Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

Housey said:
I have oil fired heating at home and oil prices have flown up in the last 6 months meaning I am spending circa £2800 a year on oil I suspect, close to a doubling on last years spend, which working from home has increased too. I am with OVO for my electricity and I got an email this week that suggests my electric will cost me around 1/3 more this year than last. I don't have a gas supply so am not impacted by that thankfully.

I've not looked at my food bill, outside of my fridge/freezer failing at the start of the week taking much of the food in it with it sadly, but that too and fuel for my cars means world got a lot more expensive of late. Painful times even if it doesn't create personal hardship thankfully, I still wince when I see the bills.
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There's more to come sadly, all those goods and services we buy from various suppliers well their fuel and utility costs have just shot up, and their staff are grumbling about the cost of living so they'll want more money too.
 
Housey said:
I have oil fired heating at home and oil prices have flown up in the last 6 months meaning I am spending circa £2800 a year on oil I suspect, close to a doubling on last years spend, which working from home has increased too. I am with OVO for my electricity and I got an email this week that suggests my electric will cost me around 1/3 more this year than last. I don't have a gas supply so am not impacted by that thankfully.

I've not looked at my food bill, outside of my fridge/freezer failing at the start of the week taking much of the food in it with it sadly, but that too and fuel for my cars means world got a lot more expensive of late. Painful times even if it doesn't create personal hardship thankfully, I still wince when I see the bills.
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If Housey is saying this what hope do us meer mortals have. :D
 
antijoke said:
If Housey is saying this what hope do us meer mortals have. :D
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Indeed, but joking aside, can't imagine what it's going to be like for pensioners and young families / young people with early career salaries. Even I'm considering whether or not to just stop running some of my IT equipment, or at least shut everything down at night. We might stop doing our shop at Waitrose and head to Lidl/Aldi instead, but I think I will keep going to the local butcher as the quality is too good, although eye wateringly expensive.

I've already knocked the central heating down by 1C. But our home is quite old as is the double glazing... just glad that winter's on its way out.
 
I've been giving my folks (pensioners) money every month to help with their fuel bills and to show it's really serious, I've just started to switch Cookie Clicker off so I can shut down the PC! :eek:
 
Next winter is going to be horrendous.
They are going to have to prop up so many people at cost of the next rung up.

The pressure on the publics finances next year is going to be extreme
 
Where does the ‘but think of the poor pensioners’ originate? It’s not based on reality at the moment. @Freefaller, I’m not blaming you for saying it as it’s something that is generally accepted as being the case that pensioners are poor.

The average pensioner has more disposable income after housing costs than the average working person and has had for a long time. They also have considerably more wealth to fall back on if needed.

Again, I’m talking averages, not all of them are wealthy or have tidy incomes but generally speaking as an age group, they are faring far better than the working age population.
 
Freakbro said:
I've been giving my folks (pensioners) money every month to help with their fuel bills and to show it's really serious, I've just started to switch Cookie Clicker off so I can shut down the PC! :eek:
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Fortunately my folks live in Cyprus / France (Med) so it doesn't get too cold for them - but that's an awesome thing to do :)
 
Freefaller said:
Indeed, but joking aside, can't imagine what it's going to be like for pensioners and young families / young people with early career salaries. Even I'm considering whether or not to just stop running some of my IT equipment, or at least shut everything down at night. We might stop doing our shop at Waitrose and head to Lidl/Aldi instead, but I think I will keep going to the local butcher as the quality is too good, although eye wateringly expensive.

I've already knocked the central heating down by 1C. But our home is quite old as is the double glazing... just glad that winter's on its way out.
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Aldi is surprisingly good for a lot of stuff, and in my local one the carparks usually rammed with Mercs, Range Rovers and Porsches. Folk ain't daft.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Where does the ‘but think of the pensioners’ lines even come from as it’s not based on facts or reality. @Freefaller, I’m not blaming you for saying it as it’s something that is generally accepted but just isn’t true.

The average pensioner has more disposable income after housing costs than the average working person and has had for a long time. They also have considerably more wealth to fall back on if needed.

Again, I’m talking averages, not all of them are wealthy or have tidy incomes but generally speaking as an age group, they are faring far better than the working age population.
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It's ok I mentioned it the most recently - a lot of older folks are on state only pensions, there are of course many that get a private pension too. Speaking anecdotally, but if you have some stats and figures then I'll stop mentioning them and focus on the young families instead who I believe are also in trouble.

