Stop Scaremongering

MouldyOldDough

I do wish that the press would stop scaremongering about the coming rises in energy costs

The latest TERRIFYING increase of £600 is an increase in the MAXIMUM cost - which will not affect the majority of people in the UK

Why don't they state the increase in unit charge instead - that's what we actually pay

Mstty

You are right the actual cost to most people is much higher they are scaremongering at the wrong level.ewpwcially with anothernincrease incoming October.

Most people don't understand units charges so they have broadly put it in terms for pence and pounds as an average for the average user.

dinglebert

Its just what they do.  They try to sell papers by having headlines.  Tomorrows chip paper.  What I don't understand is why they always put someones age and the value of their house in stories?

MouldyOldDough

Mstty said:

You are right the actual cost to most people is much higher they are scaremongering at the wrong level.ewpwcially with anothernincrease incoming October.

Most people don't understand units charges so they have broadly put it in terms for pence and pounds as an average for the average user.

Sorry - but why don't people understand unit charges ? I would have thought that that is a simple way of calculating energy use .

x uses y energy per hour - simple.

MattMattMattUK

MouldyOldDough said:

I do wish that the press would stop scaremongering about the coming rises in energy costs

The latest TERRIFYING increase of £600 is an increase in the MAXIMUM cost - which will not affect the majority of people in the UK

Why don't they state the increase in unit charge instead - that's what we actually pay

It is not actually the "MAXIMUM" as you shout, when I come off my fix in a month my rise will be higher as I am currently paying a lot less than the current cap, let alone the October rise. They have also stated the rise in the unit rates, the standing charges etc.

Headlines will always be simplistic, simple people will get panicked by them, sensible people will educate themselves on the detail. If you are one of the former then little can be done to help you, if you are one of the latter then headlines like that would not bother you.

Mstty

MouldyOldDough said:

Mstty said:

You are right the actual cost to most people is much higher they are scaremongering at the wrong level.ewpwcially with anothernincrease incoming October.

Most people don't understand units charges so they have broadly put it in terms for pence and pounds as an average for the average user.

Sorry - but why don't people understand unit charges ? I would have thought that that is a simple way of calculating energy use .

x uses y energy per hour - simple.

Well from the poll I ran here in the forum the concensus was about 70% don't understand the price cap and svt and rates.

Seems to be true from the people I have tried to explain it to.

The people contributing to this forum are very knowledgeable but the general public they just pay their DD and don't give it another though until......now

So the message has been over simplified to get them to take notice and for it not to be as big a shock as it could be.

MouldyOldDough

When you look at increased costs - they may double over the next few months - but I remember back in the 70's when a unit of electricity was 5p (for years and years - it never went up) - then it doubled virtually overnight - now its 20p - so in real terms, it's still cheap...

QrizB

MouldyOldDough said:

The latest TERRIFYING increase of £600 is an increase in the MAXIMUM cost

Since you're clearly better informed than most, perhaps you could explain why a £600 increase would be the maximum?

brewerdave

QrizB said:

MouldyOldDough said:

The latest TERRIFYING increase of £600 is an increase in the MAXIMUM cost

Since you're clearly better informed than most, perhaps you could explain why a £600 increase would be the maximum?

I agree - my increase is more like £1000 pa - and from when my suppliers failed late last November it's £1800pa !!!

BooJewels

You beat me to it @QrizB

What annoys me with the news on this - the BBC did it repeatedly on the 10pm news last night - is saying energy costs are going up by 54% and most households will see an increase of £600.  We can see from the amount of posts on here, that people are posting wanting to know why the new suggested DD from the energy company will see them with an annual increase of £1700 or some much higher number.

My personal increases are significantly more than 54% as I've come to the end of what turned out to be good 2 year fixes - one at the end of January, one yesterday.  

So, a lot of people posting here are subject to a double - or often triple - whammy on pricing.  The rise in unit and standing charges we're all seeing, coupled with coming off a fix (largely because they don't get what the fix applies to) at some point recently or in the near future and thirdly, many simply don't even get unit prices, so think their DD is an all inclusive price, so often have a deficit to clear too - sometimes massive.  Hence, they see whopping increases in their monthly DD.  

Hopefully, these increases will see people learning more about their energy use and taking responsibility for their own billing and keeping on top of their own spending.

agentcain

BooJewels said:

You beat me to it @QrizB

What annoys me with the news on this - the BBC did it repeatedly on the 10pm news last night - is saying energy costs are going up by 54% and most households will see an increase of £600.  We can see from the amount of posts on here, that people are posting wanting to know why the new suggested DD from the energy company will see them with an annual increase of £1700 or some much higher number.

My personal increases are significantly more than 54% as I've come to the end of what turned out to be good 2 year fixes - one at the end of January, one yesterday.  

So, a lot of people posting here are subject to a double - or often triple - whammy on pricing.  The rise in unit and standing charges we're all seeing, coupled with coming off a fix (largely because they don't get what the fix applies to) at some point recently or in the near future and thirdly, many simply don't even get unit prices, so think their DD is an all inclusive price, so often have a deficit to clear too - sometimes massive.  Hence, they see whopping increases in their monthly DD.  

Hopefully, these increases will see people learning more about their energy use and taking responsibility for their own billing and keeping on top of their own spending.

Is that the problem? People not being responsible for their billing?

When will we finally hold the policy makers responsible? Am I the one making the decisions how energy is produced? Am I the one making a profit out of it?

The whole point of today's humanity is to progress further. To make life increasingly easier for everyone! How's it easier when every year we have to use less, live in a more inconvenient way to the point of being cold, hungry and lonely? How's that progress.

We're completely missing the forest. This system is just so broken.

Let the news fear monger more. Maybe then people will turn to pichforks and go after those really responsible.