Our payments have gone from £53 per month to £169 for both gas and electricity.
Our payments have gone from £53 per month to £169 for both gas and electricity.
Are your current costs £169? Did the energy supplier put them up by 300% and if so, I am presuming you're well in credit ?
2000 kwh of electricity. That's 2 adults in a 4 bed detached. Looking at some of your electricity figures, I have to wonder if you're running the kettle 24 hours a day?!?!
Gas is a bit unclear due to British gas being a shambles, but I calculate it around 10,000 kwh
3.5m high ceilings
Similar problem at my house so I fitted a ceiling fan to push the warm air down to floor level. Not many watts to run either.
A lady on the radio yesterday said she was going to have to think about turning her immersion heater off when she didn't need hot water....
My electricity consumption figures above include running my 2.5kw air conditioning unit for six or seven hours a night from roughly May though to October.
A lady on the radio yesterday said she was going to have to think about turning her immersion heater off when she didn’t need hot water….
That’s the sort of thing we’d have got the belt for in the 70’s!!! 🤣🤣
I’m currently paying around the average cap at £1900, so I presume in October I’ll be paying the £3600.
No way I’ll be paying £5200, £6600, £7000 net for energy, which is what an extra £9/£10k gross required on your wage. They can come in and switch the gas and electric off!!!!!!
20 yr old 5 bed detached house, 2 teenagers, wife out most days, I either work from home or away, generally away a few days every 3rd week. Currently £350 a month, expecting it to go to £500 plus in October, probably £600 in Jan.
I'm on £80/month at the moment DD for both. The prediction chart I've used suggests that it'll be £230/month within a year. 😳
Not clear what ours is going to be, 1920 build house with but the only thing connected to mains is electricity. Economy 7 heaters all round and 2 massive log burners, one of which heats a rad in the landing upstairs. Was with green, whose estimate were woefully low, now on shell who didn't give us a bill or tell us the rates they were charging until 4 months after green went bust.
No idea what the annual usage will be, as we only moved in April 2021, but it's going to hurt whatever it is.
dyls - brave words but...you won't have any choice.
You can opt to not pay in the short term but, eventually, you'll be forced to; your supplier is likely to get a court order for access to fit pre-payment meters which will cost you more than the cap.
Non-payments won't be written off.
Haven’t worked out the gas increase cost yet.
However, modern 4 bed detached house, EV car, solar panels and Tesla Power Wall battery.
Last year , 2021 we used 4500 kWh of electricity for our total useage including charging the EV.
We only bought / imported 32% of that total.
The new price of 0.52p kw, will mean our electricity will now be ( based on 2021).
4500 x 0.32 = 1440 kWh
1440 x £0.52= £748
I realise we are fortunate and semi insulated from this.
The point I wish to make though, is that this is a real crisis for almost everyone in the UK.
The government need to act NOW.
No idea. It’s not like there’s much choice. Bill comes in, gets paid, house warm
Well you do have a choice to useless energy.
Lots of people out there won't have the ability to be able to just suck it up
OUCH
just had new offer through. On 2 year contract at business rates..
Annual consumption is 5800 Kwh
Current quarterlt charge £32 New rate £71
Current FIT charge 0.68p/kwh New charge 0.78p/kwh
Current unit charge 14.7p?kwh New rate 62.2p/kwh
So from an average annual spend of £1200 I now will have to find £5000. Not going to happen
Based on last years usage we are going to be north of £10k from around £2k when our fix ends in October. We’ll be ok but I don’t know how others and small businesses are going to manage.
We are getting showered at work and cutting down on the kids showers no more 1/2 showers for the daughter.
New build 4 bed so pretty well sealed and insulated but in a fairly windy spot. Miserably crawled flat on my back under our old bungalow insulating the floors, but the new house floor construction is way better in comparison (suspended beam and block, then a massive chunk of foam and screed on top). Too soon to know exactly what things will cost, plus both kids will be away so that more than halves the washing, drying and showers for the next six months.
