Huge rise on Energy bills

Lizzierip* you may not, but many do.

M0nica …^ like the assumption people will make about the link between money and intelligence. The less you have of one the less you have of the other, for example. It has never been true, but it doesn't stop people making the assumption, and between fecklessness and poverty. ^ These are not assumptions I have ever made!

whitewave all I was saying was that you cannot assume that just because someone has a professional job, they they are rolling in money and do not for a variety of reasons both self imposed or caused by outside factors, have to count the pennies carefully and budget how they spend their money.

Nor can you assume that have not in the past had periods in their lives when they were on the breadline, so fully understand the problems of those on the breadline now.

It is the lazy assumptions people make that irritate me. like the assumption people will make about the link between money and intelligence. The less you have of one the less you have of the other, for example. It has never been true, but it doesn't stop people making the assumption, and between fecklessness and poverty.

Kim19

Has anyone been able to establish if it is legal for the government to enforce a loan on to us whether we want it for not?

It’s not a loan. It’s a reduction to your energy bill. It seems to be the same thing though.
For most of us they ‘give’ us £200 then they take it away again.
We can bank the 200 and keep it safely until it needs repaying.
Of course if you are financially struggling that may work in theory but not in practice.
The government are gambling that the prices will go down again. Let’s all hope that they do.

I am wondering about the £150 council tax reduction for owners of properties in the A-D bands. Does anyone know if all those second home owners will get it?
It has always seemed to me to be very unfair that those who pay for their electricity up front in prepayment meters have to pay more.
Our fixed rate ends at the end of next month.
The DD is going up from £94/month. We have a choice - pay a variable rate of £139 or opt for a fixed rate of £229(1yr) or £239(2yrs). I’m taking Martin Lewis’s advice and going for the first option.

Has anyone been able to establish if it is legal for the government to enforce a loan on to us whether we want it for not?

monica I’m not at all clear what you are trying to say.

If you are a professional on a comfortable income then what you have is choice. So you may choose to pay for your offspring’s education which assuming the school of choice is one of the more popular ones will be an expensive choice - but it is a choice.

Or you may choose to spend your comfortable income on investments, or splendid holidays or a large house with land etc.

The point is you have choice.

The poor don’t - in fact they have no choice at all, not even to afford decent shoes, and clothes for their offspring, and more frequently food and now warmth.

And yes fortunes change but not as often as you are suggesting. Most middle class folk stay at that level as do their children. Poor tend to stay at that level as do their children.

GPs and Pharmacists may be able to get extra work at will, but I do not think that applies to most professionals. It certainly did not apply to DH and I

I absolutely agree someone in the position of Rishi Sunak's parents and those on the bread line is very different, but I do get irritated equally by those who assume if you are in a professional job then you have absolutely no experience of living on a tight budget and have never had to count the pennies and therefore cannot understand the problems.

Because at a certain time of their life someone is in a comfortable professional job does not preclude them from having been in deep poverty at an earlier stage in their adult life. Some times life circumstances can impose burdens. Friends moved from Scotland to London at a time when the price differential between regions were high. They went from a 4 bedroomed detached house to a 3 bed terrace, but still needed a large mortgage. Once they were in, mortgage interest rates started their vertigenous rise to 15% and over and they were counting every penny, 30 years later their DD's DH changed careers, becoming a policeman and they he had to go through a very poorly paid year as a probationer. A comfortable life and enough money now, neither guarantees the future nor necessarily refelcts the past.

I think he’s in dire straits.
Partygate won’t do for him but ‘net zero’ will.

I was just thinking about our energy bill as we pay a fixed amount every month the £200 is unlikely to make much difference. The bill is reassessed twice a year.
We are going to be hit with bigger bills anyway after the end of September as I fixed our energy tariff last March so the present increase will have no effect until then

M0nica

Casdon I am sure they would, especially if they were paying Winchester school fees.

We paid secondary school fees and I can assure you that even with us both in professional jobs, when the fees come from income, the pips squeak on everything else.

?

What to do with the extra £200?- I know pay off the £200 loan I am forced to have.

It’s relative though Monica isn’t it? Most professionals weren’t ever in a position where we had to choose between eating and heating the house - and we had the potential to earn more if we needed to - certainly GPs and pharmacists have always been able to supplement their income.

M0nica

Casdon I am sure they would, especially if they were paying Winchester school fees.

We paid secondary school fees and I can assure you that even with us both in professional jobs, when the fees come from income, the pips squeak on everything else.

That's through choice, though, not being forced into barely scraping by (or not) because your income is low.

Paying for independent education for your DC is a choice only the relatively wealthy could make.

Casdon I am sure they would, especially if they were paying Winchester school fees.

We paid secondary school fees and I can assure you that even with us both in professional jobs, when the fees come from income, the pips squeak on everything else.

Agreed rosie1959, more privileged middle class - I don’t think his family would have worried about a rise in energy bills though.

Casdon

His father was a GP, his mother a pharmacist, and he went to Winchester - so not that ordinary.

But not in the league of the super wealthy either the money is on his wife’s side

His father was a GP, his mother a pharmacist, and he went to Winchester - so not that ordinary.

varian

To give Sunak the benefit of the doubt, let's assume that he is a well intentioned politician. But I do wonder whether it is even possible for someone, who is so incredibly rich, ever able to put himself in the shoes of ordinary folk, let alone the very poor.

To be fair he had quite an ordinary start in life he hasn’t always had money.

To give Sunak the benefit of the doubt, let's assume that he is a well intentioned politician. But I do wonder whether it is even possible for someone, who is so incredibly rich, ever able to put himself in the shoes of ordinary folk, let alone the very poor.

It is worrying that a man in charge of the country's finances has shown himself to have a serious lack of awareness. The Eat out to Help Out scheme was controversial, but, to an extent, I can see the reasoning behind it, to help out hospitality, but his other recent decisions such as his cavalier dismissal of the fraudulent business help scheme claims, and this offensively unhelpful and inefficient fuel loan scheme are worrying.

Is he a 5th columnist, working to destroy the tory party?

Or does he think that voters are too thick to notice the scam?

Or does he just hate the idea of people (apart from the rich) having enough money to live in comfort?

To think he's being tipped as our next PM ?

Pumpkinpie

It’s untrue that everyone will recieve £200. Households in October will receive £200.
But those who buy or rent homes afterwards will the following April have to pay £40 on top of their bills, regardless. It’s appalling

Exactly.

And this chap is eyeing the leadership of the Tory party,

It’s untrue that everyone will recieve £200. Households in October will receive £200.
But those who buy or rent homes afterwards will the following April have to pay £40 on top of their bills, regardless. It’s appalling

Whitewavemark2

Apparently it is thought that only 80% of energy users will get the £200, but 100% will have to repay it.

It really is a dreadful scam.

I really thought he was brighter than that.

Perhaps he'll abandon the daft idea when someone does the sums for him and points out the anamolies.

What happens if the householder dies - will the estate be charged (if there is one?)

Apparently it is thought that only 80% of energy users will get the £200, but 100% will have to repay it.

It really is a dreadful scam.