Anyone else feeling a little sick right now

elsien

PennyForThem_2 said:

If you feel sick, for most ppl they won't suffer too much if you turn off the CH and keep to summer times for heating water.  UK only really got CH in early 50's and only then for ppl who could afford it.  

Yes, yes I know how 'warm' it can be - got CH in early 70's.  But if you wrap up warm, draught proof where possible, double glaze or equivalent then mostly you will have an acceptable in-house temperature but not one you can wear a t-shirt and short in winter.

(I understand that there are some medical conditions for which this is not appropriate - in pre CH days you probably did not do that well)

I remember those days. I also remember having terrible chillblains on my feet and hands, having so many layers on the bed that you were pinned to the mattress, and waiting in bed in the morning for grandparents to light the fire downstairs so it was warm enough to go downstairs for a wash. And an outside toilet, which I also wouldn't want to go back to the days of either.  
It's a little bit patronising to imply that the issue is people who want to walk around the house in winter wearing very little. There are some like that. But in winter I wear a multitude of layers, two pairs of socks and a blanket wrapped round me of an evening. And that's with the CH on low, not turned off completely. 

SlinkyWeevil

We’re also trying not to worry.  Our 1 year fix ends in October this year.  We pay £125pm, and the next cheapest fix when looking at switching options is estimated to be over £400 a month which we simply cannot afford. 

We will be looking to try and reduce our consumption further, but one big concern I have is whether we will see an influx of reptiles being dumped because people cannot afford to keep their heating and lights on.  We have 3 who require heating and UV lighting 12 hours a day and there is no way round that unless we were to rehome them. 

The whole situation is so galling because we are generally very careful where we spend our money, and like everyone else we feel like we’re now at the mercy of a few big companies who dominate the market.  All competition has gone since the smaller companies went bust last year. 

elsien

Is your supplier offering anything for existing customers? If they are then you need to stop looking at the estimates for the fixes and work out what they are likely to cost you based on your own usage in KwH. I'm about to sit down with parent and look at each quarter over the last 12 months (bearing it was a mild winter so this year could be higher use) so we can do the sums based on the fixed rates vs what the best guess is for the variable rates. Her fix ends in Sept so that's only a month of paying the higher rate and it's there's no fees to come off the potential fix and back onto the SVR if that turns out to be cheaper for any reason. 

Ally_E.

Raxiel said:

I've been feeling pretty anxious.

I was kicking myself for not taking a fix back in April, and was determined not to get caught out again this time so took the (eyewatering) July v4 fix from Octopus. Friends and family told me I was mad. FIL told me I could get 23p (Variable) from e.on like him (I tried pointing out that wouldn't last, but fell on deaf ears). Began to wonder if I'd made a big mistake, even MSE was saying fixes more than 70% over the April cap don't seem to be a good deal. I was about to back out of it, but then Tuesday's news dropped.

I'm still going to be paying 3p/unit over the cap for gas until January (3p! five years ago i was paying less than that in total) but if the predictions are right I've saved myself some pain over the year as a whole. Relatively speaking

We've cut what we can. We only just had a load of insulated plasterboard installed. It's already been welcome in blunting the heatwaves, I'm hoping it can do a miracle on the winter gas bill. We paid over the odds to get it fitted just because of the trouble finding an installer who would actually quote, but it may yet pay for itself before all this nonsense is over.

Remains to be seen how much fat we can cut from the Electric though. Everything is already A rated, with as many + as was available. Had a good day today, 5kwh total, including me WFH, a few loads of laundry, a duvet in the drier, kids in front of the TV all day and a hot meal. If they were all like today we'd half the bill, but I know they won't be.

I've been getting quotes for Solar. Now that has my stomach in knots trying to decide if I can afford to install it, or if I can afford not to?

And If I don't decide soon, inflation will likely make the decision for me.

Duvet should dry outside as it's so hot at the moment. Unless you have rain where you are? 

Chrysalis

Vegastare said:

The head of supplier Utilita spoke on Breakfast time and it really brought it home.
He says that £50 of energy will equate to 11 days of energy come October and I think he then said come Jan 2023 it would be the equivalent of 3 days energy.  If he is correct that is beyond alarming.  ( that was my understanding of what he said)

He also made it clear that the meeting this morning is not retailers of energy ie those we pay but the producers.
Yesterday I thought it was the retailers.......this energy system in the UK is ludicrous

This is why the energy suppliers are lobbying hard for government intervention, they not doing it because they nice people, but they know if intervention is inadequate they going to be dealing with a ton of default accounts which risks the survival of their business.

Chrysalis

pochase said:

The energy suppliers are not making profit. Their profit margin is 2.2% and that is dictated by Ofgem, build into the cap. You are talking about energy producers, which are completely separate entities. 

So if they have to buy energy for a fraction of what they get paid for it they will just go bust. If all of them go bust you will not get any energy.  

The government cannot freeze the prices on the world market.

It is worth pointing out they are linked to parent companies making huge profits.  So I think thats what the poster meant.

When you think about it regulating British Gas profit whilst ignoring Centrica is just plain dumb.  Its a deliberate loophole ready to be exploited.

Also Ofgem can freeze the cap if their mandate is changed to no longer need to ensure the supplier survives, although that would force state owned supply, so everyone moving over to bulb so obviously very unlikely, but they could still freeze and have the government subsidise like the Lib Dems suggested.

I think some posters are looking at this only from the suppliers point of view without realising a volcano is erupting, its not sustainable to keep rising the cap the way its been risen.  I know this might be hard to accept but its the reality.

BUFF

selling energy below cost isn't sustainable for companies either & the cost on the global energy market is beyond national regulation. If you subsidise then that money has to come from somewhere either higher taxes or reducing some other provision.

Mstty

There are no easy answers except for many a depressing and anxious time. I am sure a government handout is coming but to what extent and to who is not clear.

Christmas certainly won't be fun for many people this year.

As I sit here I have just noticed a pack of 4 croissants we regularly buy have gone up from 95p to £1.15p. yesterday in a well known bargain store the normal £1 bags of sweets some had gone up to £1.29.

This is the problem though if we hand to much free money about then inflation rises and then my croissants are £1.49. it all gets paid for somewhere.

Sea_Shell

On the point of variable DD, rather than fixed.

This approach seems to be gaining traction on these boards and is frequently recommended, as people don't want to build up a credit balance with their supplier.  Fair enough.

HOWEVER, as we move into the Autumn, if people zero their account, and move to "whole of bill" DD, they are going to be paying for all of Winter as they go, up front, rather than spreading winter out over lower "average" DD's.    They won't be "building up a credit" on a fixed DD this time of year.   As this is the time to "use up" summer credit.

What am I missing here?    Surely peoples variable DD's are going to be even higher for Nov-March, than they would be on fixed DD?   

Obviously some people are on the ball, and are able to budget....but i'm not sure many realise just how big the winter payments are going to have to be?

Mstty

I am not a fan of variable DD for the masses. You are right that if you know your energy use inside and out and can manage your money it's sometimes a good choice.

For others they will just spend their disposable income and not save what they should do for the big winter bills.