Insane home fuel prices

Voxman

In March our current tariffs end. We currently pay £290  per month. New fuel prices double this to £580. That's like a mortgage. How can people possibly cope with such increases. It's insane. We are coming up to retirement and this is going to be impossible.  

I need to go on comparison sites but Is anyone aware of which providers are currently most competitive? 

RaymondLin

A month?

How big is your house and how long is your heating on for a day?

Danny1969

Has electric gone up or just gas ?

We pay about £180 a month for gas I think in Winter but only bout £80 in summer. We don't cook with gas, use Halogen over. 

chillidoggy

It's all down to how much each KW costs, so if you know your yearly usage, then it's easy to price-compare.

Winny_Pooh

Wait till March and then see if new tariff offerings change, it can't get worse, only better. 

Kittyfrisk

Winny_Pooh said:

Wait till March and then see if new tariff offerings change, it can't get worse, only better. 

Unfortunately the forecast is that it not only can get worse, it will get worse as the prices continue to rise & the current OFGEM price cap ceiling is raised.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/08/energy-prices-cost-of-living-crisis-catastrophe-low-income-bills
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-10332099/Households-pay-90-deal-fallout-failed-energy-suppliers.html
https://www.loveenergysavings.com/content-hub/energy-talk/energy-price-cap-2022-update/

Sorry to sound all doom & gloom, but it is better to be braced for the likely impact.

TTony

Voxman said:

In March our current tariffs end. We currently pay £290  per month. New fuel prices double this to £580.

Suddenly, I feel a LOT better about our monthly electricity bill, which has just gone up to £170/mth (from just over £100).

I thought that was bad!

(We have no gas.  Heating, hot water, and cooking all uses oil, for which we pay <£1k/yr, with a bit of coal/wood for extra heating in the winter.)

Rob1742

Voxman said:

In March our current tariffs end. We currently pay £290  per month. New fuel prices double this to £580. That's like a mortgage. How can people possibly cope with such increases. It's insane. We are coming up to retirement and this is going to be impossible.  

I need to go on comparison sites but Is anyone aware of which providers are currently most competitive? 

It’s okay though as Boris said that when we leave the EU we can remove the VAT from the bills. 

So, it must be in the pipeline as he obviously wouldn’t just say it for no reason 

Kittyfrisk

Here is a handy gas price calculator, does m³ to kWh etc. Very good for being able to put in exact volumes, tariffs etc. & crunching the numbers.

http://utility-assist.co.uk/Calculator

Paul_C

Wow, my combined gas and electric has gone up to £78 a month but I managed to get that fixed for three years last September.

To balance that I'm paying £52 a month for TV/phone/broadband, but I'm going to be seeing if I can get that reduced when I get a moment to no doubt sit on hold for an hour.

Winny_Pooh

Kittyfrisk said:

Winny_Pooh said:

Wait till March and then see if new tariff offerings change, it can't get worse, only better. 

Unfortunately the forecast is that it not only can get worse, it will get worse as the prices continue to rise & the current OFGEM price cap ceiling is raised.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/08/energy-prices-cost-of-living-crisis-catastrophe-low-income-bills
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-10332099/Households-pay-90-deal-fallout-failed-energy-suppliers.html

Sorry to sound all doom & gloom, but it is better to be braced for the likely impact.

The price cap will come in if you are on a variable tariff yes, but wholesale natural gas costs always come down after peak of winter unless we have an unusually long one like last year.

VimFuego

Well, I feel sure that the government will have the best interests of the population at heart and so will bring in some sort of subsidy to help ease the price of fuel...

boogieman

£580 a month ??!! Where do you live, a palace? We’re in a 4 bed detached, we’re home all day as we’re both retired and have the heating on all day most days in the winter. Our gas/electric has just gone up to £170 a month from £90 and I thought that was bad enough. 

p90fool

Voxman said:

In March our current tariffs end. We currently pay £290  per month. New fuel prices double this to £580. That's like a mortgage. How can people possibly cope with such increases. It's insane. We are coming up to retirement and this is going to be impossible.  

I need to go on comparison sites but Is anyone aware of which providers are currently most competitive? 

What the hell are you running it on, Courvoisier?!

I just filled my oil tank for £360, it lasts for a year.
We seem to use bugger all electricity, maybe because we're not here much in the daytime. 

Mellish

We switched to a multifuel stove that feeds a backboiler. All we run on electric is the fridge, microwave and lights... Oh and TV  

Kittyfrisk

What wholesale gas prices have historically done is not relevant now, as the supply/demand model has changed suddenly.

With concerns over future energy supply availability, wholesale markets are still experiencing extremes of volatility.
 Decent article here  https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-10316877/Gas-price-crisis-energy-bills-continue-soar-2022-customers-save-money.html

I hope it is all just a case of market jitters making things look bad, but it appears that we might be in for a couple of tough years.
I thought I was covered as I had a fixed contract... then the company went broke, as affected so many others.
Now it's just wait & see. Not relaxing at all.

Voxman

Thanks all.

We have a 5 bedroom semi in North London. We also have a swimming pool that is heated by a gas boiler on a timed system and the pump system is timed for night time rate early (the pool is only open for 6 mths of the year.  That would allow for some of our costs but its a new energy efficient boiler. The pool would account for an extra 25% on our gas costs and only a more modest increase on our electricity costs as the pump only runs on economy 7.  

Clearly, we may need to replace the pool boiler with an electric heat pump and I need to investigate whether we should also install a heat pump for our main heating and hot water needs ie remove our dependency on Gas completely because its the gas prices that are the problem.

Kittyfrisk

VimFuego said:

Well, I feel sure that the government will have the best interests of the population at heart and so will bring in some sort of subsidy to help ease the price of fuel...

I have switched off the heating to the servants quarters. Should do the trick.

bertie

Swimming pools' make excellent sunken gardens and fire pits.

Youre coming up for retirement and finding things could be a struggle in a 5 bed house with a pool in North London?  do what others do in your predicament,  move out of London and downsize.  

RaymondLin

Voxman said:

Thanks all.

We have a 5 bedroom semi in North London. We also have a swimming pool that is heated by a gas boiler on a timed system and the pump system is timed for night time rate early (the pool is only open for 6 mths of the year.  That would allow for some of our costs but its a new energy efficient boiler. The pool would account for an extra 25% on our gas costs and only a more modest increase on our electricity costs as the pump only runs on economy 7.  

Clearly, we may need to replace the pool boiler with an electric heat pump and I need to investigate whether we should also install a heat pump for our main heating and hot water needs ie remove our dependency on Gas completely because its the gas prices that are the problem.

Only heat the room you are in, turn off heating in the pool and only turn on the heating 2 hrs in the morning and 2hrs in the evening and set the thermostat to 20c.

put a couple of jumpers on, and watch your fuel cost drop.

(that’s basically what I do.). Mine is about £70 for December.

p90fool

bertie said:

Swimming pools' make excellent sunken gardens and fire pits.

Youre coming up for retirement and finding things could be a struggle in a 5 bed house with a pool in North London?  do what others do in your predicament,  move out of London and downsize.  

He wouldn't have to downsize if he moved out here, he could literally buy a small stately home in its own park land. 

Or buy another 5 bed semi and put half a million in the bank.