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Original poster

Soaring energy prices now £6k a year

153 replies

JulyDreams · 20/08/2022 20:46

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?

OP posts:
shebefierce · 21/08/2022 01:17

Very scary part of the daily mail article is that smart meters ARE prepayment meters, or can be turned into them with the push of a button. If you have a smart meter, your home can be transferred onto prepayment in an instant at any time of year. I can't believe this hasn't been widely known....

onthefencesitter · 21/08/2022 01:18

Suzy14837 · 21/08/2022 00:22

Many of us on incomes less than yours have been doing all these for years already. Where else can I pare back?

Show quote history

i am not sure, maybe you can give me better advice. If energy bills truly hit £6k (and we end up paying that despite living in a flat), our after tax income of £5k per month or £60k per annum and living in a 1930s flat would mean that our household is in fuel poverty (if you spend 10% or more of income on fuel and live in an EPC D or below property, you are in fuel poverty). We would be officially members of the nouveau poor despite being the top 10% in household income in the UK (according to ONS). Please welcome us to the club.

XenoBitch · 21/08/2022 01:31

Livelovebehappy · 20/08/2022 23:18

To be honest, nobody, unless disabled, should be claiming unemployment benefit anyway. There are jobs out there for people who want to work.

Show quote history

That is really not fair. Some people may have been recently declared fit for work, yet have not worked for over a decade. Do you think they can just walk into any job? With no experience, skills, references etc.?

There are people out there who are very keen to work, but no one will employ them.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Cost of living
YellowPlumbob · 21/08/2022 01:37

PickAChew · 20/08/2022 23:36

@YellowPlumbob do you have a prepayment certificate for yiur prescriptions? Saves you a fortune if you regularly have more than one a minth.

Yes, I pay monthly via DD for a pre pay. Which I stated in my original post and again when someone else asked me the same question, so for the third time, yes.

Gingerkittykat · 21/08/2022 02:35

lollipoprainbow · 20/08/2022 21:52

@Afterfire not if you have children, I will only be paying what I can afford.

They can get a warrant to fit a pre payment meter, then your lights will be off on the weeks when you simply don't have the money to put onto it.

goshy · 21/08/2022 07:09

Plus in the 1970's benefits were higher proportionally, more industries were Unionised & higher pay rises negotiated for employee!

that's always forgottt

goshy · 21/08/2022 07:09

forgotten

BooksAndChooks · 21/08/2022 07:58

@Jaxhog there are lots of good threads on the peppers boards with ideas of ways to get ready for winter.

Lavenderosemary · 21/08/2022 08:57

No warrant is needed if you have a smart meter. Smart meters are also prepayment meters if that part of them is activated. You cannot run up unpaid bills if your home has a smart meter fitted. They didn't tell people that in the drive to install them, did they...

Lovemusic33 · 21/08/2022 09:12

I have prepay smart metre so I can’t run up huge bills. We just won’t put the heating in if I can’t afford it. We have pets that use electricity, we use the air fryer more often than the oven to save money. The heating is Gas and so is the hot water, heating won’t be going on unless it’s freezing cold, luckily my house is insulated and we have a new boiler (not my house so didn’t pay for it).

This winter will be hard, being single and with a disabled child makes things much harder. Ex husband is saying he can’t afford to pay for any extras for his dc despite the fact he’s in a better position than me (working full time and living with someone else).

Beezknees · 21/08/2022 09:13

Gingerkittykat · 21/08/2022 02:35

They can get a warrant to fit a pre payment meter, then your lights will be off on the weeks when you simply don't have the money to put onto it.

Show quote history

That can be a very long process. I was in a bit of a mess a long time ago and didn't pay my energy bills for 3 years. They sent threatening letters every once in a while but did nothing else. I moved out with a lot of debt to them which I did pay back, but I was never cut off.

LetterOfTheLawFella · 21/08/2022 09:25

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 20/08/2022 22:06

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

Enough is enough

AchillesLastStand · 21/08/2022 10:21

Branster · 20/08/2022 21:46

I'm not sure where they get these figures from and how realistic they are. Also the media keeps getting everyone into a frenzy.

Let's consider this will become the reality. Which will mean food prices will creep up even more. Along with prices of all other goods and services.

Let's consider the reality will be half of this prediction. But mass media will keep going with this story. Hypothetically, but using a very believable tone. Plenty of prices will go up in preparation, with no real basis. Because they can. I'm already not convinced that what we are currently being charged for in various shops is a true reflection of manufacturing/distribution costs.

