More pain.

[Frnc]

I must admit I don't even know how to read the new smart meter. I did it once before they started getting readings. Mine looks ok anyway. Electric is virtually the same every month all year. Gas is very low in summer and obviously a lot more in winter. I ended up £100 in credit in July but they don't refund it until January unless you fill out a form. I loathe them sitting on my dosh but will probably just leave it there. I'm on a fixed rate so it depends only on usage. I'm going to turn the heating temp down a bit at the boiler. We don't have a thermostat, just the ones on the rads.

[GillyBee]

We are planning to keep the thermostat right down & limit the hours the heating runs for to as low as we can stand but the killer will be the electricity. I am still working on ferretting out where it is all going. The family are slowly improving their habits which will help but this winter is going to hurt.

[jansman]

We are planning to keep the thermostat right down & limit the hours the heating runs for to as low as we can stand but the killer will be the electricity. I am still working on ferretting out where it is all going. The family are slowly improving their habits which will help but this winter is going to hurt.

Electricity will be the killer. This afternoon I’ve been looking at prices of insurance etc. and when that was done,I checked our average usage and added the possible percentages. Allowing for the subsidy we’ve been promised,our electricity bill will fall within our monthly budget. For now. Mrs J is a real worrier,and always over reacts initially,unlike me,who lets the dust settle first!

There will be some real pain for those on low incomes,for sure ,and I honestly don’t know what to say about that. We are on a very medium income,and we will have to watch the pennies as time goes by. Already we have shut stuff down,and Mrs J now understands why I have installed battery lights in the pantry etc. She thought I’d lost the plot when I set up the Kelly kettle to fill a flask for tea making this afternoon.When I told her the prices that are coming she understood.My little maths lesson told me that by January, our cost will be ( possibly) 60p per kWh.And who knows what the standing charge will be? That makes our £5 a month ,£10 for the kettle.Approximately.

I just got a new recipe sent to me by Jack Monroe,the poverty campaigner. Very interesting that she now mentions cooking times,and ways to avoid fuel use,however small it is.

https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2022/08 ... ck-monroe/

It’ll be what it will be ,and I won’t lose sleep about it.My concern is possible power cuts…

[diamond lil]

"little maths lesson told me that by January, our cost will be ( possibly) 60p per kWh.And who knows what the standing charge will be?"
[/quote]

*KNITS FASTER*

[jansman]

"little maths lesson told me that by January, our cost will be ( possibly) 60p per kWh.And who knows what the standing charge will be?"

*KNITS FASTER*
[/quote]

Jan is knitting too!

[Evergog]

Eventually the government will have to do something to help the worst effected. Hopefully anyway. I’m lucky in that the wife and I earn enough to absorb but means we’ll be unlikely to see any government help (not complaining about that btw) However that means we’ll have to cut any extra spending. Now take the many households in our position doing just that, plus the ones really struggling. Then consider the job losses leading from lack of demand. That is the mother of all recessions just waiting to happen

[Frnc]

Eventually the government will have to do something to help the worst effected. Hopefully anyway. I’m lucky in that the wife and I earn enough to absorb but means we’ll be unlikely to see any government help (not complaining about that btw) However that means we’ll have to cut any extra spending. Now take the many households in our position doing just that, plus the ones really struggling. Then consider the job losses leading from lack of demand. That is the mother of all recessions just waiting to happen

Exactly, non-essential leisure and retail will be decimated if these rises go through as predicted. Leisure was already hurt by Covid. People are going to tighten their spending after the summer holidays are over. Recession is already forecast. Recession, inflation, unemployment. We all know what that's led to in the past.