Stop Scaremongering

jbuchanangb

In the 363 days from 2 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 I used 3304kWh electricity,for which I was charged £608.75.

If I was to use the same amount in the next 365 days at the rates applicable from today, I would pay £1079.77.

That is a 77.4% increase. Electricity price inflation for me could be 77.4%, but as it is expected that the rates will increase in October, the amount will eventually be higher.

In the 365 days from 31 March 2021 to 31 March 2022 I used 13260kWh gas, for which I was charged £473.06.

If I was to use the same amount in the next 365 days at the rates applicable from today, I would pay £1072.64.

That is a 126.7% increase. Gas price inflation for me could be 126.7%, but as it is expected that the rates will increase in October, the amount will eventually be higher.

If I combine the figures, total for energy in last 12 months was £1,081.81, same energy for next 12 months would be £2,152.41 a 99% increase.

It is good to hear that the Bank of England target for inflation is 2%. My actual figures make a mockery of that as far as energy price inflation is concerned.

maisie_cat

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.

While unit charges are simple, add the standing charge and VAT and it can still confuse the mathematically challenged. 
Using our new BG electricity tariff 3000KWH/year is 34.1p/KWH whereas 6000 KWH/year is 31.2p/KWH due to the fixed standing charge being spread over more units.
What some press articles have done though is make it clearer how much things costs to run "run the tumble dryer for sheets? that'll be 60p" etc
Many consumers, hubby included, now know that putting a single T shirt in the wash is expensive!

brewerdave

jimexbox said:

Is the op a troll or just daft? 

Having bunged some figures in my spreadsheets, I'm rapidly coming to the former conclusion !!

FreeBear

brewerdave said:

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 !!!!!

The bill for last month was £53 for me. 3 bed semi, not the best insulated. But heating is supplemented by a stove in the lounge burning cheap/free wood and a bit of coal (five bags this winter).

pochase

MouldyOldDough said:

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...

It's not 20p now, it was more like 21p up to yesterday and now it 27p to 28p.

And electricity is the "good" part for the increase, gas has increase from around 4p to over 7p, so that is more than a 75% increase, add to that standing charge for electricity that has doubled.

The 600£ increase is not for a minority, that is what the average user will see, that means yes there will be people who have less, but the same number of people who see a higher increase, and as said before that is just for the people who are already on the SVT, people on a fixed rate may see a 150% to 200% increase.

You might be a low energy user and have a small total increase, but the rate increase is the same for everybody, and a low energy user will feel the increase for the standing charge even harder.

Read the posts from people who already now don't know how to pay for their energy or what might happen in October and tell them this is all not real, it is just scaremongering.

Ultrasonic

MouldyOldDough said:

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

Just on the point in bold I'll mention that I saw a recent news article suggesting that the majority (>50%) of customers were now on standard variable tariffs at the price cap, and so increases in this do directly result in a cost increase to most.

(Others have covered how very misleading it is for you to stress a maximum increase of £600. I do agree that news coverage is likely to increase anxiety for many more than is warranted though.)

gefnew

They could get this info to help them.

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jbuchanangb

Previous year:

In the 365 days from 2 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 I used 4019kWh electricity, for which I was charged £596.10.

In the following 363 days I used 3304kWh for which I paid £608.75 (£544.86 units, £63.89 S/C) 4019kWh at that rate would have been £726.66.

That is a 21.9% increase. Electricity price inflation from 20/21 to 21/22 was 21.9%. The good news was that my consumption was down by 17.8%.

Must have been all those LED bulbs I installed.

We will only know the figures between 21/22 and 22/23 in a year's time.

I could do the same calculation for gas, but it's getting demoralising. Everyone's numbers are different.

Chrysalis

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

There is part of your answer, not everyone has double glazing and not everyone has good insulation.

My cold air draft is horrible, I dont even bother heating now as so much of it would be wasted.

As to the rest of it, probably habits, then also the question of my own very unpopular opinion of how accurate everyone's meters are.

I think one problem of the current regulation, fixed DD's etc. is many people simply dont know what they using, they havent really cared up until recently and even now arent really investigating but just looking at their DD's.

MouldyOldDough

brewerdave said:

jimexbox said:

Is the op a troll or just daft? 

Having bunged some figures in my spreadsheets, I'm rapidly coming to the former conclusion !!

You can't use your standing charges on a low user like me 
I use less power so lower standing charge