No gas in the area so everything electric, with supplier predicting 6500 kWh pa which includes pretty heavy usage last dec-feb when it was cold weather and the place was drying out / getting the heating optimised. Some of those gas kWh readings are frightening and suggest the ashp is actually doing it's thing pretty efficiently.
Work could get interesting...... if I turn on and use all the hydraulics at full whack it would be 1.3 MW!
Pretty terrifying for us given it coincides with our fixed mortgage deal coming to and end in November which will result in a couple of hundred quid extra a month going in that direction also
No idea. It’s not like there’s much choice. Bill gets paid by DD, house warm.
This
Trouble is that for many including several on here already, it's not a choice either but is becoming it. Not just a choice of what holiday to go on, or bike upgrade or where to eat out at, but between heating the house and putting food on tables in some cases. If you genuinely 'have no idea' what your energy bill is or will be but are just confident you can still afford it you are in a very privileged place.
Even the chancellor's sums say a £45K income is going to struggle and might need help. That's a lot of people
People keep saying to speak to their supplier if you can't pay. But what are they going to do! Put you on a payment plan? Which is only going to get higher and higher debt.
When will someone help? I can't believe no one is stepping in. I don't understand why some people haven't realised the magnitude of it.
What is the UK's energy strategy?
I asked a similar question about the UK's economic strategy on the (currently) moribund coronanomics thread; that will spring back into life soon.
In an attempt to answer my own questions...
i) no clearly articulated energy strategy
ii) no clearly articulated economic strategy.
Is there a trend in these questions?
What is the gov doing to accelerate the development of (rolls royce) small modular nuclear reactors?
When will the Rough gas storage facility be re-opened?
When will UK develop/open new LNG terminals?
Is anyone in gov or any of the wannabes capable of strategic thinking?
To answer my own question, again, the answer is...no.
Even the chancellor’s sums say a £45K income is going to struggle and might need help. That’s a lot of people
I seem to recall earning 50k puts you in the top 10% of the country in terms of salary. As you say, a lot of people are going to struggle.
@theotherjonv - frustrating isn’t it. My sister and brother in law are extremely well off and they just don’t get what I’m fretting about. I’ve asked them how much they are budgeting for energy each month and basically they’re not as they’re comfortable enough to know they’ll be able to afford whatever increases are coming their way without making any other sacrifices. Some people just don’t get it
rjimbob88 i think there are lots of people in your position and this crisis will be like boiling a frog, there are still people on fixed rates before all this started for their energy and many more on fixed rate mortgages.
And can I make it quite clear that even those who are well off can see how this is impacting others, I am truly worried for the state of the country when this bites properly, I might come through relatively ok but if the local business have gone bust, the NHS has collapsed and schools are bankrupt saying I'm alright Jack isn't going to cut it. This isn't the fault of the well off (many of whom have got there off their own graft, I've had no parental support, not inherited and had some really scary times between jobs with little to no help from anyone to keep the lights on), please direct all vitriol towards our government(s) who could see this coming in some form 20 years ago and chose to do nothing about it.
My sister and brother in law are extremely well off and they just don’t get what I’m fretting about. I’ve asked them how much they are budgeting for energy each month and basically they’re not as they’re comfortable enough to know they’ll be able to afford whatever increases are coming their way without making any other sacrifices. Some people just don’t get it
At the other end of the scale, my mate's neighbour is a young single mum who isn't the brightest. He helps her out a lot and had a chat with her last week to see what she was doing about the upcoming rises.
She's not worried as she's on a pre-payment meter and only puts £12 on at a time. She cannot grasp that she'll be putting that £12 in many times a week rather than once or twice. It simply doesn't register with her😱
There's a geographical element to all this too. The milder south of the UK will fare easier during the winter than the frozen north. I've seen folk suggesting a reverse "London Weighting" to take account of higher energy requirements.
I don't have a problem with people whose venn diagram crosses at the worked hard and through accident or design relatively lucky with the way their jobs and earnings have turned out. I'd count myself in that bracket, although these recent hikes, needing to pay privately for some medical care, and D1 about to embark on Uni have created a pinch that has caused cutbacks to be made.
