Do nothing to save energy AIBU

Yeah. God knows what the mortgage rate will be soon if Liz Truss keeps trashing our economy. It's gone up so much already and she's only been in power a month! We've got two more years of this.Mad economic policies can do a lot of damage in two years, and the need they are making of our environment will cost a bomb go clean up. Greenpeace are right. Nobody voted for this.

We aren’t doing anything different from any other year, if we are cold we put the heating on, if we want a bath we have one. I’m not restricting my life due to greedy energy suppliers,

As others have said, I think its heating the home which will cause the most money problems. I don't have central heating, just a gas fire in the lounge which actually does a pretty good job of warming up my tiny 2 bed house but it does have to be on for a while in order to do so. My plan this winter is to have it on when my ds wakes up until the school run. Turn it off and invest in some wool jumpers/thermals/hot water bottle etc while he's at school and then turn it back on when he gets home until just before bedtime. When it's on I will drape washing nearby to try to get it dry as don't have a tumble drier. I also need to get something to drape over the front door which leads directly into my lounge to keep out draughts. I've developed good habits with other areas e.g not showering every day not leaving lights on if not in room, hardly have tv on (only if something is on that ds wants to see and turning off as soon as finished watching). Only washing when have a full load and if not actually dirty dirty, using the 20min refresh wash option on washing machine. Using the microwave instead of the hob/oven for cooking (where feasible).
So to answer your question OP, I guess it will be the same as you...heating the house where you'll see your money go. I'm praying for a mild winter for everyone x

We am doing the same as we always do, we are retired and are not sitting shivering all day, we missed holidays in Covid times so have that money extra anyway to pay for the energy bills instead, though I would have rather have gone on holiday

I don't count how many times I boiled a kettle too. If I want a drink, I'll have a drink. We might not go too crazy about heating this winter (heating to 22 like we used to), but I'm not going to sit in 17C cold and miserable. I stopped using tumble dryer ages ago, as I think it damages the clothes. Only use it for towels and bedding, not going to give it up. I'm not expecting gigantic bill. When I calculated last year's usage by using new rates and standing charges, we should pay less than £300 which is manageable for us. I used to be sensible before the big rise, I never put the oven on just to melt the cheese on one slice of bread, I have no idea what I could possibly save on and feel comfortable. No way I'm wearing gloves etc. at home.

I don’t really get why everyone is worrying?

Because some people have much larger bills to start with, maybe that's why they are worrying?

Dd is a student and their annual bill won't cover the amount included in their rent any more, so each student in her house is looking at finding at least £100 per term extra and then maybe more at the end. That's a lot of money out of a student loan so basically as parents we are paying more for her.

We have a modern house and are high users due to two electric cars so out bulk, even after the discount is over £300 a month. I know the petrol costs would be more if we went electric so that's fine but it's obviously much ore than we were paying previously.

We can afford it so it's okay but others are in much worse off situations, in cold draughty homes. Pensioners on limited income in cold homes are going to struggling.

i just noticed my direct payment was down £67 this month, is that what this is? i was about to contact to the energy company to put it back up as i thought it was an error and I didn't want to get into debt with them. that's fantastic if its help from the government as we are really struggling right now. how long will this go on for?

Six months

I’m the same! Our direct debit has gone from £100 to £50 from this month, I don’t really get why everyone is worrying? We rarely use heating as live in 2-bed flat on 2nd floor so get a lot of sun light and benefit from neighbours heat! Don’t have tumble dryer anyway, and only 2 adults so only 1-2 loads of laundry per week

Try living in a draughty 4 bed Victorian house with 4 kids🙄

I must be reading this wrong - it seems to be saying a laptop is 27p per hour. I have a laptop on about ten hours a day and my combined bill is around two pounds each day for everything (heating not on yet, goes to about £2.50 if I cook on the hob in the evening).

Also, it's got gas heating at over £6 per hour but saying it was £2 a day last year.

What am I misunderstanding?

How could you have missed this, it's been all over the news for weeks?

I'm doing the following:

Not leaving hallway and landing lights on - only switch on when using
Everything possible switched off at the mains at night
Using air fryer instead of oven
Holding out as long as possible before using any house heating or electric throw
Not putting radio on as background during the day

Also unplugged a digital clock and one of the mains-powered landline phones that weren't really being used.

