[JD6]

Clearly we all know that the new Ofgem cap from October 1st (to be released on Friday) was going to be a lot higher, but the scale of the rise seems pretty staggering to me.

54p/kWh for electricity (up from 28p) and 15p for gas (up from 7p) is being suggested by the FT for October, with two smaller rises to come in Jan and April.

This does feel like significant recession territory. Unusually it seems that (unregulated) heating oil is going to be significantly cheaper than gas. It's currently 8-9p per kWh and that's the real uncapped market price. I wonder if those on mains gas will start to consider fitting oil heating.

Crazy times. Perhaps the next car order can wait...

[MY340i]

might as well have your salary paid directly to the energy companies at this rate these rises are going....

[MashinBenzin]

I'm cancelling the Tesla and buying a Discovery!

Just kidding - fortunately locked in at 25p electric and a lower gas rate too until 2024.

The treasury needs to step in here, just like the furlough scheme we just have to find the money. These energy bills are going to be simply impossible to cover for so many.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

Just kidding - fortunately locked in at 25p electric and a lower gas rate too until 2024.

The treasury needs to step in here, just like the furlough scheme we just have to find the money. These energy bills are going to be simply impossible to cover for so many.

Very good move to have locked in your rates.

I tend to think of Martin Lewis as prone to getting bit hysterical about most things, but I think he's right this time - things are going to get seriously bleak. Without large scale intervention for people at the bottom, lives will be lost.

[JLR1969]

How many people just spend spend spend ignorant until the shit hits the fan, I genuinely feel for the people who are sensible and just don't earn enough money but too many in the UK just waste money on stuff that doesn't matter and have no concept in saving for a rainy day.

More interested in new cars, clothes and the latest phones etc etc.

Was listening to Radio 2 and one guy was moaning as he didnt know how he would manage with 2 kids and a salary of £75K a year.......

[saltyamigo]

I think some people will be in for a real shock when they get hit with their first winter bills, it's been bit of a false sense of security, price rises have been well published for months but they have little impact over the summer. It will be a big problem for many on low incomes up here in North Scotland, we're always around 5 degrees colder than England so obviously heating bills are much higher.

[isleaiw1]

Originally Posted by JLR1969

How many people just spend spend spend ignorant until the shit hits the fan, I genuinely feel for the people who are sensible and just don't earn enough money but too many in the UK just waste money on stuff that doesn't matter and have no concept in saving for a rainy day.

More interested in new cars, clothes and the latest phones etc etc.

Was listening to Radio 2 and one guy was moaning as he didnt know how he would manage with 2 kids and a salary of £75K a year.......

Perhaps some of those with kids, or who had nothing as a youngster, or who have seen their dads graft hard and then die before they could enjoy it.

There were days when my kids were younger that despite a good salary, we had nothing saved.... 2 kids, big mortgage, and a wife who was one of six and didnt have much as a youngster saw to that, along with me seeing my dad work hard all of his life and drop dead when he should have been enjoying a comfortable retirement.

I guess if you have never been there you can be judgemental and insensitive to others....

[SimonBMW1]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

I'm cancelling the Tesla and buying a Discovery!

Just kidding - fortunately locked in at 25p electric and a lower gas rate too until 2024.

The treasury needs to step in here, just like the furlough scheme we just have to find the money. These energy bills are going to be simply impossible to cover for so many.

they are too busy on holiday atm. Boris in greece, aint heard from Nadim. Truss will be useless as a PM anyway. Sunak is going to just take take take.
Get rid of #toriescum, we need change in this country, Tories have dragged it down.

I locked in last October until October 2023. At the time our good friend Martin Lewis was advising people not to. I didn't listen and just done it. Best choice i made really.

[pmgreenwood]

We need a Government to take all the actions it can to reduce quickly our demand for gas.

If I was in power, I would do everything possible to construct offshore as many tidal generation farms to reduce our use of gas to generate Electricity. Tidal is a reliable cheap environmentally friendly source of energy and more relaible than solar and wind. The UK has neglected it's possibilities.

