^Next week Ofgem will announce the energy price cap rise^.

Zonne I agree with you. There is a government but they are choosing not to work at all for several weeks. There is a deputy prime minister too, what is he doing? Why was a new chancelor of the exchequer appointed? all he has said is that he can't do anything until after September 5th. Although Boris said he was resigning he is still there, saying what they are all going to be doing from September onwards even though he will have no say in it. I expect he is still being paid and still living in his free house. All the candidates for new PM have been doing a lot of talking and travelling around the country for weeks spending all their time furthering their careers but not working at their jobs but I expect they are still being paid as usual. Is this a new idea? When I have given in my notice at a job I leave, has that changed now?

Bandying around figures of £6,000 per year is meaningless to me. It depends on the size of your property and how much energy you use. I want to know the cost per kWh for gas and electricity, those are the only figures than mean anything to me.

Well here's the thing.

The price cap refers to the maximum price a supplier can charge per kWh. For an average household, that's predicted to go up 82% in October. More than that in Spring. And likely to end up at about £6,000 for an average household.

So whatever you are paying now, assume its going to rise by 82% in two months time.

Still meaningless?

Grayling

This will probably be my last post as it will prove what kind of a dimwit I am!! Why is the electricity so high? Russia doesn't supply us with that!!

One of the reasons it is so high is that gas is used in the generation of electricity. (Not all, electricity of course, some is from renewable sources). So the price of gas ups the cost of generation and it's being passed on to the consumer.

It appears that our largest gas storage facility, owned by Centrica and closed for 'safety reasons' in 2017 because the company claimed it would be too expensive to make it safe, is about to be reopened 'within a few weeks'. Which makes me wonder how 'safe' it is likely to be, or, was Centrica telling porkies when they closed it...

But it will, I hope, act positively on energy prices.

www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/437044/liz-truss-questioned-over-closure-of-rough-gas-storage-facility/

Thanks for that information MaizieD - particularly about gas needed to fire up electricity. Up here in the north of Scotland for years we have had enough Hydro-electric schemes to provide for ourselves and the south of Scotland and also sell the surplus to the rest of the UK which I presume helped the Scottish economy.

I've just found this interesting article from the FT.

www.ft.com/content/0d4d3f4d-f073-4115-b389-066aa894fb53

It explains how less than 60% of the typical fuel bill is for the actual (wholesale) cost of the energy, while the rest is made up of all sorts of other charges.

Several well-known energy suppliers are urging the government to remove some of these charges from fuel bills and add them to general taxation.

They are not suggesting that all of these extra charges can, or should, be removed.
Nevertheless, the changes they are seeking could save customers more than £400, which is the amount that the Government has offered to all households this coming winter.

They also say that the saving to customers could be over £500 if the cost of keeping the failed energy company Bulb running was also funded via tax rather than through all our energy bills.

That's the gist of it.

volver

Well here's the thing.

The price cap refers to the maximum price a supplier can charge per kWh. For an average household, that's predicted to go up 82% in October. More than that in Spring. And likely to end up at about £6,000 for an average household.

So whatever you are paying now, assume its going to rise by 82% in two months time.

Still meaningless?

Still meaningless. My daughter was paying (for gas) 3.58p per kWh, is now paying 7.28p and been offered a new tariff of 15.59p per kWh. By my calculation that has already gone up 440% since before 1st April.

I know what a price cap is. I know what is predicted. But unless you are whatever they consider to be an 'average household' these figures of £6,000 are meaningless.

Is what she's been offered a fixed rate that will cover her for a year or so? They're probably hedging their bets about what the future costs will be.

The £6,000 is meaningful because it allows people who aren't very good with numbers to make comparisons. i.e. the average house used to pay £1,000 (say), and now its going to be £6,000

Just to be clear - I don't agree with any of this. Utilities should be nationalised and not for profit, and they should be run on behalf of the people of this country. There is no "choice"; we all need power and we all need water.

Long time since we've had that approach.

There could be some helpful information in this link:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/-are-there-any-cheap--fixed-energy-deals-currently-worth-it--/

I see he's added a calculator on that page which wasn't there a few days ago. He was basically saying he couldn't tell you whether it was better to fix or be flexible.

He won't but will give you all the information so you can decide for yourself.

