Life's a Beach

[Odds]

 

[Odds]

From the 1st of October the average energy bill will rise to just over £3,500: on average the cost of electricity will rise from 28 to 52p per kwh and gas from 7p to 15p per kwh. By then inflation will rise to 15%, according to the BoE, although CITIgroup are more pessimistic and say more than 18% - the highest rate since 1976.
*BBC-Live.

On the 2nd of October the Tory Conference will start in Blackpool.

I sincerely hope Tin-Eared Liz is PM by then, 'cause i can't wait to hear what she'll have to say about this.

 

[Mottie]

Just pure dumb luck for us that our fix ended and I renewed it just before everything went tits up. At the time I was a bit annoyed as they had put it up from £100 a month to £127. Currently we're £267 in credit. I’m sure going to notice it when my fix ends (or OVO goes bust!).

 

[Dork Lard]

Lets hope that something comes of the Don't Pay campaign.

This IS going to hurt a lot of families . . .

 

[gas112]

Just pure dumb luck for us that our fix ended and I renewed it just before everything went tits up. At the time I was a bit annoyed as they had put it up from £100 a month to £127. Currently we're £267 in credit. I’m sure going to notice it when my fix ends (or OVO goes bust!).

View attachment 277731

OVO wont go bust not long taken over SSE they are throwing money about left right and centre at present

 

[Mottie]

Lets hope that something comes of the Don't Pay campaign.

This IS going to hurt a lot of families . . .

Are you not paying? What exactly are you not paying? Let us know how you get on.

 

[Dork Lard]

Are you not paying? What exactly are you not paying? Let us know how you get on.

I'll be withdrawing any balance & cancelling the direct debit. I will pay my gas & electric bills in full on demand.

 

[gas112]

lets not pay ,,,,let them to go to ombudsman it costs them 500 quid a time lets tie them up with costs and tie workforce up ...
And who actually ends up paying these millions in additional cost ...The customer yep us through increased bills

 

[diy_fun_uk]

No I don't have all the answers and yes, this is perhaps an overly simplistic way to look at things. However I believe in any country that considers itself to be civilised, the following sectors should not be run for profit and costs to the consumer should always be reasonable. Yes 'reasonable' is of course subjective from person to person, that's another debate. Whilst people on low / no incomes will of course always struggle (and that's another debate) costs for the following should never be unmanageable for those on average and above incomes.

Public transport.
Health.
Energy (electric and gas.)
Water.

It makes me laugh the way experts (and those who benefit financially) can always explain things away, telling the masses why it's this way, why it has to be this way, and that things will improve.

Blah blah blah.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Yeah, great system

 

[denso13]

I will pay

lets not pay

Oh dear, there's trouble t'mill.

 

[Mottie]

I'll be withdrawing any balance & cancelling the direct debit. I will pay my gas & electric bills in full on demand.

Lol. So that’s not exactly ‘don’t pay'. You’ll be paying more as you will be paying on demand so that’s 'pay more' isn’t it?

 

[securespark]

I firmly believe that if the vast majority of domestic fuel customers failed to pay their bills, the status quo would soon change.

 

[cwhaley]

Very bleak outlook at the moment. My wife and I are fairly young (I’m 31, she’s 29). We have been together eight years and own our mortgaged home. Never had a penny off anybody but now we have a four month old, we are in receipt of the ~£86 a month child benefit payment from the government (which has gone up just ~£24 a month since I was born).

Wife is on maternity until March, but we both have full time jobs (she is an NHS nurse I work in private healthcare). Our combined income is about £56k pre-tax.

The estimate for monthly utility bills is going to surpass our monthly mortgage payment, and the estimate for childcare looks like it will be about £900 a month (with the wife dropping down to four days a week to save a day of costs).

There will be nothing left after this. We will exist simply to pay bills. Somebody told me we shouldn’t have had a child, but we’ve waited sensibly and if we wait any longer (as my Dad did), we run the risk of being ‘old’ parents later down the line and I don’t want to miss out on that.

The next unelected PM to take office needs to offer something as their first promise to us.

 

[motorbiking]

I would be one of the people saying if you can't afford children, don't have them. But I would not aim that at anyone working. This will be temporary. Do what you can to insulate your home, lag the pipes in your airing cupboard. nock up some secondary glazing if you don't have double glazing and see if you can get any discount or grants on insulation. Fit draught tape on the doors etc.

Hopefully we will get a mild winter. The long hot summer will impact the winter as it takes time for the land and sea to cool.

 

[cwhaley]

I would be one of the people saying if you can't afford children, don't have them. But I would not aim that at anyone working. This will be temporary. Do what you can to insulate your home, lag the pipes in your airing cupboard. nock up some secondary glazing if you don't have double glazing and see if you can get any discount or grants on insulation. Fit draught tape on the doors etc.

Hopefully we will get a mild winter. The long hot summer will impact the winter as it takes time for the land and sea to cool.

Agree re those not working. When we fell pregnant, it was planned and in August 2021 we couldn't have predicted this.

Our house isn't too old (solid brick, 1947) but I've worked to upgrade the loft insulation, insulate the bay windows and North-facing exterior walls, etc. We've both agreed to keep the heating off in the day during the winter (for when mum and baby are at home), however we do benefit from an open fire and stove, so for months I have been building a store of timber (wherever possible, free). Even with that the bills are going to be astronomical.

I'm not somebody who gets too mentally affected by things like this, but for a working family who claim nearly nothing, there needs to be support. We can't keep financing the foreign-owned utility companies, so they can keep bills down in their own countries.