UK Energy Costs

[fishbowlhead]

We do most our stuff, clothes on 30 min quick cycle which is cheap, but all bedding & towels we do on 90c cycle to kill everything and get them clean, so cost evens out.

Im paying £26 a month on talktalk who have given reliable service but 6months ago my line went from 60mb a sec down to 10mb with no explanation, then suddenly it went back up to 35mb and is holding steady there. Then we have Netflix £10, Disney £6.50, Amazon off parents and they get our Netflix.

Heating wise we have a combi boiler so its only working when you actually need it and the house is really well insulated as well with double brick walls. 30mins in morning, 30 mins at 5pm in winter, if its in the minus and extreme cold outside we do another 30mins at 8pm and thats more than enough. But on this front im quite lucky as everything is new and installed to my specs.

[Asura]

Heating wise we have a combi boiler so its only working when you actually need it and the house is really well insulated as well with double brick walls. 30mins in morning, 30 mins at 5pm in winter, if its in the minus and extreme cold outside we do another 30mins at 8pm and thats more than enough. But on this front im quite lucky as everything is new and installed to my specs.

Sounds great - unfortunately we're in a Victorian build, rented, which certainly wasn't built to such exacting standards. We have to run the heating a decent chunk of our waking hours in winter. Fortunately we've got a 7-day thermostat so I've got it set to not come on between 9 and 4:30 on weekdays.

[Anpanman]

We used to have TV/BB/PL with Virgin until just a few months ago, called and told them I didn't require the phone anymore.

[fishbowlhead]

Sounds great - unfortunately we're in a Victorian build, rented, which certainly wasn't built to such exacting standards. We have to run the heating a decent chunk of our waking hours in winter. Fortunately we've got a 7-day thermostat so I've got it set to not come on between 9 and 4:30 on weekdays.

Have you got single glaze windows as well, as that will absolutely suck all your hot air out. If so get a barrier for the inside of the windows in the winter, that will keep a huge amount of heat in and save loads of money over the year.

[Colin]

Electricity bill for my shop just came in for February, it’s quadrupled from the same time last year.

[fishbowlhead]

Electricity bill for my shop just came in for February, it’s quadrupled from the same time last year.

Did you not secure a fixed rate on your contract?

[Colin]

I’m forgetting that in February last year it was still lockdown and I was barely at the shop, just customer collections at the door a couple of days a week.

[Neon Ignition]

Just submitted another months readings so will give it a week or two and see what comes back in light of the April cost increases but my recommended combined payment had already altered to be £139 per month which is a climb down of £20 from their initial heads up. Hopefully the new reading proves useful and I'll amend the DD soon, manageable atm for this bill at least.

[Neon Ignition]

Banning driving on Sundays and cutting motorway speed limit part of '10-point plan' to reduce oil demand (msn.com)
The IEA has a ten point plan to address fuel prices... rationing!

[Asura]

It worries me the Tories are cutting fuel duty. Whilst I share the concern about high prices, the money needs to come from somewhere. With how I see this gov't, I expect they'll slash the NHS budget to compensate.

[BearBoy]

We do most our stuff, clothes on 30 min quick cycle which is cheap, but all bedding & towels we do on 90c cycle to kill everything and get them clean, so cost evens out.

My washing machine has an indicator that tells you how much electricity each programme is going to use. The "quick" washes use more electricity than the standard ones and the "Eco" ones, which use the least electricity, are the longest. Not sure if it would be the same for all washing machines though.

[MartyG]

It worries me the Tories are cutting fuel duty. Whilst I share the concern about high prices, the money needs to come from somewhere. With how I see this gov't, I expect they'll slash the NHS budget to compensate.

They can slash the duty because they're getting extra money from the VAT on the headline costs of the fuel itself. Currently the government is getting additional tax - they're not really slashing budgets unless the costs come down at which point they'll increase it again.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/mar/23/spring-statement-2022-rishi-sunak-poorest-families-likely-to-be-worst-hit-by-impact-of-ukraine-war-live-updates?page=with:block-623b17978f0867da37217232#block-623b17978f0867da37217232

5p fuel cut official.... yaaay....

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/mar/23/spring-statement-2022-rishi-sunak-poorest-families-likely-to-be-worst-hit-by-impact-of-ukraine-war-live-updates?page=with:block-623b17e78f0867da37217233#block-623b17e78f0867da37217233

VAT on energy saving devices is cut to zero - sounds good but pretty much misses the point that no-one will have the money to buy them in the first place

[Neon Ignition]

He's already moved on to defending austerity so basically they're going to do nothing for anyone