[JLR1969]

Originally Posted by isleaiw1

Perhaps some of those with kids, or who had nothing as a youngster, or who have seen their dads graft hard and then die before they could enjoy it.

There were days when my kids were younger that despite a good salary, we had nothing saved.... 2 kids, big mortgage, and a wife who was one of six and didnt have much as a youngster saw to that, along with me seeing my dad work hard all of his life and drop dead when he should have been enjoying a comfortable retirement.

I guess if you have never been there you can be judgemental and insensitive to others....

Might have known you would pop up and start crying about something or other. How many people have kids despite not being able to afford them.

Stop being a snowflake and just arguing for the sake of it.

As I said I feel for people who have a genuine issue but too many dont see farther than the next round of monthly payments.

[SimonBMW1]

Originally Posted by JLR1969

How many people just spend spend spend ignorant until the shit hits the fan, I genuinely feel for the people who are sensible and just don't earn enough money but too many in the UK just waste money on stuff that doesn't matter and have no concept in saving for a rainy day.

More interested in new cars, clothes and the latest phones etc etc.

Was listening to Radio 2 and one guy was moaning as he didnt know how he would manage with 2 kids and a salary of £75K a year.......

Exactly, you see people moaning about buying school uniforms etc, yet they have a 1k iphone in their hand

[JLR1969]

Originally Posted by SimonBMW1

Exactly, you see people moaning about buying school uniforms etc, yet they have a 1k iphone in their hand

That's the type of person who deserves what they get and then expects the government to give them free money as it couldn't possibly be their fault.

[SimonBMW1]

time to get one of these for people https://www.flogas.co.uk/product/11k...iABEgJ9A_D_BwE

Don't know how efficient they are, but could be a good alternative.

get a gas unit for cooking, and maybe a heater etc. We will have to adapt.
Knowing the UK's luck this year. it will prob snow and be a very cold winter to make matters worse for people.

We also need to think of the hidden cost of this. Crime will go up. People will turn to thefts etc to sell items just to be able to afford heat/food etc. Being a BMW forum, we may be getting more thefts of the things we enjoy.

[Wolverine]

I bet the view is real nice from that high horse some of you seem to be sat on.

No one deserves to freeze or starve (or both) due to an unprecedented cost of living squeeze. Certainly it is unprecedented in my lifetime and this is the first time I'm having to deal with it as an adult with a family.

We've also just had 2 boys (twins) and had only planned on one but that's the luck of the draw really. But that also places a squeeze on finances. Especially with Mrs W being on Maternity leave until next summer.

But tripling our energy bills from under £200 to a forecast £600+ per month along with almost doubling my commuting cost (cost of diesel mostly) and the cost of food going up 20-30%, it's a concern for a lot more than the working poor.

Maybe it's time you all consider having a touch more compassion and empathy for those who will suffer most this winter. And hopefully no one you know has to choose between eating and heating.

[isleaiw1]

Originally Posted by JLR1969

Might have known you would pop up and start crying about something or other. How many people have kids despite not being able to afford them.

Stop being a snowflake and just arguing for the sake of it.

As I said I feel for people who have a genuine issue but too many dont see farther than the next round of monthly payments.

I'm no snowflake, I just see that other people arent like me.

Although thank fuck the world isnt like you. Usual DINKY with no idea of the real world struggles of others.

[isleaiw1]

Originally Posted by SimonBMW1

Exactly, you see people moaning about buying school uniforms etc, yet they have a 1k iphone in their hand

Or a BMW on their drive (motorbikes in their garage, overseas home for winter) and claim tory scum just to try and drive a bit of attention....?

[MashinBenzin]

Well said Wolverine, empathy and understanding. One of the posters is renowned for no empathy and always seeing things from his own viewpoint only, and another is a plain old troll so don't worry too much about it.

[Nibbles]

Finally moved into my new house after 13 months of on-off nonsense. I think we might live to regret buying a large old badly insulated house with a crap inefficient boiler this winter. Jumpers and woolly socks for Christmas and at least we'll have a lot of cardboard boxes from the move to burn in the fireplace to keep us a bit warmer.

