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

Clarabe1

We have had an electric blanket from the range. It’s fab for when you are on the sofa watching a bit of telly. We didn’t have central heating until I was about 12 but we did have a coal fire. I remember being frozen . I have been in a few homes where people are sat in short sleeves with the heating on full blast. I think we are going to have to get knitting jumpers. If only we had our own gas reserves… oh wait“

Agree. Seen several TV reports where people are worrying about how they’ll pay for heating where they’re sat in the houses with T shirts on in winter.

My parents get the winter fuel allowance, free bus and train. They have hundreds of thousands in the bank! Crazy.

The moaning about having to pay for a TV licence. I dispare.

Theres no talking to them, they just whiter on about how they had high mortgage interest rates. ( a few decades ago) or were poor as children (many decades ago)

@rileyhaspiley

I must be really thick but how can the government afford to help Ukraine with the money they've donated, when their own people won't even be able to have a warm home?

Yes.

I don't begrudge the Ukranians the help of course, but this price hike WILL result in deaths for people who just can't afford heating any more. Of course it will, people do die from cold in the winter, you can see it in the deaths in the elderly population and the vulnerable when there's a cold winter and this will be exacerbated now. A lot of people just won't be able to adequately heat their homes.

And yes, all politicians of whichever party seem to mainly care for themselves and once they're in the 1% give very few shits about whether the rest of the populace lives or dies.

What we need to do is support the decent politicians who do care, regardless of party. I think actually there might be an appetite for a new party or boosting of a very small party.

It's ridiculous how they expect people to live. I know someone who's energy bill has gone from £200 to £500+ every month. It's heat or eat.

BBC radio report yesterday told how two children had died from hypothermia sleeping on a road on their way to the Polish border in minus temperatures. That was one small place, they won’t have been the only ones.

It really does sound like you begrudge the help.

Of course it will, people do die from cold in the winter, you can see it in the deaths in the elderly population and the vulnerable when there's a cold winter and this will be exacerbated now. A lot of people just won't be able to adequately heat their homes.

I don't know how it will be managed but a number of us will need to start having shared households where we can split the costs between a greater number of people. I think a number of people who live alone might need to revisit the practicality of that which will be a wrench as a lot of people live alone by preference.

When will people listen? Means testing the winter fuel allowance is not cost effective. We, the tax payer, lose less money in paying the rich retired than we would if a means test was run. The administration fees would tall all of the money lost to the 'undeserving retirees' and then some. Basic economics!

And they don't 'expect people to live'. They are a bloody government, not our parents. They expect us to take all the steps we can in our homes, whilst they do what they can on a wider scale.

Write to your MPs, demand some kind of explanation of what is happening to alleviate the situation. Demand they do something more for those who will find themselves in a very real poverty trap of heat or eat.

If you have even one pound left at then end of the month consider giving it to a food bank. We are gearing up for more and more being added to our lot - like emergency credit, fuel vouchers, etc. The 2018 Fuel Bank launch will have to be extended even further (it's selected Trussels at the moment).

@wearingtheT

My parents get the winter fuel allowance, free bus and train. They have hundreds of thousands in the bank! Crazy.

The moaning about having to pay for a TV licence. I dispare.

Theres no talking to them, they just whiter on about how they had high mortgage interest rates. ( a few decades ago) or were poor as children (many decades ago)

The retired boomers in the UK are the most entitled cohort of people that I have ever met.

The views and attitude of these folks in the EU (Spain, Italy, and Greece) is very different.

It's one of the main reasons UK society is so fractured. They constantly take, take, take and give very little back.

@SamphiretheStickerist

When will people listen? Means testing the winter fuel allowance is not cost effective. We, the tax payer, lose less money in paying the rich retired than we would if a means test was run. The administration fees would tall all of the money lost to the 'undeserving retirees' and then some. Basic economics!

And they don't 'expect people to live'. They are a bloody government, not our parents. They expect us to take all the steps we can in our homes, whilst they do what they can on a wider scale.

Write to your MPs, demand some kind of explanation of what is happening to alleviate the situation. Demand they do something more for those who will find themselves in a very real poverty trap of heat or eat.

If you have even one pound left at then end of the month consider giving it to a food bank. We are gearing up for more and more being added to our lot - like emergency credit, fuel vouchers, etc. The 2018 Fuel Bank launch will have to be extended even further (it's selected Trussels at the moment).

The answers are simple.

1. Stop the rise in NI

The costs of the NHS and Social Care are based on the 55+ cohort.

Making working folks pay for that is a travesty. They are being empoverished so that the pensioner cohort do not have to sell their assets.

This is completely ludicrous.

We need to stop subsidising these people because they are a bottomless pit of need.

