Cost of living increases

[southendkid]

Had an email from eon. Says my dd will be reducing because of the £400 govt grant. They're reducing my Mar to Oct dd by £50. That's 6 dd's * 50 = £300. Where's the other £100?

As a hypothetical imagine you previously would have been paying £1000 for Mar to Oct in bills and because the energy prices going up (ignoring the refund) you'll now be paying £1100 for Mar to Oct.

The £400 refund means in practice you'll now only be paying £700 for that period, or £300 less than you would have on the old rates. That means, of the £400 refund, £100 needs to be spent paying the bills, so you only get £300 back.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Received a letter from British Gas this morning, giving est details of my new yearly cost for Gas.
My est annual cost up to 30th Sept is £628.28p, which is rising to est £855.77p from 1st Oct.
Up to 31st March this year, my est yearly cost was £478.23p, so an est yearly increase of £377 for me.
That's a drop in the ocean compared the increase many others are expecting?.

 

[kaymac]

I'd be looking at ways to economise on that, check thermostat temp (both HW, boiler and heating), time heating is on, get thermostats on radiators (and use them) etc.

I have more radiators, also heat water with gas and use 13,000kwh. Use electric for cooking - use more electric than you at 6,000kwh - but my total energy use is less than just your gas!

Family of 4. House occupied during the day.

Wow, even at 6,000kwh on elec it seems quite a lot to me. We were rarely above 4,000kwh with all 4 of us, biggest usage the electric cooker, dishwasher and washing machine (and umpteen hours of daily Playstation!). Now there's just us 2 our usage of elec (and gas) has dropped considerably.

 

[SARF]

But gas is much cheaper!

It is but the fit out is nearly 5 grand and floorboards etc will be taken up..
you Can fit and plug in electric rads yourself (so maybe some minor rewiring). The savings will be thousands.. that will take a while to eat into even with higher leccy prices..
also you can completely dispense with the gas standing charge ..

the latest electric rads can be oil or gel filled to retain heat for longer and controlled individually from your phone . The hot water can use economy 7 or 10 electricity. Again controlled from your phone .. it’s something to consider. Especially if you live in a flat or small house

 

[SARF]

The surcharge for the energy company bailouts over the past couple of years have all been added to the elec standing charge. There are more households that have elec than gas.

all households have electricity, that’s why they do it . But that will change as they try to get rid of gas For domestic heating over the next couple of decades

 

[blueblueblue]

It is but the fit out is nearly 5 grand and floorboards etc will be taken up..
you Can fit and plug in electric rads yourself (so maybe some minor rewiring). The savings will be thousands.. that will take a while to eat into even with higher leccy prices..
also you can completely dispense with the gas standing charge ..

the latest electric rads can be oil or gel filled to retain heat for longer and controlled individually from your phone . The hot water can use economy 7 or 10 electricity. Again controlled from your phone .. it’s something to consider. Especially if you live in a flat or small house

I shudder when I hear that word. I remember when it came out in the 80's, it was dreadful, my sister had it in her home and it was always freezing and they never had any hot water. I hope it's a lot better now than back then.

 

[SARF]

Indeed. Happy days. Modern hot water tanks will be vastly superior
Also the fit out in question has only 2 rads. To buy a new boiler for that will be expensive compared to a pair 250 quid electric rads

 

[Holy Joe]

So markets really haven't liked the new Govt's policies announced last week.

They're concerned that they're going to be very inflationary in the medium to long term (the energy price subsidy will reduce inflation in the very short term, although inflation will still be very high) and make the Bank of England raise rates more than otherwise necessary. Now pricing bank of england base rate to increase to over 5% in the next few months and a possibly 1 to 2% rise in rates at the next meeting in November. Although wouldn't be surprised to see an emergency meeting before then given the very weak statement the bank made today.

 

[Napster]

Lol

 

[Supershrimper]

So markets really haven't liked the new Govt's policies announced last week.

They're concerned that they're going to be very inflationary and make the Bank of England raise rates more than otherwise necessary. Now pricing bank of england base rate to increase to over 5% in the next few months and a possibly 1 to 2% rise in rates at the next meeting in November. Although wouldn't be surprised to see an emergency meeting before then given the very weak statement the bank made today.

