To think Britain is heading towards economical and social collapse

[Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase]

It feels like we are living in strange times, having come out of a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine and now the cost of living crisis and the added pressure from Brexit.

Ive barely slept tonight, worrying about what might happen with energy prices. I’ve heard the energy price cap is expected to rise to £3,850 in October. A few months ago I’m sure they predicting it would be £2,400 and that was horrifying enough.
Now I’m seeing people on the energy support Facebook group talking about monthly energy costs of £900 per month. It feels like this is escalating out of control very quickly and the Government are allowing us to sleepwalk into a disaster.

I realised tonight that if the price cap does keep increasing at the rate it has then what will happen to all the businesses once people can’t afford their energy bills anymore? They will probably increase their prices to try and cover their costs but that will drive down sales even more as people won’t have as much money to spend anymore. Eventually it will only be the essentials that we can afford so that surely means that all the other businesses won’t be able to afford to keep going?

Then what? Unless our government actually get their heads together about this then the whole country will end up in financial ruin and we will see the breakdown of society. Why so much focus on the leadership contest, surely that must take a back step.

Ive just checked the parliament website and the House of Commons has now gone into summer recess so they won’t meet again until September! I think this is an emergency situation and that they should be called back to focus on this. They get paid enough.

I think it’s outrageous that they can claim for utility bills on their expenses when there are people out there with young children who are worried about being cut off and put onto a prepayment meter.

I have had lots of talks with people in rl who are worried about the state of the NHS, cancelled ops, can't see GPs etc

Ok re the price cap.

The problem is the energy companies (who don't own a direct resource of gas ext shell, bp are excluded from this ) buy their energy from the same source. Energy is bought bit like the stock market, the problem is fixed tariffs hedge the market will stay the same or lower.
The unit rate price has gone mad, and these companies are now leaking money, ofgem regulates the cap -to lower cap would ultimately take quite a few of the big six down if not all and then we end up having a monopoly situation making this situation so much worse.

That said they have to balance it because people can't pay what they can't pay. Also ofgem sets the standing daily charge (the price you pay to be connected to the grid) that's nothing to do with the energy companies.

There's been talk of rationing energy because shock horror we don't produce enough of our own. Sadly this is a known fact and this has been coming for a while (why does everyone think there was a government push for smart maters - that wasn't the energy companies wanting to do that)

We are all in for a bumpy ride. It's gonna go a bit lord of the flies I think.

I agree the situation is not a positive one but don’t panic. The public sector is in dire straights after 10+ years of crap finding and being torn apart.

The best thing people can do to help protect their rights is to not vote conservative at the next general election.* *

To the pp who says "some people" might be worse affected, I work with a deprived community who are already accessing food banks, living in squalid housing etc. it's totally on the cards that these families/older people will not be able to put the lights and heating on. There will be deaths. And hopefully some civil unrest. I can't believe we are just all sitting around letting it happen! I certainly will not be able to pay £8/900 in power per month! We're totally fucked.

Which will do nothing except raise the cost of things.
If you raise minimum wage then companies raise their prices to pay for that. People are really no better off.
It’s better to control the cost of things like rent and energy than to add to the problem of spiralling costs.

But wages have stagnated for decades

I think people hugely under estimate
the amount of people living in absolute poverty in the UK , those who are already living on handouts from food banks, fareshare, social care top ups for their gas and electricity. Crime rates have soared for exquisite offences and will continue too as that’s the only way some people can generate income.
there are so many people living hand to mouth at the moment and it’s just going to get worse as the year goes on.

More catastrophising it’s getting boring now

I think there is 1/3 of the country this won’t affect at all, 1/3 who will manage by cutting back on luxuries etc and 1/3 who it will affect badly. There will have to be government help targeted at this group. I’m sure there will be.

We’ve been here before with past recessions.

I think most people in real life are probably too scared to admit they are worried about this incase they are told to ‘get a grip’.

I really hope nothing comes from this and it will somehow end up being resolved but can’t see how it will be anytime soon.

Take a look on the Energy Support Facebook group and you will see for yourself what kind of price increases people are having to deal with…

You don't seem to understand this is the price of energy on the world market. Last year so many suppliers went bust because they had locked customers in and the suppliers ended up losing money.

