OMG... I've just had my new fuel quote

[listsandbudgets]

£10650 a year!!!

We currently pay about £200 a month - big old house with quite a lot of people in and out so thats not unreasonable but this is astronomical

What the fu*k....

It's over a third of my annual pre-tax income.

They are going to have people on the streets

In shock

Thats more than my state pension income.

Is £600 normal for six months of electricity? Family of 3. Electric shower. We can't get a smart meter so I can't look at that

I submit monthly meter readings on the 1st and we tend to consistently use about 480kwh of electricity each month. At current standard variable rate prices that is costing around £145.

My gas was only about £29 this month as the heating has barely been on and I cut the hot water down to 1 hour per day.

Ah ok so we used 2144 over six months which is 357 a month on average. We've changed our dryer for a heat pump one and got a heated airer so hopefully that will help. Going to start showering at the gym more as ours uses electricity

@pinkyponkyplink
@Robin233 ours doubled too. Wish we fixed months ago. Is the £400 fix still available? Our fixes are close to £600 so not fixing and wondering if we will regret this too!
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^^
Not sure as it seems I have ti rung ti find out but I did find out my new traffic 😳

I think one of the big things to wrap your head around is the predicted price is based on your previous usage.

There are two groups here: those who have already thought about and try and minimise their usage already and those who haven't.

Those who have already done so and more likely to be in line for support.

Those who haven't had to are more likely to be middle earners.

The reality is we do ALL need a change in our energy use behaviours, not just for this winter. This will force a change.

Also the predictions for prices in January are not yet set in stone. They are calculated based on demand. So if demand is lower than expected / historically, it may not be as bad. That means there is incentive to drive demand down and the best way to do that is by getting people to think about their usage.

Energy companies have no incentive to drive prices so high no one can pay them because they will have higher none payment rates.

So everything at this point is trying to push down demand.

Its interesting that talk on this includes targeting high usage households with high incomes and finding some way to get even these households to reduce consumption. My take from this is they think there is a point at which so many people may default from such high prices it causes a collapse in energy companies.

Fixed rate deals now are based on predictions that are yet to pass but will be based on historic usage patterns. If you can change usage patterns it should take the edge off things and hopefully the peak prices will come in lower.

That requires people to take action and to consider how and when they use energy and to do things like not run their house quite as warm. Because it benefits us on an individual and a collective level.

Even if you can afford to weather the storm, it doesn't make sense to continue without changing habits.

*Even if you can afford to weather the storm, it doesn't make sense to continue without changing habits.

We fixed last August until next August so are protected against the current rises. However, we've bought a mixer tap for the bath which the shower can run off, so we don't have to use the electric shower. We're also going to buy an air fryer as we're heavy oven users too.

We barely use the tumble drier, so can't really reduce there.

I've worked out mine will go to £9000. Based on our usage last year. So I fully intend to cut our usage in half. Jumpers and fleeces. Air fryer instead of oven . Got in loads of wood for the wood burner. Keep that heating off as long as possible. Not having family spread out over 4 rooms using 4 tvs or computers all evening.
Not leaving everything on standby because we can't be bothered to switch off at the wall. We have 3 freezers and 3 fridges which is bonkers for a family of 4. £200 a year each. Well that's got to stop. So I think there's quite a lot we can do. I've finally got DH on board with the Martyn Lewis calculator. ( he didn't believe me before )

@Sunflowers765 do you think the answer is to cut rather than fix at a higher than current price?

I only have a fridge freezer
We used 100 pounds in the last 2 months so £50 a month
With heating that's changes to over £600 over winter per month.
IF prices stay the same that's over £400 a month - 4 times the original bill.
I do ware socks- jumpers etc in the house.
Funding £300 extra a month will impact - and as a middle earner ....well work it out.
I think there is a lot of people in my position
It's seems unsustainable
Less people eating out, going on holiday etc.
knock on effect
Let's see what Monday brings with our new Pm.

**finding

<hits like button>

If you have a reasonable fix available - for most people this will probably mean a unit price above October but below the expected January rates - then the answer is probably to do both. Reduce your usage and fix your rate.

