Energy bill price cap predicted to go to £3850 - 3 x what it was a year ago

[cakeorwine]

There is an AIBU here - but really it's posting for traffic

Russia is having 'maintainance issues' so has reduced the gas flow to Europe to a low level.

Gas prices have soared again.

Price cap prediction - £3850 - about 3 x what it was a year ago.

This is going to affect all of us

www.theguardian.com/money/2022/jul/27/uk-energy-bills-forecast-to-hit-3850-pounds-russia-cuts-gas-supply-further-europe-pipeline

As others have said, we will be layering up rather than turning heating on.

We'll also be keeping warm with the thought that it is worth it for Ukraine to be a free country. Zelensky is striking a blow for freedom and Russia has responded by turning off the gas.

Sod Putin! Any economic price is worth it and we will all celebrate when Ukraine joins NATO and the EU and Russia is defeated.

It's hard but not as hard as it is for Ukraine.

@SheeplessAndCounting that's my usage at the minute, obviously it's higher in winter! I'm on a low fixed rate

Your electricity is quite low - about 2.5 KWH per day.

Mine is about 3 - 4 KWH per day, depending a lot on DS and his showers / PC use

Your gas is low as well.
We used 155 KWH gas in June. But that maybe baths as well!! I do like a bath but that might become a treat soon
How do you cook?

I genuinely have no idea how you are paying so little. My direct debit is £300 per month and my house is smaller than yours (also old and draughty). In the winter, I think my heating goes straight through the windows. I've now got a smart meter and the standing charge is way more than £40 per month (for gas & electricity) - so that's before you've even switched on a single appliance. I do, however, notice that I use a lot less when the DC aren't here.

@MissHavershamJoinsTinder Your not wrong but equally the energy companies have to share this burden too, not carry on as business as usual.

I live in Sweden. The main group of people affected are owner-occupiers who own a house and are not on a fixed tariff. Last winter their bills shot up significantly and will probably do so again this winter, and there might be government assistant for them (there was last year).

Those who own flats will have their heating included in their monthly service charge. The service charge might go up but the building owners should have a buffer built in.

The overwhelming majority of tenants have their heating included in the rent (and landlords are limited to how much they can increase rent by) so will still be able to heat their homes as normal.

The trouble with not heating houses is that it can cause other problems like damp, mould, wood-boring beetles, woodworm etc., particularly in older houses. That could cost thousands to put right. I know most of us won't have a choice, it's just that it's not as simple as just not heating and everything's fine.

I'm sure most tenants pay their own bills... usually it's only if there's a shared heat source which is becoming increasingly rare or HMO's where there's only one meter for the whole property. Social housing, private rented entire properties etc will all be responsible for bills!

ah sorry, just realised you're talking about non-uk! They are lucky tenants!

I work in the domestic utility maintenance sector you'd be surprised how many people have the Roomstat set to 21c all year round. Some even have the stat set to max especially the infirm and elderly. My own parents had their stat set to 21c. Only in the colder months though.
I asked them and there were adding an extra £25 a month to cover the extra cost. I think they're in substantial credit. Plus they go on holiday for a month at a time, so they're not really around much.
It really is like a greenhouse in some properties. Not particularly pleasant to work in. Drenched.

I think the bills may hit an average of £5000 a yr at the current rate of increase which is obviously not sustainable. However, government intervention will encourage old usage patterns. People do need to be aware that there isn't a bottomless pit of energy.
However, the government is working on the Eco4 grant scheme, they need to inform every household via a marketing campaign.

We have an electric fan oven and induction hob. Changed from a gas hob last year which maybe wasn’t the best idea from a cost perspective! But I do love the induction and it is meant to be more efficient. We rarely have baths, sometimes in the winter but mostly we just stick to showers.

@Manzi are you on a fix? I don’t understand how your standing charge can be so high.

Not sure how though, maybe a shorter week for schools during the winter time?

But will windows and doors have to be open again if Covid surges?

@Hrpuffnstuff1 and have the heating on all day? I have my stat 20 but don't have the heating on all day for half a year.

Yes. If covid or another variant appears then schools are screwed again :(
I can honestly see a shorter week being introduced? Could they do this?

You get in debt which they pass on to a third party debt collector. Your credit rating gets shot, you get cut off. Perhaps in the future you have to have a pre paid meter.

I didn't think you could get cut off, is that really true?

Most of us are going to have to find ways of using less. Hopefully the government will protect the vulnerable properly as very old people and the chronically sick need heated homes.. I'm considering an air-fryer instead of my electric oven, and will turn the heating down to frost-stat. The power/ oil companies are making massive profits and this should be stopped or taxed at 90%.

Wealth is very unevenly distributed in the UK. Somebody upthread said they could actually afford to pay £10,000 p.a. for fuel. That is disgusting when so many can't even afford £1000.

There is also no justification for standing charges going up so much. That is an attempt to recoup the cost of so many energy companies going bust. The government should have covered this cost themselves as it is a consequence of the silly "market" system they have operated. It is safer and fairer to have a national system (not necessarily nationalised, could still be run by a private company or companies but with very closely-capped profit margins) where every customer pays the same rate. I know people will say it will just be put onto general taxation but income tax is at least less regressive than the standing charge mechanism which hits the poorest households disproportionately.

I don't really agree with having standing charges at all. I prefer all the charge on the unit rate so I have control over my own spending. There have been times in the past when this was the case and it worked perfectly well.

I won’t do that. I don’t know what to do but I won’t do that. I value my credit rating. Getting a mortgage or perhaps finance if I need a car or a credit card. I honestly think having threatening letters and debt collection letters down the line would be horrendous.

I'm sure pensioners can't be? or those with young dc?

Wealth is very unevenly distributed in the UK.

this is really important & the inequality is growing

They could cut the green levy to help people out for a start.

Plenty! It's what people are used to. I find central heating stuffy, and tend to have my heating quite low. When I visit friends I find it sweltering. There has also been a myth that it's cheaper to have heating on low all day than to turn it off and then on again.

They don’t cut you off,they take you to court to get a warrant to install a pre payment meter.it goes as a missed payment or default on your credit file.

Some customers have the stat set to 21c all year.😂
We're lucky this 4-story house I unusually warm, although the loft room is Boarded with the latest tech, Kingspan Kooltherm K118 Insulated Plasterboard.
It was free the government paid for it.
The house never drops below 16c.

Many patients through age or medical conditions feel comfortable with higher home temperatures. Patients with some conditions experience significant pain or medical difficulties when colder. Even last Winter, some who were struggling financially struggled in colder homes.