Thetownend.com

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/01/martin-lewis--was-the-price-cap-advice-to-do-nothing-in-october-/



I was with one of the providers (Green) who went bust about 4 months ago and have been transferred to Shell's Flexible 6 tariff, which I'm free to leave.

Currently with Shell I pay 20.6p/Kwh and 24.1p standing charge.

I can lock in with OVO on a fixed 12 months, 33.5p/Kwh and standing charge 43.3, about a £313 annual increase on my current tariff overall.

It's the price cap that confuses me though - from 1st April prices will increase by approx 50%. So the Shell rates presumably go to about 40p/kwh and 48p standing charge. The fixed rates then look a lot more appealing.

Stick or twist?

Think the new price cap is being announced tomorrow, right? I would say wait 24 hours and there'll be updated advice from MSE and the like, but I suppose if it's worse than expected the best rates may disappear.

same issue here goat. no idea what is the cheapest way forward

My gas fixed ends 1st April with Octopus.

Don't think anyone knows which way it is all going to go!

If anyone wants £50 credit... https://share.octopus.energy/storm-goose-438

Same, well March actually.

Got an email through from them the other day. Current annual amount for gas & electricity - £660.67. New annual amount if I choose their 12m 'loyalty' fix - £2,842.54.

Just the 400%+ increase.

From what I understand, you won't know until October whether the decision you make is the right one.  There is talk of a potential further 20% increase in October, if that happens then switching now would have been the right move, if it doesn't then you will be out of pocket compared to your current deal.

If Martin Lewis is unable to advise what to do, then let's face it, we have no chance.  It's a roll the dice thing for everybody this year methinks..

If it is important for you to know roughly what you will be paying for the next 12 months, then switch - at least you know roughly what you are budgeting for.  I personally will be sticking with the current non-contract deal with full knowledge it will be going up in April - see what that looks like and hope that October is not a double whammy.. 

I reckon that once the April hike happens and the reality sets in for those that are oblivious to these things until they get their first bill, the pressure will crank on the Givernment to step in and do something about it and hopefully avoid a further hike in Oct.

Nobody really knows though

Yeah I also got that mail (Feb 18th for us). the 12m Fixed and the Loyalty Fixed amounts are staggeringly high. Think I'll stick with the Flexible amount and hope for the best!! We overpaid by quite a lot last year so hopefully that will provide a buffer for a few months!  

On the news today they were saying that there is something in the pipeline that the govt is doing which should reduce £200 per year from everyone's energy bill, but I being an Audrey and wasn't paying complete attention so I could be talking crapola.

I can tell you now, we cannot afford a 400% increase. Will have to take the chance, like many I guess.

holy fuck sticks.

but don't worry, the government are considering a £200 handout to everyone...

Actually, thinking about it I don't know where they get the £660 per year figure from because I'm already paying £100+ per month.

Was going to say, that £660 looks extremely cheap. I'm paying about twice that.

aha

Might be cheaper to just move out for a few months, only pay your standing charge, work remotely* and rent an apartment in Albania or something...

Lets say:

You face a £1500 fuel bill hike (from c£900 to £2400 pa)

Beachfront apartments on the Albanian Riviera available for c£10pn/£280pm (4 wk)

Fuel standing charge avg 30p pd = £9pm

3 months in Albania (or similar) c£860

Call it £900 (inc fuel sc)

Stemmed the price hike increase

Return to blighty with horrendous post beachfront living blues

Face the price hike ultimately or hope something has changed

For everything else - there's MatserCard

So my electric bill already averages £420 a month - that with Octopus Go and 15p between 04:30 and 00:30 and 5p between 00:30 and 04:30...

I'll let you do the math but I think it now makes economic sense for me to skip solar and wind power and jump to building my own nuclear power station

Are you running a Bitcoin mine or do you live in a castle?

or a badly disguised cannabis farm?

Electric heating, presumably.

3 bed 17th century cottage with 21st century tech, a 3phase supply and 1gbps internet - no oil, no gas  no diesel, no petrol...

Gets very cold, dark and quiet in a power cut...

Might as well start bitcoin mining as Nemo said, earn some money and heat the house at the same time!

