My energy bill will still quadruple even if I put a jumper on?

[verdantverdure]

AIBU to think that even if I participate in this weird new “wear warm clothes in wintertime” trend, shut doors, buy draught excluders, buy Oodies, buy thermal curtains, and buy a £300 air fryer my energy bill will still quadruple.

Especially as most people wete already doing all or some of that.

Nothing short of turning the heating off is going to make much difference is it?

(Although of course I'm trying.)

After all, the money saving expert himself, Martin Lewis, says this isn’t something individuals can fix on their own , and it would be pretty arrogant to think I know better than him.

The "Put a jumper on" advice doesn't help British businesses at all does it?

What do you think?

If NOT using your highest energy churning appliances means your bills will STILL increase fourfold, then there is a massive problem with the system - the way the energy company charges for usage!

The amount per day that they charge you for having connection shouldn't change, but the actual usage amount should not go up to four times the amount if you DON'T use the heater or other high energy churning appliances more than average.

I don't live in the UK, but NOT using the heater or A/C excessively has always kept my bills down to roughly the same every quarter during the coldest or hottest months. I actually haven't used the heater at all for years (jumpers and gloves and socks really DO work), and the A/C is only for short periods on the hottest days - which only increases the summer bill a little bit.

One jumper! we were wearing 4 and 2 pairs of trousers last winter to save for fertility treatment, I guess it'll be the same plus a fleece blanket this year.

@MistressoftheDarkSide

Wherever the fuck this is headed, it’s going to be way worse than everything we can imagine, and none of it will be solved by individual stoicism.

And no, I really don’t think I am catastrophising or scaremongering - I’m 53 and as pragmatic as they come.

This is different, very different.
^^
I agree.
And the government leaving us hanging is very disconcerting.
This will effect every one if left unchecked.

I thought the point was that they are useful for when you weren't going to fill the oven? We are a family of two so would only cook four jacket potatoes at a time (two nights worth) for example.

I don’t think a lot of Joe public really understand how bigger impact this will be. Turning the heating down a few degrees and wearing extra jumpers will save a few quid a week. It won’t save you thousands of pounds a year. Martin Lewis has said this will
be horrendous.

I also agree we can’t compare this to the 70s. This was a different era. We didn’t have the internet or online shopping then. Shops and pubs were much busier, there was a lot less to do for entertainment.

Everything was nationally owned in the 70s too. I think that’s important to remember.

We are now in a digital age of technology. High streets were saved from covid largely down to furlough, as were hospitality jobs.

But with increased energy bills, they simply can’t pass these prices on. Pubs, restaurants, gyms, nail salons etc etc. That’s a lots of people employed in these sectors. They could go. Forever.

I think it was 5 of the UKs largest breweries told the government that there will be mass closures if help doesn’t come quickly. Pubs closed. Permanently, they will not re open.

The town I used to live in is having its Wetherspoons closing next month. It’s been there for almost 30 years. I’at always faulty busy too. So very surprised. This may not be down to the energy crisis , but it does made me wonder.

Truss or Sunak haven’t said what their plan is. Truss only talks of tax cuts and Sunak just gives vague answers about doing whatever it takes. Why can’t either of them tell us now what they’ll do? Businesses are on a cliff edge.

Im no economist. But there are options they government could do.
Windfall taxes -would help but we need the energy companies to set out an infrastructure for the future. So just taxing them won’t be the answer.
Cutting VAT on energy -would help, until prices settle down again.
Temporary rise in income tax- maybe rise it by 1 or 2 %? Most people wouldn’t miss paying a very small rise in income tax if it saved them hundreds of pounds a month on
energy bills.

A lot of the middle class have never really thought about the energy bills other than from a sustainability and mild manner twist about the cost. Us included used to turn on the heating before grabbing a jumper but also put on the electric fire before the heating managed to warm the house. We run a hot tub and have many lights that come on automatically from sunset to bedtime.

It is people like us that will be able to cut bills by being more sensible. To be honest I can't see us lowering the gas bill very much as it's still rather cheap in comparisons to electric. We've invested in solar panels with batteries to cut the amount we have to buy off the grid and hopefully be self sufficient most of the year. Bought a more fuel efficient car and have stocked up on logs incase it does come to gas rationing over the winter. I would say I would rather they prioritised using the gas to generate electric as you can always use that for heat, having gas is no use if you don't have electric to run the boiler.

NOT using the heater or A/C excessively has always kept my bills down to roughly the same every quarter

But this year it won't. Whatever your usual bill is a quarter it is going to quadruple. The rise in standing charge is so much that even if you used no gas or electricity the bill is still going to be more expensive.

And this is without price rises caused because businesses have higher energy.

My step-son misunderstood the “fixed” tariff thing when he moved into his house and didn’t submit a meter reading for 3 years. It was a new build property and his was one of the first built so took a while for the address to appear on systems etc. By the time all this came to light he was significantly in debt as he had been underpaying for 3 years. He then had a smart meter fitted which is good as he’d never remember to submit a meter reading every month even with the reminders you get. I wouldn’t say he is stupid but a bit naive and disorganised. He did have his own rented flat before the house so I think I just assumed he knew how it all worked but I guess his costs in the flat were very low so it was never an issue. And because it had all been ok in the flat I guess he assumed the house would be the same. He’d pay what the energy company told him to and that was all he needed to do!