But those that 'it'll be what it is, just keep sending the bill and I'll keep paying' without seemingly any awareness don't sit very well. If there's no awareness, I'd like there to be some, if there is awareness and the response is 'so what, doesn't affect me' that sits even worse. That's what i was trying to convey.
If there’s no awareness, I’d like there to be some, if there is awareness and the response is ‘so what, doesn’t affect me’ that sits even worse.
There will be awareness very soon.
Even if you have a £50,000 salary, a monthly energy bill of £700 is going to sting.
When what is left of your local high street disappears when the uncapped energy bills arrive.
Even the big companies are going to struggle, how much energy do you think a typical supermarket uses? If their bills are going up by 600% how will they continue to operate?
There is going to be mass unemployment in an incredibly short time scale.
We are staring at an unprecedented economic collapse and nobody seems to be doing a thing!
No idea what ours will go up to. Went up from £107 to £144 a month this time up for the £75 per we were paying in 2019.
Was £760 in credit this time last year and currently £430 in credit.
House stays at 24-29 all from May till November so heating not put on.
Both work 12 hour shifts for NHS so hardly in. Four showers a week each.
Reptiles seem to cost 8 pence an hour currently, tv takes it up to 12 p per hour. Washing machine ups it to 60p per hour. Average £3 a day electric. And £4 when both off. Been on standard variable since last year.
British Gas App says £144 per month is paying too much.
Three bed new build detached.
without seemingly any awareness don’t sit very well
Yes I agree, it's going to affect everyone and people should be aware whether it's concern for the welfare of other citizens or for more selfish reasons, the pub has closed, local restaurant has gone, town centre is a wasteland etc. it's going to affect us all. As I said above I think there are a lot who havent realised what is coming, people at the end of a fixed rate, mortgage or energy, who have a very nasty shock when renewal comes around. People who fixed last summer will have seen others being impacted whilst up until now been insulated themselves, that won't last.
People on more than £50k are also going to be impacted financially, finding an extra £600 a month for energy, another couple humdred on mortgage payements and uplifts on food probably equates to a grand a month less disposable income, even amongst higher earners that's a big hit, many have mortgaged up to the hilt and have other outgoings inline with income. Also got to remember take home pay drops drastically around this point with over 40% disappearing before you even see it. Again not going to be as catestrophic as for lower incomes but not something most people can shrug off.
I think it's been coming for a long time though, we've been encouraged from the nineties to live to the limit of our means relying on credit and short term financially stability, we're at a point where many households lifestyles at all income points have outstripped ability to afford. It's going to be a very painful if not disastrous correction for most.
There’s a geographical element to all this too. The milder south of the UK will fare easier during the winter than the frozen north. I’ve seen folk suggesting a reverse “London Weighting” to take account of higher energy requirements.
Surely Northern property should be constructed to reflect the different weather, they do this in Spain/Italy where there is a significant difference north to south and it’s not like it’s suddenly just got colder in the north, there have been centuries to understand this
Why should the south pay for the inefficiency and poor planning of the north when it has it’s own buildings to deal with?
Northern property should be constructed to reflect the different weather
Yep, we can obviously rely on the builders and planners to do things right...
Surely Northern property should be constructed to reflect the different weather, they do this in Spain/Italy where there is a significant difference north to south and it’s not like it’s suddenly just got colder in the north, there have been centuries to understand this
Well yes, but not everyone lives in a less than 10-year-old house. They didn't have foam insulation, central heating and means of hermetically sealing a house back in the early 1800s. To reflect the weather up here we've got a very steep pitched roof (to stop the snow settling, but means a much larger surface area through which to lose heat) and 3ft thick solid stone walls which are a massive heatsink and take literally weeks to properly warm up after a whole summer of no heating use.
It's hugely un-green but the only way I can see to manage this winter with some degree of comfort is to put in a log burner with back boiler linked up to the radiators - it might cost a couple of grand to do it but if I'm going to be paying ~£600/month for gas anyway and can get a trailer of logs for less than £200 then it'll pay for itself within a season.
