Price Cap - Just announced

[swifttwist]

From £1971 to £3549. 80% rise. I have no words.

New figures:

Electricity
£0.52 per kWh
Daily standing charge: £0.46

Gas:
£0.15 per kWh
Daily standing charge: £0.28

@RudsyFarmer at least he's speaking out and agitating against all this. Unlike our useless government which is bleating that nothing can be done until they've got another useless tosspot formally in charge.

And he looks like a broken man because he is genuinely upset at what this means for people and has been warning of this horrendous rise for months now. I know we are used to rich people not giving a shit about other people (hello, Tories) but I think Martin Lewis is the least likely person to direct your anger at.

@NC4TPost Also check your not paying a debt on the meter from the previous people

my gas with British Gas is costing me around £.25, -£30 a month at the moment
£6 -7 a week but almost £4 of that is standing charge for the week
and we have at least 3 -4 showers a day
if you have an electric shower they are absolute electric vampires so if you have a eco mode use that as that will cut the cost in half

@RudsyFarmer

So who is allowed to give advice?

You've ruled out Martin Lewis. I presume you've ruled out the current Cabinet (all very wealthy) Who is left?

65% of UK energy is domestically produced . So roughly two thirds of the increase creates excess profits for UK producers (although often foreign owned). The government could take that excess profit and reduce the overall increase to a manageable amount. However the fuel producers are big donors to the Tories and a source of second jobs and post-govt directorships, so they would rather ordinary people froze in poverty. During WW2 all companies that increased their profits (mainly manufacturers for war materials) had excess profits taxed at 90%

it is possible to be both
a) someone who has built up a successful business helping people save money
b) someone who cares about people and the worries they have

I still don't quite understand the point of Ofgem - are they just there to work on behalf of the energy companies to ensure their profits stay high?

Just sitting here crying.
I'm in a rented property in highlands. Bills were already at £300 a month and that's for the luxury of being fairly cold all winter as everything old and doesn't work well. Sucked it up as rent is fairly cheap.
Now to be paying £600 for this privilege of having the rooms at 13 degrees instead of 8 beggars belief. I have a child, my husband does what he can and I'm going back to work now she's at nursery-
but I don't know how much more I can take of all of this.
I can't get out of this situation and how will I ever now I won't be able to save anything each month because of electric bills.
My mother was ill and died abroad this year so a lot of my deposit savings have gone on paying to visit her and the funeral. How will we ever do it now?

Will this ever get any better?

For anyone who's feeling really worried, there's some very useful info here: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/if-youve-been-told-your-energy-supply-will-be-disconnected/?s=08

From what I can gather, people who are on prepayment meters are the ones who will struggle the most. My guess is that everyone else will accrue debt and then come to some kind of payment plan with their energy company.

But if you're classed as vulnerable (disabled/children under 16 or OAP), make sure you're on the priority services register - they can't disconnect you.

My energy is pay as you go meter. We havent had electric or gas for 9 days now as i just cannot afford it.

This. Even yesterday here on MN people weren’t getting the rise that was going to come today, and people still thinking it’s a genuine price cap, so for that amount of money you could spend whatever gas you wanted, not that the rate of gas and electricity per unit had doubled…… for everyone.
also schools/library’s have the same price hike. And I read somewhere that they don’t have the domestic price cap so could pay more so libraries etc especially those on old buildings might not be as heated as normal?

How does nationalising get around the costs?

I worked in the finance dept of the regional gas supplier in the early 70s, when they were still nationalised.

They had to make a case to central government if they wanted to put their prices up above a certain amount, and the government could veto it. If that happened, and they made a loss, the government would make up the shortfall from central government funds.

If the government wanted to keep energy costs low, but operating costs were rising, the government would subsidise the operating costs.

If they made cost savings, and ended up in "profit", they were allowed to keep it up to a certain amount, could make a case for keeping more to spend on infrastructure improvement, or had to hand it back to the government.

They were monitored by a central government agency and got bollocked if they wasted money, and could be "fined" for being profligate.

Nationalising doesn't solve the problem of increasing costs, but it means that increasing costs are the government's problem to solve or subsidise.

There were only 3 tariffs during the time I was there: a low-user one, with higher unit costs but lower standing charge, a high user one, which was basically the opposite, and one somewhere in between. And there was a system in place whereby customers who weren't on the best tariff would be notified and offered the choice of switching.