[isleaiw1]

Originally Posted by Nibbles

Finally moved into my new house after 13 months of on-off nonsense. I think we might live to regret buying a large old badly insulated house with a crap inefficient boiler this winter. Jumpers and woolly socks for Christmas and at least we'll have a lot of cardboard boxes from the move to burn in the fireplace to keep us a bit warmer.

Isnt that it, you make decisions and choices based on one series of expectations and then life changes and sometimes it catches you unaware. If that has never happened to you then you are very lucky, or very risk averse.

In my case it was 7 months off work with a very ill wife (mentally and physically) which meant I ran out of money, maxed out my debt and couldnt go back to my normal type of role after as I needed to be home every night at a sensible time.

We survived and best decision I ever made to run the risk and have time off, but at times we were only paying the interest in the mortgage, using a self scanner in the shops so we could keep a track of the cost to make sure I had enough cash on me to pay... and on one memorable day was commuting home from work with no cash, no card payment facility and 1 mile more on the gauge as remeaining fuel than the journey home.... Pay cleared the next day so I could walk over to the supermarket with my petrol can to get some to put in the car...

Clearly I should have planned better, perhaps avoided the two teenagers who we were trying to continue giving the best life we could as it wasnt for them to worry about, and just have been prepared...

Oh, I still had a phone, it was on contract and I couldnt work without it!

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by JD6

Clearly we all know that the new Ofgem cap from October 1st (to be released on Friday) was going to be a lot higher, but the scale of the rise seems pretty staggering to me.

54p/kWh for electricity (up from 28p) and 15p for gas (up from 7p) is being suggested by the FT for October, with two smaller rises to come in Jan and April.

This does feel like significant recession territory. Unusually it seems that (unregulated) heating oil is going to be significantly cheaper than gas. It's currently 8-9p per kWh and that's the real uncapped market price. I wonder if those on mains gas will start to consider fitting oil heating.

Crazy times. Perhaps the next car order can wait...

I think the forecasts for the next two rounds of price cap, at least, are for further significant rises with a slight fall thereafter, so we are in for a year of every costs something like 4 to 5 times what they were 12/18 months ago... I think some of the worse case scenarios have the cap at £6k by April '23... It's £1.9k now...

Some inflation forecasts for the coming months are hitting 18%...

This is all extremely serious territory where a lot of folk are going to see significant impacts...

One thing that bothers me about the price cap is how much of it is now in the standing charges, which mean that folk who are trying to reduce costs by energy savings are still asked to contribute a large amount in standing charges... Right now, for me, that equates to over £300/year without any fuel, just to have connections and meters...

[saltyamigo]

We lived in a nice Victorian detached and moved into a new build around 8 years ago. No doubt which house it better build and will still be standing long after I'm gone. Miss it in a way but also glad I don't live there anymore, it was like the Forth road bridge, the maintenance seemed never ending. These houses will become very hard to sell if these costs keep up.

On another note, several small companies reported recently in our local papers that they're closing due to the soaring energy bills and rising general costs, mainly takeaways and food outlets.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by pmgreenwood

We need a Government to take all the actions it can to reduce quickly our demand for gas.

If I was in power, I would do everything possible to construct offshore as many tidal generation farms to reduce our use of gas to generate Electricity. Tidal is a reliable cheap environmentally friendly source of energy and more relaible than solar and wind. The UK has neglected it's possibilities.

I agree about the need to reduce our dependence on gas, either that or get fracking going properly.

Tidal has been touted as a major energy source for as long as I can remember, but always seems to be problematic in the U.K. As a child growing up near Bristol, I remember doing a school project about the Severn Barrage scheme - that was more than 40 years ago and they’re still just talking about it. It was going to provide 7% of the UK’s electricity. Numerous other tidal schemes have been proposed and not completed.

Just a decade ago the government were offering 5 ROCs per MWh for tidal schemes - 5 times the subsidy level of onshore wind and still no takers. I put fusion in the same category- the solution that’s always 10 years away and has been for as long as I can remember.

Perhaps I’m just too cynical, but I don’t see tidal or fusion making a meaningful impact during my lifetime.