We were with People's Energy, British Gas switched over our gas supply, we've done meter reads etc, but still waiting on electric and dreading whatever huge bill we get, so are putting money aside for that. The price hikes will be crippling.

Price cap going up 54%. Eek. A typical £100 a month bill goes up to about £154.

That on top of the NI rise, CT rise and UC cut is going to cause absolute carnage.

Yup. Without derailing this into another politics thread, you can kind of see why nobody would want to take over the job of PM right now.

New article up today. I was switched to British Gas by OFCOM. Very grateful we got solar panels installed in 2020 as that should keep our bills fairly low for the summer at least.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/energy-bills-set-to-rocket-for-millions-as-ofgem-confirms-new-pr/

"due to the dire state of the market, most can’t save by switching right now"

"there’s little you can do to avoid the hikes, with no cheap deals for switchers"

"There are still no open market tariffs that are cheaper than the new price cap – so for most, it’s likely still best to do nothing"

"Beware of energy firms pushing mega-expensive fixed deals... Remember, your rates won't change until April and until then, you will be on the cheaper cap. Don’t fall for the marketing waffle and sign up right away. Make sure you do your own calculations first."

"The market’s cheapest deal that you can switch to right now is £2,100/yr – that’s considerably higher than the new price cap. At that rate, fixing now is still unlikely to be worth it"

So, to quote Private Frazer, we're all doomed.

Thanks for that Rachel Riley.

I doubt it will be economically viable come April...

Get knitting everyone  :)

There maybe an influx of large properties going on the market where homeowners downsize.

 £150 council tax rebate

And a £200 enforced loan

Wow, that's some hike.

Still, won't really matter when Russia start WWIII and we're living under a nuclear winter.

I've just bought a log burner and shit loads of timber for those cooler spring/summer evenings. We might need to utilise it more than anticipated given the hike!

'So Energy' has just popped up with 35.4/Kwh and 24.1p standing charge.

Someone on reddit also pointed out that my maths was wrong:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1489208574962249738.html

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKqxrlAWQAMWlEp?format=png&name=small)

There are two band E houses in our road. I live in 1.

The £200 - in October, repaid in 5 years (interest free). And when does the next cap review happen...

Ugh, this is awful for so many.

Today OVO are offering 30.8p/kwh and 35.9p standing charge. Might keep watching what happens with the price changes over the next week or so before doing anything.

I will have to pick up at least one overtime shift a month to stay on top of bills. This is the first time in my adult life I’ve been worried about personal finances. Twins due in April too, so I’m particularly anxious.

Good luck with the twins - been there, done that. Top tip : Ignore everyone's advice

The anxiety head is definitely rearing it's ugly head again for me.

What's the point in giving every single household a £200 levy in October (even if you don't want it) then taking £40 per year back for the following five years.

I'm in a band E like yourself wo would miss out on any rebate in April😂

Tory cunt.

Top news that.
The twins obviously not the being anxious…

Now 'So' are offering a 2 year fix at 33.9p/kWh and 24.1p per day.

What are they offering for gas & electric

Search & find out:


https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

I'll check it out

Anybody with eon coming to the end of a fixed year tariff at the end of this month?

no. but put into eon next when igloo went tits up

Sorry I forgot I'm now also on eon next after it changed last year. What deal you currently on?

Yes, and I've opted for the duel fuel standard deal at the moment. Their new fixed deals are very expensive indeed but I suppose we'll all be paying similar to that from April.

Cheers Normy, my dilemma is whether to take the 1 or 2 year fixed deals on offer now which would work out around the same as the variable Flex rate after the April 54% increase plus you then wouldn't get the predicted 20% increase in October.
On today's prices the variable tariff is quite a bit cheaper but after April there dosen't seem to be anything in it plus there is no exit fee if prices come down next year. Did you look into this?

standard variable (next flex). not much choice really as just got bunged on

not looked into things yet

Martin says: In most cases don't switch.

Agreed but having done the maths after March it looks like there isnt anything between the variable and fixed year prices plus you know prices can't go up again and you have the option to switch without an exit fee.

