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.

I got a government grant for a new boiler last February.. didn’t pay for the whole thing but did make it affordable for me to do. My old boiler was over 30 years old and was told my new boiler would bring down my gas costs by 30% as it was more energy efficient. That saving has now been swallowed up by the price increases. My gas and electric bills are high anyway as my disabled 85 year old mother lives with me and she can’t wear extra layers and move around to keep warm. Her Christmas fuel allowance pays for one month of winter heating so I am always looking for ways to economise elsewhere( I don’t heat my bedroom and only have one radiator on in the lounge I use plus I don’t turn the heater on in the kitchen)
My phone contract was up for renewal so I have kept the old phone and just gone on to sim only.
I can’t reduce the tv virgin package as mum is housebound so the only thing she has is her tv. I can’t even turn the heating off at night as she is up all hours and sleeps very little.
I am lucky so far in that I can still financially manage but I worry for the future if energy keeps rising.

YANBU. My parents have had a 55% price increase. They are no longer turning the heating on unless they’ve got guests, just lighting a fire in front room.

I’ve no idea how we’d absorb a 55% price increase. Our house looses heat so quickly and we’ve had all the insulation topped up/ cavity wall done. My kitchen is 12 degrees in the winter after an hour of heating, and I’ve got health issues triggered by cold air.

Since our energy supplier went bust and we were moved to BT I’ve had no contact from them at all to say what they are charging us and no DD taken. Although we can afford to pay I am absolutely dreading the day they finally decide to bill us.

@ArblemarzipanTFruitcake

YANBU. We had our heating on most of the day yesterday as a 'treat' for Christmas. That's a bit sad, isn't it?

I did this too.

I'm am shit scared about the hikes. At the moment I'm in a titchy 2 bed terrace rated a for energy. By Easter we will have moved to a 3 bed likely Victorian house with likely an older boiler and I feel like I will lose control of the bills.

"Don't fix. Go onto the standard variable rate as its covered by the price cap until its reviewed in april"

@dementedpixie interested to hear more. My fix ends in Feb too. So it won't go up by much if I do nothing in March and April?

I was with pure planet. We have been moved to shell but no price change as yet so likely a really scary bill coming up.

21 is the year I stated scratching around for random home working money making opportunities. Though I work full time and I'm not that badly paid. As a single parent I'm just scared all the time about money.

@united4ever this explains it more

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/cheap-gas-and-electricity/

I have had my offers through for after my fix ends. I will choose to do nothing and be moved to the standard variable rate as the fixed rates are hugely more expensive

They will want your money to invest in their own growth and plans as a company, if you’re paying 240 a month but your usage actually only amounts to 180 - they’ve got 60£ of your money to invest!

They have £60 x 12 = 720

So 2.3 million account for octupuss x £720 per year extra to invest in there company ….for free

Or 13 million customers for the big six utilities combined

That’s several million £££££ of customers money

Total agreement. They want it done for free, errr who works or provides anything in the world for free? absolutely no one

Use NHS and roads are free at source for everyone

Or do you object to that and want toll roads and pay for medical healthcare?

Porfre

Remember that when you get your fuel bills, you might not be in fuel poverty but several million households are and go cold 🥶

People glueing themselves to the road, stopping essential traffic,and an originally 16 year old girl ranting at the UK,not China or anywhere else that has fossil fuel,is ridiculous. We have decided to use our pension pot to have solar panels installed. I have economy 7, have done for 50 years, replaced doors, windows slo cooker, cannot reduce anymore

Yeah. It's extremely worrying. We're on a PAYG smart meter. We've just about got a handle on the costs from that. Now idk what we're going to do. The meters will be swallowing money like there's no tomorrow. We've yet to actually sit in the dark but I'm terrified of the future.

nannybeach And others will get cold as they don’t have a pension pot for alternative fuel. It may seem ridiculous to you, but not to those that will suffer the fuel poverty

Same as healthcare poverty in countries without social healthcare

YANBU to worry. I am fairly frugle with utility usage and my bill has shot up from £55/month to £100/month. This is based on actual usage as I submit meter readings each month and a fairly "cheap" supplier - Octopus Energy.

I'm pretty terrified, I just got our new monthly price on Christmas eve and it has over doubled. I don't know how we're going to manage it. Our rent had just increased too. 😬

I've already cut out luxuries. My partner and I couldn't even get each other a Christmas present.

When does your deal end?
If it's fairly soon the advice is not to go for another fix for now. Stay with your current provider on their standard rate - you will be protected by the energy price cap. It's currently cheaper than any deal you are likely to find.
This is why many of the energy companies are preventing new customers from switching onto their standard rate.
When my fix ended I found there was only £5 per month increase.

This will change in April when the energy regulator revises the energy cap prices - but I think for now it's best to wait and see.

Also - are you eligible for a warm home discount rebate of £140?
(Scottish Power's eligible discretionary group seem to be wider than some providers).

community.scottishpower.co.uk/t5/Extra-Help/Warm-Home-Discount-Scheme/ta-p/14

It's looking horrific. Just as an FYI if you withdraw cash from your bank account over the counter (with a card and PIN) in a U.K. Post Office a donation will be made to the Trussell Trust for fuel poverty until end March.

@Thatldo

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!

That is not true! The tories will be laughing and patting themselves on the back for being born with silver spoons instead of empty spoons.

Ours is already stupidly high. We are actually moving house soon to one that’s much more efficient thanks to a brand new boiler and heating system.

Have been investing in big fluffy blankets and bedding though.

Here in Scotland foreign firms are building huge windfarm after windfarm all funded by extra costs added onto your bills. But hey lets go green - let the punters pay whilst destroying the beautiful countryside, it's what everyone wants right?

Thanks @dementedpixie

I shall do nothing until April.

I voted yanbu but I am not worried about as I am just ignoring it . Burying your head in the sand is the only solution.

It's not worth worrying about rising prices because there is literally nothing you can do about them. Ultimately people will either find the money to keep the heating on or shiver. Most will probably take a middle position, maybe have the heating on for an hour a day and just layer up with jumpers, coats and gloves the rest of the day.

There's no solution in the short and medium term. We can't change the price of oil and gas. We're not allowed to use coal. Wind power won't provide enough energy to make electric heating a cheaper alternative to gas. Heat pumps, double glazing and insulation are only realistic options for the wealthy, the people who don't notice their energy bills going up as it is.

Longer term, maybe in thirty years or so, new technologies like nuclear fusion power plants might make clean electricity cheap. Until then we just have to accept bills will continue to rocket and there's nothing that we can do about it.

@ivykaty44

Total agreement. They want it done for free, errr who works or provides anything in the world for free? absolutely no one

Use NHS and roads are free at source for everyone

Or do you object to that and want toll roads and pay for medical healthcare?

Ummm since when is the NHS free? And roads? Don't you pay taxes? They pay for NHS and road.

OP, it absolutely terrifies me. I bought my own property this year, alone. It was doable through lots of saving but that's my saving all gone now. I bought because renting was extortionate and I felt like I was paying someone else's mortgage and I needed to stay living where I am due to work. My mortgage and bills are a bit more than my rent was but it was doable. But it's really worrying in the long run in regards to price increases. I'm going to try not switching my heating on much ove the coming months. I'll use my hot water bottles more, especially to warm up the bed. I'm also worried about food increases but I might try doing 1 or 2 beans on toast type meals a week just to keep costs lower. I wish I could magic everything better. And to the poster who said we need to keep voting tory. I will absolutely never vote tory. Ever.