To worry that people think the price cap means unlimited energy

[Shortjanet]

I've read quite a few comments here where posters seem to think fixed or capped energy prices mean that you can pay a set or limited amount for unlimited energy. It's quite worrying to think how much debt people might run up. The way the headlines are describing it as "bills capped to £x" or similar is helping to fuel the misunderstanding (no pun intended) I think. AIBU to wish the media were being clearer that caps and fixes apply to each kWh used and standing charges, not the total you can pay.

Actually I think the comparison with petrol and diesel illustrates the point well. I have never seen those prices reported as the cost of filling a car's tank being capped at a figure. They report price per litre. People understand this and don't expect to fill a range rover for the same as a mini.

This type of misunderstanding re gas and electric is a direct result of the decision to report figures in terms of average annual spend. If they were reporting "price cap doubling from xp per kWh to yp per kWh" those who didn't understand what it meant would at least know they needed to educate themselves on it!

Yes! There are going to be some people for who that isn't possible but a lot of the people who have it wrong just haven't bothered to work out what it is they are signing up to.

I understand the point that everyone (or at least most) should and can take responsibility for educating themselves but I don't think the cost of failing to so so should be the world of shit they may find themselves in if they decide to go all out having paid for "fixed" (or unlimited in their minds) gad and electric. The reporting on this in average bills may seem simpler to understand than price per kWh but is so open to misinterpretation it becomes misleading imo.

People do not seem to grasp the cost of energy. They also do not seem to be understanding that our average energy use is actually very, very, very high.
This is my problem with government intervention, people will carry on as normal with the heating on 30 c and windows open.😂

Yanbu.
I made the mistake of looking at a local facebook page discussing energy bills and so many people didn't get it. Also a scary amount who didn't understand an energy DD builds up credit in the summer for winter use.

Great analogy.

I honestly don't understand how people cant get that they use units (KWH) of electricity or gas and that the cost of each of these units has increased (but the increase has been regulated)

People have ALWAYS paid for gas and electricity in units. You have to give a meter reading. This has happened since we got gas and electrcity meters.

Don't people look at their bills?

I think I should have titled this "to be worried the media is misleading people to think the price cap means unlimited energy?"

I do believe most people have understood they pay per unit so far. I think if it was reported in those terms people would get it in the same way they do when the price of petrol rises in pence per litre. It's specifically they way it's being described in terms of X thousand per year for an average household bill I take issue with. It is not clear. I love @Sooverthisnow explanation in terms of apples. I think it needs to be said more.

They do often say "the average cost of filing a typical family far has now reached £X" (last week or so it was £100) which is comparable. Am assuming (/desperately hoping!) no-one would think that means their car will cost exactly £100 to fill but wouldn't be surprised to discover someone has actually thought that...

I don't know if people ever see those clips on You Tube where (mainly Americans) are shown a map and asked where England is etc - and they often get it wrong..

I wonder what would happen if people on the street were asked what the price cap was? Or to work out a simple bill? Or some other questions about financial literacy?

How many people could explain the price cap?

I understand why you're saying but I just don't think as a country we need to continue to stoop to lower levels of spoon feeding everyone everything. People need to assume responsibility for their own lives and decisions. After all, everyone is equal under the law and has the same entitlement to vote so presumably the same responsibility to educate themselves and make informed decisions.

I agree - and the Government don't seem to understand that it's a problem of supply now as well.

Other countries are rationing usage.

It's all well and good having a price cap and intervention - but if we have no gas, then not only will the cost of the intervention massively increase, people and businesses just won't have enough gas.

It's like when you get shipwrecked and people start to eat all the food instead of rationing it out.

See I hadn't noticed that with car tanks but if they are explaining "the average car now costs whatever to fill" they have at least spelt it out. Tbh when I've seen it the headline is more likely to be fuel rises to X pence per litre with the illustration in terms of cost of a tank explained in the text.

The words annual, average and household are generally not making it through to headlines here. I'm seeing "price cap to be frozen at however many thousand pounds" and can see why that is confusing people.

When people are interviewed about how they'll cope with increased energy costs they often say they'll "have to put a jumper on". As if this is something unusual.
Shocking how much gas and electricity must be wasted if people think it's normal to wear summer clothes indoors in the winter.

I don't think we should spoon feed either, just make reporting clearer. I'd be totally ok with the media reporting "price cap to rise/fall/be frozen to/at X pence per kWh" Then anyone who doesn't get it can go and read up around it. It's the throwing out of figures whose context is explained down page in much smaller text that bothers me.

But where does it end? How far do we have to stoop to accommodate the people who make no effort??

