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

Oh and all those lockdown hot tubs will be going too.
Every cloud has a silver lining...

Our gas and electricity bill is already £239 a month. We have the heating on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. I have no idea how we are going to afford even more of an increase.

We currently pay £88 per month and are about £800 in credit but been told this is increasing to £350 per month (£4200 per year).

Had a look at the fixed rates staying with our current provider (Scottish Power) as currently on a standard variable and they were £900+ per month! £11,500 per year! Totally insane, couldn’t believe it. Went on one of the comparison websites and there’s a fixed rate for £4800 per year with a company I’ve never heard of then the ones I recognise start from £8000 a year. Scottish Power is £9500 on there so slightly cheaper than the £11,500.

@Iputthetrampintrampoline

Oh and lets not forget the pets ..THE must have covid pandemic accessory.Thats going to turn out well when theres no money to feed them or take care of them at the vets...

That's already a big issue. The rescues are becoming overrun. We are currently fostering and the amount of dogs coming through is crazy.

Ours is going up from £125 to £240 a.month once our deal ends in the summer.

Its crazy to think that a couple of months ago I was paying just over £70 a month for electricity only and from next month it's looking like it will be £200 a month!!!!

Currently burying my head in the sand regarding October, which I know is bad, but just can't bring myself to think about it. Already worried about the rising costs elsewhere (food, petrol etc)

Boris has said that he will ban Russian oil by the end of 2022 but not gas. Putin has said that if Russian oil is embargoed then he will shut off gas supplies to Europe.

Russia currently supplies 40% of Europe's gas. If this is shut in then it won't just be a question of price it will be a problem of no gas availability at all which in turn will close down gas fired power stations (42% of power production is from gas fired stations) which will mean blackouts.

Middle earners cut on luxuries, my car PCP I've just bought the car very low balloon payment with the cost of used car prices sky rocketing I'm keeping the low mileage car. Cut back on subscriptions gym, meal boxes, everything is going up I've also started to shop in lidl again. Really feel for people on minimum wage and UC, I hope the government have a plan.

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.

It is worth pointing out that most pension schemes, including the auto-enrolment ones, have a lot of shares in the gas and electricity companies. So if they aren't making good profits then the value of your future pension goes down.

To be fair, those of us worried about heating or eating don't necessarily have much of a pension to worry about ...

I got a 7% pay increase for this year, I’m absolute gobsmacked it’s amazing.

Every single penny will be eaten up by the increase in power bills. I put on another thread mine have increased from £100 to £350. And I’m lucky, at least I can afford it!

Yeah we are being quoted nearly £1000 for 500l of oil, that's the minimum you're allowed to order in one go (by law) and is half a tank. Thankfully we are going into spring but it's still very cold. We'd normally pay about £350-£400 for that amount. I have absolutely no idea how we will afford it, apart from putting it on the credit card which we are busy trying to pay down! There's also a 3 week waiting list and price quoted may change before delivery day. I'm just praying like petrol in the past it calms down by three weeks time...and we can eek out our remaining 200l!

I completely sympathise BUT fuel is something that you can control, unlike other bills like council tax and income tax.

I was brought up in a house with no central heating till I was 16, one open fire, and no double glazing. The windows were iced up inside every morning in winter.

I'm not suggesting we all go back to that BUT I also think we need to try to be a bit more imaginative with our use of fuel and try as hard as possible to reduce the use if it's becoming too expensive.

@Hebertchops. if you currently pay £88 a month, your payments will not increase anywhere near that amount!

The may ask for that as a DD, but it's not going to cost anything like that.

@D0lphine

People will die of cold next winter

In one of the worlds richest countries.

There weren't lots of people dying from cold before homes had double glazing and central heating.

People found ways to manage it.

Not to mention the effect fuel poverty had on children.

www.beatcold.org.uk/how-fuel-poverty-affects-children/

Has

I've been studying to better my future. I'm in my last year of a degree and I'm now very very close to having to leave my course to get another shitty job just to cover basic costs.
Everything has risen so much that my student loan now doesn't cover my bills. I'm also a lone parent so there's no other income in the household. The fact that food costs have almost doubled (i shop at aldi), my gas and electricity are treble what they were and my rent has increased.

Honestly, I'm ready to climb into bed and not get out. My life couldn't get much worse at this point.

SamphiretheStickerist

I think that's the case.

I grew up in a home without central heating. Only one room was heated with a coal fire.
Bathwater was shared as it was to costly to have constant hot water.
Kettles were boiled for washing dishes.
We had piles of bedding, hot water bottles. Bedsocks and thick pyjamas.
It was a different mindset, but probably only in the past 50 or 60 years that central heating has been the norm for most.
I am severely revewing my heating.
Living in a home where all rooms are heated to 22 degrees is probably not going to be an option.
Today I have been heating rooms that have hardly been used- bedrooms, bathrooms, toilet has been heated much of the day and only used for a minute at a time.
Thankfully we are coming into the spring and summer months, but I am having a big rethink about heating my home.

@Eggsley

Our gas and electricity bill is already £239 a month. We have the heating on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. I have no idea how we are going to afford even more of an increase.

So how on earth is your bill that high?

Do you know where the cost is coming from?

Lights? Computers? Cooking?

My projected bills for the year are £2,000 compared to £1,250 last year. I need to be better at switching stuff off at night.

@usernameshistory

British Gas enjoy a 44% profit this year so for everyone harping on about how the government and energy companies are absorbing the cost - they aren't. In other countries, for example with the French government, they have put a cap on the increase in energy costs for customers but ours have not.

And EdF took a 8.4 billion euro hit because of it:

amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/14/france-edf-cap-household-energy-bills

Nowadays people really heat their houses, often 24/7,

Do they?

YABU/ extremely naive if you think the government is going to give any meaningful help. They think the poorest and most vulnerable in our society should be grateful for the £140 Warm Homes Discount per year.

No, people did not die from not having central heating, but the homes I was in as a kid and more recently had night storage heaters and no fireplace. Electric. My last house did and it was built in the early 1990s.