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?

I paid £62 per month for utilities this time last year, this month it's gone up to £213 because I owed them £280 from feb-august! I was in credit by £350 then suddenly in debit £280. Just me and my son at home just the one low income, my rent is £800! Honestly don't know what to do, at the moment I'm using savings to pay everything but that will run out this time next year. I wanted a mortgage but my savings can't be saved anymore.

Why do people think nationalising the utilities is the answer? It would cost up to 100 Billion to buy back the companies, this would then be put on the bills, Do we nationalise all the Exploration and distribution companies, some are in foreign ownership, how do you go about buying them up?

To be honest, I really don't know what the answer is to that one. But we should never have privatised them in the first place. If we hadn't, maybe we'd be France today. Maybe we'd have invested in nuclear power decades ago, and we'd have more energy security. The party with the "privatisation above all else" ideology that's got us into this mess, should be kicked out of government for good, for the severe, long lasting economic and social harm they have caused. Children's homes are privatised FFS. Children's homes! The ideology is absolutely barking.

Isn't this all Putin?
Will it go back to normal ( energy) once Putin dies or is killed etc?

England are the only country with a privatised water supply btw. Because no-one else is that stupid.

Not necessarily all Putin, although that's obviously a very significant factor. But that fact is, that because we have no state controlled energy, because it's all privatised, we have no energy security. We're exposed to any global shock such as this, were forced to buy energy at market prices, even is generated here. It wouldn't really make much difference if we generated all our own energy, as any global shock that increases prices dramatically such as we're seeing now, affects us too as we can't make private energy providers sell at below market rate. Or we could be France (for example), who have state owned French energy generation, so they can sell that to their population for whatever price they like. But they sell it to us daft Brits at market prices of course. Who do you think owns EDF?

Basically, it may be Putin now, but even when that war is over, it will be something else later. There'll always be crises, and we're 100% exposed to all of them.

Our current gas and lecky is £950 annual. We use quite little as a 2 person house. Have just had a fixed tariff quote for the year from October at 2.5k. My jaw has hit the floor. I am trying not to cry. We are low earners, both full time, simply cannot pull 2 grand out of the air.

I simply do not know what to do

And marting Lewis latest advice is to accept fixed tariff renewals if they are up to 100% increase on your current one. 100%! Supposed to just accept the doubling of gas and electric as an alternative to the price cap wars. Mad!

Children's homes are private?!

Absolutely insane.

how can people afford £500 a month ffs

I read something yesterday that suggested 45 million people will be in fuel poverty! It’s appalling

Yes I agree, much worse than Covid

I got a message from Shell my utility provider and they say prices won't go up until the cap is raised in Oct, all these companies are doing is stockpiling our money. No one knows how much they are going up by and I'm not paying for something now that I may not actually use, for these companies it's a monetary interest gaining tactic.
I have and will reduce what is outgoing but I'm not going to panic just yet (I reduced my DD because I'm already hundreds of ££s in credit with them)

Yep, some. Only in modern Tory Britain would this happen.

There are some essential public services that should NOT be privatised. Water, energy, public transport, children's homes. But the privatisation of energy and water probably has come at the greatest cost. We can't control our energy costs and we can't keep our water clean and safe. Being unable to control energy costs, as we're seeing is catastrophic, it has such wide ranging implications, and makes us incredibly vulnerable. We're at the mercy of almost any other nation basically, especially really nefarious ones, because most can and do control their energy, and they sell it to us. They can keep the costs down for their own populations, but absolutely fleece us, and they can heavily manipulate us for geopolitical reasons. I think there's a misconception that if only we'd generate more energy in the UK, through fracking, solar, nuclear whatever, we'd be in the same position. We wouldn't under our current privatised model, we'd be no better off really. The only way we benefit financially, and crucially have energy security, is for it to be nationalised. So even if it costs a lot, and it's very difficult and painful, it should still be a national priority. The costs of not doing so are just too great.

Do you not think that this could be worse? Just because you survived a hurricane, it doesn't mean you'd survive an earthquake.

So, what can we who are on fixed tariff so won't be facing all these rises do to help? My heating will cost pretty much the same this winter as last.

Where would my £400 - and those of many others - provide the best help? Where can I put it to help those most in need, is there a specific fuel poverty charity/movement?

Whatever you've heard about France isn't true, they won't come out of this worse. Simply because they aren't so exposed to the high prices. A French state owned generator (EDF) generate most of their energy, so they just choose to sell it to their population at a reasonable price, rather than the massive, inflated price. They'll take a hit on gas, but no more than us, so they will always be better off than us. We pay the same market rate for all of our energy, the French only pay the market rate for any energy not generated by the state generator. Their low cap is a government subsidy, but it's not the massive subsidy that we'd need to put us in the same position, and as the state is the predominant energy generator, so this "subsidy" is mostly just a write off of massive profits. Where did you read they'd be worse off, and what was the context?

Seriously? I remember not having any heat at all throughout my childhood.

Might be useful for anyone on Universal Credit or similar benefits (from MSE Martin):

www.moneysavingexpert.com/compare-broadband-deals/broadband-social-tariffs/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tools&source=FBORG-TOOLS&utm_content=1660893080

I'm reminding myself that right up to 2010 my grandparents only had a gas fire in their 80s semi

In the email my supplier (Octopus) sent with an update earlier this week they said they would “also provide a way for anyone who wants to donate their credits to those who need it more to do so.”

I got into a mess with my bills about 10 years ago when I suddenly went from having a decent income to sickness benefits. After a few months, Scottish Power sent someone round to talk to me and I managed to negotiate payments to avoid a smart meter. I don't know how long that process took but it was a few months rather than years.

To be honest, I probably had a similar attitude to the poster, I decided to keep us warm over the winter and said I would sort it out later. I expect there will be some people who will be doing that out of necessity this winter and who will be picking up the pieces in the spring.

I'm worried that we might end up with another winter when we had the Beast from the East storm. It was -15 in my part of Scotland and the people on prepayment meters simply won't be able to keep up with payments.

I wouldn't say that English people are stupid since it was a corrupt tory party that made the decision to privatise. We had a completely different political climate in Scotland so it wasn't privatised, I have no idea what happened in Wales and NI.

I like the fact my water and sewerage are paid as a charge on my council tax bill, I pay just over £300 a year for it and don't have to put any money into the hands of shareholders for a basic essential.

But the English keep voting them in!