[News] Energy bills to top £4200 at the start of next year

[Neville's Breakfast]

That’s for employed folk.

More flexible for the self employed or owner directors of companies WFH, where they do not have a alternative proper business address.

Fair enough. I seem to remember from quite a few years ago when I was self employed that there were quite a few restrictions on tax offsets, maybe a percentage on certain items ? Probably completely out of date now.

 

[Weststander]

Fair enough. I seem to remember from quite a few years ago when I was self employed that there were quite a few restrictions on tax offsets, maybe a percentage on certain items ? Probably completely out of date now.

The old fashioned way of working out self employed (mixed private & business use) expenses eg phone and motor running was the broad-brush “say 90% business”. Funny that. Probably still commonplace. But taking the p, HMRC could ask for a log of all non-commuting business journeys.

For the employed the tax rules were incredibly strict, exactly as you remember. Very few opportunities, bar some profession specific concessions eg for nurses and that recent Lockdowns tiny allowance.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The advantage to working from home, is that although the heating bills will go through the roof (literally if I open a window), they are partly offset by the reduced cost of not commuting. Pre-covid I was spending £25 a month on parking, £72 a month on bridge tolls, and probably at least £160 a month on petrol (when it was around £1.10 - £1.20 a litre so it will be probably nearer £230 a month now). Plus any other costs of idly spending money on various "stuff" in the big city.

The down side of course is that I don't get to see anyone in person, and it is quite isolating in my particular circumstances.

 

[Weststander]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/29/almost-one-four-say-wont-turn-heating-winter/

Nearly one in four adults plans never to turn their heating on this winter, polling suggests, with average bills are set to rocket while temperatures drop.

The figure is even higher for parents with children under 18, a Savanta ComRes survey – carried out before the new price cap was announced last week – reveals.

The pollsters asked more than 2,000 UK adults how they would respond to increasing energy prices over the winter. Twenty-three per cent said they would not turn their heating on at all, with the figure rising to 27 per cent among parents with under-18s.

Seven in 10 (69 per cent) said they would switch their heating on less, and 11 per cent said they would take out a loan, with the latter figure rising again for those with children under 18 to 17 per cent.


The Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the survey, warned that families are being forced to make “heartbreaking decisions”, with the country on the brink of the worst cost of living crisis in a century.

The party is calling for ministers to scrap the energy price cap rise in October, funded partly by a further windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

The polling, conducted between July 29 and July 30, also suggests that parents of under-18s are increasingly likely to put more on their credit cards because of rising energy bills (33 per cent compared with a national average of 23 per cent).

The survey results were weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region and social grade.

 

[pb21]

Russia halts gas flows via Nord Stream 1

https://www.reuters.com/business/en...-stream-1-german-entry-point-data-2022-08-31/

This wont help

 

[A1X]

 

[Audax]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/29/almost-one-four-say-wont-turn-heating-winter/

Nearly one in four adults plans never to turn their heating on this winter, polling suggests, with average bills are set to rocket while temperatures drop.

The figure is even higher for parents with children under 18, a Savanta ComRes survey – carried out before the new price cap was announced last week – reveals.

The pollsters asked more than 2,000 UK adults how they would respond to increasing energy prices over the winter. Twenty-three per cent said they would not turn their heating on at all, with the figure rising to 27 per cent among parents with under-18s.

Seven in 10 (69 per cent) said they would switch their heating on less, and 11 per cent said they would take out a loan, with the latter figure rising again for those with children under 18 to 17 per cent.


The Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the survey, warned that families are being forced to make “heartbreaking decisions”, with the country on the brink of the worst cost of living crisis in a century.

The party is calling for ministers to scrap the energy price cap rise in October, funded partly by a further windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

The polling, conducted between July 29 and July 30, also suggests that parents of under-18s are increasingly likely to put more on their credit cards because of rising energy bills (33 per cent compared with a national average of 23 per cent).

The survey results were weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region and social grade.