I’ve said this 100 times before. The only way a shit storm can be stopped is for the government to act. Now. Relying on people to make a few meagre changes ain’t gonna do fuck all.
Excuse my language but I’m so frustrated that Boris has left us in a huge mess and floats around without a care in the world. What the fuck is he being paid for the last few months? Gardening leave?
We need MPs with backbone who actually want to help its citizens.
Instead we just get wishy washy vague answers from politicians who don’t even answer a simple question .

The way Boris and his cronies have handled this crisis is appalling. I’m amazed people still talk about Boris like the sun shines out his back.
Boris lies. And ditches people. He ditched his wife and kids.He even went to court over one of his kids to deny responsibility of them.

And now he’s leaving us in a shit storm. Brexit hasn’t even started yet. The true consequences have just started. You can’t even get a direct train to Disneyland Paris now. You have to go to Paris and go through immigration control.

Cut down on immigration? Funnily enough since Brexit, it has done the opposite. Hundreds a day are still coming here illegally.
Brexit won’t stop migration.

And now Boris has ditched us too, including the millions who put their faith in him.

Temporary rise in income tax- maybe rise it by 1 or 2 %? Most people wouldn’t miss paying a very small rise in income tax if it saved them hundreds of pounds a month on
energy bills.
I don’t see how that can work? 32m working people pay a couple of hundred pounds more tax so 27m households can receive thousands of pounds in benefits to cover their bills? The numbers don’t add up. For that to work each working person would have to be paying enough extra tax to cover 0.85 households worth of bills. A 1-2% rise wouldn’t cover it! You’d be looking at taking maybe 10-15% of the average persons salary to cover a scheme like that.

@RancidOldHag love the user name btw.

Being raised by parents who remember rationing meant never being allowed to waste anything. You never replaced anything till it was worn out and stuff was mended. Plus whilst technology has improved it means gadgets are less fixable. Plus if your old enough to remember the power cuts of the 1970’s which I am then that general frugality stayed with many of us. But this does feel so different, our household has always been careful just because we had that mentality.

Temporary rise in income tax- maybe rise it by 1 or 2 %? Most people wouldn’t miss paying a very small rise in income tax if it saved them hundreds of pounds a month on energy bills

People on fixed incomes like pensions would very much miss a 'small rise in income tax.' And taxes have a funny way of a) not being used for the cause for which they are raised and b) not being temporary after all.

Yes maybe my idea of small
tax increase wouldn’t work. I wouldn’t have included people on pensions though. I was desperately trying to see what options could help!

The thing is - it just takes a few changes to have an impact.

In our house, the main contributors to the energy costs are showers, baths and heating. So by reducing shower time, baths and lowering the heating, I hope to see a large reduction in my energy usage.

Obviously my bills will go up - but I have modelled the rise, I use a spreadsheet and my smart meter - and I have a good understanding of physics and maths, so should be prepared.

Why wouldn't you include people on pensions? Pensioners of all people would benefit from a decrease to energy prices and not everything can be subsidised solely by younger generations.

What happened to the saving of £350 million we payed to the EU then? ! That’s what vote leave said.Where is that money then?

Our family income is £42 k per year. We can’t work more hours as we’d have to pay for more child care, so would be counterproductive.
We we’re paying £130 for dual fuel for quite a bit, then it went to £190 and now £220 per month.

In layman’ terms we could push to £300 a month maximum. We couldn’t physically pay more than that.
So apart from trying to make some small
changes what can we do? Are we stuffed ?

@Sporty2022 it's people like you I feel sorry for. Just over the threshold for extra help but with with the cost of everything going up I can see it doesn't stretch very far now with the crazy housing costs and now energy costs. Let's hope something is announced to help next week. I don't have much faith in the Tories either but something will have to be done now, they will be forced to do do something🤞

Can you work around each other? My DM had a part time evening job when I was a young child. Obviously more difficult when you are already working full time and people shouldn't have to work more than full time just to make ends meet.

I'm looking at working some evenings myself as I'm a lone parent on £22k, no childcare to pay for though, just an expensive teenager.

When I was at school, in the dark ages, uniform was expensive and I didn't know a single girl at grammar school who had 2 school skirts. They were dry clean only so you wore them for half a term and they got cleaned six times a year in the school holidays. In between you sponged down any marks and pressed the skirt every week so it looked smart. Blazers were also dry clean only and probably only went to the cleaners twice a year. My DD had several school skirts and they seemed to need washing every day. Not sure what happened but I think it was to do with just being able to throw things in the washing machine.

We already do work around each other. DH works Sunday - Thursday. We looks after the kids on Fridays and Saturdays when I’m working and he’s off.
I work four days a week but can’t do more because I’d have to pay my extra days pay in childcare costs. So not possible.
Me and DH don’t get a day off together as it is.

*He looks after the kids Friday and Saturday when I’m working .

I thought the point was that they are useful for when you weren't going to fill the oven? We are a family of two so would only cook four jacket potatoes at a time (two nights worth) for example.
@MinervaTerrathorn I understood them to be a replacement for energy hungry ovens, but I never heard of them before this week, and got all my information from threads on here.