Bank was always going to put a statement out first. To call an emergency meeting would have spooked investors even more as its basically the Bank of England not having confidence in his little mini autumn budget. And the BofE try not to get involved in politics.

I dont think it's so much a weak pound. It's just the American Federal Reseve have been more aggressive on its interest rates rises, raidsing them harder and faster than the Bank of England. Current Fed reserve rates are at 3% - 3.25% so 1% more than our current interest rates. Its also expected tgat tge Federal Reseve will raise them to 4% by the end of the year.

 

[blueblueblue]

I really don't follow the financial market and don't confess to know how it works, but when you see the £ hit $1.06, I remember when the £ was worth $1.90 odd.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

2003 I was working abroad and paid in US$ as rate was £1 = $2.50. 2004 the rate dropped so contract got changed to euros at 2.50 to the £.
That is a hell of a slide in 20 years.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I really don't follow the financial market and don't confess to know how it works, but when you see the £ hit $1.06, I remember when the £ was worth $1.90 odd.

In 1973 it was 2.40$ to the pound.

It's clear the financial markets don't have much confidence in HMG's policies.5% off the value of stirling today plus another 5 % last Friday.If this contnues wonder if there'll be an IMF bailout?

 

[blueblueblue]

2003 I was working abroad and paid in US$ as rate was £1 = $2.50. 2004 the rate dropped so contract got changed to euros at 2.50 to the £.
That is a hell of a slide in 20 years.

I can remember when the £ was worth 2 Euro's.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

Noticed Sainbury's petrol has risen to near enough 1.57 now after being close to 1.50 for a while. Could be connected to the fall in the pound.

 

[Supershrimper]

I can remember when the £ was worth 2 Euro's.

I don't ever remember the Pound reaching those heights against the Euro. If i remember the euro was lanuched in 1999 at about £1 = €1.4 euros. It got as high as around £1 = €1.75 euros and since then its reduced in value due to the financial crash of 08 and brexit in 16.

Teaches me a lesson. Never hold onto currency ready for the next holiday. Spend it all before you leave.

 

[Supershrimper]

Noticed Sainbury's petrol has risen to near enough 1.57 now after being close to 1.50 for a while. Could be connected to the fall in the pound.

May well be as its purchased in Dollars. A strong dollar and a weak pound means things we buy which are priced in dollars becoming more expensive. Oil, Gas and quite a lot of our imports are also purchased in dollars.

It doesn't take long for companies to up their prices, but takes them an age if at all to reduce them.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I can remember when the £ was worth 2 Euro's.

I can remember when the £ was worth 2 Euro's.

The current exchane rate is 1 pound= 1.12 Euros.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I don't ever remember the Pound reaching those heights against the Euro. If i remember the euro was lanuched in 1999 at about £1 = €1.4 euros. It got as high as around £1 = €1.75 euros and since then its reduced in value due to the financial crash of 08 and brexit in 16.

Teaches me a lesson. Never hold onto currency ready for the next holiday. Spend it all before you leave.

I try and do the same with sterling when I come over.Just got 40 quid or so for emergencies atm.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Bank was always going to put a statement out first. To call an emergency meeting would have spooked investors even more as its basically the Bank of England not having confidence in his little mini autumn budget. And the BofE try not to get involved in politics.

I dont think it's so much a weak pound. It's just the American Federal Reseve have been more aggressive on its interest rates rises, raidsing them harder and faster than the Bank of England. Current Fed reserve rates are at 3% - 3.25% so 1% more than our current interest rates. Its also expected tgat tge Federal Reseve will raise them to 4% by the end of the year.

It’s not just the dollar the pound is weak against. I remember being in Australia and the Barmy Army taunting the Aussies about it being three dollars to the pound. It’s now 1.66 Aussie dollars to the pound, nearly halved. I remember backpacking around Thailand when it was over 60 baht to the pound. It’s now 40 baht. I was in Russia in 2016 and it was about 100 rubles to the pound. It’s now 63.