How much to live on

blue.peter

The increasing cost of energy has just got real for me. I compared the gas bill that I received this morning with the equivalent one from last year.

March 2021 gas bill:

March 2022 gas bill:

So I've managed to reduce my gas usage for comparable months by 20% (which seems pretty decent), but, in spite of this, the cost is still 34% higher.

With roughly similar usage, my monthly electricity cost has increased by nearly 75%.

I'm lucky: my pension is enough to allow me to absorb this.

Note: as was pointed out in this thread back in December, I'm on an uncapped tariff. I was hit with a price increase in January, and am not expecting another one when the cap increases. But it does look as if energy prices will continue to increase, at least for a while. By how much, though? I don't know. To some extent at least, that's a political decision.

moving_forward

Ouch! Our latest bill was £39.45 Gas and £53.11 electric. Unfortunately this is the last bill on our fixed rate (£80/MTH). I've calculated our costs will be £165/MTH going forward until next cap or a fix if they come down 🐖🕊️ didn't have a flying pig emoji so you got a standard one and a dove 🤣

Kim1965

Yes indeed. Had my council tax bill through, gone up a fair bit.
 Ive not yet retired but was hoping to in a few years, I may have to rethink this.   Costs are rocketing, if we have a sustained bear matket i believe my numbers will not add up. Certainly wish i had more db inflation proof pension. 

QrizB

blue.peter said:

The increasing cost of energy has just got real for me. I compared the gas bill that I received this morning with the equivalent one from last year.

March 2021 gas bill:

(4.74p/kWh)

March 2022 gas bill:

(8.06p/kWh)

I know this isn't the Energy forum, but both of those unit rates seem very high. Most people were paying under 3p/kWh in March 2021 and have been paying around 4p/kWh now.

I guess your current tariff is some sort of long-term fix that you've entered into in the past 3-4 months?

blue.peter

QrizB said:

I know this isn't the Energy forum, but both of those unit rates seem very high. Most people were paying under 3p/kWh in March 2021 and have been paying around 4p/kWh now.

I guess your current tariff is some sort of long-term fix that you've entered into in the past 3-4 months?

No. Not fixed. And, as I said, not capped. We've had this discussion. Good Energy Standard DD tariff. As you said yourself (21 December 2021 at 4:52pm)*:

Ah, Good Energy are one of the three(?) "green" suppliers who are permanently exempt from the Ofgem variable tariff cap. The others are Ecotricity and Green Energy UK.

You're paying the fair market rate plus a small premium for being green. If it wasn't for the cap, everyone else would be paying almost as much. As it is, however, Ofgem have capped variable tariffs to roughly 21p/kWh for electricity and 4p/kWh for gas, plus daily standing charges of around 25p per fuel.

*See page 64 of this thread.

QrizB

That's fine then, you know what you're paying for and you're happy to continue.

Ignore me, normal service can continue.

blue.peter

Kim1965 said:

Yes indeed. Had my council tax bill through, gone up a fair bit.

What's "a fair bit" in this context? Mine's increased by £5/month or 3.8%. That doesn't seem to me to be a lot at a time when inflation is running at 4.9% (measured as CPIH increase January 2021 - January 2022*). It certainly pales into insignificance against the energy price increase.

*If you prefer RPI, that's 7.8% over the same period.

moving_forward

Mines gone up by the princely sum of £3.00 per month over the 11 months, the first payment is slightly more.  I can live with that.

mummytummy

Ours has increased from £119 a month to £150 a month 😬

moving_forward

mummytummy said:

Ours has increased from £119 a month to £150 a month 😬

That's quite a leap!