To be really really worried about energy prices

[Letshaveablackcelebration]

Sorry, this isn’t very Christmassy but it’s been in the news a lot the last few days. I don’t think I had really grasped until the last week how serious the energy price hike is going to potentially be. At the moment we are on some super saver deal with Scottish power that I got through Martin Lewis so we pay around £100 all in for gas and electric. the cheapest I have found so far in comparison is £240 - it’s really horrific and partly because there are very few deals about.

Aibu to be really very concerned about the coming price rises- and the Inflationary pressures that will go with it. It’s a proper shitstorm and likely to bring 50% rises in bills.

You're not being unreasonable OP, I'm worried too

YANBU, I am also shit scared

You are not being unreasonable at all.just wait until all the xmas jollyness is over and people will realise the shitstorm.Unpaid xmas debts,council tax rise,energy bill rise,food cost increase etc.Covid worries will be replaced by huge homelessness and unpresedented foodbank demand.And the Tories wont do anything about it!

Me too. Im with So energy and our fixed price runs out in Feb. The best deal I could get with anyone to fix was with them and its £100 a month more than previously. Im worried.

I am very worried about the rising cost of energy prices. I have very old storage heaters with no control over the temperature. They are either on or off, there is no thermostat to control them. I am all electric, so have an immersion heater as well. Rented house, so can't even look to change them to newer ones.
My bills are already very high, and I only have one or two heaters on as can't afford anymore. With these rising costs I have no idea how I will manage.

There is a big difference between how much electric and gas you actually use and what a company is going to generically set your direct debit

Utility companies want your money to use, as it helps them

I use £30 of electric and gas per week during the winter. But I only use £13 per week through 6 months during summer. That’s actual usage not estimate

That equals out to £93 per month

But when I look to change, the companies base it on a 4 bed house generically and want to set my direct debit at £240

Even if my usage stayed the same and the price doubled it wouldn’t be £240 but £186

Look at your actual figures of gas and electric you’re using, check your smart meter weekly or take meter reading weekly same day and time

Then input to utility company weekly, see how much gas and electric you actually use

Obviously cold snaps will make differences each year but generally it will be the same

My other top tip is draft proof every single door in the house. Drafts will make you set thermostat higher and draftproofing will enable you to lower thermostat and save gas

Yep. Worried here. We are already in a financially precarious position

Londonnight Can you see if you can get a grant to change them and then approach your landlord ?

Also grants for insulation and draft proof everything

What is the EPC rating of your property? It will have to conform to stricter rates in 2025 I think, so if it doesn’t point out any work you could get done will benefit your landlord

But obviously it’s benefit you primarily on heating bills

YANBU. We earn well but I've noticed that our 'disposable' income has reduced in the last couple of months- normally we have around £300 left in the current account after bills/spending/regular savings but the last couple of months that has been circa £100.

Not just energy costs- food and fuel prices are through the roof too.

Our energy provider is one that went bust. We've been moved to another one, our monthly use went from approximately £170 to £255. That's actual use, not estimated unfortunately.

Yes worried. Already started to think how we can reduce things like food bills to compensate for the coming energy hike.

Yanbu! We currently pay £232 per month - I don't want to know how much it will go up to 🤔

I thought I'd misheard or that the newsreader had meant 15% when I heard this the other day. This, plus the cost of food, isn't something that a lot of people will have the wriggle room for.

Our Christmas food shop (including normal food and household stuff) came to around £140 for 4 people: no alcohol and turkey was bought by our guest.

I had loads of £8 off £90 vouchers for Nov/Dec and I thought I would have built up a store cupboard full of extra tins, cereal etc spending that every week. I really haven't.

Ours went up £100 a month when we were moved to British Gas after our supplier went under and we had credit transferred. Not sure how people are going to manage this, NI increase, council tax increase etc.

The campaigners are demanding the government perform a retrofit of all UK homes to make them more energy-efficient, in order to meet the UK climate change targets under the Paris Agreement.

According to the Insulate Britain website, the nation’s 29 million homes are “the oldest and least energy-efficient housing stock in Europe”, with almost 15% of the UK’s total emissions coming from heating homes.

The UK “needs a nationwide programme to upgrade almost every house”, said the activists, but the government “does not have a robust long-term national strategy with a funding mechanism in place to retrofit our homes”.

Insulate Britain has launched a petition listing two key demands to be met by Downing Street before the protests stop:

Fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025.
Produce within four months a legally binding national plan to fund and take responsibility for the full insulation retrofit, with no externalised costs, of all homes in Britain by 2030.

