What extra support measures or regulations do you expect the government to bring in this winter?

MWT

Telegraph_Sam said:

A few days later I was contacted by "Home Logic" [5* Trustnet] who it turned out were marketing the under roof spray on membrane. I was given convincing sales spiel during the "survey" but whilst dithering I read comments on such membranes in one of the other MSE forums. This has dampened my enthusiasm.

Stay away from anyone offering to spray anything on the underside of your roof.

The consequences of that can frequently be seen on the mortgages forum where people are find it difficult/impossible to get either a standard mortgage or equity release with the foam present.

... and even when removed, the result can be a need for remedial repairs to the roof or in the worst case complete replacement of the roof...

pearl123

I'm hoping for a energy VAT cut. I'd like to  see measures come in very soon.
The price increases are worrying already.

Telegraph_Sam

MWT said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

A few days later I was contacted by "Home Logic" [5* Trustnet] who it turned out were marketing the under roof spray on membrane. I was given convincing sales spiel during the "survey" but whilst dithering I read comments on such membranes in one of the other MSE forums. This has dampened my enthusiasm.

Stay away from anyone offering to spray anything on the underside of your roof.

The consequences of that can frequently be seen on the mortgages forum where people are find it difficult/impossible to get either a standard mortgage or equity release with the foam present.

... and even when removed, the result can be a need for remedial repairs to the roof or in the worst case complete replacement of the roof...

Tks I will heed your advice

Telegraph_Sam

njm123 said:

My suspicion is that in the short term the Government will extend their help but target it on those on benefit's including the working poor.   Mid term they will force the introduction of a social tariff for these groups, with the energy companies allowed to recover the real cost via a levy on other tariffs.

For everyone else the advice will be along the following lines to - but not clear or well regulated,

To cut your energy costs : 

- Cut usage
- Install Insulation, Soler Panels, ASHP etc.  With some limited grants and possibly some form of register of approved fitters.  if you can't cover the cost borrow - possibly at a subsidised rate. 
- To cover those that  can't afford or borrow the money to cover the above, or can't cope with having the work done.  They'll encourage the market to introduce some form of sell/rent back for 20+ years agreement with the Council/Housing Association/Energy Company etc. in exchange for the necessary work being done.

Despite all the hype and encouragement I am finding that here in Co Durham "the system" is anything but positive in offering householders incentives / subsidies to upgrade their loft insulation. The "ECO"system seems to be at the bottom of it. One ECO registered contractor I contacted was only interested if as part of the package I replaced my gas boiler with an air source heat pump. Having read reports and reviews of these I backed off pretty quickly.

ZolaBuddy

wittynamegoeshere said:

The VAT cut appears to be a certainty now, both candidates are promising it.  But that's only 5%.

So it will be just a 60% price rise instead of 65% then.

Most of us haven't actually felt the impact of the April rise, as we haven't needed much heating since then.  Our winter bills will be around 150% higher (54% + 60-65% compunded), in other words around 2.5 times last winter's bill.  If you paid £200 a month last winter, this will rise to around £500 this winter - it really is that substantial a rise, and I don't think many are stating this as clearly as it needs to be said, in terms of an annual rise.

The temporary cut in VAT is better than nothing - should it happen. But it also means less tax revenue for HMG, which probably means it will have to be found elsewhere via the usual suspects.

But just like the former Chancellor's cut in fuel duty a couple of months ago, it made little or no appreciable difference when fuel prices were going up by 3 or 4p every day!

Then there's the prospect of energy rationing come Winter - a prospect a lot of people have never endured. And this isn't just going to be a UK issue, but Western Europe. Although it will be interesting if we do have some form of electric/gas rationing on a daily basis (say for example no electric for 2 hours between 12 noon and 2pm), how people will react if they still have to pay the full daily standing charge amount for a reduced service?

Then there's the prospect that even if the war ends in Ukraine tomorrow, energy bills are not going to return to pre-pandemic levels for years, if ever. Therefore we face the prospect of paying huge bills for years to come. How will people afford that on a long time basis and with inflation/interest rates rising by leaps and bounds? Moreover how will this and future governments react? Can they continue to offer huge cash incentives to help people with their bills?

Best thing for the moment is bite the bullet and find the best fix available (if possible) and try to economise elsewhere. The SVR is just going to balloon not just by a few pounds but £50+ here, £50+ there

wild666

If the price moves to £3500 in October and £3800 in Jan then many people will have to cut down on electric and gas usage but I don't see any further offerings from the government coming any time soon. This is really going to become an eat or heat period for many people. Some will wrap up and stay in with no heating whilst others might go out and walk around shops to keep warm, either way I think this is going to be a period where people have to choose very carefully what they do. More cold meals like salads to save maybe 600W to 1 kWh plus on cooking, even cold drinks like water instead of tea, coffee or herbal drinks.

