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?

I am hoping that if we change our behaviour (has been embarrassingly wasteful, although not the absolute worst offenders) then our bill will not go up as much - I'm under no illusion that it will go down, or even stay the same.

I'm trying not to get swept away in the buying things in order to avoid paying for power thing though - I'm not sure it always works out better (eg - buying a solar charger for phones that costs £28, when iPhones cost pennies to charge).

Here are the energy calculators:

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

www.which.co.uk/news/article/energy-price-cap-rises-to-3549-how-will-it-affect-your-bills-aZkHR2p2t2P7

Here you go:

amp.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/01/how-turning-the-heat-off-this-winter-could-damage-your-health

I bet they'd be really good insulation material once you'd baked them for a day and a half in batches of 1000.

I think that must be how Rishi Sunak made his first million.

They will keep in the heat we can't afford to put on.

@verdantverdure Oh yes definitely, I secretly have insider avocado knowledge!

Some lessons are going to be learned there, aren't they?

the benefit of discussing in school is not because it will be relevant when they pay bills, but will help them understand why their parents tell them to wear jumpers, not take so long in the shower, why they need to eat more veg less meat, be satisfied and understand that parents can't perhaps afford to update tech or phones. Sometimes when they know it is a general problem they can accept it more rather than mum and dad just being tight or mean they sort of believe it more when it comes from teachers not parents.

It's going up again in January though isn't it, and again in April and October.

Even if people have the ability to reduce their garage so it's not quadruple for them this time, very few will have been so profligate that they can keep doing so with each price rise.

I thought it was funny. We live in the U.K., who doesn't wear warmer clothes in the wintertime?

Sorry I have got to chip in on "Energy efficient kettle". All they can do is help you control the amount boiled - usually one cup is below the water gauge minimum. You can solve that with a £1 measuring jug and a Sharpie.

Most people can't keep reducing their usage by a third with each increase though can they? (Particularly in January and February) Most people aren't getting £1200 of help either, are they?

Well trying to keep hold of the heat you've paid for means you need the heating on less.

An air fryer used less electric than an oven and makes more sense if you weren't filling the oven. They don't cost £300.

We have got one recently and despite being sceptical it's great. There are times where the oven makes more sense and it heats the house as an added benefit. But if I'm just doing garlic bread to go with pasta then five minutes in the air fryer make as more sense.

I don't know how we can reduce ours and still have a normal life where coats are only worn outdoors not indoors.

£10 off a £6k energy bill though! Totally worth it.

@Bebbanburg2507 I used to do this and put my 13 tog duvet over me. I can't believe how wasteful people were with energy before this!

Is it family sized though? Enough for 5?

Someone who has been paying something like £225 a month on variable will be paying something like £600 a month from January and £750 a month from April.

I think most people are already a bit careful. I've never had to make the "This house is lit up like Blackpool Illuminations! comment to my children because they've grown up being a bit careful, and the last couple of years we've tried to reduce our usage for eco reasons. I don't think we have much wiggle room left.

Yes, absolutely, it almost certainly will go up further before it goes down. My point is, that if you can reduce consumption, you can reduce the impact.

Sure, there's only so much people can reduce consumption, and even if people are really really careful, bills are going to be huge. there's no escaping that.

But your OP came across somewhat as if there's no point trying to cut consumption because it's not going to affect your bills. People really need to be looking very hard at every single way they can reduce gas and electricity use.

>taps nose and winks significantly <

Next Aprils bills look scary but if prices are on the way down after that I’m thinking we can reduce the dd a bit from the new increased price in April as usage is lower in the summer. Then hopefully prices will be a bit lower next October so it won’t matter that as much of a credit hasn’t been built up during the summer ???

I hold my hand up to being under informed on air fryers.

But your OP came across somewhat as if there's no point trying to cut consumption because it's not going to affect your bills. People really need to be looking very hard at every single way they can reduce gas and electricity use

Exactly. The usage that leads to your examples in 'Someone who has been paying something like £225 a month on variable will be paying something like £600 a month from January and £750 a month from April' is quite a bit above the price cap, which is currently £165 pm.

Therefore it is very likely that someone using that much G&E does have scope to cut down to mitigate their price rises quite a bit without ending up in a position where they are sitting in an unheated and unlit house eating cold food.