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

Sorry didnt explain that. I would rather see the money people receive come from a windfall tax on energy companies and not from government coffers.

I'm sorry but pensioners are not "already well covered" you can't include their original winter fuel payments which were unrelated to the current hike.
they often need their house warmer due to inactivity levels etc at least the more elderly do
Makes my blood boil when people cite well off pensioners swanning around as a reason not to help more. Plenty are not in that position

And unlike middle aged people, pensioners don't have the ability to get a second job, increase their hours or give up behind a stay at home parent.
They might have tiny savings (eg for funeral) and a finite private pension if they're lucky. Have some compassion.

An air fryer is literally a small convection fan oven. I have a combi that works at the same temperatures and times that an air fryer does, except it has space in it to cook actual food, not some nibbles.

What I would do, using the kw used each month last year, is work out both ways and then decide.

it SOUNDS like it would be a good fix with how much it's due to go up in January & it's only a year.

my only hesitation would be that if you don't fix now they may offer you a longer fix at not a lot more. (Position I inadvertently found myself in!)

Very important point. The profits of non-UK-owned energy companies, that create 65% of the UK's energy, and who are based in the UK [see above posts], are tanking the British economy by destroying vast swathes of British people's credit ratings. Clever.

@MibsXX that's odd - I have economy 7 and we don't have storage heaters. It was like this when we bought the house though, but there has never been storage heaters in this house since it was built.

@Liebig I've got a dual drawer Ninja and we are a family of 5. I cook everything in it that would have gone in the oven/grill except pizza as obviously it doesn't fit. One drawer fits a whole chicken, it's a lot more than nibbles!

Taking the companies profits aside, the general price of gas and electricity production has gone up across the world due to everything going on. Unless the companies are government and state controlled of course they are going to run a profit, that’s why any business in the world exists.
tesco doesn’t sell food to feed people, they sell it to make money. Just like the indépendant craft seller on Facebook.
the world needs sorting out and more investment in green power and shit in it.

Had an email from Scottish Power this morning informing me that they will be contacting me on 1st October to tell me how much my new payment will be.

While admitting that 'further price rises will be unwelcome news' They added 'What we can reassure you of is that your new prices will be protected until 1st January 2023.'

Bloody hell. Do they honestly think being told that there is going to be a massive price hike but it won't go up again within the next three months is reassuring?

That very much sounds to me as if come January next year there's going to be yet another massive increase.

We have also always had economy 7 with no storage heaters, we also have an economy 7 SMETS 1 smart meter, unfortunately it doesn't work though as we switched supplier

I heard it'll be 5k a year by January

The trouble is that for everyone in the U.K. not on a fix, which hasn’t been available for most, everyone’s gas and electricity price per unit has just doubled. On a background of rises too. So everyone’s direct debits will go up to try and absorb it.
so if you cancel it and wait for your bill, people are going to be getting bills for double what they paid last year, we’ll more than that because it went up earlier this year and this is double the current price and due to go up again in January. So if people use the same it will cost the same.
just the same as when petrol went up, it sucks and you can’t just say, nah I’ll only pay half that thanks. If you use the same amount it will cost double. If you want to pay the same as last year you’ll only get half the fuel.
its fucking bonkers.
hopefully the government will swoop in for votes when the new PM is announced.

@LakieLady I wonder if she'd get on better with a halogen oven?

It’s horrific isn’t it.

as of yesterday this was the predictions for next year. Todays only went up over the year…….

Forecasting January 2023 will be
Electricity 70.42 p/kwh
Gas 19.48 p/kwh

and then April 2023
Electricity 75.7p/kwh

Gas 23.96 p/kwh

Just a bit confused is that the minimum standing charge? My electric standing charge is already £0.48 so that is actually less and my gas is £0.27

was just trying to work out my new figures and not sure what I should base my standing charge on

@TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination I love my halogen. If you live alone they are brilliant. Everything an oven can do but faster and much cheaper than an oven. Mine is really old but I remember it being quite cheap to buy too.

Granted, the Ninja (same model I looked at) and others do have more space. But the physics is the same as my Sharp combi. They’re heating elements with fans, so people making out like they are magic is just wrong.

Yes, compared to a built in oven without a fan, cooking a small meal will take longer and also cost more. That’s why I’ve always had a combi because the main oven was too much when I was single and even with a partner, only ever used for big roasts.

