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

I was thinking for daytime use whilst WFH.

Ive just checked out my local municipal gym membership for swimming, classes and gym and for the annual membership it is £6 per week. This would mean I can go to the gym in the evening, shower and wash my hair and spend about 1 &1/2 hours to 2 hours.

Its going to be cheaper to use the gym and do a class every night than be at home with the cost of heating for 2 hours and a shower each day at home the cost will be around £21 - so a saving of £15 per week

'Is this thread just for poor people to post on, it's about the price cap, it doesn't state poor people only.'

I see people talking about 'poor people' a lot during these discussions but the fact is at least half the population will be living in fuel poverty this winter. 'The rich get richer and the poor get poorer' has never been more apt. People who have never had to struggle before are realising that they are now the 'poor people' too.

I just looked at this, it is very small - how did you do cupcakes in there, how many at once?

I am still not entirely sure what an airfryer is but I am vegetarian so eat mostly slop cooked on the hob, maybe it is for a different type of food?

Yes quite, it used to feel that 'ordinary' could get you a decent enough life but not any more.

And the increase in fuel costs is going to reduce the amount available to spend on other things - so trades will struggle, hairdressers, retail, hospitality, travel - all are going to see people cutting back.

April 2023

Link above. My guess last week was £7k price cap for April, but I revise it to £8k now.

£9k anyone?

I'm confused because my current standard charge for elec is 47.18 pence and for gas 37.25 pence....I'm on a pre payment meter is that why?

@carefullycourageous if you eat any meat replacement products like veggie burgers or quorn fillets you could cook them all in the air fryer.

Honestly this is like reading a dystopian novel.

Who is responsible for this? Who actually holds all the power that means this is permitted?

When are you protesting? That's the question.

Because if this doesn't make you, I don't know what will.

And it's all well and good all these budget food tricks - but that's missing the point spectacularly.

The rates shouldn't be going up, point final. Utilities are a basic human right.

Oh not very often, only once in a blue moon! It seems I am destined to let this new-fangled gizmo pass me by then.

Yes quite, it used to feel that 'ordinary' could get you a decent enough life but not any more

Disposable income is disappearing rapidly. If the average utilities consumption is £600 per month this year then a person earning £19k a year is going to be using nearly 50% of the pay check monthly to pay for gas and electric. Add to that the rising cost of grocery shopping and mortgage interest rising and you'll say good bye to another £100 a month onto of what you were spending last year on average home and shopping bill. Thats an extra £700 to find when wages have stagnated.

@carefullycourageous Photo for scale! Can do 16 in a batch - 8 in each side.

We can't do this right now but when DD is older and grown if bills carry on we might stay the winter in canaries temperature between 17 and 24 so no air con needed or heating.

My joint payments were £87.
Paying from last increase £134
80% on top will be £241.
Ive heard talk of it going up again after this increase, any one else?
I simply can not afford it
Already checked whether theres any help, nope not for me!
Government need to step up and freeze these increases, wonder what would happen if everyone just didnt pay, cant cut everyone off.🙄
Only one bar utility companys making will be plumbers to fix all the burst pipes everywhere as no one can afford to switch heating on.
Gloomy winter prospect.

This doesn;t sound like an economising option

So sorry, @Randomthoughts992 .

Some councils have a fund for people in your circumstances, I realise you won't be able to get them on the phone now, but it might be possible to apply online for some help?

Sorry most of that is bollocks. The likes of Shell and BP don’t make political donations at all and they don’t have any ex politicians on their boards. And chances are, if you live in the UK and have a pension, YOU are among the owners of these companies, and their dividends pay YOUR pension.

Yes the Government could tax UK energy producers until their pips squeak but what does that achieve?

The wholesale gas price won’t change as it is set by the international markets, not by individual producers.

Meanwhile UK producers would have less money available to invest in alternatives like renewables and would be increasingly uncompetitive against foreign producers. Ultimately they would choose to do less business in the UK, which doesn’t help any of us either.

Yes

@LittleLlama

No, it's not a race to the bottom, that's such a glib response. Especially when others posting ARE AT the bottom.

You're getting an INCREASE of £6000 income, in April. That'll more than cover your increase in Energy. You have savings.

I think it's showing a complete lack of awareness to say you find that situation scary.

You are right on one thing, I can't tell you how to feel, but I can tell you that you considering your situation to be scary, shows a complete lack of understanding of what 'scary' actually means to
people. Those who can't use savings to pay bills, those who won't have an extra £6000 income in April, those who have children to feed, clothe & try to keep warm all on 5/8ths of fuck all & bills rising beyond anything they could ever imagine.

it may not be helpful to argue, it's equally unhelpful to post smug 'oh how dreadful we have £6000 additional income in April and might have to dip into savings until then'. amongst people struggling to put food on the table NOW.

(& before you start, that's not MY situation either)

Am I the only one expecting the price cap to stay the same or even lower slightly in three months and to start going down dramatically at Easter?

This winter is going to be tough as hell for too many people. But it won't stay that way.

Yes, you are the only one

There are no industry experts who think this - everyone is predicting further rises then small dips but protracted high prices.

That is very interesting! Hope they were nice too

@Zeeza April 2023 Price Cap is estimated at £6.6k. Who knows how reliable this is, but my guess is people will look back to the good old times in October when it was only £3.5k.

@Hugasauras I'm not totally sure about that tbh. Firstly this is just on 'Estimated' use, we need to establish what has actually been used this past year and secondly, there's always a debate about whether it's cheaper to have the immersion on continually so the water is always hot or to have it heat from cold.

before I had the combi put in. I tried my immersion heater timed one year & continually on another. It honestly didn't seem to make any difference to my bills in the end.

i do miss my hot water cupboard though!!

(Thanks for the link to your air fryer)

I'm just gobsmacked the government aren't doing anything about it.

Those who are already on the breadline are going to be destitute and either starve or freeze. They MUST be supported so they can comfortably survive the winter.

But in wider terms, they dont prop SME's and trades/hospitality up, they already cant afford those services outside of the bare minimum.

Those who were once comfortable will now also on the breadline, and stop spending anywhere other than absolutely necessary. Meaning salons, hairdressers, restaurants, tradesmen, pubs, holiday towns will all see reduced income and just crumble.

But those who were once comfortable wont get the help needed as they earn too much, which in most cases is fine, but once they don't spend its goodbye to half the economy.

I understand £100 billion is alot to freeze the price cap for 2 years, but if as a country we are in £2.4 trillion of debt, what's an extra £100bn to save half of the country and economy. I'd happily pay more tax to cover even some of the shortfall.