I'm staying on the flexible Shell tariff I was put onto about 3 months ago. It will rise in April and October but Martin Lewis' last article has convinced me that sticking is best. This £200 loan from the government (you get £200 off now but pay an extra £40 over the following 5 years to pay it back) is partly based on the idea from Rishi Sunak that in April 2023 prices will go down again.

Fair point which I will probably follow.
How do your prices compare with the current eon flexible account

Gas 4.17p k/w
Stand 26.12p per day

Elec 26.76p k/w
Stand 24.11p per day

Anybody going to fix their tariff for a year or two before the big increase in April🤔

My quote with Eon fixed rate for one year is for £2,854.31, £237.86 a month DD. No exit fees. And you have to accept a SmartMeter if you ain't got one.

At present, I'm on NextFlex variable at £1,845.06 a year at £167 a month. I don't intend to switch in April, just wait and see how it pans out.

A rough guess you will be paying £257 per month wih the April increase with possibly another 20% £51 on top in October bringing it up to approx £308 an icrease of £71 per month against going on a fixed year tariff.
I'm with eon and although they often mention going on a smart meter they haven't yet said that I have to.

£308 a month for gas and electricity?

These tossers are taking the fucking piss

It's insain  :shrug:

I originally read that as Netflix for £167 per month and immediately thought, feck me you are being ripped off..  Had to read back to get my brain back on track :D

Shell confirmed that on present use our bill will be going up by £692 per year after April  (and we apparently use less than comparable households our size (2 adults one sprog)).

Not ideal bit at least we can sustain it, fear gonna be loads of buggers not so lucky.

I can understand the kw/h bit going up, bit the standing charge is going through the roof as well, what's that all about?

Sent from my SM-A125F

Mine is also going up by similar amounts but have decided to go on a 2 year fixed deal with no penalty clause to get out

That's the bit that's really pissed me off too. Over 40p a day for fuck all. Cunts.

well I've locked in for a year. Eon next v12 online has a deal that'll lock us to the April cap.

So we lose a month 'cheaper' to April, but will make that up come October if it goes up.

bit if a gamble, but I'm guessing the Ukraine situation will not make things cheaper ....

My current contract runs out in June  :facepalm:

Still, the cost to leave the contract early is about £60. So that's what we'll probably do.

Is that the V11 one year deal and did you not consider the V18 two year deal?

 Until Martin Lewis says otherwise. I'm staying put.

Apparently he changed his opinion last night although I haven't seen the footage. I may fix as there is no get out clause somcould change anytime if prices eventually fall

Money saving guru Martin Lewis updated his advice on what to do about your energy tariff as gas prices look set to rise due Russia invading Ukraine. Wholesale gas prices rose by 40 per cent in one day due to the Russian invasion, leading to the Money Saving Expert being asked on his TV show if his 'do nothing' advice was still the best option. Previously, Lewis had urged people to hold off on changing their providers, but has now updated his advice following the beginning of war in Europe.

During his ITV show, Yorkshire Live reports that Martin Lewis was asked: "Because of the situation in Ukraine today, the price of gas has gone up by 40%. Would a fix now be advisable?" He shrugged at first, before adding: "Look first of all this is a horrible situation in Ukraine and energy is secondary. "But if I answer the honest question, energy prices have spiked horrendously today, if they stayed at that level then in October we'd see another 50% rise in the price cap bringing the typical bills to £3,000 a year. "But we don't know that that spike will continue. I've said before that if you can find a cap within 60% of the current price cap (in terms of a rise), it's probably worth it. "Back of the envelope? It's probably about 80% now if you really want peace of mind and surety. But until April we're on a cheap rate and from April we're on a cheaper rate than any fixes, so it's a gamble, I don't know and I can't tell you the right answer but within 80% wouldn't be the worst bet. That means that if you can find a fixed rate deal that is no more than 80% of the current variable rate, it 'wouldn't be the worst bet', according to the money guru. But the situation is fluid, and could change significantly in the coming days, depending on events in Ukraine.