Some might not think twice about it and carry on as before any increase then be saddled with debts of hundreds or thousands of pounds then they are then put on a dearer prepayment tariff and their old analogue meter is replaced by a smart prepayment meter(s).

wild666

pearl123 said:

I'm hoping for a energy VAT cut. I'd like to  see measures come in very soon.
The price increases are worrying already.

If the increase goes to £3500 the VAT cut would only be £175. 

MattMattMattUK

The problem with any potential VAT cut is that it means less revenue for the government at a time when nearly all out public services are either underfunded, or hugely underfunded. We are running a huge deficit, the debt is bigger than it has been since WWII, we spend more on debt interest than education, policing and social care combined and we already have the lowest rates of taxation in the G7, the fourth lowest in the G20 and the bottom two thirds of earners pay the lowest effective rate of income taxation in the EU (the top third pay the fifth highest). The UK is already a low tax country, pushing that lower makes little sense.

casjen

The government coffers are overflowing with extra tax coming in. The permanent removing of VAT on energy bills will happen. The freeze on income tax thresholds should be removed meaning all those having earned income especially on second pensions will make a big difference. These measures will hardly dent the government purse.

 Also  the energy grant  should be increased to £100 a month.

According to the endless charity begging adverts we are all going to die of a terrible disease unless we give them all our money... According to the media/social media in the coming months we are either going to Boil to death...freeze to death...starve to death...be struck down by covid again,, Trump will run for president again or we will be be vaporized in a nuclear holocaust.

I prefer to to use common sense,,, improvise, adapt and have a nice pub lunch and a choc ice whilst thinking of somewhere nice to visit as and when I can… You would think we live in a third world country with all the negativity about when the reality is completely different.

MattMattMattUK

casjen said:

The government coffers are overflowing with extra tax coming in.

The UK government borrowed just shy of £23 billion in June, July is expected to be slightly higher, YTD it has borrowed around £75 billion and is spending around £19.4 billion per month on debt interest. That is far from overflowing, the UK is still in deficit and haemorrhaging money. 

casjen said:

The permanent removing of VAT on energy bills will happen. 

It probably will, but that does not mean it is sensible. It is being done as a stupid campaign pitch and to claim a "Brexit victory", not because it makes fiscal sense. 

casjen said:

The freeze on income tax thresholds should be removed meaning all those having earned income especially on second pensions will make a big difference.

The taxation thresholds need to be eroded, the bottom two thirds of earners already have the lowest effective rate of income taxation in the EU, the largest tax free allowance of any major economy and the lowest overall taxation in the EU. UK taxes are far too low. The top third of earners have the fifth highest rate of income taxation in the EU and many lose their personal allowance.

casjen said:

These measures will hardly dent the government purse.

The VAT on energy bills alone raises around £13 billion not far off the entire policing budget of £15.8 billion. Raising the tax thresholds would cost around £8.18 billion in the next fiscal year, that is certainly a lot more than "hardly dent" when it comes to public finances.

casjen said:

Also  the energy grant  should be increased to £100 a month.

No, it should not, because the money is not "free" and has to be paid for, as we are already running a huge deficit further increasing that deficit would be irresponsible at best. 

casjen said:

According to the endless charity begging adverts we are all going to die of a terrible disease unless we give them all our money... According to the media/social media in the coming months we are either going to Boil to death...freeze to death...starve to death...be struck down by covid again,, Trump will run for president again or we will be be vaporized in a nuclear holocaust.

Ok...

casjen said:

I prefer to to use common sense,,, improvise, adapt and have a nice pub lunch and a choc ice whilst thinking of somewhere nice to visit as and when I can… 

If your idea of common sense is to further increase the already large deficit and record borrowing then the definition of common sense has lost all meaning.

casjen said:

You would think we live in a third world country with all the negativity about when the reality is completely different.

What appears to be modelled on a third world country is your idea of fiscal policy, borrow and throw out electoral bribes, and leave the economic damage to future generations to deal with. The UK needs to start living within it's means, people need to pay more taxes, the government needs to stop throwing taxpayers money away. The economy goes in cycles, there will always be good times followed by lean times, the idea that the state can permanently shelter people from that is a fallacy and people have to learn to deal with it, just as every previous generation has.