To think that, ultimately, cutting back on energy use isn't really going to help much?

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

Of course, we all know that gas and electricity prices have rocketed - and are due to do the same again in October, with no assurances that the same won't happen again next year. Plus, who knows what will happen re Russia.

The solution we're all being told is to cut down on our fuel use - eat less (especially food that has to be cooked), sit in the cold, shower less etc. etc. Sounds obvious, really.

However, I may be be being paranoid/dim, but I have a suspicion that, ultimately, none of this is really going to help that much. In the very short-term, maybe, but not sustainably.

My reasoning being that, although a lot of things are ostensibly sold on the basis of 'pay what you use', from the global companies and/or governments' pov, they are expecting a certain amount of income/profit, and they will simply react to lower usage levels by increasing the prices to balance them out, to reduce your agency in being able to reduce their income from you. If that doesn't fully work, they load more on to things like standing charges, which have doubled - for now, with who knows what further increases to come? We're told that the global prices for producing/generating gas and electricity have gone up massively.... so how does that affect the same pipes and cables that have been in the ground all along?

The other biggie: the petrol and diesel vehicles on sale now are hugely more efficient than those of 20, 30, 40 years ago. The amount of fuel we need for our cars should be relatively so cheap - but it isn't, it's more expensive than ever. Yes, we have the headline 5p off tax for three years (which a lot of companies have just kept for themselves anyway and not passed on), but most of a litre of fuel is still tax, with VAT added on top of the tax, as if tax is a luxury purchase on which you must be duly taxed for 'choosing' to 'buy' it. Added to the stealth increase that people haven't got anywhere near angry enough about, whereby standard petrol has already been downgraded in efficiency by 5% - 'watered down' in effect - ostensibly for environmental reasons, but actually clearly more damaging for the environment as more tanker journeys and fill-ups now have to be made to deliver the same amount of useful petrol (along with all of the added filler).

The solution: electric cars, which have been heavily promoted to us, partly on environmental grounds, but also very strongly based on how much money we can save with them (assuming we can afford them in the first place). The money savings based on the much cheaper price of electricity (now rocketing) and the much cheaper (or even zero) VED, which is now being both increased and replaced by a pay-per-mile tax, because the government is banking on getting that money in and making us pay one way or another.

Modern boilers, fridges, freezers, lots of appliances are also far more efficient, yet they cost us more to run than ever.

The costs of essentials are going up, which means that inflation is rising, so interest rates then go up, to try to quell our 'desire' to spend enough on eating and staying warm.

My basic thinking is that we are constantly expected to get used to 'the new normal' when it comes to having to make do with less and less, and lower standards of living, but that 'the old normal' of constant/rising prices will still never go away. AIBU?

I agree with you OP - it’s horrible to think how difficult things will get over the next few months and years.

Took you a long time to put this piece together, but it’s absolutely bang on. The following years I think are going to be (hopefully not) absolutely horrible,no matter what we do

What we need is more energy generated in the UK, for reasons of energy security, and as it is most likely to be wind or solar, helps reduce carbon emissions.

I totally agree with you, my house used to be kept at 20 degrees throughout the year, day and night, and I was paying £90 a month and still ending with some credit at the end of the year.

My company went burst in September and EDF put me in a variable tariff unless I chose to fix it for £300. For the last 6 months I have had the heating off from 9pm to 7am and at 16 the rest of the time and was paying almost £90 anyway. I calculate I will be charged £180 by the end of the month if I am lucky even when my consumption has gone down by half.

YANBU. I completely agree with you. Thanks for putting that together. I’ve been thinking about the increase in the standing charge a lot today, it’s really annoyed me.

I'm reminded of when we swapped our old tank boiler for a combi boiler about 14 years ago. The plumber said our gas bills would be cut by about half and it was true!

But of course gas prices went up and that saving was wiped out.

Great post OP, I just read it out to my husband and we were both like..."yep, we're screwed".

Very thought-provoking post, @WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll.

It's pretty much what I've been pondering, and worrying about. I think you could be bang on, and under a liberal-max-capitalist-free-market government it can only get worse as none of them will take any kind of control.

I agree. 7 years ago when we moved into this house we paid £85 a month for gas and electricity combined. We have a fully insulated and double glazed house with a newish energy efficient boiler (replaced less than 2 years ago) and set the thermostat to 18.5 when we have the heating on. Definitely not swanning round in our underwear in February.

Our new combined fuel direct debit is £366.

No amount of 'budgeting advice' and tinkering round the edges with thick curtains and woolly socks can counteract that kind of rise.

Yep. I completely agree, but what can we do?

You're quite right of course. Who else remembers the pleas from Thames Water several years ago during a drought- please use less water or we may have to start cutting it off? Water use dropped so much it was newsworthy- I think something like 30% less was used, which I should check for accuracy but I have a headache so won't. The public's reward for helping to avert a crisis?- Thames Water made less money for that period and so prices went up.

Standing charges are huge

YANBU. And this is why standing charges have also gone up as well. Because they know people will want to use less.

Spot on. I also don’t like the fact that we’re peddled EVs which rely on coal powered stations to fuel them. They may look clean, but they aren’t ,particularly when you consider all the minerals which have been mined for the batteries. EVs are also heavier and less efficient. Sorry, rant over about EVs. The government will start taxing them like petrol vehicles - they want the revenue.

The standing charge is a big issue, why aren’t gov stepping in to help? People can take steps to reduce energy consumption, as I, and most people I know have had to do, but are powerless to reduce the standing charge cost.

I don't know if I'm glad or not that people seem to agree!

It's just so infuriating knowing that all we can do now is to cut right back, but that, going on many past experiences, we'll still end up paying more, but for less - and being browbeaten that it's still somehow our fault.

I remember a recent thread where a poster came into contact through work with vulnerable people who were so poor that, in order to be able to keep their heads above water for the cold, dark months, they would switch off their gas and electricity completely during the summer. Goodness knows how they managed without, but I suppose if you have no money, you have no money.

They figured that, at least they could start again from a point of owing nothing - except they hadn't understood/factored in the standing charge, meaning that their pre-payment meters took the first several weeks of their new credit to repay the debt they'd built up for the 'privilege' of having no access to energy.

I really don't want to sound flippant, but we've all seen the heartbreaking charity appeals for impoverished developing countries, where people don't have access to clean water. I suppose, in the hierarchy of absolute basic essentials, gas and electricity are lower than water; but who would have thought that, in 2022, many people in the UK would not be able to access sufficient power to cook their food and not sit shivering in the freezing cold, even with four jumpers on?

I thought the standing charge has gone up to pay for the companies going bust? As it costs the new supplier to transfer all the customers across and deal with the added volume of calls etc

But agreed my standing charge increase was a surprise!

Our standing charge has doubled because our supplier is a wholesale company and they say it's the only way they can take advantage of the cap increase.

Our standing charge has doubled because our supplier is a wholesale company and they say it's the only way they can take advantage of the cap increase.

'Take advantage of' - that says it all, really, doesn't it?

I fully agree, we are also, hopefully, heading into the nicer months when energy usage naturally goes down, but even if I sit in the cold and dark every single day, I'm still going to wack up a big standing charge.

You haven’t included the following.

With each recession the government have kicked started the economy with the building trades, new builds, first time buyer homes, etc

My gut feeling is this time round they intend to man Eco Energy to kick start everything.

Makes sense, solar panels heat pump systems electric cars all need infrastructure to happen, the only way to force people to buy is to make the alternatives more expensive - it hasn’t escaped me that countries have targets to reduce emissions and a lot of companies are advertising their eco credentials.