Dear fellow redditors,

I woke up to the unpleasant surprise of having an email from my electricity provider (mega) wanting to raise my trimestrial down payments.

While I knew that this day would certainly come given the current conjuncture, I was astouned by the rise in prices, going from 415€ a trimester to a heavy 1390€. I live alone in a thermic sieve of approx 50m², so obviously winter will be spent with ski socks and warm blankets.

Mega forced me to change from a fixed price contract to a variable one, and I did not check every other offer to see if theirs was good or not. Am I getting sucked dry or are we all going to suffer a (more than) threefold increase in electricity prices ? I need some datapoints here.

And just for fun, [a blog post](https://blog.mega.be/economiser-de-lenergie-un-jeu-denfants/) (in french) from mega advising us to organise some candle-lighted board games nights to better control our energy consumption 🤡.

9 comments

  1. It only increased threefold for you? Lucky you!

    I went from € 80 a month with the bankrupt “Vlaamse Energiemaatschappij” to € 600 a month with luminus this month.

  3. Also keep in mind that Mega charges all the fixed fees a full year in advance. So if you leave after 2 months, you will have paid the fixed fee for the next 10 months and will have to do so again with your new provider… So even if you find a cheaper supplier you are still screwed on your fixed costs.
    Make sure you leave them after 11 months and switch to a supplier that charges the fixed costs “pro rata” each month.

  4. Yes, sounds about right. Try to reduce your electricity consumption. Buy one of these small power plug meters and test the consumption of all your devices, then decide what you are going to keep or not.
    At these prices it can be very interesting to replace an old fridge/washing mashine/dryer with a new model.

  5. Yeah, and that will probably, maybe, most likely, not even be enough to cover the exact costs at the end of the year.

  6. It seems like you haven been holding your winter sleep in the summer and discover a whole new reality now you have waken up.

  7. 270-560-980 in August-1540 this month.

    I know the insulation sucks home. I hope having stopped charging the car home (9kWh battery), having a new fridge and a new cooler and not replaced the wine cellar will help. In march we will have solar panels.

    So far, I’ve blocked the monthly fee to 600. I can’t pay more. If they come with a x0000€ bill in April, then just put the social locks on the meters, we will have the panels.

    Mega seems also from what I heard on the brink of bankruptcy so they exaggerate their fees to stay afloat with your money. The also exaggerate your supposed consumption. They think for example that we will have a 15% higher use this year…

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