Fixed rates are not subject to the price cap, so variable tariffs can be less than the price cap but they can't be more, while fixed tariffs can be much higher than the price cap. The gamble is whether the new fix you get for yourself will end up lower than the next price cap, and for how long it will remain at this price.

Cheers Bob,
My take on things it may be better to fix as I can get out without any fees if prices decide to fall which at the moment is highly unlikely.

Probably a safe bet. In the current climate they are likely to go only one way sadly.

Uncertain times again and don't know if it's relevant but just seen a post saying all Asda fuel pumps are shut so let's hope it's something else rather than to do with shortages.

1 year and yeah I did consider 2 year as obviously the best we can hope for is 6 months of savings.

But equally in a years time things could be different.

hence "gamble"

Cheers Batch. I'm torn between the 1&2 year as there is no fee to leave early but the downside is that it's more expensive.

With this new government 'price cap' system effectively creating a series of 6-month fixed deals, reviewed every April and October, I'd be leaning towards 2 years. That's the slightly cheaper one, right?

As from April the variable tariff is slightly cheaper than the 1 year deal but its certain to go up again October irrespective of the war in Ukraine. The 2 year deal is a little more expensive than the 1 year deal but I guess you have reassurance that your safe for a couple of years of anymore increases.

I got offered a fixed rate by my supplier (EON Next) which matched the rate that my flexible deal will be going up to in April - so same price as I will be paying in April anyway..  no brainer.  12 months same price, or £8 per month more for a 2 year - both no fee to get out of.

I signed up for the 2 year as I think prices are bound to go up later this year, even if the Ukraine issue is resolved quickly.  IMO it's only a matter of time for Putin to turn off the tap as reaction to sanctions.

Is that the Next 2 year V18 renewal deal?

Yeah, that's the one

Cheers Berni that's what I will go with although I think mine will start on the 2nd March when my current 1 year deal ends.

Martin Lewis advocating the switch to v11

https://twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status/1498360106320371712?t=El7BUXeT--HC04_OYHRhFg&s=19

obviously v18 may work out even more shrewd.

Cheers Batch I hadn't seen that.

I'm with bulb and the advice from Martin Lewis is still to stay put if you're in the same position as me at the current time.

I feel that same about Octopus, I can’t help but think whoever you’re with it is going to get painful. The saving grace is spring is around the corner and the winter in the certainly has been mild.

My fixed tariff runs out in June  ::)
Got a proposed new tariff but only fixed to Jan 2023, seeing as it's higher than the price cap for Apr to Sep '22 I think we'll let our June tariff run it's course then roll onto standard tariff. Will revisit this in the Summer before the price cap increase is announced around August time.

What tariffs they offering until Jan 2023

About £52 a month more than if I just let it fall into standard variable (which is price capped).

It's  a bit worrying that they are only offering six month tariffs maybe because they are expecting a 44% minimum increase in October. If it was fixed for a year with no penalty to leave like what I'm getting at eon I would take it but side months doesn't make any sense considering it would cost you approx £52 per month more.

ouch. was always going up, but it's massive hike to the cap in October

£1,971 to £2800

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61562657 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61562657)

Glad I picked the capped 2 year deal now and didn't hold out

Yet the wholesale cost of gas apparently fell last week.

I'm with Octopus, they emailed me last week to say they'd forgotten to send me my renewal details as my deal actually ended a couple of weeks ago, therefore they're keeping me on my current (early 2021) tariff for another 12 months. Happy days, thanks for the fuck-up Octopus :)

More than doubled in a year £1200ish in Oct 2021

Jammy

I would suspect that taking note of all the bad news floating around early this week an announcement of a windfall tax and additional help will appear reasonably shortly (I have a vague recollection that parliament goes into recess again on Thursday so before then maybe), whether it will be enough for many I doubt it sadly.

Operation: "Nothing to see. What partygate. Look shiny coins"

recess is 26 May 2022 to 6 June 2022

I'm surprised how expensive electricity is now compared with gas. Using both as moderately as possible, I'm still in credit on a 1 year fixed deal with Eon, the gas cost is nothing compared with the leccy.

I thought that leccy was now produced more cheaply with wind and solar power than it used to be. Seems a bit strange. 

