Vocal Voices

Predictions are that the new price cap will raise bills by 9% annually come October, to £1,714 for the mythical "typical" household paying by direct debit.

Mine won't, but that's because I have made changes to how I use energy more efficiently, and I suspect many others have done the same. My billing period runs from Sep/Oct to Aug/Sep the following year. Last year my dual-fuel bill was £1,310.90 and this year it is projected to be £1,043 or thereabouts. Mind you I do not use direct debit, I only pay for what I use.

I started this efficiency lark when the price caps came in and both figures are way below what was officially predicted. My latest prediction is back to what I was paying to the end of Sep/Oct 2021. What bugs me most is not the unit / kWh prices but the standing charges. In the past three months the standing charges have been about 68% of my total bill.

Workingman wrote:What bugs me most is not the unit / kWh prices but the standing charges. In the past three months the standing charges have been about 68% of my total bill.

Looking at last month's bills, our standing charges were 68.8% of the gas and 59.3% of the electric.
They said on the Beeb News that they predicted another, albeit smaller, rise on 1st January 2025.
Be interesting to see if there's a rethink on the Winter Fuel allowance ......

Ossie, your SCs are roughly in line with mine and, I suspect, many other people's.

The % will come down over the cooler months as the SCs are fixed and usage is variable, but overall they really are atrocious.

Ofgem does need to look at ways to reduce them. The losses for the likes of Bulb and other chancers, which forced them up to current levels when they went bust (another Ofgem / market failure), must have largely been paid off by now.

My CH controller was switched off (I thought it was still on) and in the month I was away it burned through £90 worth of gas as it tried to heat the entire van to 46C. I won't make that mistake again.

So I also bought a 1.3kw air source heat pump which I will fit myself and then pay around £300 to have it commissioned. Total cost around £950. We shall see how that burns energy. Firstly to cool the van and then in the winter to partially heat it.

Then I'll be able to decide how the van is doing for energy. It clearly has insulation but not all that much. I've looked at cladding it and adding 50mm insulation to the walls but that's around £5,000 and I would start reaching the limit of my benefit in having the van over the next 4 years.

I'll have a better view in March after it has been through the winter. It is ticking over for every other month.

Same here with the standing charges.
It does my head in - even if you use no electric at all, you still have to pay. It is legalised theft.
btw - All this wonderful cheap green electricity which we will have "In the long run".
Does anyone know how long that run is going to be?

Why have the debts of Bulb and other energy companies been passed to Octopus and similar companies.

When Debenhams went bust, M & S did not have to take over their liabilities.

What will happen if Thames Water goes under? The other water companies wont keep them afloat--excuse the pun.

cromwell wrote:Same here with the standing charges.
It does my head in - even if you use no electric at all, you still have to pay. It is legalised theft.
btw - All this wonderful cheap green electricity which we will have "In the long run".
Does anyone know how long that run is going to be?

I believe the predicted date is the 12th of Never.

We’re the same in that our standing charge is coming in at over 60% of the cost of fuel used.
While we can switch off heating in the warmer months we don’t have a combi boiler (all to do with size of house/number of bathrooms) and have to heat up water in a tank so we need the boiler on the timer for a couple of hours everyday to do that.

We're the same Jo, re the boiler. Our last house had a combi, much more practical

JoM wrote:

cromwell wrote:Same here with the standing charges.
It does my head in - even if you use no electric at all, you still have to pay. It is legalised theft.
btw - All this wonderful cheap green electricity which we will have "In the long run".
Does anyone know how long that run is going to be?

I believe the predicted date is the 12th of Never.

That would be about right Jo.
We are thinking about getting a wood burner, but always at the back of your mind is the worry that they might be banned.

cromwell wrote:Does anyone know how long that run is going to be?

Renewable energy generated 50.9% of all Electricity used in the UK in Q1 2024.

That being said the UK goal is at least 4x the capacity of current generation purely by renewables with high excess being sold off via interconnects to the EU.

From 0.5x to 4x is another 8x the investment. Don't expect that any time soon or energy costs to drop as a result of the use of renewables today. Then again, that being said, 50% is a hell of a lot more than a decade ago and hardly token levels.

Part of the problem is the CFD contracts. If the generation is sold for lower than the CFD value then the government pays the difference. However if it is sold for a higher value, then the company pays the government. From a government perspective there is Zero incentive for your energy to be cheaper until the CFD term runs out.