How on Earth do people intend to cut back to meet these new energy bills?

[MissMediocre]

I plod along saving a little cash but it's going to be nigh on impossible now and I'm going to have to look at cutting back. I've a professional job in the software industry but bills of £300+ a month are going to bite.

How is everyone else planning to cut back?

@XenoBitch

My heating is already set to 13. Not sure it is healthy to go any lower, although it is warming up generally now anyway. I am ok to layer up, or even do some cardio to get my blood pumping. I don't work, so I probably use more electricity because I am home and using devices. I already don't eat for 3 days a week, so can't cut back on food costs much more. I have a relative who is talking about suicide now due to the rising costs

I also have a relative who is contemplating ending their life. I'm so so so worried for many people No one deserves this kind of existence.

Work phones will probably have own chargers so nothin* to say about that, it’s your own charger that becomes the problem,as if not Pat tested its thin ice because it doesn’t belong to the company,

@mogsrus

Work phones will probably have own chargers so nothin* to say about that, it’s your own charger that becomes the problem,as if not Pat tested its thin ice because it doesn’t belong to the company,

Quite, but if work expect you to use your personal phone then they need to PAT test your charger and not whinge about you using their electricity.

My phone charges from a usb socket, so PAT testing is irrelevant (they will already be doing the hub) and while colleagues are charging their electric cars for free, my workplace would be hard pressed to make a fuss about charging a phone.

[quote Silvershroud]You just need a member of your household registered as an MP. Then all your houses will get public payments for energy bills. It is very straight-forward: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10404277/MPs-charge-3-500-energy-bills-second-homes.html[/quote]
Not forgetting all the other perks they get such as food, and petrol allowance.

@MarieG10

We got shunted to EDF last autumn as supplier went bust. Knew they charged more so tried upping the payments as was on £130 per month which was very low anyway. They refused. Part of the agreement with OFGEM auto maintain same payments when they take over customers. So I now owe £800.

Payments now also going up to nearly £500 per month.

How do we pay ? Save less so we will be ok I guess but I am really worried for other people that have no slack at all. I recall the 1980s with (old) people in cold damp council housing and dying of hypothermia. We will be seeing that

The problem is we won’t “see” that. The death rate will rise in the elderly and it won’t be attributed to that. We saved for a stove and have some wood. Beyond that I’m worried

@MissMediocre interesting about the grants. We had a damp issue in our rental property. The chartered surveyor said that the govt insulation grants were not brilliant as if you got a good company then fine as they used good materials but the place we were in used wrong material which basically turned the inside to a sponge and he said companies were now quoting £25 per m to replace. Most of these companies have now folded as no govt grants available

@Beekindbeehumble

This might be false but reading though tips for coping with this and one said that booling a full kettle for hot water bottles will use more electricity than having an electric blanket on for an hour. So better to use an electric blanket to take the chill out of bed.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

This (and previous Tory) governments created a stupid pretend "market" in energy so their mates could trouser plenty of cash and we are all paying for it. The ridiculous rise in standing charges is for the cost of moving all the customers from the busted suppliers - I mean obviously we should all be paying that....... Have a think about the fact we get around a third of our electricity from renewables - of course the wind doesn't blow 24/7 etc so some gas/coal is needed to produce it BUT the cost increases are because the governments stupid pretend "market" forces everyone to up their prices - even the renewables suppliers who aren't facing increased costs (God hasn't put the price of the Sun and Wind up). Nice windfall for them, extra costs for us and no competition, like there would be in an actual market. Privatising utilities was a stupid ideology, of zero benefit to us.

^Agree with this. When energy was nationalised, the govt had to approve price rises and would sometimes subsidise the cost if it had to go up because of external factors.

I'm very lucky and got a good fixed deal last June that doesn't end until Nov 23. After that, if prices are still very high, I'm going to just stay in bed all winter (I'm a pensioner) with only the electric blanket* for company and thermal pyjamas. I'll have to go shopping and do housework occasionally, but I'll do the housework very fast to warm myself up.

*Of course, I will have to do a cost comparison to see if a leccy blanket is cheaper than boiling kettles for hot water bottles.

@Mynameisnew

What I'm worried about is that even if I switch the heating off, the standing charge has doubled.

I think standing charges should be abolished. How are people supposed to cut back if the companies just put the standing charge up?

It would be fairer to put the unit cost up, at least that way the people using next to fuck all would benefit, and there'd be more of an incentive for people to cut back.

And the government could cancel VAT on energy, that would knock 5% off people's bills. They could make up for the lost revenue by sticking more tax on fags or gambling or something.

London?

Our electric is going up from £88 to £272 a month. For a 2 bedroom flat. I could cry.

Sorry to hear this :(

Ours is going up by about £600 a year. We have a loan and the repayments are costing us £250 pcm; the last payment is this August. We were going to use that extra money to pay off our credit cards and then be debt free by the end of next year but now we'll have to use it to pay for the increased cost of living and won't be any better off at all.

Already turned down thermostat to about 10 degrees in the day, about 12 for evenings, off at night. All laundry cycles 30 degrees on quick, 40 for heavily soiled. Only washing hair once a wk, strip wash at sink, shallow bath or shower once a week. Kids only bath or shower every other day (obvs wash at sink other days). Switching everything off standby at night and switching off sockets in kids rooms when they are away at their dad's, dh having shallower baths and not every day. Switching off all lights when not in use and at night, bought an air fryer (it's a lot quicker so saves putting the oven on). Thinking about only using oven for batch cooking, anyone have any ideas for batch cooking and freezing? Bought seedling potatoes and beans seeds and a pack of salad seeds in cheap shops to have some veg for the summer, going to try and bulk buy non perishables like pasta and tins before inevitable prices rises.

@pointythings

I don't know, but I am singularly unimpressed with the government who are doing fuck all to help. Ireland and the Netherlands are putting in hefty VAT and duty cuts - all we get is a measly £200 loan that we have to pay back.

And that £200 for me covers 2mth increase, was £170 , from April will be £275 a month for both

What about the other 10mths, to increase a year by £1200 is insane

We've just got BT (the only choice in our village for so many years) to put us on a new tariff by threatening to go elsewhere, so that will save £30 odd a month.

We are also applying for an assessed water bill, as we can't have a meter (shared supply and only two of us in the house).

I hope all together that will save us about £800 a year.

I'm spending the summer stocking up the wood store when we see cheap offers, and fitting thick linings to the curtains. Alternatively you throw fleecy blankets over the curtain pole to keep out the cold, or pin those thin pet fleeces you get in the pound shop to the inside of your curtains, that definitely helps. You must draw your curtains during the winter the minute it gets dark to conserve heat. If you're really on a budget you can stick bubble wrap to your window panes with water to conserve heat.

There are lots of useful tips on the thrift and getting ready for winter threads on Money Saving Expert. At least we've got all summer to prepare, best to start now? Good luck everyone.

I will not buy tickets for Lapland UK, that will save me more than enough to cover my leccy bill.

Enduring and existing,scraping by trying to literally survive, Welcome to Great britain 2022 one of the top 10 richest countries in the world...ffs. I hope we have a good summer as when we do we live outside as much as we can, It is infact literally warmer outside today than it is indoors, Nightmare ....