I’ve been looking into solar too. I suppose it depends where you live but from the information and quote I got we’d have no issues in the Summer as we’d generate the most power and usage is low but in the Winter months when we would increase our usage we’d hardly generate anything. Our projection was 1.8kws a day in December. Not worth it by my calculations.

One thing is for sure - this will be the thing that finally does in the childcare industry in the UK. There is no help for nurseries, who are not even VAT exempt. The government have invested far more money in propping up restaurants and pubs, which are pretty unimportant in the scheme of things.

Nursery fees will have to rise astronomically to afford the utility costs. If parents won’t or can’t pay, nurseries will all go bust.

I've just done a calculation with the new figures. I'm on a fixed tariff till May 2023. My bill for this month was about £40. On the new figures it would have been £108. That is more than double what I am paying now and is not including the next increase in December. I am seriously concerned.

I'm already on :

Electricity - Standing 53.5p, 31.1p per unit
Gas - Standing 32p, units 7p per unit.

This is from April.

I don’t understand the British apathy to protest.
People marched the streets to protest the induction of a US president, yet won’t to protest this gauging of energy prices?!

Thank God I had a windfall and paid off my credit cards or I'd be fucked and i consider myself to be fairly well off. but there is only my salary coming in.
Elderly, poor, people like me living on their own even people on reasonable salaries, its going to be a nightmare.

I'm pretty sure it's bystander syndrome en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect#:~:text=The%20bystander%20effect%2C%20or%20bystander,there%20are%20other%20people%20present.

@incognitopurple

Why are you focussing on hot water?

what about cooking/laundry/fridge/tv/lights/charging tech... hair dryer/fans anything else with a plug?

Are your payments just electricity or dual fuel?

how many units are you using each month?

ate you on fixed or SVT?

From the link I posted
If a single individual is asked to complete the task alone, the sense of responsibility will be strong, and there will be a positive response; however, if a group is required to complete the task together, each individual in the group will have a weak sense of responsibility, and will often shrink back in the face of difficulties or responsibilities. The theory was prompted by the murder of Kitty Genovese about which it was wrongly reported that 38 bystanders watched passively.
It was the first psychological theory I ever studied at uni.

If you give money away you lower your tax burden. But you have still given money away. It might be different if you are giving it to your own Foundation which then benefits you in kind. But it’s not a ‘tax dodge’. If you think it is, please explain how.

Someone upthread mentioned what can we do.

Could we start a letter writing campaign? I have a template letter.

Dear <MP Name>

I am writing to you to ask that you urge the Prime Minister to commit to supporting households with rising energy bills as a matter of priority, urgent action is needed to reduce bills and support investment in energy efficiency.

There are approximately 6.5 million households in fuel poverty and this will increase after today's announcement. On top of rising energy bills, high levels of inflation, higher rents and increased fuel prices, millions of families are now struggling to afford the basics they need to live their lives and raise their children. This should not be happening in the world’s fifth largest economy.

I recognise that the Government has introduced the Energy Bill Rebate scheme as well as payments to vulnerable households, however I am calling on you as my local MP to pressure the Prime Minister to commit to providing deeper and more targeted financial support.

<Insert details of own situation, if you choose to do so>

I am also asking you to push to change the energy market to ensure energy is an affordable essential for the most vulnerable people and that no one has to choose between heating or eating.

Yours sincerely,

<Your Name>

MP contact details can be found here and most can be emailed:

www.theyworkforyou.com/mps/

While it will affect the majoeity of people, this is an issue that will disproportionately affect the women and children. Women are more likely to live in a low income household, more likely to be a carer to a disabled family member, more likely to be a single parent, more likely to be main carer to children, and so on. As such could @MNHQ take the issue up as an official campaign in the same way they are campaigning against childcare issues right now? As a sidebar, this will impact child care provision too - the only day nursery in our village is closing next month due to increased running costs, the only other nursery is attached to school and is for age 3+ so essentially there is now no provision here for the under 3s. I expect this will be an issue everywhere. You will also have women (because it's almost always women) having to give up work or cut their hours to reduce childcare costs in order to cover energy price rises.

@Yabado...and??

Look on The Don’t Pay website - it’s there and it’s an individuals choice in what you decide to do.
Its absolutely shocking for all - I have some flexibility in my income but I’m aware others won’t.