Edit: for context, the last actual annual usage report we had showed ~8,000kWh electricity and 32,000 kWh gas.That's with a thermostat that never goes above 19°C and a gas hob.
Yep, we can obviously rely on the builders and planners to do things right…
Well they didn’t do things right in the bottom half of the country so will the top half pay for that?...
Well they didn’t do things right in the bottom half of the country so will the top half pay for that?…
We do, every day, all those public transport subsidies for London and surroundings because too many people live in such a small area. Try public transport up north. No doubt the north will be paying for the lack of infrastructure for water supplies in the south.
December to May I paid sixty-seven pounds per month, which covered my usage. Direct debit was increased to seventy-nine pounds per month in July; not sure if this'll be enough, although I did use the heating a lot during winter and was WFH earlier this year. I expect I'll be using closer to a hundred and fifty a month, but I've really no idea. Unfortunately, I live in a three bedroom Victorian terrace. which is likely not energy efficient. Could do with sorting out some of the draughts before winter really hits.
Not sure if it's been mentioned, but I'd like to see sliding scale pricing, where costs are set low up to a certain amount of units used, then they get progressively more, the more that're used. Psychologically, I think that'd encourage more people to use less, although it's obviously not going to be something that's implemented in the current climate.
There’s a geographical element to all this too.
Indeed there is
We do, every day, all those public transport subsidies for London and surroundings because too many people live in such a small area. Try public transport up north. No doubt the north will be paying for the lack of infrastructure for water supplies in the south.
Except 3 regions (inc London) in the SE run a surplus which goes elsewhere..
If you really think the top half of the country is putting it’s hand in it’s pocket for the bottom half you need to put the jingoism aside and look at the numbers, yes London received over double per head on transport (£700 v 300) but you have to look at that against the surplus generated per head and where it ends up
£15000 per head spent in scotland
£14693 per head spent in London
£18600 per head raised in London
£12100 per head raised in scotland
wind yer wee necks in, I don’t want to derail the thread just point out that the idea of paying more for power in the south to subsidise the north is moronic, however there is merit in the very well off paying more or rather the less well off paying less but not with taxpayers money but the insane profits from the wholesale energy companies. (not the distributors as their margins are tiny)
And the issue of the higher standing charge in scotland is indicative of a system that isn’t working when multiple companies and agencies are involved. Ofgen has obviously failed or is too weak to influence for the benefit of customers.
a less nationalistic view on price differences:
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-10667939/Energy-standing-charges-regions-pay-60-others.html
3ft thick solid stone walls which are a massive heatsink and take literally weeks to properly warm up after a whole summer of no heating use.
In fact stone walls have so little thermal resistance that they'll never warm up and stay warm. They'd need to be 20m thick to provide as much insulation as 100mm of insulating materials. They'll cool down in a day or so if you turn the heating off, try it.
The answer is to insulate them on the outside in which case they take a day or so to warm up when you start heating and then attenuate temperature changes. Or insulate on the inside in which case the house will warm up really quickly but the temperature will flutute more quickly. Either will be a huge heat saver.
Our bill is usually a bit below the cap so in 2021 it was aprox £1200 this October I will now expect £3300 and just heard on the radio that the April 2023 predictions are in excess of £7000. If that happens I have no idea what to do. Too nuts to worry about now.
....
not changed. I'm locked in till march 2024 and have been well before the first cap change thank god.
And the issue of the higher standing charge in scotland is indicative of a system that isn’t working when multiple companies and agencies are involved. Ofgen has obviously failed or is too weak to influence for the benefit of customers.
He never said anything about standing charges, he was talking about grid connections.
This has been raised by the SG and it's gone nowhere.
not changed. I’m locked in till march 2024 and have been well before the first cap change thank god.
What out of interest are you SC and kWh rates on that deal? And are you considering prepaying or at least putting the amount you are 'saving' aside for the end of your cap? Or spending it hoping that the situation reverses by 2024?
