Anyone else feeling a little sick right now

johnbhoy70

Exodi said:

johnbhoy70 said:

Can't disagree with any of that.

Humming and hawing over taking a fixed might well cost you a few quid if you don't just bite the bullet and use that cooling off period to reassess. It's the only ''control'' you can take really, if you can call it that.
 
A lot of us know that feeling well from last summer onwards when they wondered if they had done the right thing taking on a fix, although the stakes are far higher now admittedly. 

Surely at this point, the significant amount of people are on the SVT. Current fixes are akin to meeting a bear and chopping your arms off so they can't be bitten off.

Crazy to think that energy bills are once again set to double in a couple of months, after having doubled only a few months ago already.

Coupled with soaring costs of pretty much everything, and most people getting a single digit salary increase, everyone will be objectively worse off for the forseeable future.

Still plenty coming off 1 year and especially 2 year fixes going to find what the news has been banging on about. I'm still shocked by the amount of people that have no understanding of how the price cap really works and what the actual headline percentages actually mean for them. Really think the media's coverage and understanding  of this, especially initally, was very poor and has contributed to some people sleepwalking here. BUT that's my opinion and another debate

MattMattMattUK

Mstty said:

Quite the shock again today with the latest predictions which will surely bring more new members to the forum looking for ways out of which there are very few left now.

I like the way @pochase is saying fix now as long as their is a cooling off period to back out or zero exit fees.

I can't think of anything to add except helping people reduce usage.

The main thing people can do is use less, there is plenty of advice on how do to so, at least down to a base level. There will be many who have yet to make any real attempt at energy reduction and they will be able to make significant reductions in usage, there will also unfortunately be those who have cut back a lot and do not really have the capacity to cut back much more. There will also be the situation and advice of cutting back elsewhere to allow people to spend that money on energy.

There are also some odd situations now where based on the tariff predictions, and depending on one's exact circumstances, it may actually be cheaper to join a gym and shower there, rather than shower at home. The use of "Warm banks" will also become important for some, likely the elderly and unemployed who spend significant amounts of time at home.

Mstty said:

What else is there to stop this sick feeling?

It is a difficult one, I tend not to experience circumstances in that kind of way, but for me the biggest thing is people need to plan and take control, proper budgets, controlling usage as required, taking mitigating actions ahead of time rather than waiting until the issue really bites. Cutting back on usage now is important as it adds to the buffer ahead of winter for example. 

BUFF

Evan3020 said:

Chopping your second arm off is the difficult one.

(for a little levity in hard times - if you don't laugh you would cry)

Exodi

pochase said:

Exodi said:

johnbhoy70 said:

Can't disagree with any of that.

Humming and hawing over taking a fixed might well cost you a few quid if you don't just bite the bullet and use that cooling off period to reassess. It's the only ''control'' you can take really, if you can call it that.
 
A lot of us know that feeling well from last summer onwards when they wondered if they had done the right thing taking on a fix, although the stakes are far higher now admittedly. 

Surely at this point, the significant amount of people are on the SVT. Current fixes are akin to meeting a bear and chopping your arms off so they can't be bitten off.

Crazy to think that energy bills are once again set to double in a couple of months, after having doubled only a few months ago already.

Coupled with soaring costs of pretty much everything, and most people getting a single digit salary increase, everyone will be objectively worse off for the forseeable future.

The situation is bad enough, but where are prices doubling after having doubled (that is 4 times!)? We have "only" a 2.81times increase since October last year. Bad enough, I know, but far from 4 times, and making it worse than it is is not really helpful.

Also many people have fixed between May and July, for sure more have asked for advice (or were only reading the forum) and have not fixed.

Sorry yes, I'm being a bit loose in my maths. As you say using CI's latest prediction, we'd be going from £1,277 in October last year to £3,582 in October this year (as you say 2.81x), with the possibility of this increasing to £4,266 in January (3.34x over 15 months).

£106 a month to potentially £355.50 a month in energy is incomprehensible.

Kudos for taking the risk to fix, 'Who Dares Wins' but I can not imagine the issues this will cause for low income and/or large households. I do not know where everyone will find the extra couple of hundred pounds a month.

Evan3020

Yes, you have to laugh, might see if Monty Python is on Amazon Prime as i haven't seen them for some time.

NeverendingDMP

Yep OP I'm definitely feeling sick about it. And yes to pochase comments in that my ship has already sailed. I've been following it and checking my offers of fixes closely since early this year but never got one worthwhile for us and actually never got one that I could afford in our present income/outcome. I decided to delay the inevitable extra debts I'm going to incur from utility bills for as long as I can as a  result . I've been paying extra and will hopefully be 500-600 in credit by the time the October cap hits but I'm not sure it will get me very far.....
I'm in the percentage of the population that has figured out a way to be able to pay a little bit more by cancelling everything fun and unessential but am at a total loss as to how we will find any more to be able to pay 400 or 500 a month.  My head is firmly in the sand that we will have to pay any more than 400 and I'm keeping it there till the last possible minute on purpose

The only positive is I've bought big fleece jumpers for the kids already and they like them !  

KxMx

I moved into a flat of my own recently, I get ESA +UC and currently set aside half of my UC for energy costs. 
I soon will be re-doing budgets to see if I can manage on the ESA alone using all of UC for energy costs. 

I'm very frugal generally and am very careful to switch off anything not being used etc, smart plugs I've found useful.

I needed the first half of COL payment for other things but the second half will all be going into the energy pot. 

I just wish I could rely on the Warm Home Discount but the Government have picked a fine year to tinker with the criteria... Basically no one ouside of those getting Pension Credit qualify automatically and instead have to meet a crackpot formula for which the data isn't easily available, if at all. 

spot1034

Looking on the bright side - at some point this seemingly unstoppable rise in prices will come to an end. Several factors might bring this about including  a mild winter, an easing of tension between Russia and the west (perhaps Putin 'removed' in one way or another) and a concerted effort by politicians across the world to ease supply problems in the next decade or so. That last one will take a while to bear fruit, but just a sign that it's being done will tend to bring more confidence to markets and ease the panic that there clearly is at present.

When that happens, we could see future prices fall quite sharply. I don't think it will happen for a while, perhaps not for a year or more, but when it does that should mean suppliers will be able to agree contracts at lower rates than we are seeing right now, and that should finally bring some more cheer to the retail market. 

It will happen, it's just a question of when.

brewerdave

I feel most sick that I didn't install solar panels a few years ago. At our ages with the FIT payments having dropped ,I couldn't see a sensible payback then BUT IF ONLY I'd known that leccy prices were going to explode .........

littleteapot

When I fixed my energy prices in April this year until April 2024, I tried to convince my parents to do the same based on what I expected would happen. But I got the standard responses "We'll be fine as we are thankyou", "We've always been able to afford the bill".

They only have a 2 bed semi, but they keep the whole house at about 22C "because dad feels the cold since he became ill".  I tried to explain to them how they could reduce consumption without being uncomfortable for example reducing the temperature in the kitchen and unoccupied bedroom, using the washing machine, dishwasher and tumble dryer only during the off-peak period. But again just a barrage of excuses not to change anything. Sadly this mentality seems to be prevalent in well over 50% of the population.