Frightening power bills

This is extremely worrying for us all, unless you're a millionaire. People will really struggle and it will be particularly difficult for those with young children or health issues. We have the heating on all day as my husband has a range of illnesses and some of his medication makes it hard for him to stay warm. The Norwegian government is paying half of everyone's bills above a threshold amount. But then again, they have the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, having invested their oil wealth sensibly. The UK has squandered and mismanaged our potential oil income ( among other things)

blubber

This is frightening. I already pay £245 a month for electricity and £125 for oil (No mains gas in the village) I don't know how I will manage to pay out of my pension when it goes up again.

blubber we had an enormous gas bill once years ago - our gas suppliers alerted us to it - and it proved to be a faulty meter. We came to an agreement but we should have been firmer as I still think we overpaid.

Are the street lights for the village attached to your meter?!

blubber, that figure for electricity, when it doesn’t include heating, is worrying. Are you sure it’s per month? Do you run a lot of appliances and do a wash and tumble dry every day? If not I would strongly suggest that you get your meter checked for accuracy, ensure anything not in use is switched off at the wall and also check what tariff you’re on. Something’s not quite right.

I am also dreading April because there will be a steep rise in bills. I have a small private pension but it's not easy to save from it and God knows what I would do if they axed the heating allowance. It annoys me when people say they send it back or say they don't need it. If you really don't need it and you are lucky to be in that posiiton donate your heating allowance to charity. Do not send the money back to the government or they will axe it for all of us;.

£245 for electricity when you’ve oil heating seems wrong Blubber, unless you live in a huge house.

This is frightening. I already pay £245 a month for electricity and £125 for oil (No mains gas in the village) I don't know how I will manage to pay out of my pension when it goes up again.

I am one of the poorer pensioners and also have a terminal diagnosis. I just don't know how i am going to pay these bills. I do get the WHDiscount but it goes no way to affording the new prices. The government really have to step in and assist as i know they can afford it.

Thank you Chewbacca for mentioning the Warm Home Discount Scheme, I didn’t know about this & when I looked into it, I was surprised to see I meet the criteria on two points, my age & I am in a low paid job. I have applied, so I’m hoping I will be successful, it would certainly help tremendously. ?

well, we have zoned thermostats, a very efficient boiler, walls insulated ( cavity and external in some areas), new double glazing, thermostats on bedroom radiators. We turn thermostats to freeze setting in unused bedrooms, heat only the living area, at 20c during the early evening, bedroom areas during the morning and for an hour or so before bed, use low LED lighting, do not heat the house overnight as we both hate a warm bedroom, showers not baths, energy efficient appliances when they need replaced.........but I am certain we couldn't heat and eat on £58 a month. In the summer with no heating we use more than that. Oh, and we don't put the oven on every day either, we often use the air fryer instead.

My DD went up by 50% - I tried to find a better deal but the usual compare websites weren't even offering any alternatives! said the service was unavailable! Thankfully my husband is still working but would not be able to afford it on a state pension. The price cap is being increased as well, I understand.

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By the way VAT on energy bills is 5% so cutting that out would only save a small amount.

Dabi

It's heartening to know I'm not the only one living in a icy home. I've reduced the thermostat to 16c and increased the layers worn to ice age proportions. I only worry about my doggy who is small - staying warm is a daily battle. I've put a reptile heat mat under his bed which is cheap to run and now we both sleep in the box room as it's the warmest room in the house! The downside to a cold house however is damp and health damages so take care everyone.

One of my concerns is how damp my bungalow was when I first moved in with an undersized boiler. I had black mould inside two wardrobes and the wall between my bedroom and the garage - single thickness I think. My mattress ended up soaking wet as well as it was touching the mouldy wall. I had divan beds in all bedrooms and those in the downstairs rooms were damp and musty smelling.

It doesn’t help that my bungalow is built on former marsh land and had a five foot high space underneath it which floods after heavy rain when the water table rises - that is what it is for!

I solved the damp by installing a new, more powerful boiler together with an additional radiator in my lounge. I also fitted a positive air exchange unit in the hall ceiling which vents into the small loft space and takes out the damp air replacing it with fresh dry air from the roof space.

Now my house is warm, cost and damp free! But I’m still waiting from my next energy bill to see how much I owe, I just know my current direct debit is not going to cover the full costs.

companies have gone bust because those in charge have jumped on what was a `cash cow` but without the knowledge about forward planning. The energy companies had to buy forward and those that have gone bust have not hedged their investments ie they have had to sell at a price lower (set by the government cap) than they bought energy for. The best companies, like octopus, hedged ie they used money to cover for that eventuality

It isn`t just the uk suffering high energy prices and the weather has been mild. The real problems will come if we have a european wide freeze and there may not actually be enough gas and consequently enough electricity. Remember the rolling programmes of cut-offs? Could easily happen again

madelaine
Dreading it as had to move and only got electricity here and cannot compare to previous years.

I suggest you take regular meter readings.

Get the exact unit prices and daily standing charge from your supplier or from one of your bills, and calculate exactly how much moneysworth of energy you are using every week or at least every month. That's the best way of avoiding unpleasant shocks when the bills come in.

