Rishi's £200 loan is really a sneaky tax

[GreenLunchBox]

So you are not allowed to refuse this 'loan' and from April 2023 everybody's bill will go up by £40 a year regardless of if you received the £200 or not.

twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status/1489584984235065344?t=joBqwQ20p5VPx3EKYUT2tQ&s=19

Some scenarios:

1. A married couple receive the £200 now then split up. In their new houses they each pay back the £200 over the next five years. So it's actually COST the couple £200

2. 5 students in a house share receive the £200 between them (so receive £40 each). They all move out and then each get charged £200 separately over the next five years. Government gets £1000 when they were only given £200.

3. A young person living at home about to move out. They didn't receive the £200 as it went to their parents, but they have to pay an extra £200 on their bill over the next five years

When you scale this up the government are going to make an absolute bloody fortune from this - doubling or quadrupling their money in some cases whilst pretending to be the good guy.
What a racket they're running.

AIBU to say we need to stop this racket?

You don't necessarily have to repay your student loan.
It's still a loan.

Giving you money with a general requirement to repay it, even if there are exceptions is still a loan and should be something the individual consents to.

I don't see the government making much money out of this scheme. The number of households in the country is probably not going to grow enough to offset the interest.

IF the energy prices do come back down at least a bit before next April then it makes sense as a very blunt way to reduce the impact of the price spikes without costing too much to the government.

If the prices don't come back down then it'll have to be written off or extended before they can start clawing it back.

Unfortunately because this is a "new thing" there are lots of people confused about whether it's a rebate, a loan, a scam, etc. It's not any of those things really.

@Clavinova

Even the New York Times can see how authoritarian Boris is being now

The freelance journalist who wrote that opinion piece attended Hereford Sixth Form College and King's College London (LinkedIn) - she's only in her mid-twenties and lives in the UK.

Did you just decide to research that bit of information or was it given to you as something to respond to?

Am I being mis-sold electricity or a loan?

I'm not familiar with the laws on either but I imagine they are deeply complex and highly regulated.

Did you just decide to research that bit of information or was it given to you as something to respond to?

I often check if someone posts "this is in the New York Times" etc. as a matter of course - many of these opinion pieces are written by British journalists.

And yet here we are, with the highest fuel prices in history

My energy bill hasn't gone up yet - in fact it was £100 cheaper than last year.

@Clavinova

And yet here we are, with the highest fuel prices in history

My energy bill hasn't gone up yet - in fact it was £100 cheaper than last year.

Good for you.

That comment just shows your deep ignorance of facts.

The price cap has gone up.
Many people are on the price cap.

Of course - if you were WFH last year and then in the office this year, then maybe your energy bill has gone down.

But I would love you to link to data that shows that UK gas and electricity prices have come down.

In all your scenarios the people are currently better off (sharing the bills with someone) than the single income households who will be hit the hardest by the price cap going up, so it all balances out for them regardless of future changes to their living situation.

Procrast
I don't want this £200. I'm over £1000 in credit with the electricity because I have everything switched off. They won't give me my money back and they keep increasing my dd.

I got my £100 back by submitting a meter reading online - have you done that?

@nordica

In all your scenarios the people are currently better off (sharing the bills with someone) than the single income households who will be hit the hardest by the price cap going up, so it all balances out for them regardless of future changes to their living situation.

How about if you are living with a DP, get the £200, then split and move to two separate houses?

You get £200 between you but both pay £200 each back.

@Clavinova

And yet here we are, with the highest fuel prices in history

My energy bill hasn't gone up yet - in fact it was £100 cheaper than last year.

Jolly good.

Does the fact that you personally are temporarily benefitting from a deal that you've done in the past have any bearing whatsoever on the fact that current energy prices are the highest in history?

Does the fact that you personally are temporarily benefitting from a deal that you've done in the past

Actually we've been paying the standard rate - not a fixed deal.

Also, Sunak is getting far more bang for his buck as he will get far more back in VAT as energy prices rise.

Clav is technically correct. Standard capped rates haven't gone up yet. They are due to go up in April. People who are on their provider's standard tariff won't have seen an increase, but they'll see a huge rise in April.

People who've come to the end of a fix in the past few months will probably have seen a sizeable increase.

@CharacterForming

Clav is technically correct. Standard capped rates haven't gone up yet. They are due to go up in April. People who are on their provider's standard tariff won't have seen an increase, but they'll see a huge rise in April.

People who've come to the end of a fix in the past few months will probably have seen a sizeable increase.

Well - it all depends when we are talking from.

In 2021, the cap level has risen twice in the same year for the first time and is now at its highest point ever. The energy price cap rose to £1,138 from 1 April – a £96 rise for “medium” energy users. From 1 October, another 12 per cent increase will come into effect, with the cap rising to £1,277.

The rates have increased. And are increasing again in April.

@SJFarter
How about if you are living with a DP, get the £200, then split and move to two separate houses?

You get £200 between you but both pay £200 each back.

And if you and your partner are currently living separately as you've not yet got to moving in together stage (or even met?) then you benefit from £200 each and when you subsequently move in together only pay back half.

Stop looking at it as a personal load/repayment - it is a per house/electricity meter loan/repayment. Just factor it into what you are prepared to pay for a property/sell your property for if it is that big a deal.
£200 over 5 years is hardly going to register when you are dealing with splitting up etc

@Clavinova

Does the fact that you personally are temporarily benefitting from a deal that you've done in the past

Actually we've been paying the standard rate - not a fixed deal.

So you will see an increase in April, assuming you use a similar amount of energy to last year.

Although you may get a deduction later with your council tax and then the £200 from Sunak

I understand your examples. However surely there will be some cases where the opposite happens, e.g. 2 single people get the £200 then move in together so only pay back one lot

@DockOTheBay

I understand your examples. However surely there will be some cases where the opposite happens, e.g. 2 single people get the £200 then move in together so only pay back one lot

There will be. If the number of households in the country remained the same, then the government would get back the same amount of money as it put in. But some individuals would pay less than they received and some would pay more. Any extra money will be from new houses built, which would increase the number of households paying the £200.

@Clavinova

And yet here we are, with the highest fuel prices in history

My energy bill hasn't gone up yet - in fact it was £100 cheaper than last year.

Well, this is interesting.

I know the price of gas has been going up. I was all prepared to link to a graph about electricity but it looks like electricity price is going down.

www.energy-stats.uk/wholesale-energy-pricing/

@CharacterForming

Clav is technically correct. Standard capped rates haven't gone up yet. They are due to go up in April. People who are on their provider's standard tariff won't have seen an increase, but they'll see a huge rise in April.

People who've come to the end of a fix in the past few months will probably have seen a sizeable increase.

They went up to record levels in October.

They're going up another 54% in April.

They'll possibly go up further next October, or possibly July if they change the review system.

Bet the 40.will stay forever....

Actually we've been paying the standard rate - not a fixed deal.

Unless you were on a spectacularly bad tariff last year I can't see how a current standard variable tariff could be lower than last year, assuming you're not based in Russia as some have suggested.

@Kezzie200

Bet the 40.will stay forever....

Probably. As a sneaky bung for their millionaire mates and shareholders

I've emailed my MP. All before 7am on a Monday. I feel terribly efficient now.