Gas is also used to produce electricity  :doh:

Flash should be ok with that then.

Calculated to be around a 42% hike on top off the 50% we have already seen.

A total increase of 213% in the space of 6 months. The April rise was huge but will affect people less through the summer months. This extra hike will hit some people incredibly hard over winter.

.....and the crocodile tears falling from the mouths of the energy industry will help no one. I was forcibly moved to Shell Energy....do Shell control the whole business,  from production to retail. And their profits go on mounting. A hefty windfall tax is the only answer.

Between 2010 and 2018 less than 1% of Shell's long-term investments went into renewables. If they were seriously interested in turning the energy market round for the future, rather than spouting weakly words, I would be more inclined to listen to them.

Announced this morning as an 80% hike, typical energy bill from £1,971 to £3,549. Jesus Christ that's a lot of money.

£295.75

Universal Credit in total is £265.41, so that now doesn't even cover an energy bill.

Just don't know how the majority of people are going to cope. Not just the very poorest, the majority. Christ on several bikes.

Expect anarchy to break out on the streets in mid winter if the government don't intervene. Watching Martin Lewis this morning getting rarely passionate/upset you know we're in trouble.

Where the fuck is the regulator for this? Oil companies with record profits. Obscene.

Regulators apply the laws. The laws need to change, that's on the government.

I assumed laws were already in place with caps, why are they changing them when oil prices are static?

That question needs to be urgently addressed by the new prime minister as the knock on effect from this increase could be catastrophic.

The proverbial will hit the fan for most in this country.

What can you do though? You can only afford what you can afford. For us that's £150 per month, gone up by £50. I have two kids, so they come first. I would rather be in debt than have cold kids. Simple.

Domestic fuel oil is not even covered by the price cap. It is gas and electricity. I am with Shell - not my choice - and quite apart from profits of 22 billion last year, and paying their CEO 6.1 million, have the bloody cheek to launch a TV ad ert claiming all the electricity supplied through them is renewable.

You're right keeping the house warm for kids & vulnerable has to be priority so let the government pick up the shit when millions fall behind in payments and the country goes into recession.

Exactly, food and the usual will see a price hike.

Join the Don't Pay campaign....along with nearly 2 million others....at least a sense of solidarity when the energy companies start pressuring people.

Great way to wreck your credit score and get moved onto a pay as you go meter. Anyone taking this approach should proceed with extreme caution as it can have long lasting consequences and you can bet the energy company will get the money off those who don't pay sooner or later, alongside an admin fee for the inconvenience.

I would like the new Government to form a new nationalised concern to go all out to start fracking for our natural gas, compensating those living in the area. Trillions of tons, according to reports.

It should be possible very quickly with  urgency, it would allow the Government to use it for ourselves to help control the gas and electric prices. I don't have much confidence it will be done, it's too obvious and sensible, and the green lobby is very strongly against it.

The price cap is applied to the Supply Companies, which are simply Billing and Customer Service providers who "buy" the energy you use on the Wholesale market.  They make little if any profit, which is why loads went out of business when they couldn't hike their prices to match what they were forced to pay from producers.

It's the production side  - drilling, refining etc. where the money is made, because things oil are traded as commodities, meaning the UK can do what it likes to be independent of other Nations for supply but is still at the whim of the Global price.  That price went through the roof earlier this year, but the cost to get the oil was no different, so companies like BP, Shell etc. have all been raking it in.  They had a shit 2020, but one bad year has been more than offset.

That’s only going to end badly for the people that choose to do that. Regardless of what comes after as a result of the pressure it exerts it will leave a long lasting mark on the credit report of those that ‘miss’ payments.

The problem is we've left ourselves open to getting ripped off by the wholesalers as they know we have no alternative and need them. Blame governments past and present who haven't put a plan B in place when this should have been looked into years ago. Take the thousands of new builds each year why haven't they all got solar panels and why aren't our houses rammed with insulation like the Scandinavians who who know a bit about cold winters.

So companies that say they are supplying 100% renewable energy, I guess they don't need to put their prices up?  :idea:

Anyone who didn't see Martin Lewis interview this morning listen and take note.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rFCXDVZiMTI

There are a variety of ways to engage with the Don't Pay UK movement without affecting your credit score or getting onto a pay as you go meter.

