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.

I hope there will be demonstrations up and down the country. I don’t mean riots, but people need to rebel peacefully against the level of the increases to come

Just make sure it's not noisy or the police will ban it and arrest you.
Under the Tory's proposed new law.

Many people will be mildly annoyed but it won’t have a big impact on them.

Well rising energy prices will lead to prices for everything rising, only the wealthy won’t be bothered by this.

Is this the same nasty Tory Government that locked down the country and put millions on a furlough scheme so they didn't have to go to work?

Prices rise. Interest rates rise. There will be a period of wage inflation. Things will settle down again. Meanwhile people will have to turn the heating down and heat fewer rooms. CH is wonderful but relatively new and generations managed without it.

We have had a very long cycle of low inflation and interest rates. This was very predictable.

Prices rise. Interest rates rise. There will be a period of wage inflation. Things will settle down again. Meanwhile people will have to turn the heating down and heat fewer rooms. CH is wonderful but relatively new and generations managed without it

Heat or eat.

Get cold, become sicker and vulnerable to illness.

Let them eat cake?

There’s only two of us, though. And each cooked meal lasts for another meal, so no pots and pans for those. We just use plates and cutlery. Our dishwasher is only a slimline one. We haven’t space for a full-size one

Presumably you use more than half a bowl every other meal though? For families on MN of more than 2 there’s no way less than half a bowl of water would suffice every mealtime (or even every other meal time).

CH is wonderful but relatively new and generations managed without it

I keep seeing this shit. Managing without warmth does not come without consequences for the fabric of our homes or the health of those who are vulnerable.

Further levels of fuel poverty will see rises in excess winter death, higher numbers of patients in hospital, poor productivity at work, poorer educational achievement for children, higher levels of mental illness. That is not my definition of managing.

It’s not just furlough, which was necessary, though is it. It’s the billions wasted by the Tory Government during covid, the contracts given to friends, family members or your landlord - if you’re Hancock!

Sunack just wrote off the billions given to criminals during the pandemic last week.

I grew up without central heating, but we had gas fires downstairs and we used those. We tended to spend time in the downstairs rooms which were heated, for obvious reasons. Not having central heating does not mean people froze.

However, if we hadn't been able to afford to use our gas fires, then yes - we'd have been very cold and our health would have been affected. That is the situation which we are now facing - people being unable to afford any method of heating at all, not just central heating. It's dreadful.

Feel free to pick this apart.

As a few others have said. I can absorb it by cutting out anything unnecessary mainly socialising. The hospitality sector will be affected by so many people doing this, at a time when they’re barely holding on. But if it’s £20 for a pub night or £20 on my gas meter, then it’s going in my gas meter. I got used to sitting at home during covid, so I guess it’s no change. But I feel shit about it because I know how many people are reliant on these business for their own income. It’s going to have a huge knock on effect.

So many people have nothing else they can cut from their budget so I see they will have no option but getting into debt. Either by not paying other bills or relying on loans, credit cards etc. What else can they do? I’ve noticed the prices have hiked up in the supermarkets. I regularly buy the same things and they’re all getting more expensive. I’m already cutting out some things from my shopping list.

I’ve also taken on overtime at work. I’m lucky this was an option. I don’t know how long it will last but I’m planning on setting that extra money aside. I didn’t really want to be working the extra hours but felt that while it was on offer (it isn’t always) I should take it. It’s shit. I don’t know how much more people can take.

can absorb it by cutting out anything unnecessary mainly socialising.

DD and I are on a day out today with a friend of mine, who has a child too. We are going for a walk (free). We have car shared (so we only have to pay for one lot of petrol and parking). We are having a car picnic (we would normally buy sandwiches/soup at a cafe). We have a flask of coffee and two camping mugs (we won't be buying coffee at a cafe). We're still socialising and we're still having a day out but we are spending very little. Loads of people I know are cutting back like this. It's going to hit hospitality hard I think.

The reason energy prices are rising so much is BECAUSE of the tories. They said they’d get rid of vat on fuel when Brexit happened, they haven’t, a quarter of energy bills are for green taxes, they could get rid of that.

They haven’t bothered to ensure the U.K. is energy secure which should be one of the first jobs of government, there’s barely any gas storage, no new nuclear plants, just a headlong rush to net zero without a thought of how much it’s going to cost.

And so what if people used to manage without central heating, I grew up without it and it was unpleasant.

@RampantIvy

I bet most of you moaning now were for the destruction of coal in the UK

Nope. I live in South Yorkshire. Thousands of people lost their jobs round here.

Shutting the mines killed the heart of my entire village. Everyone has spend their time ever since just trying to leave. But they can’t because they done even have enough equity to buy elsewhere.

It would have been cheaper for thatcher to keep the mines open, rather than pay the welfare bill and ancillary costs.

[quote missfliss]@UsernameInTheTown what do you mean 'obesity has nullified peoples intelligence'.

I cannot work out what you mean by that ?[/quote]
He just blames fat people. Just a hater really

@DGRossetti

Feel free to pick this apart.

Details please because the taxes in France are insane.

A typical dishwasher holds about 50 items. I run my dishwasher once every two days. If I washed up after every meal for two days I’d use 6-10 sinks of water. It’s well known that a dishwasher uses much less water and energy than washing the same amount of dishes by hand.

But you don't use your dishwasher after every meal so why would you be washing the pots after every meal.

I think we have to relearn how to make do with less. The sad faces in the Sun and the Mail where they’re like ‘we have to wrap up in dressing gowns and blankets to keep warm’…no shit, it’s winter. My living room thermometer currently reads 16 deg, but it’s fine, cause I have layers on. I could afford to heat it more and shed layers but that’s wasting money.

I have no idea. Central heating coming on for an hour each morning will have to stop. Dc won't get bathed/showered everyday. I won't put the heating on when wfh. Washer won't be put on until completely full. It is such a worry. Since Christmas I've really noticed the cost of our weekly shop creeping up too.

@cakeorwine

I hope there will be demonstrations up and down the country. I don’t mean riots, but people need to rebel peacefully against the level of the increases to come

Just make sure it's not noisy or the police will ban it and arrest you.
Under the Tory's proposed new law.

Indeed... And that law has been passed already. One of several that went through quietly and unreported in recent weeks/ months.

Indeed... And that law has been passed already. One of several that went through quietly and unreported in recent weeks/ months

Has it passed? I thought it was still being passed between the Lords and the Commons?

(Well... Reported in the non tabloid papers..)

It would be ironic if 'Red wall' voters protested and their protest was shut down by the police using the powers the Tories created for them.

Re taxes in France - of course how much tax you pay may be higher or lower in France depending on how you earn/spend and how much you earn/spend just like in any other country. So? The uk gov has messed up on this which is why uk residents are being shafted.

I largely agree with those saying ‘just put on a jumper’ but that rather misses the point. Aside from the fact that buildings need some warmth to stay healthy places to live, it’s the effect on consumer spending power and business competition internationally.

@SweetPetrichor

I think we have to relearn how to make do with less. The sad faces in the Sun and the Mail where they’re like ‘we have to wrap up in dressing gowns and blankets to keep warm’…no shit, it’s winter. My living room thermometer currently reads 16 deg, but it’s fine, cause I have layers on. I could afford to heat it more and shed layers but that’s wasting money.

Which is fine if you have scope to go ‘less’ and still be ok - but for millions there’s no ‘less’ to go.

Is this honestly what some people in the UK and the Govt of one of the richest countries in the world thinks is acceptable?