Also a pensioner's income is fairly low, they can plan based on what they're getting, if they get a price hike in gas/electricity it's harder for them to adjust their planning as they don't have additional sources of income, unless they re-mortgage their homes of course. Pensioners tend to use more heating than younger folk.
 
Freefaller said:
Indeed, but joking aside, can't imagine what it's going to be like for pensioners and young families / young people with early career salaries..
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It is a big issue for many and will start to really hurt some people at both ends of the scale as you say. I have already offered to help my mum if she needs help, will pick up her energy bills if I need to (they are not vast) to take that pain away.

antijoke said:
If Housey is saying this what hope do us meer mortals have. :D
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I've had to cut down on my daily caviar and champagne deliveries!! Well I say cut down....I mean move to an hourly slot, not my 'within this exact 2 minute' delivery time.
 
Uther said:
Aldi is surprisingly good for a lot of stuff, and in my local one the carparks usually rammed with Mercs, Range Rovers and Porsches. Folk ain't daft.
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Car badges mean nothing really - but yes I think the basics aren't any different really, but we'll keep going to the butcher as supermarket meat is just not worth it, that said our little farmer's market that comes twice a week in town sells lots of fresh fruit and veg which is also decent value really.

We've cut down our meat significantly anyway, as long as the kids are getting a varied diet then that's all I care about.
 
Freefaller said:
It's ok I mentioned it the most recently - a lot of older folks are on state only pensions, there are of course many that get a private pension too. Speaking anecdotally, but if you have some stats and figures then I'll stop mentioning them and focus on the young families instead who I believe are also in trouble.
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Don't stop mentioning it, the belief that the average pensioner is rolling in cash is ********.
 
Freefaller said:
It's ok I mentioned it the most recently - a lot of older folks are on state only pensions, there are of course many that get a private pension too. Speaking anecdotally, but if you have some stats and figures then I'll stop mentioning them and focus on the young families instead who I believe are also in trouble.
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https://fullfact.org/economy/are-pensioners-better-people-working-age/

While their incomes are lower in absolute terms, most (70%+) own homes outright and this are insulated from the biggest costs of living. Pensioners who have already retired benefit from final salary pensions which have long since been withdrawn.

Like I said, it’s not all pensioners it’s based on middle incomes across populations but in reality working people are being squeezed more as they have less income after housing costs generally. Housing costs are also rocketing.
 
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Putting the oil slip in filing cabinet I looked at old oil bills

2020 was 34p ltr
2021 was 38p ltr
2022 is 60.85p

Wife has just got a statement of her pension for this year -£26 per month for 14yrs work - The company pension scheme fell over and after the dust had cleared and it was sold off this is the result.

Since xmas we have put £25 each and the £100 each fuel allowance into the oil suppliers account so on this delivery we had £300 so it eased the pain.
We will contunue to do this every month now.
 
Freefaller said:
Car badges mean nothing really - but yes I think the basics aren't any different really, but we'll keep going to the butcher as supermarket meat is just not worth it, that said our little farmer's market that comes twice a week in town sells lots of fresh fruit and veg which is also decent value really.

We've cut down our meat significantly anyway, as long as the kids are getting a varied diet then that's all I care about.
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Yeah we get the majority of stuff from Aldi now, with only some things like pet food and the occasional household item from the likes of Tesco / Sainsburys. Meat, we eat a lot less than we used to luckily.
The standard of living for a lot more people is definitely heading in the wrong direction though.
 
Freefaller said:
With respect that's a 5 year old report and the landscape and cost have shifted significantly above where they were. CPI is more than double than it was in 2017, as is RPI... it's going to be hitting then pockets much much more.
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Yup but your forgetting pension income has outgrown wages in that period. The triple lock is popular with conservatives voters (aka old people) for a reason.


Foghorn Leghorn said:
So if you completely ignore housing costs they're £20 a week better off.....

Well I'm convinced.
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if you completely ignore that the vast majority pensioners own their own homes, sure.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Yup but your forgetting pension income has outgrown wages in that period. The triple lock is popular with conservatives voters (aka old people) for a reason.



if you completely ignore that the vast majority pensioners own their own homes, sure.
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Again with the assumptions that pensioners are all sitting in their own homes on final salary pensions. It isn't the case.
 
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