For example, a mild approach that would still mess up their cashflow forecasts and disrupt their predicted income, and send a signal that you're protesting - cancel DD, wait for the notice it's cancelled, check the last date for payment of that month's bill, and pay it on/close to the deadline day. There may also already be enough credit in your account to cover this bill (if the energy company has been predicting your annual use and getting you to overpay in summer so that winter bills cost the same/similar) but at least they won't get any more from you. Put your usual DD amount aside so it's there for payment and to restore your account to how it was, just having messed them around a bit.

The threat of 'poor credit scores' and 'forced installment of prepay meters' are scaremongering to an extent, and you need not face these consequences with a non-extreme approach to the protest.

boy am I glad I only locked in for a year, not 2.

feckin dick

I did 2 years, even though it was slightly more expensive, and I am glad I did, however with the huge amounts it is going up every three months it doesn't completely protect you.  I am still in a situation where I am having to increase my monthly payment just to cover my usage and ensure that my account doesn't go into significant arrears.  So even though I have a less bad rate for 2 years, with the proposed increases, it doesn't protect the amount you will have to pay completely.

Its actually more ridiculous than that... the energy cap is linked to gas prices so it actually makes no difference if your supplier is green energy - in fact there is more red tape associated associated with renewable energy tariff's so it theoretically costs more...

The whole economy is royally fucked... The Bank of England are counteract a 'push' inflation with 'pull' inflation tactics - the late 80's was pull inflation - people had too much spare cash and demand outstripped supply and prices rose (along with trying to match the pound to the Euro) so the BofE increased interest rates.

This time inflation is being caused by external influences driving raw material prices up as a result there's no need to increase interest rates as people don't have the spare cash anyway so it'll just trigger a depression where everyone goes broke.

Privatisation is finally reaching breaking point - I'm a conservative but we're now witnessing the downside of capitalism being fully played out...  Where company pay shareholders ahead of their employees you will always end up with discontent... there should governance on dividend payments linked to cost of living increases - if you can't afford to pay all your workers a cost of living increase then you shouldn't be issuing dividends...

This will be a far worse "winter of discontent" than the 70's

Just like they did with the poll tax.   Had the satisfaction of refusing to pay like many others but at the end of the day they just took us to court,  rubber stamped it with extra costs and threatened to increase it again and again if we didn’t pay.  Just feel really sorry for those who genuinely don’t have the means to pay.  Going to be a long bleak winter for many.

The best thing the Tories can do is call a general election and hand over this mess when they get kicked out!

I can't see they can do anything less than freeze the price cap as it is now. The rise to £3.5k in October is frightening, predictions from a reliable analyst say the cap could increase to £5.4k in January 2023 and then £6.6k in April 2023. Just totally unaffordable for most people come October, let alone the future predicted figures.

That's why you can see crime going through the roof and a recession iminent.

Which will essentially put most of the Billing companies out of business leaving a mess to clean-up in terms of mass job losses without fixing the underlying problem.

You don't fix this without attacking the Wholesale end, and I don't know enough about that market to provide an opinion, but think it's so globalised that there is little they can really do.  Even having a bash at the profits is tinkering at the edges (but would feel good I suppose).

Yes it's global but France have done things differently

https://theconversation.com/energy-crisis-why-french-households-are-largely-protected-from-soaring-costs-while-british-families-struggle-188417

They pay, just through taxation.

Nothing is free but that could be the difference between keeping the economy afloat or dropping into recession with unknown consequences.

We’re also paying for almost 3 decades of both Conservative and Labour governments bottling the big decisions when it came to the U.K. energy mix.

Sizewell B should have hailed a new generation of nuclear power stations but instead successive governments were more concerned about potential negative PR and NIMBY’s.  We’re now in a position where the Magnox fleet are gone, the AGR’s are coming offline and nothing other than Gas is able to replace their base load capacity making us more susceptible to gas prices. We’re finally building HPC but that’s be 2030 before it realistically comes online and the SMR’s will make a massive difference but have to jump the regulatory hoops first despite being proven in Subs and aircraft carriers.