My fixed rate finished at the end of November - it was £85pm. Now on the Standard Variable Rate and my DD is £118pm. Have just checked and there is only one tariff available - £361pm fixed until March 2024.

I can’t see any further ways I can reduce my energy consumption. Am hoping for a lovely warm summer - probably eating lots of salads and hot food that’s pretty quick to cook on the hob.

Here we go, bashing the elderly again.

The answers are simple.

1. Stop the rise in NI

The costs of the NHS and Social Care are based on the 55+ cohort.

Making working folks pay for that is a travesty. They are being empoverished so that the pensioner cohort do not have to sell their assets.

This is completely ludicrous.

We need to stop subsidising these people because they are a bottomless pit of need.

This ^ 100%.

We need to stop subsidising these people because they are a bottomless pit of need.

Wow! I suppose you expect to day the day before your 55th birthday?

I am 56, still working, paying taxes, NI etc. I expect to be doing so for at least another 10 years. If I am to be impoverished I doubt it will be prevented by a winter fuel payment rebate.

I wondered how long it would take this thread to turn to pensioner bashing.

Just had this from British Gas. I'm in a 4 bed semi. Contrary to what many say on here BG state their Safeguard PAYGv2 tariff is still our cheapest available

Most of the elderly I know are very far from being richer. But carry on with your sweeping attitudes.

MN amazes with me how much people blame the elderly for just about any problem that arises.

Out of interest, what age do you count people as being elderly - please don’t tell me you’re serious re 55+ 😂

@CheesusWept

What will happen if people can’t pay their bill? Will they have to agree a payment plan with their supplier? Or will they be looking at debt collectors at their door and their supply cut off? I just can’t see how some people are going to manage.

People will be switched to pay as you go meters if they default. They don't cut you off your supply per se.

Prior to switching to pay as you go, the government can intervene in the sense of arranging for a monthly affordable repayment to be taken direct from benefits, which can prevent the supplier demanding too high repayments. This is not advertised at all.

That is essentially how the system works currently.

@BambinaJAS - so, so tired of people bashing the elderly. At what age does one become elderly in your mind?

I hope that you’re planning your finances so that, when you reach that age, you will have no impact on your younger generation.

@SamphiretheStickerist

We need to stop subsidising these people because they are a bottomless pit of need.

Wow! I suppose you expect to day the day before your 55th birthday?

I am 56, still working, paying taxes, NI etc. I expect to be doing so for at least another 10 years. If I am to be impoverished I doubt it will be prevented by a winter fuel payment rebate.

NHS costs are about 80% driven by people aged 55+

For Social Care, the current 55+ folks have not paid a penny of £££ to fund their care.

Worth repeating: not a penny

Thats why the situation is so absurd and unfair. They are asking working folks to pay more NI for the 55+ age group, in order fot this group (the wealthiest in the UK now) not to have to use its assets (house) to pay for social care.

When you understand the financial angle of this, you see just how ludicrous and unfair it is to working folks: many who are now the "working poor", with an increasing % of those now being children.

So, I ask you:

Do you want poorer chidren and working parents, or do you want wealthier pensioners to keep their assets?

Thats the crux of the issue.

And make no mistake about this. The rise in NI will dramatically increase the number of children in poverty.

[quote Furries]@BambinaJAS - so, so tired of people bashing the elderly. At what age does one become elderly in your mind?

I hope that you’re planning your finances so that, when you reach that age, you will have no impact on your younger generation.[/quote]
Unlike you I look at long term financial projections.

People like yourself react based on emotion. Not hard financial umbers.

Thats why the situation keeps getting worse in the UK. The pensioner apologists are legion.

@MrsSkylerWhite

BBC radio report yesterday told how two children had died from hypothermia sleeping on a road on their way to the Polish border in minus temperatures. That was one small place, they won’t have been the only ones.

It really does sound like you begrudge the help.

Homeless people in this country die from exposure in the winter. The numbers of homeless will increase as costs go up with price rises.

All deaths matter not just some. This government should give money to Ukraine (and as a nation, outside of government, we're giving loads too - deliveries organised from my kids schools) but anyone who thinks the government are doing it for anything other than good PR obviously hasn't come up against the way they treat disabled kids and their families in this country.

They really don't care about vulnerable people. They just care about good optics and looking after themselves.

@Takeawaytonight

I think its time that pensioners getting the £200 winter payment was means tested. Some pensioners do not need it whatsoever

It would cost a lot to means test it though.

And if they didn't want kids to die in Ukraine it might have been a lot better not to support Russia through giving oligarchs a free ride, tax breaks and lordships (dodgy ones that were initially vetoed by the Security services) rather than belatedly offering help now.

There's a lot this government could have done to stop it getting to the point of war in Ukraine. If they gave a shit about Ukrainian children they wouldn't have acted as they did.