While it's an alarming and informative survey, the reality will be very different. It's very easy at the tail end of summer, while temperatures are still more than comfortable, to say you don't "plan" to turn your heating on. That will change rapidly once temperatures drop. Having said that, I do expect people to do everything they can to minimise heating and where possible use alternative heating (I'll be using my wood burner for the first time in over 7 years this winter as a direct response to gas prices being ridiculous).

 

[Biscuit]

The Government need to grow a pair of balls, stick two fingers up to business and protect their citizens.

Energy producers, the ones making insane profits, need to take a one-off hit to protect individuals and businesses. Not an ideal solution, but what's the alternative? Mass closure of businesses, people unable to heat themselves or cook?

If the Tories get this wrong, and lets face it they will, it'll bite them at the next GE. Despite owning almost all the media outlets, people are wising up.

 

[Bozza]

Russia halts gas flows via Nord Stream 1

https://www.reuters.com/business/en...-stream-1-german-entry-point-data-2022-08-31/

This wont help

This halt for "maintenance" has been known about for some time. The concern has been, and probably still is, whether Russia turn it back on again or find a "problem" that means they no longer send any gas through.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Russia halts gas flows via Nord Stream 1

https://www.reuters.com/business/en...-stream-1-german-entry-point-data-2022-08-31/

This wont help

Strange how it suddenly keeps breaking down. It can't have been built very well.

 

[The Clamp]

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And still nobody does a thing about it. Not us and not our government. We need direct action. Swift and strong direct action.

 

[Eric the meek]

This may not be on anyone's radar, but we are lucky to live where we do, on the coast.

The ameliorating effect of the sea should not be underestimated. It acts as a cooling effect in summer and a warming effect in winter.

Remember the heatwaves of a few weeks ago? They were worse in the middle of Britain, and worse still in the middle of Europe.

So the cold will also be worse in central Europe. There is always someone who is worse off than you.

 

[Weststander]

This may not be on anyone's radar, but we are lucky to live where we do, on the coast.

The ameliorating effect of the sea should not be underestimated. It acts as a cooling effect in summer and a warming effect in winter.

Remember the heatwaves of a few weeks ago? They were worse in the middle of Britain, and worse still in the middle of Europe.

So the cold will also be worse in central Europe. There is always someone who is worse off than you.

I know this is off topic, but C4 News last night started with the humanitarian crisis (caused by a drought) in Somalia. Crikey, the suffering there right now is agonising, babies born blind, weighing next to nothing, life expectancy ... close to zero.

Always under the radar due to western world navel gazing.

[and yes, I do want the poor in the UK fully supported through this energy crisis].

 

[Eric the meek]

I know this is off topic, but C4 News last night started with the humanitarian crisis (caused by a drought) in Somalia. Crikey, the suffering there right now is agonising, babies born blind, weighing next to nothing, life expectancy ... close to zero.

Always under the radar due to western world navel gazing.

[and yes, I do want the poor in the UK fully supported through this energy crisis].

Indeed. As if to prove your point, I wasn't aware of the drought in Somalia. The devastating floods in Pakistan yes. The heatwaves in China, yes. But the drought in Somalia, no.

Back to the cost of living, and at least the cost of keeping warm will train us to use less energy, and hopefully speed up the transition to renewables, indirectly aiding future climate change hotspots.

 

[nicko31]

The Government need to grow a pair of balls, stick two fingers up to business and protect their citizens.

Energy producers, the ones making insane profits, need to take a one-off hit to protect individuals and businesses. Not an ideal solution, but what's the alternative? Mass closure of businesses, people unable to heat themselves or cook?

If the Tories get this wrong, and lets face it they will, it'll bite them at the next GE. Despite owning almost all the media outlets, people are wising up.

Johnson do say f…business but he only meant the SMEs. Big business will deliver for them later, leave well alone

 

[Bozza]

Back to the cost of living, and at least the cost of keeping warm will train us to use less energy,

We've become obsessed by energy consumption over the last week or so.

