Page 6 | to think it’s not just the most vulnerable households that will need help with soaring energy bills?

Itsokay2020 · 2022-08-12T17:34:00+00:00

Just that really, I appreciate that all households will receive £400 from October (and we’ll be saving this money!) but we are a working household, with a mortgage but little other personal debt. We earn decent salaries, or at least they were, but if our energy bills increase from £130 to £350 plus, we will find things tight. We are not expecting any significant salary increases in the next 12 months. We haven’t had a family holiday abroad for several years, our cars are 9 years old, we rarely had takeaways and have stopped them altogether now. We’ve performed a financial review of our household expenditure, we can cut back if necessary (gym/tv subscriptions) but even so it doesn’t leave a huge amount of room for manoeuvre. I would prefer to get a second job than stop pension contributions, and have started to look more seriously at this. We’re questioning whether to sell up, and could potentially have enough equity to be mortgage free, but leaving family, friends and jobs we love stops us in our tracks. So, AIBU to feel that many households will need help, not just those deemed vulnerable?

lot123 · 14/08/2022 09:14

Ideally they need to address the issue at source, how can it be fair ordinary consumers keep paying more and more so the producers get huge profits and benefit from the world situation being what it is.

I know I keep banging this drum but how can the government address the issue of global demand and supply at source? I guess you could undo the Russian sanctions and buy energy from them but is that what people want? There may be some scope to increase U.K. production but that's minimal, in the short term at least.

There's been a huge rebound in global demand for energy post the pandemic, with travel, manufacturing etc resuming. With supply constraints (thanks to OPEC in part), wholesale energy prices have therefore soared.

The likes of BP and Shell aren't U.K. businesses like Royal Mail and the train companies that can be re-nationalised. They're global companies that have private shareholders that are also global. They pay U.K. taxes and provide employment. Do we want to impose sufficiently punitive measures that they try to reduce their presence in the U.K.? It's not a great signal to be sending to global businesses considering creating a presence in the U.K.

The rise in energy prices is eye-watering and I understand people's strength of feeling. But there's no easy fix other than adding to our huge public debt spot by subsiding energy bills. The one bit of good news is that petrol prices are already falling.

MarshaBradyo · 14/08/2022 09:23

lot123 · 14/08/2022 09:14

Ideally they need to address the issue at source, how can it be fair ordinary consumers keep paying more and more so the producers get huge profits and benefit from the world situation being what it is.

I know I keep banging this drum but how can the government address the issue of global demand and supply at source? I guess you could undo the Russian sanctions and buy energy from them but is that what people want? There may be some scope to increase U.K. production but that's minimal, in the short term at least.

There's been a huge rebound in global demand for energy post the pandemic, with travel, manufacturing etc resuming. With supply constraints (thanks to OPEC in part), wholesale energy prices have therefore soared.

The likes of BP and Shell aren't U.K. businesses like Royal Mail and the train companies that can be re-nationalised. They're global companies that have private shareholders that are also global. They pay U.K. taxes and provide employment. Do we want to impose sufficiently punitive measures that they try to reduce their presence in the U.K.? It's not a great signal to be sending to global businesses considering creating a presence in the U.K.

The rise in energy prices is eye-watering and I understand people's strength of feeling. But there's no easy fix other than adding to our huge public debt spot by subsiding energy bills. The one bit of good news is that petrol prices are already falling.

Appreciate these posts as they give a global perspective

LargeLegoHaul · 14/08/2022 09:36

Itsokay2020 · 14/08/2022 08:03

@Ithinkthatisenoughnowthanks at no point did I say they shouldn’t!

@GreenLunchBox eh? What has the DM have to do with this? There are benefits calculators that helpfully provide the information, it’s not hard to check it from there

Can you provide rough workings for that? As I don’t see how you would have more disposable income as a single parent in rented accommodation on UC unless DH earns less than your mortgage amount, and even then not always.

ivebeencalledworse · 14/08/2022 09:55

worriedatthistime · 12/08/2022 18:48

Whats also worrying is the talk off electric blackouts etc just as we seem to be pushing towards more reliance on electric ( cars , heating etc )

Isn't there talk in the think tanks about reducing or getting rid of private car ownership? I suppose it's expected that fewer people will own cars, and thus fewer cars on the road in future?