Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

dustydigger

tooldle said:

Are they maybe rejigging the website? I'm with Bulb and they have just changed how some of their pages present. The first thing i see now when logging on is my account balance, under which is the statement 'Your account balance looks good' in bold type. 

Hmm,could be a possibility,but if so some warning or information would have been nice.

dustydigger

Judgment day today on energy. Praise be to Martin's calculater to get info that Scottish Power is pretty reluctant to give us. I should pay about £180 this month,and then £332 a month from October,on present energy usage,though I intend to try to cut consumption a little.Then the govt help of £67 a month will reduce that to about £260.I have a massive £518 credit balance too,and will get other help,which is a relief

SP is to get in touch between 8th and 15th of Sept to inform us of October figures,so there is still 2 weeks of uncertainty.

Add to it I have been on fixed tariffs for decades,I have no idea about how people go about SVT. Are you billed monthly or three monthly.? The figure of £332 a month looks like a fixed rate,but I will no longer be on a fixed rate tariff,so does that figure just appear as a sort of guide for someone who wants to put aside money perhaps in summer when usage is low. Havent a clue,would appreciate any info from fellow members about how you all manage your energy costs.

All those years ago i got fixed tariff to avoid all those headaches and uncertainties.

tooldle

I’m on a variable tariff. I pay monthly an agreed amount. As I have a smart meter, my supplier calculates my use monthly, and predicts the overall cost for the year ahead using my actual figures. Armed with the prediction, the supplier can say I’m on track with payments or, my direct debit needs adjusting either up or down. If my balance is starting to be significant I can reduce my monthly payment until the balance is consumed. 

Katiehound

Almost as above except I don't have a smart meter- I read the meters monthly and email the readings, then they calculate the usage for the year etc paying by DD.

Blackandgold_2

I'm the same as Katiehound. Monthly direct debit for both gas and electricity on SVT and I send in monthly meter readings.
I expect both DDs to increase in October but not to anything approaching the amounts mentioned in the press.

Katiehound

Blackandgold_2 said:

 
I expect both DDs to increase in October but not to anything approaching the amounts mentioned in the press.

Boy o boy I hope not!
No, mine will not be that amount as there is just me (dogs don't count!) and I have solar panels- what a wise move that was!! perhaps after all , they will pay for themselves.......

dustydigger

@tooldle ,@Katiehound,and @Blackandgold_2

thanks for your comments,ladies. I am almost spot on the typical usage,so sadly the figures are high for me . I actually cut down by almost 10% last year,hence the £518 credit balance,but not sure if I can somehow coax Mr Dusty to cut down. He's lived in UK for over 30 years,but never got used to our winters!   

Dont know if I could be bothered doing monthly meter readings,but pleased to say I have a smart meter,so thats unnecessary.

The whole process of reassessing cost and usage every month seems very elaborate,but since SVT will be £200 LESS than my not-so-dear Scottish Power's £518 fix we'll see how it goes.

Was quite a day yesterday ,Mr Dusty looked shellshocked when I told him about our new payment.At least lately he has been buying odds and ends,like his exotic fruits,his weekend newspaper and the like,out of his own pocket. Thats maybe £3 or £4 a week,not to be sniffed at. I will be assessing our food deliveries,surprising the little odds and ends that creep in,biscuits here,cakes there,they mount up and are not at all good for us,so I want to pare back. Its so annoying that I will be cutting back not to save money for something nice or useful,but just to line the pockets of the fat cats. The top guy at SSE had a 45% payrise this year,to £4.5 million,and a massive bonus. Unbelievable.

I felt so sorry for poor Martin yesterday,he was in despair. He has worn himself out struggling to try to help people,and to see this govt just blithely bustling on with their own private agendas,ignoring the people altogether. No ministers even turned up to explain themselves on TV yesterday! Remember the days when they turned up on every news bulletin praising themselves?Its is so heartbreaking.

