Cost of Living - How are you handling it?

Qikz wrote:

RetroCora wrote:

LewisD wrote:Genuinely entertaining the idea of emigrating somewhere else. It feels like this country is a burning building and I'm stood on the roof.

Any suggestions?
I want it to be cheaper, but with the same quality of life, and low violence. Nice.

I'm very much looking at the exit door as well - things just seem to be getting worse and worse with no hope of it getting better. Prices are rising and it will be impossible for me to get on the housing ladder in my current situation for at least the next 5-10 years. And I have a place I can go, too. Looking at heading to Sydney in August/early September for a few weeks to see if I can hack it, with a potential move early next year if it looks good and I can source work within my field. It might not pan out to anything, but if not now, when? This country's going to absolute gooseberry fool and I don't have any ties holding me here beyond close family - no kids, property, even permanent job.

Australia seems like a decent enough place at the moment - very little poverty(at least within the cities - there are socio-economic issues outside there), high quality of life and lots of opportunity. Failing that, Canada's got to be a shout Lew!

Australia is going to get ravaged by global warming over the next 20-30 years most likely so keep that in mind as well. That's the issue with going anywhere else, longer term the whole world is going to be going through a lot of problems if nothing looks to change so if you want to think super long term keep that in mind. That's the one benefit of the UK, we're free of natural disasters and any rising tides won't affect a lot of the country.

Way to gooseberry fool all over my plans there.

I've looked at all of this. We're all going to get ravaged by global warming in 20-30 years, even here. Flooding in the summers, weird winters, etc. are all starting to happen already. Australia has already been knackered by climate change too - you can only live in certain areas as it is, but they manage alright. For now, there are more than enough things pulling me there and pushing me from here to justify the potential move.

I'm looking at moving too (once I have my degree). I'm hoping for Japan (those winters ) but I'm considering Taiwan (that heat oh, and the threat of invasion from China).

Abacus wrote:

Prototype wrote:First time I've noticed it

We used £50 of gas and electricity in March
We used £80 of gas and electricity in April

I didn't switch our heating on at all in both those months.

That sounds realistic, given that the price cap went up by about 50% in April. So if you used roughly the same amount of energy in both months, that's the effect.

However, it also depends on how you are being billed. A lot of energy companies estimate your annual bill and charge you more for the less costly months (generally spring to early autumn when the heating is off) in order to build up credit on your account so that you don't end up with massive bills in winter.

Of course, that's really designed to protect them as much as anything. You can query your estimated usage figures, though, if that's how they're doing it.

Unfortunately, without some sort of intervention it looks like the cap may go up again by another 50% in October. Which in this case you'd guess around £120 without anything being done. It's going to hit everyone as badly, so they're going to have to do something - although quite what that something is, I have no idea.

Incidentally, under the price cap, most energy companies (their retail divisions anyway) are losing huge amounts of money.

It's why over 50 went bust altogether leaving only a few big ones left, and why the government gave special support to Bulb when it went bust. Because none of the remaining companies could afford to take on all their customers - I think it was about 1.5m households there, most of which will cost them more than they'd earn.

It's a right fandango.

It's distribution networks that should take most of the blame in terms of pure profiteering and monopolising of a utility but most suppliers could stand to do a lot more. Those that went under often did so because their business models couldn't withstand the sudden shocks in both the sharp decline in energy usage during lockdown and the sharp increase in the wholesale cost of gas since last year.

Hasn't wholesale price risen dramatically thereby requiring retailers to follow suit? So the problem doesn't stem from retailers.

RetroCora wrote:

Qikz wrote:

RetroCora wrote:

LewisD wrote:Genuinely entertaining the idea of emigrating somewhere else. It feels like this country is a burning building and I'm stood on the roof.

Any suggestions?
I want it to be cheaper, but with the same quality of life, and low violence. Nice.

I'm very much looking at the exit door as well - things just seem to be getting worse and worse with no hope of it getting better. Prices are rising and it will be impossible for me to get on the housing ladder in my current situation for at least the next 5-10 years. And I have a place I can go, too. Looking at heading to Sydney in August/early September for a few weeks to see if I can hack it, with a potential move early next year if it looks good and I can source work within my field. It might not pan out to anything, but if not now, when? This country's going to absolute gooseberry fool and I don't have any ties holding me here beyond close family - no kids, property, even permanent job.