My mother dropped lucky with a good teacher’s pension, from the 80s, plus a decent widow’s pension, and was to be fair frugal alongside my Dad over the years, so she has some savings, owns her home and a decent enough income. However she is already 500 behind her income each month due to paying for care and this price rise will put her even more behind - she’s immobile and needs heat and equipment run on electricity - her savings won’t last that long so not sure what will happen after that - think it’s a post death sale of house. So even in a pretty good position I know this pensioner is on a downward spiral financially and can’t imagine how hard this will hit many, many pensioners as well as others. I’m fortunate in just cutting everything back to bills only should cover stuff, however that has knock on effects to local businesses and hospitality businesses.
It’s dire for society to have at least half the population struggling and I hoped this would make folk pull together, perhaps it will as it all hits home in the winter.

It all varies by region. If you have a look at this MSE page you can get an idea of what's correct for where you live (scroll down past the tool on that page for the table of rates).

There are a few grids on the link below if you scroll down that might help give you an idea.

Standing charge varies by region see. So people in South Wales pay more standing charge than say someone in the east midlands for gas. Standing charge is basically how much we pay for the infrastructure that supplies the gas and electricity to our homes as far as I know.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-are-the-price-cap-unit-rates-/

My fixed deal ends in November. I'm expecting my first baby in December. Reliant on my wages. I am not a big earner at all, but don't qualify for any benefits by the slimmest of margins other than standard child benefit when baby is here.
I am seriously worried.

I think those on UC or benefits may get a little more leeway if getting into difficulties - be that grants from the supplier or the government assistance that's already being given. It's those of us low earners who don't qualify for any benefits that will be in the most precarious position I feel.

@Travelledtheworld ah thanks for explaining that, well I can see that is a huge problem for people!

It’s just awful. We have been on standard variable rate since we moved a year ago. Last winter’s quarter bill (3 months dec to March) on SVR was £565 for gas and electric. Exactly the same usage on these new SV rates would be £1675, so three times the price. The 80% increase sounds awful but for most people it’s way more than that since last winter, as the current price cap unit rates only came into April this year and the rises are being compared to those rather than against last winter’s prices.

It's just the two of us in our house (three bed ex-council terrace) and at the start of this year we qualified for the government's external wall insulation scheme, so I'm just crossing everything that the new insulation does its job. To be honest though, we need new windows in every room so I'm not holding my breath

When I had cavity wall insulation put in, it reduced our gas bill by 10%. I've just checked and comparing the the year before I had the windows and doors replaced and the year after, my gas consumption went down by 22%. Slight caveat in that my DP died a few weeks before the windows were installed, so I'm not quite comparing like with like, but if you were in a position to have the windows/doors done, it might well be worth the investment.

@alwayshavebeenfemale ((((HUG)))). I'm very sorry to hear about your DH/DW. (I'm going to use DH until you tell me otherwise or it gets too messy with acronyms) The last thing you need right now is to be worrying about sodding bills.

just a few suggestions...

check that your 'estimated usage' for this year (that they're using to calculate things) is inline with your actual usage for last year. Some people have found the companies are estimating usage WELL above previous years actual usage!

I'm sorry, but this is a delicate question. Was your DH using any medical equipment that had to be plugged in?

Are you on a fixed tariff or on the variable? How long ago did that change?

(just while I think if it too, have you applied for the single persons rebate on council tax?)

there are a LOT of threads on energy saving for this winter, have a look through and see what you could do. In an old stone house you possibly/probably would benefit from long, heavy curtains over your external doors, sealing some of the windows closed, using film on the windows & heavy curtains. (Sorry hard to know what you do/don't have in place). Rugs if you have hard floors.

do you have a fireplace/wood burner? Getting dried wood delivered is worth the cost this year & gathering & drying for next year.

then obviously layers/slippers/thermals etc

electric heated throws are 'all the thing'. Apparently the thin cheap ones are good as they drape around your body better & apparently they're cheap to use.

electric blanket for your bed?

taking up knitting/crochet, it keeps you warm while you do it, you can make all kinds of things AND it occupies your mind!!

A cat/dog who likes snuggles!!

I wish we could just 'live chat' on here sometimes.

look after yourself xx