Of course we all get annoyed or anxious about the increases,but it seems NOTHING is been done about business energy costs. One business woman said her little factory's costs was going up from £300,000 a year to almost a million. Completely impossible to raise her prices to cope with that,so she will be closing down,120 workers will lose their jobs,her life's work is destroyed.We are heading for a major recession.The last real recession was the 90s,(the Credit Crunch of 2008 led to austerity but not real recession IMO) and we older people remember the horrendous conditions back then. Young people just have no idea what is to come. Its a nightmare.

No wonder Martin was going demented!

dustydigger

There was a great post recently about recession over on Frugal Living that is very helpful

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Can someone explain simply why the recession would mean we need to squirrel away cash and food? Would a recession make items more expensive, so better to buy a bag of pasta now at £1 rather than when it increases?

 

Put very simply there is less money circulating in the economy and less activity. People have less money to spend so shops and employers cant make a profit so they make people redundant when they cant afford their wages any longer.  . That means more unemployed who cant pay their bills, rent, mortgages or credit card bills so the growing band of unemployed  spend less which means shops and businesses make more losses and eventually have to close down. As people see unemployment rising they fear they may be next so cut back their spending, so businesses make even less profit.  Thus the cycle continues until everything drops through the basement floor.

if the local shop you depend on for grocery shopping has to close down (and even big branches of supermarkets get closed) you may not easily be able to buy certain goods you depend on.  Or you may have to spend more on petrol or bus fares to travel further to buy them so your housekeeping doesn't stretch so far and you buy fewer goods or cut out spending which leads to more businesses .going bust.  Or a factory which makes certain foods may close making all their staff redundant.

  So it makes sense to keep a good stock of basic items you need.  When factories  close, or grain from Ukraine runs short  that means a shortages of goods so demand for them is fiercer and prices rise.  Wealthier people can pay higher prices, poorer people can't.  So next time you go to buy something increased energy costs will have driven the price higher so it makes sense to buy at a lower cost and store it. 

Recessions make people anxious about their futures, their jobs and unemployment  . We all want to do what we can to reduce that stress. Keeping a good stock of essentials means we need to worry less about what the future has in store.  

dustydigger

 Morning all.Another bright day.

+health. Not too good,bad back,and my knee is really playing up.Never slept till 3 am,as I didnt know how to lie to avoid pain! :woke after seven for loo visit,then fell back to sleep till nine! Mr Dusty got breakfast after 9.30.,not amused.

I still have 5 weeks to go for my B12 shot,and cant really say I felt much benefit from the last one,it had little effect,I've felt weak and lethargic the whole time. Maybe the heat has had an effect? Now I see why so many people moan on the pernicious anaemia site that one jab every 3 months is inadequate. Also it could be the metformin making me sluggish. Certainly I am bloated,put on 3 lbs since I started taking them,after a steady one pound a month loss for 18 months. Very disheartening.

+ Scottish Power. Yay! My data is back on,after well over a week..August 2020 I used 916 KW , Aug 2021 I used 885 KW,and so far,27 days of August 2022 I have used 587 KWH.  Partly heatwave,rarely had heating on except Mr D insists on 45 mins heating early morning so bathroom is warm,and water is hot for morning baths,so it may be that the new oven is using a little less than the old? Maybe a few quid a month less,since I still use it an awful lot.Every little helps,though..

Off to the kitchen. Its midday and I havent even started dinner. Will make rice with potatoes veg in,just not up to elaborate cooking today. Yesterday was beef,so much work,and different processes,I did my back in being in the kitchen so much.Today will be veg,Mr D wont be too happy,but he would insist on having the meat early,none left for today.. We dont follow a set Sunday roast dinner meat and 2 veg sort of routine,Mr D has that sort of meal several times a week,except when its salmon on the menu. He's never too happy if its only veg,but even he can see that meat and fish all seven days of the week is just too expensive.

weenancyinAmerica

Dusty - my doctor had to take me off of Metformin because it was making me ill. I am now on Glipizide which is much better for me. The Metformin almost did me in.