Australia seems like a decent enough place at the moment - very little poverty(at least within the cities - there are socio-economic issues outside there), high quality of life and lots of opportunity. Failing that, Canada's got to be a shout Lew!

Australia is going to get ravaged by global warming over the next 20-30 years most likely so keep that in mind as well. That's the issue with going anywhere else, longer term the whole world is going to be going through a lot of problems if nothing looks to change so if you want to think super long term keep that in mind. That's the one benefit of the UK, we're free of natural disasters and any rising tides won't affect a lot of the country.

Way to gooseberry fool all over my plans there.

I've looked at all of this. We're all going to get ravaged by global warming in 20-30 years, even here. Flooding in the summers, weird winters, etc. are all starting to happen already. Australia has already been knackered by climate change too - you can only live in certain areas as it is, but they manage alright. For now, there are more than enough things pulling me there and pushing me from here to justify the potential move.

Plus in 20-30 years there's a chance we'll be dead anyway lol

....

RetroCora wrote:

Qikz wrote:

RetroCora wrote:

LewisD wrote:Genuinely entertaining the idea of emigrating somewhere else. It feels like this country is a burning building and I'm stood on the roof.

Any suggestions?
I want it to be cheaper, but with the same quality of life, and low violence. Nice.

I'm very much looking at the exit door as well - things just seem to be getting worse and worse with no hope of it getting better. Prices are rising and it will be impossible for me to get on the housing ladder in my current situation for at least the next 5-10 years. And I have a place I can go, too. Looking at heading to Sydney in August/early September for a few weeks to see if I can hack it, with a potential move early next year if it looks good and I can source work within my field. It might not pan out to anything, but if not now, when? This country's going to absolute gooseberry fool and I don't have any ties holding me here beyond close family - no kids, property, even permanent job.

Australia seems like a decent enough place at the moment - very little poverty(at least within the cities - there are socio-economic issues outside there), high quality of life and lots of opportunity. Failing that, Canada's got to be a shout Lew!

Australia is going to get ravaged by global warming over the next 20-30 years most likely so keep that in mind as well. That's the issue with going anywhere else, longer term the whole world is going to be going through a lot of problems if nothing looks to change so if you want to think super long term keep that in mind. That's the one benefit of the UK, we're free of natural disasters and any rising tides won't affect a lot of the country.

Way to gooseberry fool all over my plans there.

I've looked at all of this. We're all going to get ravaged by global warming in 20-30 years, even here. Flooding in the summers, weird winters, etc. are all starting to happen already. Australia has already been knackered by climate change too - you can only live in certain areas as it is, but they manage alright. For now, there are more than enough things pulling me there and pushing me from here to justify the potential move.

Sorry man I didn't mean for it to come across like that, I'm just hopelessly pessimistic about everything.

You're all good, I thought it was pretty funny.

"Hey guys, I'm thinking of moving to Australia!"

"Cool beans, but you know you'll eventually burn with the heat of 1000 suns, right?"

RetroCora wrote:You're all good, I thought it was pretty funny.

"Hey guys, I'm thinking of moving to Australia!"

"Cool beans, but you know you'll eventually burn with the heat of 1000 suns, right?"

Don't forget all the killer animals too!

Drumstick wrote:Hasn't wholesale price risen dramatically thereby requiring retailers to follow suit? So the problem doesn't stem from retailers.

Yes, exactly.

It's been a problem a long time in the making, though. Most retailers are literally just that - a shop front. They buy and sell energy and hope to make money off it. They aren't the root of the problem.

Nobody quite saw the combination of events that have made buying energy so expensive, hence most went bust or are losing fortunes.

It also makes no difference to the national grid in terms of physically delivering energy to us - it's not an infrastructure problem.

The only people making money right now are the ones producing the energy right now - mainly in the Middle East, Russia etc.

The UK used to export energy, with North Sea oil and gas (plus coal), but now we import a lot of it. So we have to buy the excess that we need on the worldwide marketplace where we're competing with everyone else, who have the same shortage or worse.

You could fairly argue that such a de-regulated market of buying and selling energy is pretty daft in the first place. I understand why that happened, but don't agree with it, hindsight being 20-20.

The main problem is that successive governments, of every political stripe, just kicked energy self sufficiency into the long grass.

Didn't build renewable sources, clean energy or invest in nuclear options (maybe understandably after Fukushima - and to be fair Uranium isn't that easy to come by either).

Because all those things cost money in the short term before they pay themselves back, so they aren't electorally popular.