As I've said before, we would probably have considered ourselves pretty good before - we'd turn lights off when we left a room and only put the amount of water into the kettle that we needed etc, but our consumption and subsequent energy bills being so far above the UK average suggests we were kidding ourselves.

The "energy cap of £3,549" is based on Typical Domestic Consumption Values (TDCV) of 2,900kWh of electricity, 12,000kWh of gas in a household. It looks like we were using around 4,000 kWh of electricity and 18,000 kWh of gas, so we're going to see if we can get a lot closer to UK averages.

We've had a smart meter for a few years and it came with a little monitoring device which sits on the sideboard. Before this last week I've never looked at it, beyond noticing how the little dial shoots up into orange or red zones when the oven is on etc. I've now started, and I appreciate it sounds a bit sad, recording our daily usage into a spreadsheet so we can keep a close eye on what we use and quickly notice any days where we use a lot more than usual and try to identify why.

I'm also going to sign up for this - https://loop.homes - which very possibly does the same sort of thing that I'm doing manually.

 

[Weststander]

Indeed. As if to prove your point, I wasn't aware of the drought in Somalia. The devastating floods in Pakistan yes. The heatwaves in China, yes. But the drought in Somalia, no.

Back to the cost of living, and at least the cost of keeping warm will train us to use less energy, and hopefully speed up the transition to renewables, indirectly aiding future climate change hotspots.

Definitely. Here I contend with lights left on all day, at times windows open with the heating on. Not a care in the world.

 

[Eric the meek]

Definitely. Here I contend with lights left on all day, at times windows open with the heating on. Not a care in the world.

I've got one of those, who is also not the billpayer. I've tried to explain it, but with mixed results. His latest trick is to turn on the oven to cook a ready meal, and then forget he turned it on, which goes down well. Believe it or not, he even did that during the heatwave. Mind you, we're talking about a lad who once came home from school, turned on the TV, and then only an hour and a half later, noticed that there was a seagull in the room with him.

 

[Eric the meek]

We've become obsessed by energy consumption over the last week or so.

As I've said before, we would probably have considered ourselves pretty good before - we'd turn lights off when we left a room and only put the amount of water into the kettle that we needed etc, but our consumption and subsequent energy bills being so far above the UK average suggests we were kidding ourselves.

The "energy cap of £3,549" is based on Typical Domestic Consumption Values (TDCV) of 2,900kWh of electricity, 12,000kWh of gas in a household. It looks like we were using around 4,000 kWh of electricity and 18,000 kWh of gas, so we're going to see if we can get a lot closer to UK averages.

We've had a smart meter for a few years and it came with a little monitoring device which sits on the sideboard. Before this last week I've never looked at it, beyond noticing how the little dial shoots up into orange or red zones when the oven is on etc. I've now started, and I appreciate it sounds a bit sad, recording our daily usage into a spreadsheet so we can keep a close eye on what we use and quickly notice any days where we use a lot more than usual and try to identify why.

I'm also going to sign up for this - https://loop.homes - which very possibly does the same sort of thing that I'm doing manually.

That loop thing sounds a good idea. I recall we did have a thread about tips to save energy a while back, but unfortunately, it turned into a right old binfest with some people trying to score political points against each other. I though it a real shame, as many of the ideas came across as well-intended. Some of them could really make a difference to people's bills.

Edit: I've just seen the new thread for tips to save energy.

 

[luge]

I know this is off topic, but C4 News last night started with the humanitarian crisis (caused by a drought) in Somalia. Crikey, the suffering there right now is agonising, babies born blind, weighing next to nothing, life expectancy ... close to zero.

Always under the radar due to western world navel gazing.

[and yes, I do want the poor in the UK fully supported through this energy crisis].

Also - see Pakistan, and incoming heatwave in California.

But you know, some right wing media chatterbox with precisely zero qualifications will argue against any form of energy transition on the phone ins and chatshows in the name of balance, and the oil companies will continue to pay the politicians to enable the last bits of profit to come out of the system - and many in the west will still want their holiday and their second car - and nothing will change.