You choose to consumer utilities.
You have a meter.
You have a bill from your supplier.
If you have Facebook you have access to the internet - literally the world in the palm of you hand.
Google 'what is oct price cap' or call your energy supplier. It's not secret buried info, it's right there.
Every phone has a calculator and I'm sure we can all rustle up a pen and a bit of paper.
All it needs then is 15mins or less of nursery school level maths.
That is all it takes.

I don't know anything about brain surgery. That's ok - it's not my field, I don't interact with it. I'll ask a qualified expert or two if I want to learn. Or I'll Google some medical papers in an effort to investigate if I decide I want to find out more.

But if you consumer gas and electricity, as a responsible adult you've got an obligation to proactively educate yourself to find out how it works. Because you use it and ultimately you get billed for it - you've got skin in the game.
To just join a Facebook group is lazy and effectively says I can't be bothered to do it myself, I'll rely on someone else to do it for me. And then the blind are leading the blind.

And so I stand by my point that if you then get a shock with your bill because you didn't choose to make an effort to understand it, then more fool you.

If one can't be bothered to find out simple info for oneself then that is ok, but then you can't then rue the outcome as well.

Google 'what is oct price cap' or call your energy supplier. It's not secret buried info, it's right there

Tbf, it might as well be secret info for people on economy 7 tariffs, as there aren't price caps specifically for the day and night rates. Supppliers can choose what to set those at, and I think there may either be some sort of average price cap between the two, or some other sort of cap (perhaps on cost per x number of units??) but I can't find any simple straightforward explanation of how the cap works with economy 7.

But it's not just 'X p per kWh' it's 'X p per kWh for electricity plus the daily standing charge and Y p per kWh for gas plus the daily standing charge' and that's before we get to complications about the various Economy 7/electric vehicle tariffs and slight variations between the different payment methods and regional variations in the cost of electricity.

'The price cap for typical use will be £2500 per year, it used to be half that and the government is intervening so it won't be double that amount next year' tells us everything we need to know then we need to go off and find out how we compare with typical use so how much it will cost us as individuals.

When they said 'the cost of filling an average family car with petrol has gone past £100' we didn't have people saying 'it's not fair, why should Range Rover drivers fill their tanks for the same price as my Ford Focus' or 'I drive a Skoda Citigo, why should I pay £100 to fill my car when it only takes 35 litres' and energy pricing works in exactly the same way.

When they said 'the cost of filling an average family car with petrol has gone past £100' we didn't have people saying 'it's not fair, why should Range Rover drivers fill their tanks for the same price as my Ford Focus' or 'I drive a Skoda Citigo, why should I pay £100 to fill my car when it only takes 35 litres' and energy pricing works in exactly the same way.

Perfect illustration 👍

I never used to understand why my bills would go up when they’d given me a quote ‘for the year’. It was only when this all started that I realised. I think energy companies have been pulling this trick for years, knowing that most people are used to unlimited phone contracts so assume it’s the same. Sneaky but it works, especially if you don’t work in the industry.

I think some people may have a nasty shock.

MIL was talking few weeks ago about people in her hair dressers going on about having everyone round wearing t-shorts as they'd fixed.

We kept saying - it doesn't work like that which I not sure MIL understood but as they have wood burner and are frugal with heat and not fixed themselves is't as issue.

However it was unclear how much winding up these people were doing towards none fixed people and how many were assuming their fixed rate direct debit was like a Netflix subscription.

No, the 'quote for the year' will state 'based on predicted usage of 'abc' at unit / standing charges or xyz.

If people decide to assume that's 'fixed and unlimited' as per their broadband... well I have no polite words to describe such people and more fool them.

I think the way it’s reported is extremely unhelpful. People really need to know for the winter what the price cap actually is before they get surprise bills. Yes they should have read up for themselves and it’s extremely worrying but we are where we are so we really do need the government to put out info adds on it.

But yes extremely concerning.

Yes I've had to explain to vulnerable service users in the community what the price cap means.

Some get it some don't, so we will keep trying to explain with our service users.

I tried to demonstrate it with Lego blocks, saying this 4 brick is your capped standing charge, you will pay 7 days of these a week. But the government can't turn your 4 brick into a 6 brick (more) because of the cap. Then I used 2 Brick pieces as units, and did the same trying to show them if you use more you get more 2brick pieces, but all the cap means is they can't turn the 2brick piece into a 4 brick piece because of the cap.

I had to think outside the box whilst in their homes, and luckily many of their children had some form of Lego/Duplo 😳

Perfect explanation. Even a 5 year old can understand this 😊