I'm lucky to be on a low price fix with EDF until September 2022 but I'm worrying about what happens after then! Although the gas price is a consequence of world economics (and probably some profiteering by gas wholesalers) I do think the last few governments here have failed to plan: if we had more gas storage like most EU countries, more nuclear power like France, a more developed distribution system and a non-privatized gas and electricity industry we probably would be in a better place. Privatisation has been a disaster waiting to happen as soon as the wholesale price rose (how many companies have gone bust?). Lack of investment by profitable companies just as in the case of the water industry (think about the raw sewage spills into rivers) has been permitted by governments. The Tories care for big shareholders not customers in my opinion.

crazyH

Karmalady, I’m properly gobsmacked. You either are very warm blooded or your house is super insulated. I am single, 4 bed detached house and I pay £190 per month. I’m really interested in knowing your secret..

I’m a single pensioner at home all day. I live in a newish well insulated three bed end terrace and pay £70 pm DD to Octopus for dual fuel. I’m currently £251 in credit but that’s carried over from pre increase. I’m hoping it will carry me through without having to increase my payments. I have the heating on from 8am to 10pm at around 20 degrees and hot water on every other day, that covers my showers and any other hot water needs. My heating, hob and hot water are gas, everything else is electricity, oven, hardly used, lighting, tv, radio, hairdryer, microwave, kettle, toaster etc. up until now the electricity part if my bill was always more than the gas but that’s gradually changing. I dread to think where it will all end. Currently I’m ok but couldn’t sustain any big increase.

Grandetante, may of us are on a fixed price tariff, ie the price per unit will not change until the end of the fixed price. Mine will finish in november 2023, so I can actually look forward to a reducing level of energy use and reduced cost from about march, then usage will rise again in november. This is levelling

I agree it is very frightening. If you can look at Martin Lewis programme, as I understand it , he said that if your utility company went bust and you were transferred to another one it was best to stay on the price cap basic which will not go up until april and therefore it was best not to go onto a fixed offer from the companies who are desperate for us to go onto them as they are losing money on the basic one. Do check for yourselves not just what I am saying but my company went bust and so I have stayed on this basic rate and am keeping the money in my bank account until having to pay it in April. Dreading it as had to move and only got electricity here and cannot compare to previous years.

The thought of how these price rises are going to affect us all is very worrying.
High energy costs will also affect prices of other goods so an expensive time is on the horizon.
It reminds me of the late seventies, when interest rates started to go up fast.
My mindset regarding my home heating has been changing over the last month, being more frugal.
Switching to only taking two minute showers instead of baths.
Reducing my room temperature. Not leaving anything on standby.
Thinking about buying and fitting some foil behind my radiators as well.
Maybe looking at how much cooking by using my fan oven as well, as my oven seems to take forever to heat up

Heating and electricity bills are rising everywhere, not just in the UK, you know

I agree it is worrying.

I think we need to contact our suppliers and find out what they estimate they total cost will be this year. Otherwise none of us can budget properly.

If the cost is higher than what you can pay without leaving yourself short of something else essential, such as food, it should be possible to pay in installments. I realise this doesn't help as the annual total will be the same regardless of how you pay it.

My point is that by contacting the supplier and pointing out that on a fixed income it is not possible just to pay double the usual amount so you would like to negotiate an installment plan, you should be able to avoid demand notices and added costs because they have had to send in a demand . And save yourself some worrying as well.

With respect I would advise against assuming that the bill will level out over the summer. It might do so, but if fuel prices continue to rise it won't and if we get a wet cold summer turning off the heating is not really the best solution.

It strikes me the fixed price schemes are practically a scam as they offer you a fixed price then find some way of not actually giving you it.

We can go through the process yet again, of turning down the hot water boiler one or two degrees, using a smaller washing up bowl, turning lights off etc. etc. etc. but there comes a point where even the most careful of us can't save enough money by being careful.

I have just bought a tank full of LPG and paid £1200 I am glad we have 2 solid fuel stoves. and land to grow trees for wood. We also bought in solid fuel at summer prices. There are many disadvantages to living where we do but we have to make compromises somewhere. I feel sorry for people who don't have any choices. Please don't tell me that burning wood produces CO2. Growing trees absorbs CO2 and produces oxygen to balance it out.

karmalady

these are electric systems, which are rolled out and then covered in screed

www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/electric-underfloor-heating-systems

They must cost a lot of money to run

I think that's why our electricity bill is comparatively high and it's only a small area.

PinkCosmos re: Wallrock insulation KV600. I have used it in victorian seaside terrace made from locally made bricks (salty sand) which attracted moisture. The walls were very cold to the touch and the noise from people passing outside was a little intrusive. The insulation did the trick, much warmer and quieter.

The downside is a) the cost b) installation - it is wide and awkward to apply (husband and me covered in adhesive!), unwieldy and very very difficult to trim - we used curved and straight stanley knife blades. We then sealed around sockets and skirtings etc with decorator’s caulk. The adhesive needs to be applied to the wall with a roller.

To retain the breathability I emulsioned with claypaint.
An expensive job all round but made the room more comfortable and warmer.

(Imagine trying to glue lightweight carpet to the walls.)

It's heartening to know I'm not the only one living in a icy home. I've reduced the thermostat to 16c and increased the layers worn to ice age proportions. I only worry about my doggy who is small - staying warm is a daily battle. I've put a reptile heat mat under his bed which is cheap to run and now we both sleep in the box room as it's the warmest room in the house! The downside to a cold house however is damp and health damages so take care everyone.