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

I suppose the government could either subsidise by income/poverty (tricky) or insist on a low tariff for a ration of usage to be subsidised by higher rates for above ration usage though many disabled customers require higher usage. Neither will win favour by the party voters. In the 'wouldn't start from here', government torpedoing insulation and subsidies for green generation and tilting the economy to a low wage, low value added approach that enriches capital then removing gas storage and delaying nuclear renewal might have come home to roost. Perhaps un-mothballing any coal generation that hasn't been decommissioned like Germany is doing might help electricity pricing until coal prices spike??

I doubt you will be alone in pursuing an inflation-beating salary increase @BetterFuture1985 .Thus fulfilling the prophecy and fuelling inflation.

IMO the Govt will have to offer people on pension credit and the disabled some relief but it will need very close targeting.

I will certainly be doing the same

So when the little people ask for payrises it fuels inflation.

When the fat cats receive massive salaries, bonuses and payrises there are no inflation concerns.

Got it

Isn't it so

Inflation will be happening regardless as it is coming from imported goods. People need significant wage rises to keep up. I hope that there will be many more strikes over the coming months.

It may have escaped the hard of thinking but there are thousands of little people for every fat cat... And it will be the little people who bear the brunt of the strikes that MidnightMeltdown is anticipating with such relish. Some of us are old enough to remember the 1970s as adults.

Wishing BetterFuture a speedy success in the quest for a better-paid job.

So true. It’s hard to see people relish the difficulty it will bring for so many.

Yes they will but ultimately, if they cannot make ends meet, they will leave these jobs in any case e.g adult Social Care workers or Nurses Midwives and that will have a far bigger impact.

You cannot fail to have seen the distress that has been caused to "little people" who cannot get care packages.

I like the idea of a disabled tariff. If you can’t earn a living due to your disability, you can access to a special rate. Application for this can be backed up by your assessor or proof of the benefit you receive. Whether a carer or a recipient of PIP etc - you pay 19p per kw.

everyone else can pay 50p a unit or cut right down. And the minimum wage can go up to £13ph plus holiday pay. And anyone who is in receipt of child benefit or pension credits or JSA can go to the GP for free and everyone else can pay £15 per appointment.

If you were alive in the 70s then I guess that you're retired and therefore not a beneficiary of wage rises, but the fact is that wages have been stagnant for years and people simply can't afford to live anymore.

I fully support the rail workers, NHS workers and any other workers who want to strike. Action is needed.

Also worth nothing than when inflation was high in the 70s, wages grew rapidly, and housing was much cheaper. You can't have high inflation without big wage increases, otherwise people starve to death!

Minimum wage should be at least 30k by now

I started work in the 70s and am seven years off retirement age. My wage has been stagnant for years. :(

I am so fearful of what is to come this winter.

I’m a bit shocked by the “if you were alive in the 70s you must be retired. WTF? Those people or WOMEN in their late 40s have 20 years more in the labour market and are not boomers! Maths has obviously not penetrated the “it’s everyone else’s fault but ours” generation. Jesus.

So we have to pay to visit the GP now as well as paying huge energy bills.

I don't think so

"It may have escaped the hard of thinking"

It's a bit ridiculous telling people not to ask for pau rises because it will cause inflation making them poorer in the long run when those people are facing not to be able to keep a roof over their heads, heat their homes , or afford groceries in the next 6 months.....

Actually @MidnightMeltdown , we are both 66 and as we have a small business, we aren't retired either although it is the goal. But we also have employees whom we like and value and we hope that the business will continue to provide a decent living for them and their families. Which means selling it as a going concern. One of the saddest and least reported statistics is that fewer than 2 in 10 entrepreneurial businesses survive the death or retirement of the founder. And small businesses employ 60% of the UK workforce. It really IS a lot more nuanced than "I want to see more strike action". If our staff took strike action, we would fold the whole thing, overnight. They won't, and nor will we.

woodhill - that says everything about you. You don’t acknowledge the benefits to the disabled in my post but are bleating about paying £15 for a FP visit if you earn enough to not be on benefits. In Jersey in the Channel Islands it is £40 odd to get a GP apt. It means you can get an appointment within 2 hours. People spend £15 on coffees or Netflix. It IS affordable. You probably whined about an NI increase.

The NHS is not all about you. If you’re rich enough in this scenario to not get a free appointment you’re rich enough to enjoy how fast the system can work for you when funded properly not starved. And if you think it should be free for people who earn plenty then to stop it smashing, you need to be up for a 5% increase in your income tax instead becaus there isn’t enough money after all the furlough everyone enjoyed for the Big Cold that went round in 2020.

If you were alive in the 70s then I guess that you're retired

Wft I'm in my forties 😂

I don't want to pay to visit a GP, it feels like we are returning to the 1930s if it becomes that way.

Just because people aren't on benefits doesn't mean they are especially well off with the increases in cost of living

And I worked through lockdown, no furlough

Yes indeed I didn't want to pay more NI, again not on a huge salary myself

But that's the problem. Everyone thinks the GP should be free of charge, even when you could easily afford to pay a nominal charge to defray the admin costs of running the practice. I would happily pay my GP for a consultation by the minute provided the GP had access to the most up to date electronic medical record, from the three hospital departments I visit regularly. I am not suggesting that paediatric medicine or chronic illness cases should be the same, but the vast majority of working people needing treatment, aged between 18=55, should pay for the first appointment. On diagnosis, you might want to differntiate between cancer and a strep throat.