It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

EssexHebridean

Blackcats said:

MingVase, I've had the dreaded letter from Octopus .... I currently pay £138 per month and I've racked up £187 credit.  

For a fixed green tariff rate the price would be £431 per month/£5174 per annum.  If it wasn't so serious I'd be laughing out loud 😱.
for a variable rate it will be £159.18/£1910 per annum which is better than I expected but clearly there is the associated risk of price rises as and when the provider wants. 

Still haven't had the council tax letter but a 5% increase equates to around £185 a year for us.  We don't live in a palace or even a medium sized mansion 😀 - but we do live in an expensive county in the south east.  

There is no risk that the provider will increase the rate on their variable tariff above the price cap. If they try, Ofgem will simply tell them to put it back again and refund anyone who’s been charged wrongly. 

Passed a Petrol station round here this evening wanting 165.9 for diesel. And another now charging 162.9 that has increased 3ppl since yesterday afternoon. Crazy. 

@jasonwatkins that sort of sum sounds far from implausible but have you made sure the amount the energy company are estimating accurately reflects her use, and also been over her home to see if there are any savings that she might be able to make (thinking even little things like LED bulbs, curtain linings, drought excluders etc). Might buying her a heated throw enable her to turn her heating down a degree and save some pennies that way? 

cbsexec

£1.65 sounds cheap here in rural Wales.  Our cheapest local place wants £1.67 and the nearest but dearest wants 1.69.  

TheAble

C_J said:

Heating oil was 84p/litre on Boilerjuice at 8pm last night, with delivery in two weeks. I should have pounced on that - 24 hours later and it’s up to £1.29 with delivery in about six weeks. I tried my usual heating oil supplier for comparison but couldn’t get through - their phones were engaged all day and I gave up.

Luckily we’ve got enough left in the tank that I don’t need to panic (just yet).

Tried for a price myself this evening and they won't even quote me 

EssexHebridean

cbsexec said:

£1.65 sounds cheap here in rural Wales.  Our cheapest local place wants £1.67 and the nearest but dearest wants 1.69.  

Oh absolutely - rural places always see steeper prices, I know. We’re in a town, and only a few miles from the refineries though, so always find it curious that we seem to see higher prices than a lot of other similar places in the area!

When we last travelled to the Hebrides - at Christmas - we passed one petrol station Charging 175.9 - at that stage a high enough price that the PetrolPrices app wouldn’t allow me to enter it! I dread to think what they’re charging now! (And I hasten to add this was a petrol station on the mainland - NOT over in the islands!) 

jasonwatkins

EssexHebridean said:

@jasonwatkins that sort of sum sounds far from implausible but have you made sure the amount the energy company are estimating accurately reflects her use, and also been over her home to see if there are any savings that she might be able to make (thinking even little things like LED bulbs, curtain linings, drought excluders etc). Might buying her a heated throw enable her to turn her heating down a degree and save some pennies that way? 

She's had a smart meter for a few years and the numbers are pretty accurate.    She's got a lot of the stuff you've mentioned - draught excluders, energy saving bulbs e.t.c.. but I know her well enough to know that she'll just see that £150 amount and it'll make her ill with worry. 

She'll almost certainly think she has to turn everything off because she'll convince herself that it will be the only way to make things cheaper.

ladyholly

I dont know if people have thought of this but I will pass it on anyway. Many radiators are situated under the windows in a room so when the curtains are closed the warm air disappears up behind them. We tuck the curtains up on the widow sill so all the heat comes into the room.

Siebrie

My childhood friend lived in a home with a gas heater in the living room (and nowhere else) and a large bay window. The curtain was placed to close of the bay completely, making the room square, to save on heating.

poppy811

Normally order oil through our village group as there is a slight discount for bulk orders but the lady who does the ordering is away so decided to go it alone.  There is a six week wait and the price has shot upto just over £1.00 per litre, minimum order 500 Litres.  Frightening, thank goodness Spring is on its way.  Thank goodness for the log burner.

Rosa_Damascena

poppy811 said:

Normally order oil through our village group as there is a slight discount for bulk orders but the lady who does the ordering is away so decided to go it alone.  There is a six week wait and the price has shot upto just over £1.00 per litre, minimum order 500 Litres.  Frightening, thank goodness Spring is on its way.  Thank goodness for the log burner.

Thank goodness for the heat of the sun! It's free and makes my kitchen an living areas an absolute delight to wander round

EssexHebridean

Solar heating of the best type happening down here today too - a good job as well as it was chilly enough overnight that I had to scrape the car windscreen this morning!