Current Affairs Cost of living…
- Thread starter peteblue
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Willie Thorne
Player Valuation: £5m
That furlough garbage two years back won't pay for itself.
Vultures eventually get their fill and fly away.
Diogenes the Cynic
Player Valuation: £40m
Corruption at the top with contracts, corruption with blag furlough claims.
Spirit of the blitz my arse.
NilSatisOptimum
Player Valuation: £70m
No way who would have thought...
uk.news.yahoo.com
Energy firms hoard £2bn of customers’ cash
Energy companies are hoarding nearly £2 billion of customers’ cash amid the cost of living crisis, The Telegraph can disclose.
Just in time for the improving interest rates...No way who would have thought...
Energy firms hoard £2bn of customers’ cash
Energy companies are hoarding nearly £2 billion of customers’ cash amid the cost of living crisis, The Telegraph can disclose.
In fairness to them, in this instance I dont think it's that they want people unemployed.
The market wants interest rates to come down. They will only come down when unemployment increases (or so they believe) so as a bi product to lower rates they want unemployment.
NilSatisOptimum
Player Valuation: £70m
European gas prices fall to pre-Ukraine war level
Milder winter, alternative imports and energy reduction cuts demand after Russian invasion pushed up prices
We can save Grant Shapps and the Tory shepple the time as it will go something like this. "The planets in our solar system were aligned in a straight line on the night 29/12/2022, this causes a stronger magnetic effect as they move closer which makes it even more difficult and expensive to pump gas to Britain due to geographical position.
part way through I feared a neo ice age and the preparatory cost...European gas prices fall to pre-Ukraine war level
Milder winter, alternative imports and energy reduction cuts demand after Russian invasion pushed up priceswww.theguardian.com
We can save Grant Shapps and the Tory shepple the time as it will go something like this. "The planets in our solar system were aligned in a straight line on the night 29/12/2022, this causes a stronger magnetic effect as they move closer which makes it even more difficult and expensive to pump gas to Britain due to geographical position.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
A quid for a packet of salted peanuts in pub. 
Was a Liverpool company though. Just looked them up, looks like I've had one of the last packets !
Was a Liverpool company though. Just looked them up, looks like I've had one of the last packets !
Luckily there's a really simple cure for this.No way who would have thought...
Energy firms hoard £2bn of customers’ cash
Energy companies are hoarding nearly £2 billion of customers’ cash amid the cost of living crisis, The Telegraph can disclose.
1) submit your own readings each month. It takes me five minutes on Eon's website and that's the same as Bulb (my previous supplier). Why submit your own readings? Because otherwise the supplier will estimate them and invariably over-estimate your use.
2) monitor your monthly bill. Pay for what you use each month - no more, no less. There's no need to build up a "credit balance" with your energy company - keep the money on your bank and earn interest on it instead.
3) if you build up a substantial credit balance, ask for it to be returned. I did this last month with Eon and received the entire sum (£289) ten days later.
These companies RELY on you failing to take regular accurate meter readings - if you don't know what you're using each month then you can't budget or make price comparisons.
Out of any interest it might hold for others in this discussion, my bill for December 2022 was £350 for gas & electric combined. Gas CH, radiators, detached 4-bed house, two residents: heating on for 2 hours in the morning, 4 in the evening. Thermostat set to 17c. We live in Sussex and we've had one week of genuinely cold temperatures where it was getting down to -6c overnight, but otherwise three of the last four weeks it's been 10c outside on average (daytime) and dropping to around 4c overnight.
I have every sympathy for anyone who's struggling but I am curious about the tariffs and usage patterns other people experience - if my house was heated to 18c overnight I wouldn't need a duvet, for instance.
a 'duvet', ooh la dee dah mr frenchman... I jest. £350 for a month is no walk in the park though, sounds like a sizable gaff, chuck internet, phone, council tax, on... wait a minute...
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you right?
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you right?
I'm not one for the exterior lights that our American cousins deem normal.a 'duvet', ooh la dee dah mr frenchman... I jest. £350 for a month is no walk in the park though, sounds like a sizable gaff, chuck internet, phone, council tax, on... wait a minute...
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you right?
But your point is a fair one. The previous month's bill was £200, and two years ago we were paying £120 a month. I suppose what I'm saying is the £350 this month is a fair bit higher precisely because it's been a bit colder, and the rest of the year we won't be using as much gas. In fact, the next most costly month will be whichever part of the summer sees us hitting nightime temperatures around 25c like we had in the middle of August this year - the electricity bill went up temporarily due to running fans for several hours each night. That's why I was interested in other people's usage patterns, with some posters saying they have the thermostat set to 21c during the day, or having heating on overnight.
The point about household income is worth discussing too. At £350, the utility bill is about 9% of the monthly disposable income for Mr. & Mrs. Tree. The usual figure (£200) is 5%. She's a teacher and I work for the local authority, so I doubt we're the highest earners on the forum.
We're halfway through compiling the monthly budget for 2023 and it's amazing how many things we pay out each month. Water, house insurance, car tax, car insurance, breakdown cover, pet insurance, window cleaner, gardener, the list goes on. But the process of identifying and accounting for all the monthly outgoings is absolutely vital in order to control the household budget.
I'd advise anyone struggling to manage their finances to start with accurately recording ALL outgoings. You absolutely have to have accurate figures if you want to make informed decisions - and that brings me back to "take your own meter readings each month."
pay em in one its cheaper.
theres an expert on glass residing on this very forum, he's had documentaries made about himself and the boys, a legend with his own loufer. get a rate?
and the garden...
In some mild seriousness there is a war on not just in Ukraine, a long time ago it was 'dig for victory' and 'waste not want not', the days of cheap and easy energy are over, green levies, colossal tax breaks for exxon and bp, and the audacity to want warmed through food means cost, cost, and cost.
Agreed having as many parts of the picture illuminated in full allows for a proper overview of just how shafted a lot of us are, I understand why those that can't cope hide from it as there's no respite and the reality is crushing. Winters been mild so far, a near miracle, in a parallel close to home, it's folly to expect the heavens to align every winter or every May to save us from freezing/relegation respectively. Aptly, play russian roulette long enough and it's not deer on the slab...
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