Energy bills and spending money

[Titterofwit]

Article in <a class="break-all" href="http://archive.today/2022.07.29-175318/www.thetimes.co.uk/article/big-families-face-spending-quarter-of-income-on-energy-bills-this-winter-7qlss3h65" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The times yesterday warning that big families/high users could spend a quarter of their income on energy.
Add that to over half of their income for a lot of people for housing costs and there isnt a lot left over for everything else necessary for a large household .
I wonder what the government thinks will happen to all of the people put out of work when nobody can afford to buy anything other than the basic necessities.
Already the charity shops are looking more sparse and I think this is an early indication of what is to come generally.
In one way i think this is a good thing - no cheap goods made to be thrown away after one use. On the other hand the manufacture and sales of these have kept a lot of businesses and therefore livelihoods going. What will happen when they are beyond a lot of pockets casually buying what they fancy?
Im really worried for friends who work in small businesses that need a constant flow of customers.

Agreed. It's all going tits up for those small companies that struggled through covid only for this to happen. But if my spare money is going on gas bills there is nothing to spend on fripperies.

Those same businesses are also going to have sky high utility costs to pay. I can see many going bust. And what about hospitals and schools? their budgets have been cut to the bone and presumably don’t have the funds to pay more than double they are now. The govt can shut libraries and some public building to save heating them but can’t shut hospitals and school.

Yep, plus unfunded pay increases for teachers. So many schools will run in deficit, which they obviously can't do. Fun times ahead.

@Allywill can they shut public buildings? My understanding was that councils are being told to provide warm spaces for those unable to heat their own homes to do to. I thought that those spaces would be in public buildings such as libraries and various halls? (I did only skim read the news).

@Alphabet1spaghetti2 Maybe it will be like this: Guardian article on Germany

There is a grant of £500 available for community groups to set up warm spaces e.g in places like church halls etc but it’s hard to see how this will fund keeping the lights and heating on for any length of time even if it’s just dec - feb. The £500 cant be used to pay staff either , so things like cleaning and admin will also have to be paid for.

How disgusting that this I even necessary. And they want us to vote them back in again. Fuck me.

Why is the global energy crises the governments fault? Or any government for that matter, Germany, Italy, USA etc etc etc

@Turnandfacethestrangechanges So how I live now then…..
@OneFrenchEgg totally agree.

@BigWoollyJumpers because there is a lot more that can be done than generously allowing people to go to 'warm' banks to avoid freezing to death. Soon it'll be completely accepted as normal and helpful just like food banks.
And don't ask me for the detail because that's not my job. I do know there's an alternative to signposting pensioners and single parents to a village hall before returning to a frozen bedroom.

Sorry about the link . It showed correctly in the preview.
I hadnt even started considering the fact that everyone including schools and larger workplaces have huge heating bills to pay for and the knock on effects of that.
I really dont understand how this has been allowed to happen .

The tories will turn going to a 'warm bank' as bringing back community spirit blah blah.

Yes I know the energy crisis is not totally the governments fault but they could be doing more. Putting solar panels on roofs and huge discounted rates so people can actually afford to get them would be a starter!