Digital clock and radio will all use absolutely minuscule amounts of electricity. Probably 1p a day if that.

Heated throw uses more but if 100w in the region of 4p an hour.

Do be mindful of energy use but don’t unnecessarily cut down on stuff that is beneficial to your life and hardly costing anything.

Absolutely.
The chargers, radios and many modern tvs etc eat so LITTLE.
I think average radio would use 34 kwh a year if on 24 hours? Something around that number. So about 3p a day IF on for 24 hours a day.

I think lots of people are getting rid of the nice small pleasures for not much benefit, if anything to their detriment. Keep the radio, use oven 10 min less once

Once a month

@VanGoghsDog that 27p is for eight hours of lap top use.

I'm not sure I understand the gas question.

In 2021 6 hours of gas central heating cost £2.63, now 6 hours of gas central heating costs £6.76

I think it's saying typical usage of a laptop is 8 hours a day, and that costs 27p.
Typical gas heating is on 6 hours a day (remember even if the boiler is potentially on for longer, it clicks in and out) and now costs £6 a day. My gas is still fixed around 4p/kWh so a three fold increase sounds about right for that.

January last year we were paying £90/month. Since last winter we've been paying £140. With the increases that works out now as £175, but obviously take off the government help of £67 for the next however many months it is. After that it will be £175.

We're not excessive users and made lots of cut backs last winter. We are getting a new boiler which should save us money on heating - but probably won't as we may choose to have the heating on for more than two hours a day as last winter was horrible and I spent most of it painfully cold.

Do you know how much energy a radio uses?

I have just checked ours, it uses 0.5 W an hour when it's on, zero when plugged in but not in use.

At current prices of 34p per kWh I can listen to the radio for 100 hours for less than 2p.
The govt " freebie" will be paying over 30% of our energy bill this year, except it's not really free, we will have to pay it back in taxation.

If anything I have become more relaxed now I know the facts of our usage.

I did use the " eco" setting on our shower yesterday, awful, I won't be doing that again.

I don't think there's anything I can do to drastically cut my energy usage simply because I've never used more energy than I feel the need to. Why would I? If I have the heating on it's because it feels too cold without it. If have the television on it's because I'm watching something. If I boil a kettle it's to make some coffee. I usually take quick showers because baths are too much hassle and I'm in a rush.

Most of the advice for lowering your usage is targetted at people who do unnecessary things like stick the washing machine on a three hour cycle for a pair of socks or who leave the TV on while they pop to the supermarket.

I am cutting stuff I don't need.

Not because I need to financially. But because I hate waste and I like optimisation challenges.

As people say upthread, it is really heating, hot water and washing machine/tumble dryer that really use the energy.

Pretty much everything else is miniscule, although over the year it can add up to a bit if you leave stuff like computers, tvs and lights on all the time.

It's worth keeping an eye on how much you use, if only to stop the huge shock you're going to get in January if you are a heavy user and make no attempt to cut back.

My guess is come January next year there are going to be a load of posts on here about how an enormous bill energy bill has "come out of nowhere" and there is no way they can afford to pay it.

My guess is come January next year there are going to be a load of posts on here about how an enormous bill energy bill has "come out of nowhere" and there is no way they can afford to pay it.

I agree. I've seen absolutely mindboggling usage on here. I was talking with DH about how many people in uk don't seem to understand their bills and we agreed that it's a sign of a rich country simply and life of abundance when one doesn't have to worry about how much they use and know how things work and are calculated. Our "poor" nations skills are now coming very handy!

It's nothing personal btw. It's just an interesting/weird observation we had

I am still on a fixed rate and my house is pretty well insulated, so I’m mainly unaffected. However it’s hardly a stretch for me to understand that others who might be on prepayment meters and have cold draughty houses to heat will be adversely affected, so not sure why you’re struggling with the concept OP.

I do think it’s a good idea to keep usage low where possible, as the less we use the kinder it is to the planet, but I wouldn’t make myself suffer to achieve it (and I realise I am lucky that I have that choice). I love line drying and barely use my tumble dryer, but I realise that’s not necessarily an option for large families. However, definitely can’t get on the same wavelength as people who think a towel needs washing because someone looked at it from the other side of the room….