This is the aims of insulate Britain, so much vitriol against what they are campaign for and they believe it should be free

Yet people worried about rising prices of utilities

i’m as frugal as i can be as i live on my own, I only heat the bedrooms when i have guests. but i feel for families on lower incomes.

Mines currently 240 and really can't afford a hike. We already barely use heating.

I wonder why the media are not talking about the (huge) disparity between the prices charged to industrial and domestic customers.

I realise that the cost to serve for domestic customers is higher but this overhead does not increase just because wholesale prices increase.

Don’t bother beating yourself up over any of the increases,you will end up being ill, the fact of the matter is, you won’t change a thing,so we all have to accept it,end of.

I'm worried too. We're on LPG and I stupidly assumed we wouldn't be as affected as mains gas. We paid £500 for a tank top up a few weeks ago and we're nearly out already. They've also hiked the service charges.
The house seems to hover at around 15 degrees which is too cold so the heating seems to be on somewhere in the house constantly. We have a baby due soon and I don't see how we can keep it warm as they house is permanently cold even with the heating on low.

The electric bill is high too, well over £100 a month which I can't understand as we don't seem to use much. And don't get me started on how much food seems to have risen by in the last couple of months.

Until we can afford to properly insulate the whole house, replace the leaky doors and all the energy guzzling fixtures, I can't see how we can even start trying to reduce our bills.

Sorry Mosrus - I disagree. Your comment - "you won’t change a thing,so we all have to accept it,end of."

There ARE things we can at least try to do - I KNOW this is not an option for a lot of people who are already on the breadline, but think about:-

1. Reducing usage - I have had times when I have had to put an extra layer of clothing on, but kept the heating on much lower
2. Investigate what help there is from the Government (precious little I suspect, but for older people there are winter fuel supplements etc. )
3. See what options there are to move to another supplier - very low I suspect but worth checking
4. See if there are any other options in your lifestyle that might allow you to save some money.... May not be of much use if you are not working, but I was able to start car sharing with a friend (for example); it might help. Not much I suspect, but if you can, it is money you can transfer to paying for heating etc.
5. Some charities may be able to help - if you can get food from a food bank, that is slightly more money you might have for heating bills

Overall - it is going to be a shitstorm BUT I would suggest you do all you can NOW, before the storm hits, even if right now it looks hopeless. At least you might be able to get support before everyone else comes to the same sources looking....

There is stuff that you can do that will help a bit:

• Draught proof - you can get cheap foam tape to fill gaps around doors and windows and those plastic brush things for under the door/door snakes. This makes quite a big difference with reducing heat loss. Look around to see where the cold air is getting in. Another area in my flat was through the vents and extraction fans...
• Close doors to keep the heat where you are.
• Smart plugs - anything that can be switched off when not is use is - they estimate 5-10% of your power bill is sucked up by stand by power use.
• Electric throws for the couch, electric blankets for the beds - pennies to run vs turning on the heater.
• Cover your windows - heavy curtains.

With regards to reducing gas use - shorter showers and use an airfryer vs the oven. That does seem to make a difference in my usage.

Visit the Preparing for Winter thread on Money Saving Expert's Old Style Money Saving thread - very very useful.

I accept all of the above help ideas, but in the great scheme of things atm it won’t make a huge difference , if the ridiculous standing charges were reduced & the government dropped or reduced taxes on energy that will make a notable difference but they won’t & that is my point. You spend time & money on little bits of foam to go round windows & doors . & in reality it will never make up for the fact that the price of heating next time will increase so its back to square one, it’s like petrol you keep paying more for less every time it’s one horrible hamster wheel. The change has to start at the beginning not the end & we are all at the end

@ivykaty44

The campaigners are demanding the government perform a retrofit of all UK homes to make them more energy-efficient, in order to meet the UK climate change targets under the Paris Agreement.

According to the Insulate Britain website, the nation’s 29 million homes are “the oldest and least energy-efficient housing stock in Europe”, with almost 15% of the UK’s total emissions coming from heating homes.

The UK “needs a nationwide programme to upgrade almost every house”, said the activists, but the government “does not have a robust long-term national strategy with a funding mechanism in place to retrofit our homes”.

Insulate Britain has launched a petition listing two key demands to be met by Downing Street before the protests stop:

Fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025.
Produce within four months a legally binding national plan to fund and take responsibility for the full insulation retrofit, with no externalised costs, of all homes in Britain by 2030.

This is the aims of insulate Britain, so much vitriol against what they are campaign for and they believe it should be free

Yet people worried about rising prices of utilities

The actions of insulate Britain have destroyed their message.

I'm not interested in anything they have to say.

Domestic gas prices are due to go up another 50% in spring. The increase in gas prices also have an impact on food and manufacturing, so expect price rises there too.

Petrol has shot up as well.