Surely they can’t expect us to pay 240 per month for power!

[Ellie198712]

Just read Martin Lewis’s latest email and it’s predicting average bills of £2900 per year!! Surely the government will need to step in and subsidise this cost. Our current bill is about 100 per month, and this just seems untenable for the vast majority

Several people l have spoken to have said they won't be able to afford a holiday this year because of the energy cost so the travel industry will suffer even more than it has already
And then those people will have less to spend or be unemployed and the downward spiral continues.

Despite all the mention of job vacancies, it is getting harder to find employment as businesses tighten their belts as they have to.

UC is £72 a week for adults and that has to cover everything.

It is quite short sighted and it seems as if this cannot continue this way.

@MrsTommyS

Might have already been asked but how are/will those of you WFH managing? Has your employer offered you anything in relation to the increase?

Have to admit, I’m currently glad that our house is empty for up to seven hours, five days a week. Heating on first thing and then for about two hours (depending how cold it is) when we return.

I wfh, heating is on first thing and a few hours at night. I use these things called jumpers and blankets to keep warm if I get cold.

@Honeyroar

I do think a lot of people need to change their habits a little when it comes to use of power. Nowadays people really heat their houses, often 24/7, and wander round in t shirts or pyjamas. And have lights on in every room, and often outside. I think this period will teach us to think what we’re using.

This.

Autumndays123 Are your meter readings up to date? Also, you can double check against previous readings to see what your annual average use roughly is (ie is it similar the calculations the energy company are making). Then calculate the units against the old rates and the new rates to check they add up. It should be obvious in the company's calculations that your £300 credit is included, if not, ask them.

I think most of us will have to wake up and see how much money we waste on luxury. I would imagine the mobile phone contracts and entertainment packages that add up to £100s every month will be the first to go followed by the lunch deals and takeaway coffee's. I think a lot of us are about to realise how much money we have squandered in the past. A roof over our heads, heat, and food are what matters.

I've seen a few people saying that 20 degrees must mean you're swanning around in a t-shirt. Not at all. At 20 I'm wearing a thick cardigan, slipper sock and am sitting under a woollen blanket.

I used to have the heating at 22, trying to get used to it at 19 but my hands and nose get really cold.

We are electric for everything (ASHP and electric car). We have our tariff fixed until May, so all the posts on here, Facebook, real life conversation, newspapers, seems kind of surreal. It's a crazy situation.

I think (hope) we can ride things out until autumn, but then when the price cap rises again and we have to heat the house (old stone cottage so gets very damp very quickly without the heating and a dehumidifier running) the electric car becomes less efficient in the cold weather and general darkness, it's not going to be good.

I at least have the option to increase my hours at work, but there is good reasons I reduced them (my health) originally.

What a mess

@ifonly4

Autumndays123 Are your meter readings up to date? Also, you can double check against previous readings to see what your annual average use roughly is (ie is it similar the calculations the energy company are making). Then calculate the units against the old rates and the new rates to check they add up. It should be obvious in the company's calculations that your £300 credit is included, if not, ask them.

Hello, yes up to date as of Monday, no idea how it's that much. I've only used £170 of gas and electric combined this year so far!

@AllOfUsAreDead ok

I wfh, heating is on first thing and a few hours at night. I use these things called jumpers and blankets to keep warm if I get cold.

I WFH. My house can be 9C or less. We have household members with dementia and frequent delirium amongst other conditions. We heat the house. Yes, in my work area, I'll use blankets, jumpers, and hot water bottles but we provide safe, comfortable spaces for people to move about.

@speakout

MrsTommyS

It's hard! I WFH, I also have my 89 yo mother live with me who feels the cold a lot, ( doesn't help that she sits around in thin nylon blouses)
I have lost count of the garments I have bought her, thermals, hot water bottles, snoods, a heated throw, thick socks, they all end up in one of her bags to give to charity. She prefers the heating on max at all times.
I think things will have to change.

I too have my mum with me. She is 85 and wheelchair/house bound due to ms. She completely seizes up if she gets cold and can’t get in and out of her wheelchair. I have bought her fleece nightgowns that she wears as a dress with a cotton nightdress underneath and fleece slippers for her feet. I can’t afford to heat the whole house to the temperature she wants/ needs so she has a separate oil filed radiator in her room and keeps the door shut to keep in the extra heat. She only opens the curtain on one side to stop drafts and wears a cotton scarf around her neck. It doesn’t help that she rarely goes to bed anymore and sleeps in her recliner so I can’t even turn off the heating at night. Only heating her room makes her more isolated from the rest of the household but at least she is warm. Her £300 winter fuel payment pays for just a month of our heating bills and I am on fixed income plus carers allowance so not a lot spare and I have cut back on heating for me to pay for hers. I don’t use my bedroom to sleep anymore and have switched off the radiator and sleep in the lounge with a fleece blanket.