Most people aren't getting the option of a fix which is worthwhile.

Inflation is cruising to 20%+ by end Jan.
Wholesale costs of gas will spike further now that Russia have closed NordStream1.
Whilst we don't rely on Russia the contraction in supply will increase demand on other global supplies so prices go up.

We know predictions already push prices up in Jan and April before this happened - so the increase could be much higher now as a result.

We also know the U.K. govt are announcing cost of living help later this month with a mini budget.

The help could be an uplift to the 400 already being deducted or possibly similar to that proposed by Scottish Power (freezing bills with the govt paying the difference) which will cost billions but help everyone.

If you can sit tight until we know, you can make an informed judgement. Otherwise (if this doesn't happen) if the fix offered is 12month and less then tripple your pre-October anticipated uplift it's probably worth taking to shield against the Jan, April and Jul rises that will come.

Wait until the govt announcements. Rumours are a 30bln package to help, plus 10% VAT cut (which will cancel the inflation effect on most goods) but it's unclear how it will be spent.

Hope that helps!

Probably not helpful due to the initial outlay, but I think PVs might be the way forward. We recently bought a house with them on and I have been really surprised at the difference they make. Admittedly, only 2 adults usually in the house, but 4 beds, dishwasher on daily, washer 4-5 times per week, numerous kettle boils, coffee machine, fridge freezer, all the usual, they heat the hot water too so 2 showers per day. Our smart meter says we never go over £1.50 per day in electric? And we get around £200 back every quarter from the Feed in Tariff? I’m currently over paying like mad because obviously the PVs won’t be as efficient in winter, but for now, they seem to be great?? The heating is oil though, so god help me when we need to turn that on!!!

I moved house in feb so can't work out my predicted usage

It is however a new build and very warm - and I have separate thermostat for the bedroom- I think what I will do is just stay in my bedroom and only heat that and my en-suite, and stay under my duvet when at home .

The worst thing we did when we had a new kitchen 5 years ago was to have an electric oven because it would have been a pain to route the gas pipe literally all the way around the kitchen, we did have a gas hob though (gas pipe side of the kitchen) and we’ll start cooking on it far more this winter.

Stillvicar - in my experience, new builds never drop below 16 degrees even with no heating. I live in a well insulated 70’s house and even when we had no heating for 2 weeks in a very cold December a few years back, the living room never dropped below 14.

What is a PV please?

PV = solar panels I think

Just looked at the calculators on our current usage we will be paying £300 a month then going up to £400idh then £550 coming out close on £6000 a year , just not affordable so won't be paying my council tax as have pre payment so will have no choice but to pay gas & electric but something will have to give and that can be the council tax

@honkeytonkwoman38 yet nothing for those of us on prepaymemt and we have no choice but to pay

We have 20 PV panels.

Our bill is usually £260! Over the last three months I've made a conscious effort to only put a machine on if we are generating enough electricity to run it for free. I appreciate it's been sunnier than usual, but our latest bill was £96 a month, down £164. British Gas confirmed that this was accurate.

It won't be the same in the winter as the sun is only high in the sky for 4-5 hours compared with 8 in the summer. Also it's more overcast in the winter.

It just goes to show how much of a positive difference using solar energy at the point of manufacture, is.

You'd have to be at home to utilise this though. Buying a battery to use the generated electricity later is a huge £10k at the moment due to demand.

@5thCommandment bit patronising i already have a prepayment smart meter which i have been trying to get changed for 18 months no one will touch it , utlita never offered any fixed on pre payment , we already pay more than those not on a prepayment despite actually paying for electric before we even use it
Currently we spend £120 a month on electric ( wfh) and £25 gas ( heating not been on since march) with the nee predictions we have no way of paying the amount and couldn't fixed sooner
The situation is shit
Businesses can't fix
A local one bill was £1800 its now £6500 with more rises , how do these businesses stay open and keep staff employed
So even those who may of fixed , if you find yourself out of work then how do you pay such huge amounts
Worldwide supposedly yet I don't see other countries prices jumping up quite like ours

And to top it all they are saying go all get an electric car , yes right