AIBU TO WONDER HOW IN GOD'S NAME PEOPLE WILL BE ABLE TO AFFORD THE INRESE IN ENERGY PRICES

[Diamondsareforever123]

OK this obviously won't affect those who are lucky enough to have money - but - how are those on low incomes/benefit, poor pensioners, etc. ever going to possibly be able to afford the energy price increases? Also the increases will have a knock-on price increase effect on everything we buy - food, clothes ...... I am concerned.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60114588

‘They were like bandits’ - how did the rich get richer?

One of the culprits? The Bank of England's policy of quantitative easing - or QE - which began in March 2009.
The Bank started buying government debt from financial institutions - a move that was meant to introduce new money into the economy and reduce the cost of government borrowing. The knock-on effect would then be lower interest rates on savings and loans - which would encourage the public to spend more and stimulate the economy.
This unprecedented measure was deployed around the world as a temporary tool to keep the economy moving during the great global recession of the late 2000s. But City figures interviewed in the programme are candid about how the Bank of England's quantitative easing actually helped them make big returns.

@felulageller

People will stop having daily showers!

My Whippet will have to have cold water foot washes after muddy walks.. at the moment I warm the water to blood heat. Maybe we could share warm water..

I think the fashion for spending £4k on designer puppies may be well and truly over.

@Notsandwiches Apparently scientists have been saying ‘affluence’ is the biggest climate change driver and everyone in developed countries counts as affluent, according to them. Klaus Schwab was praising the CCP and Xi Jinping the other day, very disturbing.

Since my student days 30yrs ago, I have always boiled a kettle full of water in the morning and then filled a thermos flask to be used for tea and coffee through the day. It's only a little thing but it helps. We also have a timer in the shower for 4 mins, just have to get DD to stop resetting it.

@BreadProductionLine

Single people on benefits get £60-£70 a WEEK to live on after rent. For everything. Food, Gas and Electric, Hygiene, cleaning, household stuff, clothing, internet, and often a bit of council tax or rent has to still be paid.

How is this going to be even possible for some people??!!

People are going to freeze / starve.

Why is this being allowed to happen??!!

Because they want people to freeze and starve, it seems obvious. It’s part of the so called great reset. Affluence is killing the environment, according to scientists.

Oh don't be silly, it's because energy orices have increased across the world due to a complex number of factors.

I dread to think what our utilities will be this quarter. Thank goodness for Hive.

@StScholastica

I think the fashion for spending £4k on designer puppies may be well and truly over.

Yes that trend was short lived

I read that in Portugala windfall tax has been levied on energy companies, so there is no effect on the consumer. No price rises.

The party in power in Portugal currently is a social democrat party. Wish we had such a party in power here.

I shall still leave the heating on for elderly cat in his parts of the house.

Oh don't be silly, it's because energy orices have increased across the world due to a complex number of factors.

The govt could have made different choices to help the population, especially those on low incomes, to weather the wholesale gas energy prices, but they have not.

• typo above, meant to write ‘to weather increase in wholesale gas prices’

@YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators

Cake, yep, it's expensive to have no money. We insulated our home well with thick exterior insulation 10 years ago, and this has been a really effective way to conserve energy (and definitely prevented damp problems related to reduced central heating, Solbunny!), but it was a big outlay and I think we might only just have broken even on that investment ten years down the line.

Would you mind telling me what you used, please? I’m moving to a 300 year old building and want to super-insulate it, I would be grateful for any tips from your experience.

When's the revolt? What more have you got to lose?

@Rabblesthecat
There are literally no words to describe the disgust I felt on reading your post.

You are literally unspeakable for all the wrong reasons. Shame on you.

Our house is all electric, apart from the open fire in the living room. I've been terrified of these coming rises but my husband wasn't too concerned. Now, he's been out looking for firewood from trees that came down in the recent storms.

I'm going to look for an energy use monitor of some kind so we can work out where any wastage is coming from. We'll be cutting back on usage and other household expenditure.

Last year I bought a couple of vintage eiderdowns and they are great for keeping us warm in bed. Old fashioned, I know, but so effective; people used these before central heating became the norm. Hot water bottles, too.

I worry so much for people on fixed and low incomes. I imagine they're already doing all the obvious things. How on earth are they going to cope? I'm ashamed that our country is coming to this.

I believe we're seeing the results of Thatcher's policies coming home to roost. Privatisation of state owned assets, now only concerned with profit; the housing crisis created by lack of social housing and greed of private landlords meaning high rents; change to a service economy rather than manufacturing, meaning low paid jobs. Government cronies fraudulently receiving massive public contracts.

I loathe the Tories with every fibre of me. Carrie Antoinette seems to be the prime minister in all but name and thinks little of spending more than my rent on ONE SINGLE ROLL OF WALLPAPER. That's how selfish & out of touch they are. At least I can hold my head high - I didn't vote for them. I'll be trying to donate more to food banks from now on; some people are going to be desperately in need of their help.

@Covidcowards
Don't you dare come on here with your anti covid shit. How bloody dare you blame anybody else for this crisis.

This govt could easily put in place a windfall tax against these energy companies but they won't because themselves and their cronies all have shares in them.

Your post adds nothing to the value of this thread.
Absolutely bugger all.

I will have to pay for the increases by no longer donating to food banks.

I use my 'spare' money to do that.

I don't have a car, I don't pay for holidays, I'm not in any expensive clubs, I don't buy lots of things.
I'm lucky that I already have what I need & I have no debts.
I reduced my gas/elec etc... consumption years ago so there is nothing left to cut.

I have nothing to cut but the money I spend helping others.

So, I'll afford it by knowing somewhere in my city someone elses child is going hungry & is cold so that my child is not.

That's not what I want but what choice would I have?

@FrecklesMalone

This was entirely unavoidable. If we: * Had invested properly in green energy 15 years ago and had continued to do so. * Had kept energy companies nationalised. * Had prioritised the poorest in society over the richest, especially over the pandemic. But that is what you get for continually voting in right wing (and right of centre Labour) for decades. It is heartbreaking. The pain hasn't hit yet but this time next year it will be bad.

Really but the money already ran out when Gordon Brown left?

I still do not understand why people keep coming here and risking their lives if France and Portugal are better options? Also, how can you make it these days? If you arrive here poor you stay poor?

@AllOfUsAreDead

And people will keep voting tory despite freezing and starving. Its an interesting country we live in now, it's almost a dictatorship made by the people. Can't vote for anyone else..

Get better options and you get a landslide.

This may be a weird thing to say but having lived overseas on and off for many years I have come to the conclusion that people in the UK are far too passive. We go through payouts, stagnant wages, increased costs in everything and what do we do.. moan to each other, in person, on forums such as these etc and nothing improves.
In the country I'm in now... gas prices went up by 25% and people took to the streets. In this case it worked and the prices lowered though unfortunately protests got nasty for other reasons.
Why don't people want to be more active when stuff like this happens? We did when the Poll Tax was introduced, remember taking time off college....(not that it did any good though).

@katscamel I think you might be onto something....
I do wonder if this is this lots 'poll tax' moment though .... Surely the beging of the end electorally speaking for the conservatives. I would love to have a social democratic party with big ideas on how to reform capitalism to make it work for more people