

I signed up with my existing supplier Shell Energy for a new two year fix on 1st August 2021. At the time I wondered if I was doing the right thing or just being my usual lazy self, as the standard variable rate was quite a bit lower and slightly cheaper fixes were to be had elsewhere, but I signed up anyway. I even got a free Google Nest Hub thingy. Based on my average annual consumption in kWh over the last five years it's going to cost me around £150/month for the next two years.

And - the icing on the cake - I filled the wife's old car up a week ago, and my new one is an EV.

What can possibly go wrong now?
 
We've always opted to pay on receipt of a bill so as not to have a pile of cash sitting in the provider's account.

Unfortunately after being repeatedly messed around by our previous provider we switched to bulb at the end of July (doh!) who only accept direct debit (doh!).

My bill for July was £55. I'm somehow already £150 in credit with another £78 due to be paid to them in a few days so I'll have paid almost £300!

If I try to change the monthly payment amount it tells me the minimum payment allowed is £91. Hmm.

Kind of wishing I'd stuck to just paying when I got the bill...
 
We've always opted to pay on receipt of a bill so as not to have a pile of cash sitting in the provider's account.

Unfortunately after being repeatedly messed around by our previous provider we switched to bulb at the end of July (doh!) who only accept direct debit (doh!).

My bill for July was £55. I'm somehow already £150 in credit with another £78 due to be paid to them in a few days so I'll have paid almost £300!

If I try to change the monthly payment amount it tells me the minimum payment allowed is £91. Hmm.

Kind of wishing I'd stuck to just paying when I got the bill...

I pay by Variable Direct Debit, where they debit the amount of the actual bill each month.

'Fixed' DD is a nonsense, IMO, though preferred by the energy companies, for obvious reasons. Probably won't get the very 'cheapest' deals, but It's the way that I prefer.
 
I got the email too. Main site told me to check back in 15 minutes, but managed to log in and enter readings via:

https://assets.avroenergy.co.uk/

Not sure if this will work correctly, so I will check back tomorrow on the main site.

Thanks - this worked for me!

I used this 'assets' link to access my account last week and get my statements and a screenshot of my credit.
Since then I have had an email from Octopus and tried this morning to access avro at the above 'assets' link but it will no longer let me in.
I can 'attach' to the original avro site (and get further than I did last week) but can't update my readings as I get the 'Unexpected error' message/
 
I pay by Variable Direct Debit, where they debit the amount of the actual bill each month.

'Fixed' DD is a nonsense, IMO, /QUOTE]

Interesting, as I've never encountered that with energy firms; only broadband, but all my contracts for energy have been fixed. I do prefer the same amount going out each month; keeps the monthly book and budgeting tidy. Octopus' monthly usage and cost emails allow for good bookkeeping too.

Strange position to be in, but my previous tenants, who moved out at the end of July, were on Bulb. As the flat is for sale, all services have been turned off and no energy/water has been used. Not at all sure if standing charges are mandatory on an empty property (and why should they be) but when I kept Bulb on before, during an aborted sale (Covid), I had no end of trouble trying get sense out of them for months. Poor service and inefficiency of accounting eventually recognised by them and compensation paid. Now, of course, there is no Bulb. Hmmm!
 
Quite a good summary of the causes of the current crisis on the Ecotricity website.

TL;DR: shortage of electricity due to: nuclear on maintenance shutdown, unexpected lack of wind, and that interconnector fire. Knock-on issues with reliance on gas fired plant due to shortage of gas, because: Russia has reduced supply through the pipelines to Europe, our government has allowed our bulk storage to dwindle to almost nothing, and increased demand for LNG in Asia has reduced availability of tankered LNG to Europe.
 
Yep, looks ok. I was dreading being transferred to Scottish Power.

We were dumped to Scottish Power when Yorkshire Energy went bust last year. Took them all of 4 months to run through the £160 credit we had built up with YE over 2 years. Moved to Avro in February....
 
Martin Lewis is now advising that we all regularly download or screen-grab evidence of any credit we have whatever the utility company we are with.
 


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