Soaring energy prices now £6k a year

[JulyDreams]

Sorry if there is another thread on this? Daily Mail have just released an article to say the annual prices are now 'set' to apparently go up to £6k from spring 2023. How is everyone coping?

Nobody will riot, there hasn’t even been any protests - and no, Twitter doesn’t count.

I despair of the complacency of this country.

“Well what can we do?”

We can start by taking a leaf out of the books of the French.

Join Enough is Enough. It’s growing all the time.

We can start by taking a leaf out of the books of the French.

it won't happen, far too compliant

There is a simple solution to this: re-nationalise water, gas and electricity.

That's the only option. And everyone refusing to pay these ridiculous bills to make it happen.

There is no point in trying to scrimp and save or do anything else to try to afford these bills because when companies start thinking that extortion is acceptable it is time for radical action.

The only silver lining is that the Tory government will collapse over this. Because once a large number of businesses and individuals are no longer able and willing to pay then the crisis will have to be addressed.

Once the Tories have finished their ridiculous summer games and start trying to govern again they will have to chuck serious amounts of money at this.

I don't think people are overblowing this at all, I think it is way more serious than the 1970s. People are going to starve and freeze to death and there will be an almighty recession as businesses go under. The impact on schools and hospitals budgets will be catastrophic.

if they chunk a load of money at it what happens to the countries debt, does it matter if it's not repayed

That seems a lot - we are also two in a two-bed and our monthly bills are currently £85-95.

I’d have a look at absolutely everything you’re using, any timers etc. for example we realised our hot water was set to come on far more than needed.

We had a combined gas & electric bill yesterday. 3 bed house with 4 adults.

We are currently paying a D/D of £125 a month, and are now £93 in credit, from being £58 in credit last month. So we're currently using a fraction less than £100 a month. So £1,200 a year, which means it would have to go up by 500% to get to £6k in six months time.

That would be an annualised increase of 1,000%. Pretty unlikely I reckon.

If you keep people on the edge of poverty they don't riot.
in poverty and they've nothing to lose but most of us hanging on can't afford to lose jobs or even a day in the cells. Those just existing can't afford it.
I only work PT but care FT for my old Dad I couldn't afford a couple of days marching.
it's by design.

I’m a disabled single mother of three children, one is disabled, and a STEM student. The Pandemic (along with me catching Covid and developing post viral fatigue) has added an extra two years to my degree.

But even if I had graduated, and were working in an NHS lab, for example, I’d still be fucked.

There’s also no guarantee my disabled child will handle the transition to secondary very well at all, which is fine whilst I’m still at Uni, but when I’m working, I can’t see my job lasting long if I’m forever being called home.

55% of my income goes on rent (not including the disability benefits I get for my child), I’m already struggling with £200 a month energy bills, I live in a listed cottage, in a rural area, and I don’t drive.

I can’t move, we were homeless and sofa surfing with friends for 3 months before I managed to get this house through word of mouth. I’m in the Midlands, I had to relocate across counties to keep a roof over our heads, move the children’s schools and face a commute twice as long as the one prior - which is only doable because Student Finance DSA fund my taxis to and from Uni. If I had to catch buses, it would take 2.5 hours to get there, which would mean I’d have to drop out of my degree.

Another child of mine has Coeliac and dairy intolerance, so their food isn’t cheap.

I pay my prescriptions via Direct Debit as I have repeats from my GP and my Psychiatrist.

UC take my student loan off me as if it were a wage - the previous system did not do that, so that’s left me £600 a month down.

I don’t qualify for hardship funds from Uni because I’m part time (PVF has absolutely wrecked my health, and I’m only 37, with no underlying health conditions).

I have no overdraft, credit cards, other credit or any access to them because I’m a student, so there’s no way to cover any essential bills that way.

I get the bare minimum child support from the father of my eldest two (he owns a house, drives, was given a 25K a year job straight out of school by a family member and earns a lot more than that now - CMS were useless because family member fiddles the books in such a way that it looks like he’s paid less than he is, alongside earning around 60K his parents also bought him a house mortgage/rent free, renovated it and pay for any ongoing maintenance - I know because he rubbed it in my face).

