Rising Bills

After being told often that a new boiler will save money by being far more efficient I have ordered a new one this week.
This is because my present one is 19 years old and has had two faults this week.
The new one is £4400, when pressed the salesman said it will save in the region of 5% , it will take a long time for the reduced price to even make a dent in the cost of a new one.

Eon have just increased my monthly utilities bill by £38 a month. This is after I had a smart meter fitted ( something that I didn’t want to do having heard so many scare stories about mistakes being made). On top of this my car ( which I spent £2,000 on recently due to corrosion in the chassis) now has corrosion in the indicators. £400 +. Wondering how much more corrosion there is lurking around. Looking at it you’d think it was brand new as I’ve looked after it so well and mileage is very low. And I’ve had to buy a new freezer £400. Thank goodness I have a crisis fund and can live very frugally if necessary ( the dog probably costs more to run than I do and my partner pays her insurance).

I just now received my house and contents renewal notice from LV - the annual payment is over £700 compared with £460 last year. I'll be using Martin Lewis's comparison tool!

whoops got the council tax wrong, only going up by £16 pm

council tax up by £35 pm over 10 months

house and contents insurance up by 80%, I am still going with saga as it is a good policy and includes a 3 year fix. Last year was the last year of a previous 3 year fix, so the quote is fair

Already increases are well over my (old) state pension rise too

My water bill actually went down, even though prices have risen, wessex water. My water butts helped conserve water

We got our Water bill in for the year this week it's gone up over 50%. It was £47 per month it's gone up to £97 per month over 10 months.
Only x2 of us in the house.

My extra £8 per month State pension, isn't going to go far!

Ah, so you had misread your bill and thought you were in credit when you were in debit.

Phone and broadband suppliers do increase their charges in April in line with inflation. Sky said it was putting up its TV and broadband charges by 6.2% which is above inflation. There are cheaper brodband deals out there. It depends what Sky TV content you want. Much if it available cheaper on Now with no contract so you can dip in and out month by month - or not.

My council tax has gone up by just over £6 per month. Most of the increase is the adult social care precept. It costs the county council around 2.5 million a day to provide adult social care. I was glad to hear that 75% of local people who took part in a budget consultation said they would understand if there was an increase in council tax to support services for the most vulnerable.

puts costs up.

We cant really compare Council Tax with the other rises, they aren't companies with shareholders.

Locally a breakdown of what they spend them on revealed that 57p in every pound goes on Care costs. Yes vanity projects to be avoided but I'm proud that so called "inessential costs" like our council still funds a Women's Refuge not just helplines still exist even tho it outs costs up.

I rang my water company yesterday regarding the 28%rise as said upthread.
They told me that I was in debit for £113 and we are using more water.
I shall just keep an eye now on usage.
Also email from Sky going up £4 a month and Council tax5%.
I think we have just to get used to a higher cost of living.

crazyH

I recently paid £700 for car insurance and £400 for MOT, Service, new battery - add road tax and petrol - nearly £200 pm. I could probably sell the car and put the money away for taxis ……..worth considering

You also need to factor in the price of the car itself.
My Dad has £10000 sitting outside, hardly used!

Usedtobeblonde

I have just received my yearly water statement from United Utilities.
I have a water meter and at the end of the billing year I am £115 in credit.
My monthly DD has gone from £38:85 to £61:50.
Well that’s the pension rise gone in one blow.

My water is metered Used tobe*blonde*. Just me in the house. My monthly DD payment has just risen from £15 per month to £20 per month. Yours seems very high, unless of course you have others living in the property.

crazyH

I recently paid £700 for car insurance and £400 for MOT, Service, new battery - add road tax and petrol - nearly £200 pm. I could probably sell the car and put the money away for taxis ……..worth considering

I worked it out once that the money we spent on a car, it would pay for 1 taxi pre week. Approximately.
I decided that wasnt enough in our circumstances back then.
Might reconsider in the future.

council tax up by a whopping £34 a month over 10 months. New build so up to date valuation, not like the barrister and family who live in a quant old cottage, nor the family of 4 working adults who live in the same area

My house insurance has just gone up to unacceptable levels so I have shopped around and gone elsewhere . Looks like a better deal too. I think Martin Lewis said about 14-21 days when I looked this morning.
What a mind boggling job it is comparing deals. Some companies were charging double for what looked like similar terms.
My broadband isn’t going up though but they tried hard to get me to upgrade my package.

I recently paid £700 for car insurance and £400 for MOT, Service, new battery - add road tax and petrol - nearly £200 pm. I could probably sell the car and put the money away for taxis ……..worth considering

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202503/medium-d549rc-screenshot-2025-03-06-at-15-41-14.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202503/medium-87r5g4-screenshot-2025-03-06-at-15-41-23.png

Thank you GG.

Here are the graphs from MSE. Dark blue one car insurance, grey one home insurance. MSE say:

As for why the super-prepared are being penalised with higher prices for getting a quote 30 days in advance, it's basically because there are fewer insurers returning quotes at that stage.

David49

Silverbrooks

No. A month before will NOT get you the best deal. Read and listen to what Martin Lewis says about best times to shop around for car and home insurance.

Tell us what is the best time please.

Anything between 20-27 days, but according to Martin Lewis 21 days is the sweet spot

Silverbrooks

No. A month before will NOT get you the best deal. Read and listen to what Martin Lewis says about best times to shop around for car and home insurance.

Tell us what is the best time please.

Silverbrooks

No. A month before will NOT get you the best deal. Read and listen to what Martin Lewis says about best times to shop around for car and home insurance.

It usually works for me, but I should read Martin Lewis’ advice.

No. A month before will NOT get you the best deal. Read and listen to what Martin Lewis says about best times to shop around for car and home insurance.

David49, that’s good advice. I had 5 days left, so I was doubly surprised to get a refund.

Mollygo

My car insurance went down too and I got a refund for overpayment.

The insurance companies are going through considerable restructuring to reduce the risk due to large scale disasters and events, so far my insurances havn’t increase a lot but I am conscious of the risk. Do not leave renewal until the last minute get quotes around a month before if you want the best price. If your existing insurer seems high ask for a loyalty discount.

I have just received my yearly water statement from United Utilities.
I have a water meter and at the end of the billing year I am £115 in credit.
My monthly DD has gone from £38:85 to £61:50.
Well that’s the pension rise gone in one blow.

My car insurance went down too and I got a refund for overpayment.