I think there will be a degree of taking advantage of the situation accross most shops.

I do wish mass media became a bit more responsible- they were absolutely awful with Covid. This idiotic manipulation and setting up of expectations and creating all this mass hysteria.

I have no idea how we'd manage on a 6K/year energy bill. Impossible to plan for everything. We'll have to take it as it comes and deal with it if need be. Such an increase would mean prices of everything else will go through the roof. There will have to be an adjustment period until we all get used to newer pricing and then salaries will start catching up. It will not be the end of the world but a transition period. 2-5 years, who knows?!

Let's consider the reality will be half of this prediction. But mass media will keep going with this story.

What planet are you on? On Friday this week OfGEM will announce the new price cap for October which is likely to be around £3500. That will be already be over half of this prediction for April 2023, that’s going to be the bleak reality for those of us stuck on variable tariffs this winter.

JustTheOneSwan · 21/08/2022 10:42

I think it's telling that fixes last April are so cheap compared to the variable now. Even the energy companies didn't expect to get away with it.

Whiskers4 · 21/08/2022 11:07

We're careful and, therefore, low users compared to a lot of people. Can't see how we'll avoid being in fuel poverty, and sadly they'll be many more with us.

Just been talking to my colleague, we suspect work have already started cutting back. Air con only goes on when we're open to customers now, despite staff being in 3 hours earlier- its really warm on higher levels with no windows. I'm convinced they'll do the same for the heating.

MyNameIsAngelicaSchuyler · 21/08/2022 12:03

This recent headline has made me less stressed, weirdly, as it’s so insanely high there will be no choice but for the government to act. Otherwise it will be a humanitarian disaster.

duvetdrama · 21/08/2022 12:48

We are on a fixed of £233 a month but have only used just over £100 a month so far this year...does that mean we have credit? Does anyone know if that's how it works??

NorthernPud · 21/08/2022 12:55

Your last energy statement should show your balance. If you have been using less than your monthly direct debit then unless you started with a debit balance I would expect that your account will be in credit.

ToadiesCouzin · 21/08/2022 13:45

I mean, how WILL everyone cope? We won't, not without severely running down our savings, and we're a relatively high income household. For the vast majority of people in this country, this is an absolute complete total utter disaster. If people are forced to choose between heating and eating (and if the projected rise does actually come to pass, some people won't be able to do either), people will die. It needs a response akin to a response to war, and at the very least akin to the pandemic response. But what do we have? Absolutely F all.

AclowncalledAlice · 21/08/2022 13:46

The cynical voice inside my head is saying " hmm let's run a story about prices being put up so much that people are worried about how they're going to pay, then along comes the government to tell everyone they are going to force energy companies to freeze prices to the original cap of £4000+. Everybody thinks the government are great for doing that and nobody will remember that the £4000+ rate is still too much".

My cynical voice is very loud these days.

GreenLunchBox · 21/08/2022 13:50

MyNameIsAngelicaSchuyler · 21/08/2022 12:03

This recent headline has made me less stressed, weirdly, as it’s so insanely high there will be no choice but for the government to act. Otherwise it will be a humanitarian disaster.

Same here

ToadiesCouzin · 21/08/2022 13:51

And that's before you even consider the resulting recession, which will tip even more people into the position of being unable to pay. So soon enough hardly anyone can pay. Ahhhh there's so much going on in the world (and particularly in the UK, thanks bastard Tories!) that's all so awful at the moment on I just want to wake up and discover it's all a bad dream.

ToadiesCouzin · 21/08/2022 13:54

@AclowncalledAlice well yes, you may well be right about that, and the source may well be government. They don't seem to have grasped that even a cap of £3k will result in an absolute shit show or a recession, many people can't afford the cap now, so imo it changes things not one jot. It doesn't matter if the cap is £3k, or £6k, if enough people can't afford £3k (which is apparently most people), we're still headed for the same place recession wise as if the cap was £6k.

Aubree17 · 21/08/2022 13:55

lollipoprainbow · 20/08/2022 21:52

@Afterfire not if you have children, I will only be paying what I can afford.

They'll Put in a
Prepayment meter.

Which is more Expensive.

And has the effect of cutting you off if you don't pay.

Songsareliketattoos · 21/08/2022 14:02

MoistBandana · 20/08/2022 21:02

Standard allowance for the unemployed is £4018.92 a year total.

There's no way they'll ever afford to pay fuel, food, council tax etc out of that.

Let alone clothes, shoes, travel etc etc.... How can people survive this level of poverty? And why is this happening in a wealthy Western nation? Makes me despair.