And fuck all from my abusive ex, who is an expert at dodging CMS.

I was raised by addicts who died when I was in my mid 20s, and my Grandparents are in their 80s without a pot to piss in.

So there’s also nobody for me to go cap in hand to.

I’ve been angry all my life, I was dealt a shit hand, did my best, and every time I seem to be making headway I get smacked down a couple of notches. But this? What’s happening now? It’s something else, I can’t even find the words

I thought this cartoon in the Guardian summed it up well.

Pensioners here and we're already paying 250 a month on a fixed rate from last August. The estimate going forward is around 600 a month, so 6k pa does not sound that unlikely.

We live in a NW facing detached house on a hill with lots of (double glazed) windows, and are as well insulated as we can be without completely replacing the roof. Any ideas for coping would be welcome.

Get your thyroid checked!

If your Mum is only on the basic state pension she should be entitled to pension credit.

are you still on a fixed tariff?

our tariff ended so we're just paying the capped rates, our combined bill went from 100 to 135 for 2 adults in a 3 bed semi. We're moving to a 4 bed semi with baby on the way so I imagine we will get to 200 per month by the end of the year,

The supplier for the new house said I’m using around £160 a month (paid quarterly) but if I change tariffs and Fix, they’ll guarantee I only pay £360 a month DD.

Make it make sense. Fix at an immediate £200 higher? Come on.

Its unlikely you'll hit the prices they're quoting then, if you are careful over the winter and have a small house. The most important thing is to make sure that you are setting your boiler correctly - www.theheatinghub.co.uk/articles/turn-down-the-boiler-flow-temperature - and keep the heating high enough, but no higher. 18C should be okay, wear jumpers if not. Also, look at investing in insulation if you can.

The cap is actually 7.37p per kWh for gas and 28.34p per kWh for electricity right now. It is that rate which will rise by about 82% come October to about 14p for Gas and 52p for electricity. Go and find out what your expected annual consumption is (its on your power bill) and calculate your annual bill. Or look at last January's bill to get a better idea of what next January will be.

It's horrendous, but for small homes maybe not quite as horrendous as the totals being thrown around might be.

Good explanation here - www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-is-the-energy-price-cap/

As hard as it will be just don't use the electric , even the standing charge will be a lot but I can see lots of people living under duvets every day / evening

Yes, this. In France there would be rioting in the streets already. The British just shrug and say how awful it is.

I don't mean to sound all "conspiracy theorist," however, I can't help feeling this is all part of a plan to either depopulate or drive us all under. Something feels really off and they say trust your gut.

Just wanted to check that you know (or anyone else) know about
pre-payment prescription certificates. I imagine you do, but just in case.

They save an absolute fortune if you are on lots of medications and can find the money to pay for a few months upfront.

She gets the full state pension and isn’t eligible for pension credit. It’s still not going to enough to cover these enormous bills. The government have a massive problem on their hands.

The government have far from got their heads in the sand they know exactly what the score is.

I'm wondering how many will actually die in the winter not from the cold but because of sitting under blankets to try and keep warm for hours on end every day.
Heart attacks and strokes due to lack of mobility. These deaths won't be attributed to the cold which will suit the government.

Who thinks the next standing charge will be a huge one on the gas? So many won't be using their heating so you can bet your life they'll smack the biggest standing charge on gas so they can get their money.
Some people won't even be able to pay the standing charges it's ridiculous.

I don't mean to sound all "conspiracy theorist," however, I can't help feeling this is all part of a plan to either depopulate or drive us all under. Something feels really off and they say trust your gut.

I think it's another housing market prop, huge bills to encourage/force the pensioners who tend to have the larger family homes* to downsize as they can't afford the heating bills.

*I'm talking statistically so please don't reply telling me about your nan who still lives in a flat.

I think the chickens are just coming home to roost tbh. We had a large percentage of the population on low wages but still have a relatively high standard of living considering that the wage was so low. Now that prices are going up, this really hits that large segment of the population.

I used to get so angry because people would vote Tory despite having relatively low income and acting smug when poor people couldn't manage. I wish they would wake up now that a lot of them would be the Nouveau poor, would that be too much to ask?