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?

This isn't right. The price cap for prepayment meters is only about £30 a year more than it is for direct debit customers. The reason prepayment is normally much more expensive is because most of us got cheap fixes far below the price cap. The price cap is no longer a ceiling but a floor.

We're probably having to opt out of our pension contributions to free up a bit more cash each month. That'll cost us the tax saving, plus the employer contributions. But it's literally the only place I can think of getting extra money from.

Unfortunately we can't opt out of our student finance payments each month. Thats £300 a month that comes out after tax. That'd massively help, and they could just add the months missed back on at the end of the 25 year cut off.

Well you’re lucky because you at least have an easy and immediate answer! If you can afford for your teens to behave how they like, fine. If not - now is the time to stop them.

Yes interesting!

Quote:

Ofgem says if it kept the average dual-fuel tariff at April’s £1,971, then the rising cost of wholesale gas would be swallowed by the industry.

The regulator has decided against this route because it says forcing utility companies to absorb costs would make them all loss making and force several into bankruptcy. They would need a government subsidy and billions of pounds in rescue loans for those that went bust.

But the government could go down this route and become the owner of a merged utility company. France already owns most of its national electricity supplier, EDF, and is about to buy the remaining shares to keep prices capped.

Which will just push us further into recession

They seem to be using the price cap as a target though, cap goes up, so do the bills.............

Thanks for this. Interesting to see how these companies pushed for smart meters and can now remotely disconnect people. Very interesting. We refused one as we rent our property.

I wonder how they will manage to fit smart meters the millions of homes that might not pay.

I'm actually glad we have oil heating now tbh, at least we can't spend more than we can afford and there's no standing charge. Its bloody scandalous and no help is forthcoming with the latest Tory beauty contest in full flow.

I was on quarterly billing befor ei moved here...able to switch etc, both homes are rented, this one already had a so called prepayment smart meter , they refused to change it unless i was willing to pay over 1K to do so, interstingly the first question they asked was the value of the property and how many rooms, NOT what is your usual usage..... I suspected profiteering then and am absolutely convinced of that now... we pay waaay ove rthe odds and hardly use any power

Truss is being grilled on it a lot today:

"What I'm talking about is enabling people to keep more money in their own pockets"

PM hopeful Liz Truss says "we should be on the side of people who do the right thing... people who are contributing to the economy"

Oh right thanks!

That did pass me by. I think it was the fixed price header and figure should have read on

that’s very useful. The unit rate has gone up from 7.919p per kWh to 15.752p per kWh

Not sure if that's good will have a Google around

I agree that many could not manage over £300 per month. I predict that more than the current level of promised financial assistance will be provided.

Truss is mental. Sunak is clueless.

god help us all.

@XVGN I wonder what would happen to prices if the man in the east took up sky diving without a parachute?

You should be putting in readings every month. They over estimate what you owe every month. My account is currently sitting at £230 extra, deliberately because let's face it winter is going to be shit. I'd rather take the hit now than later. I'll keep paying a lower amount over winter and hopefully will catch up by next year. But that could go wrong with the increases, we will see.

Rosehugger - How has your bill gone up by 80%? Were you on a really low tariff before the April price rise? Mine has only gone up by roughly 33%.

It's really worth taking some time to understand how the billing works, what you are paying in standing charges and per kwh and how much you use a year (and in different seasons).

Deystifying the bills helps a little - if only to help you predict more clearly what your own personal cost incraeses are likely to be.

Actually, businesses are subsidising the residential area since their rates are not capped.

Also, a private company exists to make profit. If we want to nationalise them (good luck), then yes, we can direct all that profit to knocking down energy bills. But keep in mind, we don't have the capability to go and nationalise Gazprom or Saudi Aramco or Exxon. We could maybe do Centrica and BP and Shell, but that would cost hundreds of billions just on the purchase arrangement alone with their current market cap.

It’s awful. I’m stocking up on fleeces and warm clothes ready for winter. Lots of socks and slippers for the kids

Is it a dual tariff? Do you have a rate for the electric? What's the exit fee like?

Fwiw, I think it might be worth locking that gas rate in, I expect it'll be there or there abouts when the new cap is revealed at the end of the month and it'll save you from further increases over the next 2/3 quarters.

Without the price cap, you'd be paying the current at cost charge for energy the suppliers are getting with their contracts. And you would not want to be paying that.

This is why suppliers are struggling to turn a profit and many failed last year, because the cap is making them earn well below breakeven on what they've bought.

We really need VAT and green levies off household energy bills. Pushing ourselves into abject poverty to tinker with carbon emissions - not the time.

Easily done, I think, over the last couple of years:

In Jan 2020 the price cap was £1042
In Apr 2022 it went up to £1971

That's a 90% increase.

We were on a fixed rate in Jan 2020 and are now on the cap. Despite a 15% reduction in yearly energy usage, we're now paying twice as much as we were.

One argument against nationalisation is how much it would cost to buy out the shareholders but I have an idea. Govt force Ofgen to lower the price cap to 2020 levels. Energy companies make a loss. Share price collapses. Govt bails them out by taking them over like they did the banks in 2009.

Producers vs suppliers