Stop Scaremongering

MouldyOldDough

I don't understand how people can pay more than 4 times what I am paying for power
How can someone use so much energy?
We pay £45 per month for electricity and gas (just increased from £25 dd) but are never cold or lacking any light
We don't cook over an open fire or heat water on a paraffin stove 
Our 3 bed house is insulated and double glazed avd we are in 24/7

MouldyOldDough

Mstty said:

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.

People are totally stupid 
BBC had to explain inflation
"inflation is the rate at which prices rise. If a bottle of milk costs £1 and that rises by 5p, then milk inflation is 5%. The optimum level, and the Bank of England's target, is a 2% inflation rate."
Durr "where does the milk come from?" 

razord

MouldyOldDough said:

I don't understand how people can pay more than 4 times what I am paying for power
How can someone use so much energy?
We pay £45 per month for electricity and gas (just increased from £25 dd) but are never cold or lacking any light
We don't cook over an open fire or heat water on a paraffin stove 
Our 3 bed house is insulated and double glazed avd we are in 24/7

Nobody here is really interested in money amounts because they're so often completely unrelated to actual usage. How much kWh do you use in gas and electricity?

Sterlingtimes

Those who shopped around for home energy will see huge increases. I was paying Zog 2p per kWh for gas a year ago: now with EDF, it is 7p per kWh. My annual bill for electricity and gas will now be £3,500.

jimexbox

Is the op a troll or just daft? 

brewerdave

MouldyOldDough said:

I don't understand how people can pay more than 4 times what I am paying for power
How can someone use so much energy?
We pay £45 per month for electricity and gas (just increased from £25 dd) but are never cold or lacking any light
We don't cook over an open fire or heat water on a paraffin stove 
Our 3 bed house is insulated and double glazed avd we are in 24/7

No idea how you can get down to those levels - the new standing charges work out at ~ £23 pm on their own and £22 would only cover ~ 78kwh pm of electrical energy, which is ~  25% of the "average" user and no gas !!!!!

400ixl

MouldyOldDough said:

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.

So how do you explain that every region has a different daily standing charge and unit rate to someone who has onloy a very basic grasp on what a unit rate is.

You also have people who are not on the standard variable rate today, but on various forms of fix which can be well below the SVR and when they come off of that the increase will be significantly more.

If everyone in the country was on a standard rate then you could explain it as a simple p*q scenario, but it isn't.

Now there is a balance that needs to be made in making sure the headline is enough to make sure people read it, understand there is a change and they need to go and look into it vs scaring people silly.

kinger101

OP - seems you clearly don't understand the new charging structure, so it's a bit rich to criticise the press.

The cap is set on the unit price of electricity and gas, so there's no theoretical maximum.  Additionally, standing charges have increased significantly so even low energy users will see a hefty increase.

While this might not impact your standard of living too much, you could show a little empathy for those who will struggle.  Like the many low-income households who are now going to have to struggle with this on top of the underlying inflation at the moment.

Almost everything we buy has required fossil-fuels at some point, whether it be to manufacture fertilizers to grow crops, or just deliver it to your door.

I'm fortunate in that this won't affect me too much, but I do remember times when my parents struggled to make ends meet in both the late 70s (winter of discontent) then again in the late 80s (interest rates).  Just because this won't impact you too much doesn't mean that others aren't going to struggle.

kinger101

jimexbox said:

Is the op a troll or just daft? 

The two are not mutually exclusive.

Cardew

MouldyOldDough said:

I don't understand how people can pay more than 4 times what I am paying for power
How can someone use so much energy?
We pay £45 per month for electricity and gas (just increased from £25 dd) but are never cold or lacking any light
We don't cook over an open fire or heat water on a paraffin stove 
Our 3 bed house is insulated and double glazed avd we are in 24/7

You don't understand??

The AVERAGE gas and electricity bill across all UK for people on the Standard Variable Tariff(SVT)* is £1,970 which is 54% higher than it was for the SVT that was in force yesterday.

* The SVT is the cheapest tariff available other than those who are on a fixed tariff that has yet to expire.

That average figure will self evidently cover those with very low consumption(apparently yourself) with bills of a few hundred pounds a year, to those with bills of a few thousand pounds.

The reasons - that you cannot understand - why people use more energy will include:

larger property

More occupants

less insulation

higher temperatures used

etc etc