So we kind of just shrugged and thought we'd just buy energy from somewhere else. And so here we are, at the mercy of global energy prices.

Prototype wrote:

LewisD wrote:I want it to be cheaper, but with the same quality of life, and low violence. Nice.

Prague.

Yeah Central Europe is great.

I would say though that the UK is still probably one of the best countries on earth to live, so don't expect your problems to be fixed by moving abroad. Inflation is an issue everywhere unfortunately.

Rocsteady wrote:

Prototype wrote:

LewisD wrote:I want it to be cheaper, but with the same quality of life, and low violence. Nice.

Prague.

Yeah Central Europe is great.

I would say though that the UK is still probably one of the best countries on earth to live, so don't expect your problems to be fixed by moving abroad. Inflation is an issue everywhere unfortunately.

I think you'd be daft or incredibly naive to think that moving abroad will resolve all your issues, but there are massive problems here and it's certainly something for people to think about.

Just topped up my gas there (the maximum they allow, £49). Used to get me about 120 cubic metres before all this.

Today I got 36. Used to be I could top it up every 3-5 weeks in the winter and every 2-3 months in the summer but it’s been every 2 weeks lately. The rate that the temperatures are rising isn’t really outpacing the rate the prices are. I reckon it’ll be a tenner a day by the winter.

Lex-Man wrote:

Denster wrote:My flat is all electric. Ive not had my heating on for 4 years. Costs me 32 quid a month. It hasnt gone up.

Doesn't it get cold?

I'm fat.

Denster wrote:

Lex-Man wrote:

Denster wrote:My flat is all electric. Ive not had my heating on for 4 years. Costs me 32 quid a month. It hasnt gone up.

Doesn't it get cold?

I'm fat.

And honest

Drumstick wrote:Hasn't wholesale price risen dramatically thereby requiring retailers to follow suit? So the problem doesn't stem from retailers.

It seems like they're not prepared to absord any of those cost and in fact are adding to them, hence the record profits for many of them.

Samuel_1 wrote:

Drumstick wrote:Hasn't wholesale price risen dramatically thereby requiring retailers to follow suit? So the problem doesn't stem from retailers.

It seems like they're not prepared to absord any of those cost and in fact are adding to them, hence the record profits for many of them.

Exactly, it's utterly insane.

The profits these companies make at the best of times are obscene but to see them sky rocket at a time when the average person is struggling so much is an atrocity

Just noticed my gas/electric bill has gone from £47.99 to £93.39. I've even been doing everything I can to cut down my excess usage. strawberry float. I can afford it thankfully but that's scary as hell how much it's gone up.

Just stop downstreaming so much Netflix smh

Qikz wrote:Just noticed my gas/electric bill has gone from £47.99 to £93.39. I've even been doing everything I can to cut down my excess usage. strawberry float. I can afford it thankfully but that's scary as hell how much it's gone up.

Hasn't the standing charge (literally the cost to just be connected rather than consuming energy) gone up too?

Even if you've been extremely good with cutting back, you'd still find your bills going up.

Grumpy David wrote:

Qikz wrote:Just noticed my gas/electric bill has gone from £47.99 to £93.39. I've even been doing everything I can to cut down my excess usage. strawberry float. I can afford it thankfully but that's scary as hell how much it's gone up.

Hasn't the standing charge (literally the cost to just be connected rather than consuming energy) gone up too?

Even if you've been extremely good with cutting back, you'd still find your bills going up.

Or this could be affecting you:

Energy firms investigated over claims of direct debit rip-off

Energy suppliers face “substantial fines” as regulators begin an urgent investigation into claims they are ripping off customers by inflating direct debits to ease cashflow problems.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said companies had three weeks to respond to allegations of “completely unacceptable behaviour” relating to unjustified direct debit increases.

Although oil giants’ profits are rising, suppliers are paying more for gas and electricity and passing the costs on. A price cap restricts the amount that customers can be charged, and some suppliers are paying out more for energy than they can pass on. As a result, government sources believe that some suppliers are trying to use higher customer direct debits to build up cash reserves to cover their short-term costs.

Energy companies must inform customers if they are increasing the amount taken each month by direct debit and give them an opportunity to challenge rises based on meter readings. However, since the energy price cap rose by 54 per cent last month there have been anecdotal reports of companies increasing direct debits beyond what customers are using without justification and ignoring or rejecting appeals for a review.