To think the energy increase in April is the last straw.

[borderline53]

Just how the hell are we supposed to cope with this. I’m so stressed with everything. I have grown up kids who I fear for more than anything. Where’s it going to end. Life’s just so bloody hard. Sorry I know it’s the same for us all, I just needed to vent.

Remember the average is for a 2.4 person house hold. The second you his 3/4/5 people your usage is expected to be higher.

We use around 100kwh more per month electricity than the average there are 5 of us. Our gas is only above 1,000 for two months this last 12 months with British Gas again claiming 1,000 kWh per month is the average.

So based off that we are actually low users I’d say. People can’t really use much less. Freezers and cookers use huge amounts more so the older they get but who can afford to replace it for maybe a longer term saving. Or are people now meant to shop each day and also not cook food.

No it’s not, but I’m guessing it’s a lot cheaper to heat the rooms in a high rise flat, my home is a draughty Edwardian thing with minimal insulation unfortunately
its a disgrace that people are in this position

I use my wood burner and heat the main room, it’s toasty, a £120 delivery has lasted six weeks. Just use gas for hot water and to air the upstairs

We did this last year but found the unheated rooms had a lot more damp in them than previously years.

Also the government are concerned about wood burners

I think they are concerned about burning wet wood
we have to be able to heat our homes somehow?

Surely we all need the incentive to cut down on our energy use because of climate change?

oh FFS

I have high bills, I don't know how I could cut it lower, this is the first year we've ever had to deal with mould as the house is t being heated as much as it should be. I used to pay approx 100 a month and now it's more than tripled and set to go higher. It's a bloody joke.

Absolutely but I think they will start clamping down at some point

I'm sick of all the nonsense and the rip off prices etc

it doesn't matter how dry the wood is log burners are bad for the environment and I think in time they will be banned. It is pointless trying to be carbon neutral and everyone switching to burning wood instead though I completely agree people have to keep warm somehow or other.
For people like my children who have compromised lungs it is a scary prospect that the overall air quality will be dangerous to their health and survival if the current trend for log burners continues

I think it's ridiculous they're putting a cap on the price higher than it likely would have been, given the long term forward price of gas is nosediving. So of course that means that ALL suppliers will ONLY charge the cap. No competition from the other suppliers for your business, no need for any of them to be competitive to charge less - of course they will say they have to recoup the cost of the price being capped when the price was high....

Interestingly that while there were a few spikes in the oil price, even so, that never got as high as 2012-2014 and we can shop around and buy at a cheaper price, and the current price is pretty low for a winter price IMHO.

We use solar for electric so off set what the log burner kicks out that way. The new stoves give off very little. I don't think they will get rid of log burners they are loved by those in the country and the middle class in towns the pressure not to would be to great. I'm more likely to buy an electric car than give up the log burner

Log burners are already almost carbon-neutral. What they're not is 'particulate neutral'.

While your solar panels more than offset the tiny carbon footprint of burning wood they do nothing at all to offset or mitigate the effect of the particulates emitted into the local atmosphere.

exactly . the particles released are not conducive to healthy lungs though whenever I mention this to anyone with a log burner they are quick to dismiss the risks. There is increasing evidence out there if you look for it .

Not a log burner, but open fire in my 150 year old cottage.
This winter I've burned all types of fuel. Logs, fuel logs coffee logs and coal. Found fuel logs to be the most cost effective, a £10 20kg sack lasts 4 to 5 nights, house has not been cold.
Would rather use Ch, but fire is cheaper and nicer.
Have a woman in the village that complains about fires every year and been more vocalthis winter, seems to think her asthma trumps everyone's need for heating. They won't be banned, a lot of older houses only have open fires, or installed log burners.

Move to a city or town where they're not allowed if you don't like them.

And who could police a ban? My chimney is 6 foot above my house, and i burn smokeless fuel.

To be fair though, particulate levels in towns and cities are generally lower now than at any time since the 19th century. A few log burners are nothing compared with all the coal fires and mill chimneys.we used to have.

To be fair to the users pointing out some people use a lot. They do. There were threads with people with hottu s and daily wash and dry etc on here.
While so far on this thread most have medical reasons, half the threads about energy bills does tell a bit different story about people's usage.

Also, I am often surprised at how much people spend while saying "we did nothing really, 1 waah, 1 hour heating and it's £7 on a meter". I get to that only on wash days when I run 2 cycles, a drying cycle, dishwasher, hoover, 3 hour heating, 1xshower. And I am on cap lrice.

We have massively cut down on the heating. Compared to other years, we’ve had it on the bare minimum and it has been ok. Our house is 400 years old, so as cold and leaky as they come.

We have lit the wood burner just about every day. It’s a new, ultra efficient model, so if you light it right, it’s good for several hours.

We have continued to use the tumble dryer, but probably only once a day now, whereas before it might have been 3x.

Our bills are £350 a month and that's not including the top up from the government.

We don't use a tumble dryer, but we do spend a lot of time at home and have the heating set at 18 degrees.

But we were paying £82.70 a month a year ago