To wonder how people will financially survive?

[Cupcakeicecream]

To think that many people are struggling already. Food price rises, gas and electric costs. The general cost of living due to inflation from either brexit since the pandemic and Ukraine war. But come on some people were struggling before any of those factors. Financially people will be pushed to breaking christmas will be off the cards general life will stagnate no meals out leisure activities cinema socialising new clothes treat foods. The threat of blackouts and wondering how we will pay bills to keep warm or keep a house running. Never mind buying food the price of it plus the large gaps on shelves. Winter will be miserable. It's becoming impossible to live in this country.

We’re spiralling down to catastrophe. If you think it’s a shit show now, wait until this time next year !!

Oh totally off topic but this got me right in the gut remembering my gran!her house had a heater in the bathroom up on the wall.one of those that when your turned it on and the prongs got hotter and turned amber!

I had one of those in my last flat - now I have a fan heater on the wall.

I agree with you to a certain extent, but I don’t think UC or it’s predecessors have helped. Over the years it’s encouraged employers to pay low wages in the knowledge that the welfare system is there to provide ‘top ups’ at the expense of the tax payer. It’s not sustainable.

Just to point out that the average is usually used to describe the mean not the median or the mode.

If 200 people have to pay £500 a month for their energy and only 1 person gets to pay £250 then the mean or average amount for those 201 people is £498.75 a month.

I already pay £440 per month up from £300 so I am shitting myself. I have a disabled son, we don’t have medical equipment but he had sensory needs which add loads to the electric and gas bills. Washing 2 or 3 loads a day, constant baths, all the lights on in the house all the time. The £150 disability payment isn’t going to help at all and for some reason, despite being on UC, highest rate, he didn’t get the cost of living payment.

It doesn't bear thinking about. I am hearing some horror stories from older people about relatives being thrown out of hospital earlier than they should, being sent home without care packages or the assessments they should have had. If people have to put up with cold damp homes there will be massive surge in people with long term respiratory illness being admitted. Or older people getting malnourished.

No - we should view Russia’s burning off of ‘surplus’ gas for what it is. Callous revenge for Western sanctions which were imposed for their callous disregard for the rights of Ukraine to exist as a sovereign nation. Would you have struck a deal with Hitler ? Because the only difference between Hitler and Putin, is that Hitler didn’t have nuclear weapons.

I find this a difficult one there is genuine severe poverty for some but also many people live beyond their means use finance deals for everything and then have crazy out goings which was already a tight rope I see it time and time again with friends.

But I worry about my parents who have 2 car finance deals and are pensioners (one deal is for "d"b who had horrendous credit).

The energy costs are extremely painful but as a society we have become crazy at spending too and thinking we should be entitled to it.

We had the same free cycle furniture for 7 years until we had enough money to buy something else and lived off a combined income of 17k for many years. Now we have more but still live very cheaply. I genuinely feel for those struggling, but there is also a difference in what people need to what people want for some.

Why were the government so quick to step in with all those COVID support measures versus practically nothing of substance in this situation?

The poorest are getting a gift of £1,250 per household towards their bills. Is that nothing of substance?

Yes, instead of capping prices as so many people on here are demanding, the government should do the exact opposite, put an extra tax on each kwh of gas used, then distribute all the proceeds of that tax among all household electricity accounts. (Electricity because not everyone has a gas account. Some of the burden of the tax will be built into electricity prices because of gas used in generation.)

Make the tax high enough that 99% of the population are doing everything they can to reduce their consumption.

I’m fairly even keeled about all this but I think an announcement of an extra tax would tip people over

Enough people will reduce their consumption as it is

No they're not.

The government is giving the energy companies £31biillion. None of us will even get a glimpse of it.

If anyone is interested in signing this petition:

“We call on the Government to double the Windfall Tax so that oil and gas firms do not make a single penny in excess profits out of this crisis. This could raise many billions in additional funding that must then be used to help people through this cost-of-living emergency.”

www.change.org/p/hike-the-windfall-tax-on-oil-and-gas-profits-not-our-energy-bills-0a4586a3-5f73-4055-b0b7-83307190f349?redirect=false

I do think that we need to view the hardship in the context of our climate change targets. Getting to net-zero is going to be hard, it’s going to involve some real sacrifices, and although that’s not the reason for the current price rises, we should not ignore the fact that some genuine good will come from the reduced usage.

It’s coming off your bill.

There is a petition on change . org at the moment if anyone is interested in signing.

“We call on the Government to double the Windfall Tax so that oil and gas firms do not make a single penny in excess profits out of this crisis. This could raise many billions in additional funding that must then be used to help people through this cost-of-living emergency.”

“We must also urgently tackle the eye-watering levels of profits that North Sea oil and gas companies are making on the backs of higher bills for ordinary people.”

The” Conservative Government’s Windfall Tax is set far too low and lets the oil and gas giants off the hook. They are continuing to make vast undeserved profits at levels way beyond what they had ever expected.”

I profoundly sympathise. In my opinion the government will have to do more or our economy will collapse. Since their policy of deregulation and not investing in infrastructure is part of why we find ourselves here, I cannot be sure they'll choose wisely. In the meantime have you checked with CAB that you're getting all the help you can?
Here's the calculator for this price rise:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-are-the-price-cap-unit-rates-/#tool

To get the full £1250 you would have to be a pensioner on pension credit, eligible for the winter fuel allowance and be in receipt of one of the qualifying disability benefits. So the ‘poorest’ who sit just above the means testing thresholds won’t get anything like £1250.

@PasTropCher

Is it really a discount off our bills if we're still being charged more than ever before?

The government is giving the energy companies carte blanche to charge us three or four times what they charged us last year, AND giving them £31billion of public money on top.

Forgive me but I don’t think achieving net zero is going to be high on the list of most people’s priorities while they’re trying to keep warm this winter.

Yes, it really is. The government is using the money from borrowing and from taxing higher earners to reduce your bill.

They are giving you the money. If they did not your bill would still be just as high but you’d not be getting any help with it.

No, but fortunately the price increases mean that we’ll still see the reductions in usage that we need.

It’s going to be hard, but as they say, it’s an I’ll-wind that blows no good.

I'm counting on my wealthy mum to help us. She's wonderful and has already said she will make up any gap we need.

She's precious and one in a million.

We'd be fucked otherwise.

No @PasTropCher

The government is using public money to prop up the failing energy companies.

If I use zero energy this winter, the energy company still gets the £400 with my household name on it.

It’ll sit on your account until you use more energy.

And please, you won’t be using zero energy. Bringing up ludicrous hypotheticals is pretty dishonest.