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

He's not well respected. Everyone professional in the areas he comments on knows he has no clue.

And yes the UK should have pursued nuclear power. And no, it won't disappear under the sea any time soon.

Yup. He's given people lots of helpful advice over the years but that advice was AWFUL and I'm very sorry for anyone vulnerable that took it.

There would have been and are different ways to have dealt with the situation

Such as?

Nuclear power stations don't produce CO2

I know this has been harped on about in other threads, but we’ve coped without central heating before, and can do again, without multiple deaths from freezing.

Nope. At the time people lived in those (appalling) conditions, the average life expectancy was much lower. We now have a large elderly population who would not survive in those temperatures.

Also many modern medical devices require power to work, so homes with vulnerable people can't be left with no electrical power.

And many standard phone lines have been discontinued (the whole lot meant to be phased out by 2025) so if there is a mobile outage and power outage people will not even be able to call an ambulance. There are ways to rig up a back up for this, but many older people do not know they need to, or how to do it.

Aside from it being totally unacceptable in 2022 for our Government to neglect energy security to a point where there is ice inside the windows.

Your post is absurd. This is not the 1950s.

I don't understand why it's not law to build all new homes with solar panels (and 'pointing' in the right direction - not just how many houses can be squeezed onto a site) and grey water tanks to take the waste water for use in the garden, loo etc., for the environment.

You cannot use "greywater" in the garden as anything other than a temporary measure unless you want to poison your plants and soil. And you should never use it for any plants you intend to eat. As a very temporary measure in a drought to stop ornamental plants dying it is ok. But agree that it should be recycled for flushing loos, and new builds should have this plumbed in.

Or that these people really exist in large enough numbers to be relevant to the overall discussion.

The government should have covered this cost themselves as it is a consequence of the silly "market" system they have operated

I agree this is their fault for having no strategy for energy security and supporting Brexit which has made GBP plummet by 30% against the dollar so made things much worse for us than it would have been as fuel and food etc is purchased in USD.

But what do you mean by "the Government should cover the cost"? They have no money, only our money, that we as a country, as an economy generate. Cover it with what? Sure they can print more but that just means what we already have is worth less. That doesn't create new "value". That is the mess: no productivity growth in what, 20 years now?! Fiscal policy to fix this is the only solution and unsurprisingly none is forthcoming.

🤣🤣🤣

Some of these comments are hilarious.

That would save what, £150 per year from bills on average?

Great solution.

People forget we have an older population now than in "the good ol' days" when they enjoyed the ice inside windows.

What was the point in all the lockdowns to protect older people if this winter we just leave them to freeze?

Lockdown was never about protecting anyone old or young.

Agree. I thought the same about the number of older people, and life expectancy.

I feel it would be the same people insisting (when people are struggling to budget) that smart phones and the Internet are a luxury "because we lived perfectly well without then in the 1980s"

The 'green levy' is not just about 'green' energy support. It also provides support for social support for people with energy - covering things such as the warm homes discount scheme.

www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/warm-home-discount/

This is money off your bill if your supplier is part of the scheme and you get guaranteed pension credit.

Of course, this is detail and it doesn't sound as good as saying they are going to remove green levies. I don't think it will be a good look if they said they are going to stop supporting a scheme that helps reduce poor pensioners bills

That’s how I feel @furries

do we fix then it will go back to normal

it can’t stay high like this forever

people will literally die of cold or starvation.

@Rinatinabina do you understand the difference between past statistics and forecast future growth? If so your post makes no sense. As you know, I suspect.

Be interesting if the people who repeatedly voted for it could step forward and tell us why. But I suppose many did say that they knew what they were doing and didn't care if it made them poorer. It's just a shame they got to inflict that on everyone else as well.

Nope. Brexit is very relevant. GBP has plummeted 30% or so against the dollar and we import essentials like energy and food priced on international markets in dollars, so they are costing us 30% more than they were before.

This is what happens when you deliberately trash your exports and your balance of payments deficit quadruples from 2% to 7-8%. Hence even more devaluation of GBP and more inflation... etc.

Other factors are clearly causing some of these problems but only somebody with no grasp of economics could claim that Brexit hasn't made it all a whole lot worse and more painful than it needed to be.

Hilarious isn't it that people think Cummings invented this idea?! 🤯😆 It's been around for centuries.

Sure it's been around for centuries. With a marketing degree we slaved over advertising on TV, in magazines. The internet has been a gift. Give an influencer a bottle of disinfectant and you're away these days 👍

Well, if one drinks the disinfectant one will not be too bothered about the price rises.😂

I know this has been harped on about in other threads, but we’ve coped without central heating before, and can do again, without multiple deaths from freezing.

Nope. At the time people lived in those (appalling) conditions, the average life expectancy was much lower. We now have a large elderly population who would not survive in those temperatures.

I live in a country which can get very cold in winter in some places, and central heating is rare here. I realise people living in cold and damp houses (and a cold house does not actually have to mean a damp house) is not great, but we don't have multiple deaths from freezing here - and I believe life expentancy here atm is higher than it is in the UK. Here we generally heat the room we are living in, and the rest of our houses are often like a fridge. I don't need my bedroom heated, I'm perfectly warm in my bed. My bathroom has a heater on the wall which I turn on while I have a shower, then turn off again. My parents managed to survive in old age living the same way. None of us consider we are living in "appalling conditions"

Where is this very cold country that doesn’t have much central heating? Poland? Canada? I believe Iceland and Norway have well heated houses so I’m kind of intrigued.

Does where yoh live have that horrible cold mist and muzzle that seeps into walls creating damp, or is it a dry cold? Because Britain is damp.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow I’m guessing NZ

It couldn't possibly be NZ. One of the reasons they have such terrible rates of asthma and asthma admissions in children is the combination of poorly insulated housing, crappy weather and log burning stoves. It's hardly an advert for living without central heating.