To think that very few people can manage £4200 energy bills

[Butterflyfluff]

news.sky.com/story/energy-bills-forecast-to-rise-even-higher-than-previously-thought-12668906

This simply isn’t manageable for the majority of people.

Where’s this going to end?

@SleeplessInEngland I agree whoever get the Job as PM will chuck money / grants at it and then they will be seen as the saviours and get voted back in again - maybe it’s a political plan to keep them in government 😂
We will all be so grateful that we are warm we will vote them back in probably

Although whoever announced right now that they were going to put a price cap / give out £££ would be voted in quicker than someone being voted for on Love Island 😂😂

We need a general election to get rid of there fucking Tories. They do not give. A shot about the general public. I want a goverment who just pretend to care!

We’re paying £250 a month at the moment and am lucky that we fixed in January before the massive hikes, I’m so worried about what happens when they end plus we run our own business which will be viewed as non essentials, we got through Covid, gosh knows if we’ll get through this.

And far less than you'll be paying this October. All charges over a year are for actual useage, fixed rates only fix the per unit charge & SC. If you don't use as many units as estimated you get a refund (or go into credit).

I pay £340 a month at the moment and am dreading the October rise.

The price cap is the maximum amount that can be charged for “a typical household”, defined as 2,900kWh electricity and 12,000kWh gas per year.

If you use more than that, your bill will be higher. If you use less than that, your bill will be lower.

Do you think there will be marches or strikes or refusals to pay? Is it a civil unrest situation?

People will use energy and won’t pay
there will be riots

I don't get this. How can it be a maximum amount if you can still be billed more?

It doesn’t apply to units of usage. It’s the total rate amount they can charge per unit.

@KalaniM I think if people are truly hungry, cold, can't afford to travel, being evicted etc. they will not have the energy to protest. But if people are concerned enough before we get to that stage, it may happen.

Because the only thing capped on the variable rate is the unit rate. It's not an all you can eat energy buffet.

The £4200 is the amount you will pay on the capped unit rates if you use the typical amount of electricity, otherwise it's more or less based on your usage.

There's never been a cap on energy use, only a cap on the amount that can be charged per unit of energy.

I doubt there will be any meaningful civil unrest.
It will be stopped before it begins for starters plus we are very bad at it. The 2011 riots didn't really achieve much and when things turn nasty people tend to end up just hating each other for causing more money to be spent tidying up after everyone else. It can create more problems than it solves tbh.
Not everyone would be willing to cancel their energy payments as reconnection charges are huge and it just messes up your credit ratings.
I haven't the answers, but anyone encouraging riots isn't a good idea.

Well we won't be facing bills anything like that - the heating will stay off unless it is literally freezing (rare in Hampshire), and we'll be wearing extra clothing indoors.

I grew up without CH in a single glazed draughty house. It could be miserable now and then, but not relentlessly dreadful.

That was NOT Martin Lewis’ advice - it’s a viral post being shared with his image attached but he has not given that advice - it’s not even accurate, suppliers don’t pay £500 per complaint to the ombudsman for a start.

Get a dehumidifier and run that. The removal of damp will mean the air is drier and cheaper to heat. Additionally the enthalpy of the condensing of the water will mean you have a high coefficient of power for the compressor, meaning it will output more heat than the electric energy put into it were it a simple resistive powered space heater.

It is also always cheaper to heat and cool yourself as opposed to a large volume of the building. Using blankets and hot water bottles and having the thermostat low to protect the house from freezing pipes or condensation, will be more effective.

And don’t be poor.

Possible, i think the Don't Pay Campaign should be a "Freeze Direct Debits" Campaign.

Very difficult to disconnect or take to court if your are will to make a "reasonable" payment.

If enough do this, then something will have to give.

It is mad. On the one hand we have had the government talking about windfall taxes because energy firms are making so much money. On the other hand Ofgem doubled the price cap in the spring and are doubling it again.

The govt is apparently looking at 'organised blackouts' while planning for a reasonable worst case scenario: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-09/uk-braces-for-blackouts-gas-cuts-in-january-in-emergency-plan#xj4y7vzkg

What would happen do you think if everybody continued to pay what they previously paid, and no more? !!

Might have to have a 3 day week maybe?

Yeah. I won't be paying that.

dontpay.uk

I don't know what the suppliers pay, but I work for a gas transporter and it is hundreds we pay for any complaint that is passed to the ombudsman.

I dread every time I put the news on now. We were formerly comfortable but we have a 1 year old in full time nursery and combined with the rises in everything else it is crippling. Cost is just shy of 17k per year reduced to 15k with tax free childcare but we're 7k over cap so we're still paying tax on that. No family help and nursery are having 6 monthly increases because of the current economic state. Mortgage fix ends in Jan 24. Was hoping to move to a bigger place but expect mortgage to increase and it's looking more unlikely as time goes on.

Got my first ever message from UK Power Networks - a couple of weeks ago during the heatwave we paid the highest ever spot price to cope with an electrical surge.

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-29/u-k-spot-power-prices-surged-to-highest-on-record-in-september

If we have a very cold, windless winter and Putin cuts the gas it will be factory shutdowns and power cuts and prices to the moon.

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I actually think this could be a reasonable course of action.

Fuel poverty is defined as spending more than 10% of your household income on fuel.

So how about people refuse to spend more than 10% of their own income.

If your income is £1000 a month, pay a maximum of £100 or all your bill if this is lower.

If your income is £2000 a month, pay a maximum of £200 or all your bill if this is lower.

etc etc.

That means that lower income households are kept out of fuel poverty and higher income households will still probably be making some sort of protest over winter unless they have a very high income.