We have never heated the house during the day. If we did then there would be no heating for the evening as we have night storage.we are all electric. Not a problem when we both worked full time but now part time and retired we still don’t. We just try to keep active and hang on until the timer kicks in at 17.30.
We had a wood burner installed a couple of years ago which helps a bit but not as much as you might think cost wise.we never saw a reduction in our electricity bill and we buy coal.
We do live in an old cottage and I am currently paying £310 pcm. They pushed up the monthly charge by more than double.
I wouldn’t say we are extravagant with our energy consumption but it certainly has made me think twice about using any of our appliances.

@Proudboomer

Dreamland relaxwell heated faux fur throw are brilliant (I can only get to level 2 of 6 before overheating), they are cheap to run and washable. Might be worth investing in one for your mum.

I switched to one of the energy companies which went bust, so was then moved to Shell, who have just informed me that I'll be moving to their new Flexible 7 rate from 1 April, and, no there isn't any choice about that, and it will cost me about another £500 a year - but that's another £500 on top of my new bills, rather than the ones I was paying before I was moved.... - so it will have gone up by nearly 50% in 6 months. I'll be chipping away at costs through reducing the time that the heating is on, but I can't do a lot more than that - I'm already switching off lights/appliances where possible/radiators in unused rooms etc etc. But I work from home on a full-time basis, and it does get bloody cold by mid-afternoon...

How many businesses will.go under because people won't have the money to spend on days out, holidays, meals out etc. I think its going to have a massive knock on effect on those. It's a joke
I am expecting my small business to go bust as a result. I'm in an industry that was shut down during the pandemic, and seen as luxury when people are cutting back on their expenditure.

I was one of the 3 million excluded, and I'm only just clawing out of my financial black hole as a result. This will be the end for me. Until then, I'll limp on, but I'm sure it won't be for long.

kukdoos I am so sorry to hear that. I hope somehow things pick up for you

@Squeezita

When are these price increases expected to hit?

We are still paying £39 for Gas and £30 for electricity for our 3 bed semi.

I am sending regular readings to SSE.

We are with BG, currently paying £107 and on track, ours is going up to £170 in April, which is about what we expected with the 54% rise, yours will probably be the same though proportionately lower than ours

It’s crazy that we’re all having to think like this. But, as others have said, subsidies end up being paid by us anyway.
True but the government makes choices about where to spend our money. They recently spent/lost billions on Brexit - how many households could that money be used to heat? It's not inevitable that we all have to shiver - it's a calculated choice.

I have a smart meter which I am currently grateful for as I can check on Bg site whether we are still on track at regular intervals and also look to see how we are doing compared to last year etc.

I am quite concerned that with Ukraine etc/russia fuel is just going to increase but also food, etc etc...

@Ceci03

I don't understand - forgive me if I am thick - but with Shell and others announcing BILLIONS AND BILLIONS in profit - why can't they be allowed to absorb the price rise?????

They are allowed to absorb the price rise.

They need to be forced though.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

In the UK a lot of people (particularly those with pots of money) have become 'gas guzzlers' (whether with multiple cars and/or massive energy consumption at home). Time to get real and realise that cutting back on energy use is necessary to save money and good for the environment.

We have more at our disposal to stay warm(ish) even without the heating on for all our waking ours than previous generations.

Indeed, however, a 3-500% is not sustainable. Its the equivalent to: A new merc (Similar) lease car A month of food shopping. A mortgage. This debt is being forced upon all families, it's not a planned budgeting choice.

I could find similar equivalences, the third-order effects on the economy will be devastating. The government's policy or lack of direction is another sign that this particular Tory party is fiscally inept.

The country isn't bouncing back, it's lurching from one crisis to another.

@nOvOn

I’m shocked at how much people are paying. British Gas has estimated that our bill will rise from £85 to £115 p/m from April on their standard tariff. We are careful with our usage and only have our heating on when we really need it,, turn off lights in rooms we aren’t using, warm clothes when working from home etc. But the difference between what we pay and other posters is astounding.

Me too. I just don’t recognise the types of numbers I’m seeing on here.

*Me too. I just don’t recognise the types of numbers I’m seeing on here(

It all depends on what tariff you were on, what deal you were on and what tariff you move to.

If you are on the price cap tariff, then your bills will go up significantly. It depends what mix of electricity to gas you use, but your will bills will go up.

@Birdy474

So house prices will go down to a more realistic level.

I actually think they'll go higher. People won't be able to downsize because they won't be able to save anything for fees and stamp duty. There'll be fewer properties on the market, meaning the people who can afford then will be fighting over them.

I don't get the pricing at all. I remember when we sold off to French companies the French were laughing at us saying their energy was cheap because we paid so much over the odds that it subsidised them.

What us the actual cost of producing a unit of energy? How much goes in profits? Household energy should be a service provided at cost to keep society healthy and functioning. At least for a set number of units per month. If people want to do stuff like heat hot tubs or warm their bedrooms by leaving their hairdryers running then maybe over a set number of units the price could rocket up. But there should be a base rate that enables every household to bathe, cook and warm their homes in winter.