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 will also have to cut back which means local shops will not get my custom as I won’t have any spare money

That is going to have a knock on effect down the food chain sadly 😔😔

Making the assumption the weather is actually going to be freezing cold. It may be a mild wet winter.
We're lucky in we can control our bills by paying for what we use, rather than these extortionate DD.

Probably almost 2 years ago. We are on a similar fix which will finish at the end of Feb next year - when things will be really messy 😰And I know we are so very lucky, we'll be fine until then and we can [just] manage such large increase if we are careful, but so many people won't be able to afford high utility bills - neither now, nor later 😰😰

Those of you suggesting that our focus should be on the bigger picture (why and how we got into this mess) what do you suggest we do to try and address that? I think one of the problems is so many of us are overwhelmed by the immediate problems we haven't got the headspace for bigger action/thinking. I do agree that the bigger picture is where it's at but my energy gets drawn to - how can I personally cope.

@Pinkandpurplehairedlady

I'm sorry it's SO stressful. Are your calculations based on affording some electricity or affording the DD.

IF I was in your situation, of worrying about feeding the kids & putting the heating on, I'd do all the suggested things first (thermals/heated throws yadda yadda) and either paying monthly what I'd used or to be super cautious getting a prepaid meter installed. Then it's totally up to you you how much you put on it. I think it's better to do that before you get in debt with them, then ALL the money you put on it goes to electric rather than some to paying down the accrued debt & some to electric.

Yes, I know. But I don't think it will happen.

The way sky news are reporting this is very similar to how they reported covid end of feb 2020 : very dramatic, charts and people being interviewed about what the plan might be.
It is worrying.

I think that’s triumph of hope over experience. I’d rather believe the economists and be pleasantly surprised if that happens. I certainly don’t expect it to.

So agree!

Why should they make shedloads for their directors and shareholders, while everyone else suffers?

@Goggin

have you heard back from them yet?

I had a call/call back like that with talk talk, the message said 'to get on with your day & you'll receive a notification when someone replies'. So I did, 3 hours later I got a message, literally 2 mins later they sent a message saying as I hadn't responded they assumed I'd resolved the issue, so they'd be considering it resolved & ending the contact.

🤬🤬🤬🤬

I managed to reply before they did that, but it didn't set up the call on a good footing & it went downhill from there!!

A lot of the shareholders are politicians or advisors for these companies. They must be rubbing their hands together behind closed doors. Wouldn't surprise me at all.
It's what Mrs Thatcher dreamed off when they sold off all the utility companies years ago

@TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination no response! Multiple messages from me but no response. I guess today was probably the worst day to ask a routine question...

I have just ordered the lakeland electric poncho which is designed to be worn over clothes in daytime

@Thatboymum

but they don't know you have got a new boiler & are now turning things off at the wall etc. that's just a DD suggestion based on previous years usage.

With a new boiler & insulation etc it's going to be difficult to estimate your usage, what I would do in your situation is pay as much as you can without going without food etc & read the meter fortnightly (weekly/monthly??) to see if you're paying enough/too much/too little and adjust it if you can.

id also look to see what fixes they're offering because the cap rate is going up Oct/Jan/April.

I think since covid the way the news reports a lot of things has changed. It’s more scaremongering, experts on with charts and different warning levels. Since when did a thunderstorm get an amber weather warning for example. I definitely feel they have changed the reporting style and it’s not for the better

Why does the watchdog allow the cap to increase whilst energy companies make large profits. The cap will rise to over £3500 and if they can make huge profits then don't increase it again.

Why does everyone roll over and take it? The government has gone missing and is too busy squabbling over the next 'leader' to bother. All other parties say they would not allow the cap to increase and so the energy companies would just make less profits! I mean the Tories really do look after the profits and shaft the rest whilst making sympathetic we will help noises and most just accept it.

Remind me WHICH PARTY SOLD OFF THE ENERGY COMPANIES... the same one that make a noise but does little whilst happily taking the dividends from the excess profits

@RedRiverShore2

No, definitely people with Big Houses, years of posting about being higher earners & owning private islands can post on any thread they like & they do.

It just baffles me you can get to that age & still have absolutely no ability to read the room & continue to fucking gloat.

oh & thanks all the same, but I'm not poor. I just happen not to be a gloaty twat!

The electric blankets people go on about cost more to run overall
Running costs are the least of my concerns. It amazes me that everyone is quite happy to wrap themselves in an electromagnetic field! Hot water bottle is much safer and doesn’t potentially cause cancer.

Electric blankets do not cause cancer..pmsl 😂

True, I could never cope with northern winters. I'm of Mediterranean/middle Eastern Jewish heritage and find London hard enough to cope with.

I just don't think that dividing by region is the best way of doing things. There are some very wealthy people in well insulated homes all over the UK, and poorer people in draughty, badly insulated homes everywhere too.

@Branster

Well, you enter into a contract with a company to deliver energy to your house- why would they do that free of charge?

How much of it you then use is up to you, but it's there for your use.

I agree. Help will come. This is going to dwarf Covid

my bills will be OK for now but I feel such a lot for the vast majority of people who will be struggling. It’s absolutely awful.

Well as mentioned on the BBC earlier , what about the government paying for energy, whilst we pay it back over a decade.

Yes prices are increasing, but they will drop, hopefully next year or the year after. But when they drop, we still pay the higher cost to pay it back.

Basically a long term loan. I’d guess the energy companies are loaned money from the government, and we the customers pay them back. That’s surely better than paying what they’re asking for ?

I don’t know anyone that can afford 5 or 6 grand a year on energy. No one.