Rising Bills

Pittcity Yes our bill has risen by over 30%! I do not see how they are allowed to do this!

I have just found a clip of Keir Starmer whilst on the election campaign, he was promising to freeze energy bills and council tax 🤥

I think he is realising that being in opposition is a lot easier than running the country…

I think he is realising that being in opposition is a lot easier than running the country

Waits in anticipation for the inevitable defence of
He didn’t know how bad the state of the economy was.

It was his job to know.

I just read online that gas and electricity will rise by £9.25 a month from April. That, plus the rest of the rising costs, is too much, but Rachel thinks I am a rich pensioner because I cannot claim towards their costs.

It was. I have never believed they didn’t know. It’s just a convenient excuse to do what they were planning to do all along.

Sorry that was to Mollygo.

Our house insurance went up by 24% having gone up by 25% the previous year. They immediately dropped the increase to 11% after a phone call!
We have not claimed, are not on a flood plain or any other high risk area.

Time to look at comparison sites. Unfortunately none of us can do that with Council tax or water rates.

You could ask to be put on a water meter.

Energy prices are based on wholesale prices no different to the price of any commodity.

When demand for a commodity rises, wholesale prices rise.

The demand for energy rises in cold weather and it also affected by geo-political events.

There is a time lag between when wholesale energy is bought on our behalf and when we use it.

Starmer can no more predict the weather and wholesale prices that you or I can and even if he could, we cannot buy in energy when prices are lower as we don’t enough storage facility. We closed down some of what we did have.

Martin Lewis spent much of last summer urging people to get off the price cap and fix. Those who did so have protected themselves from the last two rises and this one just announced.

I had a letter from my water company stating that my monthly bills could go up by £16 per month depending how much water we use as a household.

Allira

Our house insurance went up by 24% having gone up by 25% the previous year. They immediately dropped the increase to 11% after a phone call!
We have not claimed, are not on a flood plain or any other high risk area.

Time to look at comparison sites. Unfortunately none of us can do that with Council tax or water rates.

You could ask to be put on a water meter.

We are on a smart water meter. The increase is on the monthly direct debit and assumes we will use the same amount of water as last year. I have told DS he'll have to limit the use of the pressure washer!

Our house insurance is due for renewal. I'll be shopping around.

I fixed last summer. Will do so again if necessary.

Important to do so and with a supplier which doesn't charge exit fees so that you can get out if the market changes and it doesn't seem such a good deal anyone.

I urge people to use MSE's Cheap Energy Club calculator to keep tabs on what's on offer.

I do love Martin Lewis. He should have a knighthood.
I always use the tools on his Moneysavingexpert site and buy through a cashback site.
His TV programmes are very useful too.

My monthly Direct Debit for my water is not changing. I have built up a small surplus of £5, so no increase.
I fixed my energy bill last August, so no increase.
Waiting to hear about Council Tax. TV license is going up, as is my phone / broadband bill by £3 pm, but I am only paying £1.95 pm for my mobile, thanks to Martin Lewis.
My pensions will increase, thankfully.

Pittcity

I've just received notice that my water bill is rising by over 30%.
The news headline is the imminent rise in gas and electricity prices. (We are on a fixed rate for a few more months so will worry about that later)
I'm expecting an increased Council Tax bill next week.

Luckily the annual increase in our income will cover these bill rises.

DH is furious as he knows that these companies are just making shareholders rich at our expense.

Just wanted to vent really!

Does your council have shareholders?

I still think water is cheap at the price. I pay £1 a day for fresh water on tap and for my waste to be dealt with.

My energy prices are fixed so I am not affected by the change in the energy price cap. My energy costs, averaged over the year, come to less than £3 a day.

Energy and water, £4 a day. A cup of coffee in town costs that.

The TV Licence is going up by £5.00 a year so only by 0.10p a day. The annual cost of a licence works out at less than 50p a day. Considering how much enjoyment we derive from TV, that seems a bargain to me.

The local council have just agreed the budget for 2025/26. My Council Tax will increase by £1.25 a month.

Mr Starmer has no control over water prices nor house insurance. These are private companies, GrannyGravy.
Whether water should be so is possibly a debate for another time.

The Council doesn't have shareholders Growstuff but they have people who are paid to oversee "vanity projects". I dont expect the Council shakeup will change anything much.

No, it will just cost a lot of money and probably make some people redundant.

Water, electricity (we have no gas), TV licence, Wi-Fi, council tax, service charge for flat, house insurance…
Whoever is to ”blame”, life is becoming more and more expensive.
More belt tightening. If it gets any worse, I shan’t be able to breathe!

Charleygirl5

I just read online that gas and electricity will rise by £9.25 a month from April. That, plus the rest of the rising costs, is too much, but Rachel thinks I am a rich pensioner because I cannot claim towards their costs.

Last year we went around the house and worked out where we could save some electricty.
About to do the same this year. With even more vigour.
It looks set to be a yearly exercise.

I moved into a park home last year from a one bedroom flat where my metered water bill was £15 per month. I pay for water into my home through the park, so effectively 100th of the water bill for the site, at £12.24 per month. I am billed separately for the sewerage costs individually. When I moved in last year it was £17 per month and this year it has gone up to £25 per month. I did query the cost last year and I was told that it was correct.

Yes Starmer is a blatant liar

Allira

Our house insurance went up by 24% having gone up by 25% the previous year. They immediately dropped the increase to 11% after a phone call!
We have not claimed, are not on a flood plain or any other high risk area.

Time to look at comparison sites. Unfortunately none of us can do that with Council tax or water rates.

You could ask to be put on a water meter.

My house insurance rose considerably last year and when I queried it they decided it was best to reassess which ended up with them quoting the rebuild value as almost double what it was previously! The price they quoted could not be correct as it's way over whatever I might get from the sale value. By the time these new details were known it was too late for me to go through getting new quotes from other companies so I agreed to pay the new premium. Needless to say I'll be going to another company this year.