Those of you who keep on about France...they have nuclear energy so they are pretty self sufficient.

I think people will wake up to the fact that houses need to be insulated. Building standards in the UK have been dire for years - and that is "criminal"

Which will do nothing except raise the cost of things.

well as wages have been cut in real terms by 25% over the last 10 years why isn’t inflation dropping?

profits at the top, the top 100 companies in U.K. have increased by 75% on top of their normal profits - shareholders are going to have to do with out that extra yacht and cruise

whilst bosses reaching raises of 85% needs to stop

recessions are caused by people not having disposable income, the more people spending the better. One billionaire doesn’t eat in more local restaurants, but 1000 workers di if they have disposable income

Who do you think is going to pay for that?

The benefit of being quite old is that you live through several of these crisis events and realise that they always pass.

National strikes, the Cold War, black Monday, recessions, stock market crashes, housing crashes, falklands conflict, miners strikes. I am not saying any of this to minimise how people feel because it is an awful and worrying time and of course covid was an unprecedented event, but I suppose just to try to put this into perspective - we will manage, it will pass.

The Internet has a lot to answer for.

I'm not denying we are heading towards an massive recession, maybe ever war, but people will adjust and carry on.

@SushiShopSearch If I’m set the energy cap now, it’s something already that is done, but needs to be lower.

the government would have found it cheaper 2 years ago to Nationalise energy again than what they spent on private energy companies. we waste millions on shareholders dividend that could be used in much better ways

There will be a lot more pressure on the NHS and cancelled ops when energy starts being rationed in the winter months and people start falling ill because they can’t afford to heat their homes…

I can understand your concerns, op.
We all have a normalcy bias that makes it hard for us to imagine anything other than we're used to.
But look at the pandemic- who would have imagined you would be told to stay at home and not see your loved ones?
Times are changing, and I can imagine civil unrest. We are already entering into a period of strikes and if striking doesn't work, what happens next?
People's income will only go so far. There is an absolute crisis in health services and housing.
I'm worried for those already struggling, and those up to their eyeballs in debt/ mortgage.

I think people will wake up to the fact that houses need to be insulated. Building standards in the UK have been dire for years - and that is "criminal"

this I agree with you but the activists trying to get the government to insulate everyone’s homes & bring in a standard have been portrayed as monsters by the public? Probably the same public that’ll be moaning about heating costs?

@LaurieFairyCake
I suggest you read Klaus Schwab's book and look further into this. It really really isn't good. Look into who the members of the WEF and why they are pushing this agenda. It's frightening as fuck.

What can MPs do? They could take the energy companies more for a start. They are making hundreds of millions in profits every quarter because of the rising energy prices.

They could increase the one off payment that is due in autumn so that it actually covers the rise in energy prices. At the moment the £400 that they are planning to give everyone is much less than the poredicted increase.

You aren’t alone, with your fears OP, very difficult times ahead.

“well as wages have been cut in real terms by 25% over the last 10 years why isn’t inflation dropping?”

Inflation is being driven up by the soaring energy prices. It won’t fall as long as energy prices remain high. Increasing interest rates won’t make hardly any difference because people still need to spend money on essentials such as food and heating. People are being hit by a double edged sword - having to somehow pay for massive energy bills and higher interest rates which only benefit the wealthy.

You're not wrong OP, I see it too. I was listening to an ecomonist saying America's debt is now 100% of GLOBAL GDP, how're they going to pay that down? And isn't there a saying when America sneezes we catch a cold? Then there's Russia/Ukraine effecting both energy & food across Europe and who knows when that's going to end? Probably only when Putin dies. Then there's China. I barely hear it talked about here but they've got their own unprecidented mortgage crisis kicking off where the government has pumped in a trillion dollars & thousands of unfinished towerblocks are being demolished. I forsee civil unrest and rioting. In one year's time we're going to be living in dire straits. We're not even staring into the abyss, we've already falled in, but it's summer no one's noticed - yet.

I don’t know why we are not rioting or actually protesting - we just sit there and take it

i think there’s will be major Unrest

i