Chestnut

Bandying around figures of £6,000 per year is meaningless to me. It depends on the size of your property and how much energy you use. I want to know the cost per kWh for gas and electricity, those are the only figures than mean anything to me.

You probably realize this, already, but I'll mention it anyway, for anyone who doesnt - you need to know the daily standing charge, too, if you want to work out your bills, and they have risen a lot.

No,I still don’t get it. Companies with billions of pounds profit aren’t going to go bust. They’re just going to make less profit.

Will they cease to trade if they can’t make billions? Then they won’t make anything, will they?

They're making the most of it before we change to renewables (and nuclear).

They know that we're trying to move away from reliance on fossil fuels.

Do we fix or don’t we fix.
That is my dilemma.
A few weeks ago the advice was don’t fix .
Mt current fix ends on August 31st.
The offer I had from my current supplier EDF was to fix at just over £300 which was almost 100% more than I am paying at £157.
I haven’t accepted that yet but it looks as if it might be a better option.
It would be a penalty of £300 to come out of the contract.
I am truly in a fix about this with no help from family, I do have family but they can’t advise.

annsixty I fixed in March but my daughter is in the same position as you. I have been trying to make suggestions as whether to fix or stay flexible but a week ago Martin Lewis had no answer to that question, whereas he usually would. It was a case of fix and pay more starting now, or stay flexible and pay less now but then ride the roller coaster as the prices rise. Now he has put a calculator on the website so basically saying 'work it out for yourselves'. So there is no answer to that question as to whether to fix or be flexible. No-one even Martin knows which is best.

What is the point of a price cap when it seems to change every 5 minutes?

Sorry to so blunt, only a blind and deaf person (in a coma) would believe this government cares about anything other than filling their fat bellies (subsidised bars/canteens/expenses) and stuffing their over plump purses !! People are in for an awful winter, it’s no longer a choice as last winter between eating or heating, some will do neither. I worked for many years in the welfare sector and have met many mums/dads who feed and clothe their children first. Don’t believe all that’s printed in right wing rags about people on benefits and low incomes

I don't understand why they had to increase the standing charges so much. They are still providing the same service. Its the cost of producing the fuel that's risen not the service.

MaggsMcG

I don't understand why they had to increase the standing charges so much. They are still providing the same service. Its the cost of producing the fuel that's risen not the service.

I asked that question some while ago. Apparently it’s because all the energy companies have had to cover the costs of all the ones who went bust and so are trying to recoup those costs via the daily standing charges.

JenniferEccles

Of course they are taking it seriously but nothing can be done until the new PM is in no. 10.
Financial help has already been announced, the situation is being monitored with the assurance that more help will be forthcoming.
We just have to be patient. It’s still summer.

Sorry JenniferEccles but 'being patient' is not what's needed. We still have a Prime Minister and if he cared he would be doing something but he doesn't give a toss.
We have a deputy Prime Minister too. And a whole shed load of ministers that could, if they so wanted, get together and act on our behalf.
Being patient isn't going to happen. People are unhappy and I predict there will be a great deal of action in one form or another.

vegansrock

What is the point of a price cap when it seems to change every 5 minutes?

It's a moveable price cap, vegansrock

ie no point at all!

JenniferEccles I agree it is still regarded to be the summer season. That though means different things to different areas of the UK. Yesterday I had a temperature of 16° and today it is 15°. Compared to the southern regions these temps are definitely autumnal and it's very tempting to turn the central heating on for a bit in the evening but of course the bill will rocket. Can't wait until the official autumn arrives!

Liz truss is still foreign Secretary and working as well as the hustings.Boris is also working on holiday too.
Rishi resigned as we know so just doing the hustings .
They are not a despicable government .do you seriously think the likes of starmer ,Rayner and co would do better!!!
They woukd let the unions ride rough shod over everything etc
They were a “good “ government when handing out your furlough money .You can’t have it all ways

Rishi resigned as we know so just doing the hustings
He's still an MP. Is he MP-ing? Probably not.

do you seriously think the likes of starmer ,Rayner and co would do better!!! Goodness me yes. Larry the Cat would do better.

They were a “good “ government when handing out your furlough money . I've never thought they were a good government. I haven't ever thought they were a good government, because they are terrible.