I'll buy a fucking tin bath and a wood burner by then.

You wait the water companies will be the next to screw us over!

Bit late Jim, I think they already are.

I've not seen any projections yet unless they've passed me by. 

Boy am I happy to be on oil at the present moment. The rest of the time it's a burden but the price of heating oil has stayed pretty okay over the summer, we filled up for the winter back end of July, but we've barely used any since we moved in in Feb because I'm a stingy fuck and it only goes on when absolutely required. I don't want that to come off as a gloat, as I really feel for everyone, I've seen the electricity bill go up and I can only imagine what it must be like to see both of the fuckers shoot up with jo end in sight. Yet again everyone gets fucked over apart from the people who can afford it.

British Gas have just started chasing me for a payment from over a year ago when they took over my old energy supplier who went bust. I was in credit with them when they went bust so fuck knows why BG think I owe them money, and my arse am I paying them anything. Shambles.

We've pissed away any chance we had of being energy secure in this country by constantly avoiding safe and clean nuclear power. This ain't the days of Chernobyl and windscale, and we don't live in an earthquake zone or risk getting invaded by Russia. It's not perfect but it's by far the best option overall and means we have an independent supply of reliable energy secured that can be easily ramped up or down depending on need.

That's even ignoring the fact we were a world leader in wave and tidal energy until about 2006. And we are an island. People complain about solar or wind as it's 'too unreliable' (it's not) or 'its an eyesore' (personal opinion) or 'it takes up valuable farmland' (legit but you have to ask why is the farmer planting solar panels and not crops, because they've been given no incentive to do so and make barely any money by a system and repetitive governments that apparently want all our food to come from overseas out of our control so they can make an extra 10p profit on a pint of milk), and guess what, wave generators completely bypass all those issues. Tidal has its own set of problems as you can disrupt river flow and ecosystems in what are rapidly becoming fringe habitats, but why the fuck do we export nearly all the wave generators we produce?

You can't fix it with one solution. Everything has its merits and its downsides and is just a sticking plaster. But if you stick enough of them together you can make a bandage to stop the fucking haemorrhage of money currently leaving the economy directly into the pockets of executives and politicians.

I hope we have a warm winter because Christmas is going to be fucking grim for people otherwise. I didn't live through the '70s, but I imagine this is what it was like, just unending shit being poured on the majority by the minority as the country slowly shuts down.

Can you be billed for your energy directly and not through direct debit? Noticed there are some horror stories of people’s DDs being hoiked up indiscriminately and then amassing a large credit balance which only benefits the energy companies.

I believe you can still get energy bills sent directly if that's your preference. We do exactly that with our water bill and although we have two bills sent out yearly you have the choice of taking a meter reading anytime and they will bill you straight away.

Depressing that this was always coming and yet the two candidates for PM have no energy strategy, except saying they won't do the things we need (solar farms, on shore wind farms, fracking). Imbeciles.

Price cap is due to be £6k in December 2023 so it's not going away in the next 2 years. Assume government solution will be the same mechanism as the one they've already outlined - i.e. money off bills (as opposed to freezing the cap) and they will need to pull their finger out fast - Truss' current plan is on cloud cuckoo land.

Those two candidates should be fully briefed and have plans in place for when one of them takes over, so things can happen immediately. But alas no, they dont. Fucking idiots.

Hoping for a mild winter so that this doesn't lead to entirely avoidable & unnecessary deaths.

The stable door was closed in the late 90's as far as nuclear energy goes.
Needs to be reopened asap for the longer view re energy security & in a manner that doesn't mean reliance on China in particular & preferably on any other foreign concerns.
If that means nationalisation then so be it.
It's not a concept to be feared or shunned.
Goes without saying that development of renewable sources needs to be ongoing in the meantime.

The cap is a maximum, does it really need to be hit every time it goes up?
This is where a word from govt might be beneficial?
A price cap already interferes with a free market does it not.

Hoping also that this doesn't lead to a populist call for reducing support for Ukraine.
As it stands Russia is the problem & most definitely not part of the solution.