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

Yep. We all lived through the coldest winters on record and survived. I was in a caravan during one of them. Toasty warm because we shared a bed and did verything we could to stay wamr.

And the Big Snow of 82. My god but that was cold and unpleasant, once the thrill of snow had worn off. - given there weas about 3 months of it that didn;t take as long as you might think. Drifts taller than I was at the time, school buses not making the hill because the diesel froze in the pipe on the incline. 2011 may have been colder but it REALLY didn't go on for as long.

Maybe we need to start a thread on this now. How to cope with long cold winters and no central heating. Get ourselves in the right mindset for next winter.

@HereComesSpringAgain

£240 a month is equal to our sky tv and mobile phone costs

so its a choice we will need to make

Well aren't you fortunate. We don't have sky tv and pay £30 a month for mobile phones, we're on the bones of our arse and have been advised by our gas & electricity company that our monthly cost will go from £140 to £378 a month. We have nothing to 'swap'

It's not just the energy bills it's the NI increase, the tax band freezes, food all combined with ever increasing house prices & stagnant wages. Fantastic!

Subside the costs and eat into their billion pound profits !!!!! Sir , I think not . The day that happens NASA will find rocking horse sh#t on the dark side of the moon.

@JinglingHellsBells our previous energy supplier went bust and we were transferred to EDF who have put us on an expensive tariff which we now can't get out of whilst they sort out our account with the previous supplier. The whole thing seems to be an utter mess. We had an economy 7 meter (and supposedly tariff) but they were charging us the higher rate all the time.

We've just got a smart meter and are trying to limit our spending to £5.00 a day, which at current prices will be £140.00 a month or thereabouts plus whatever the standing charge will be. So now we are mostly sitting in the dark and cold, and hoping for some warmer weather!

@ChiefWiggumsBoy

Well done you on getting the 7 % increase👍.

I asked for a 7% increase this afternoon and was told no chance despite pointing out that profits have gone UP by 40% because of high energy prices.

They really are taking the piss - happy to make higher profits because of higher energy prices but unwilling to give employees inflation matching pay increases caused in part by higher energy prices.

@Bluebellsunderthetrees

Its going to go even higher now they have announced today they are banning Russian oil. Previous to this US only had a 36% rise in their energy prices, ours is 142% . Oil is through the roof already , people can't afford to buy even 500 litres and they need it to heat their water.

We usually pay £250 ish for 500L over winter. It’s priced today at £1050! We’ve simply cannot afford to buy any meaning we will face the next few months with no heating or hot water as the boiler only runs from oil.

I’ve bought 2 electric oil filled radiators and we will be using the electric shower instead of having baths now.

It’s ridiculous that as a family bringing home £70k a year this is what we have to do. I don’t know how people earning less money will cope.

@LakieLady I'm lucky like you in that I took out a 2 year fixed term tariff with Octopus Energy last year when I moved after getting divorced. It runs out towards the end of May 2023. So feel like I've had a bit of good fortune for a change as like everyone else I was really worried about these price hikes and the fact that everything is costing so much more than ever before,we'll probably in our lifetime. I'm still really worried about when my term ends as like you I think the costs are still going to be so high.
I currently have a direct debit set for £95 per month for my gas & electric and was currently about £300 in credit. So for now I'm ok.
I don't work due to health conditions but don't get any benefits besides some child maintenance and child benefit which will obviously both stop at 18 so I'm really scared about the future as savings won't last forever. For now I'm just concentrating on the year ahead and so on.

Not saying it not really bad. But where do you expect the government to get the money from?

@JinglingHellsBells

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.

The problem is that there is no option now. My council flat (and every council place I've had) is fully electric with storage heaters. I'd love to have an open fireplace again. At least I'd have one warm room with hot water from the back boiler.

@Waxonwaxoff0

What if people just don't pay it because they can't afford to? Will they get cut off?

this is what I was asking husband too with 2 incomes no children we are still going to struggle how we can pay the new prices come April. We live simply we don't even have a car. I mean 110% increase for us. From £69 to £190+ Surely, they can't all cut us off or bring us to court for non payment. What can they do? Majority will never be able to afford this.

Yep, £95 size months ago - £240 now 😲

We are literally producing more than we need and trading with ourselves on the open market its a shite situation

We are having a talk this weekend about how we will manage. We have already discussed how we each managed as kids. One room being heated. Hot drinks, flasks; Hot food, flasks. Hot water bottles. Layers of clothes in bed and out. Blankets over quilts. Large candles in glass jars with water at the bottom.

All sorts of childhood memories. That and we lived very rurally for over a decade and couldn't rely on electric, or water as it turned out! So we know how to mollycoddle a fridge and freezer through a power cut etc.

It will be different to much of what many people are used to. It's a totally different mind set. But it is doable and doesn't have to be as miserable as many are prophesying.

I lived with bedrooms with ice on the inside of the bedroom windows as a kid. Seeing my breath in my bedroom when I got out of bed. Sleeping with my slippers, clean socks, knickers and vest in my bed to keep them warm for morning. Mum keeping hot water in flasks over night so we could wash our faces in tepid water before going to school. Dad stuffing school shoes with newspaper and leaving them near the hearth so they would be warm and dry ish in the morning. All sorts of stuff that most of us just don't have to think about these days.

Cant find who wrote this.

But can you start a new thread please?
I am particularly interested in the "how to mollycuddle a freezer"!

But where do you expect the government to get the money from?

A wealth tax

What if people just don't pay it because they can't afford to? Will they get cut off?

You go into a pre-payment tariff, with a "key" type of meter. If you can't afford energy you won't get any.

@katepilar

Not saying it not really bad. But where do you expect the government to get the money from?

Taxing the rich?

@tttigress

Bit of a shame we spent ridiculous money on Covid.

Debt to GDP now above 100%

A NI rise coming up soon.

Exactly!!

The £37 billion spaffed away on track and trace doesn't seem that smart now, not to mention &600 million on eat out to help out.

Taxing the rich?

Can we nick it from the Oligarchs?

It's inevitable we have an ageing population & a barely functioning NHS plus no investment.

The problem is that there is no option now. My council flat (and every council place I've had) is fully electric with storage heaters. I'd love to have an open fireplace again. At least I'd have one warm room with hot water from the back boiler.

You could still go back to the one-warm-room system by turning off all the other storage heaters.

I've said YABU because your question was "surely they don't expect us to..." sadly they DO expect us to pay it.

It's terrifying. We can afford it but I just dint understand how people will manage. Our house has been 16 degrees during the daytime, and I'm wfh under a blanket with a scarf and thick socks on. I'm coping, but in the evening I put the heating on to 20 degrees for an hour while we get the kids to bed and it feels so great!

Is anyone else thinking about opening up their fireplaces?

It’s also going to be the knock on of this on businesses. Unlike for homes their energy prices aren’t capped, in the long run consumers will end up paying more for the products - at a time many won’t be able to afford to.

Many companies will go bust because they can’t make enough to cover the increased costs.

It’s a worrying time.

@PurpleFlower1983

Is anyone else thinking about opening up their fireplaces?

Be careful as carbon monoxide poisoning is common in old chimneys