Bills!

1981VJ

Hi all
How have you all found your household bills since the rise?

ron19581970

1981VJ said:

Hi all
How have you all found your household bills since the rise?

Mine are scary, cost of everything is just continuing to rise, food bills are getting ridiculous now. Prices are rising at 10 and 20p per item, not like its a penny or 2 anymore. Bread for instance up from £1.20 for a loaf last week to £1.40 for the same loaf this week. Costly times for households 

1981VJ

Yes I agree!my electric bill was through the roof!!!

ron19581970

1981VJ said:

Yes I agree!my electric bill was through the roof!!!

I go round the house every day now switching off any electrical item not needed, what great times we live in 

ron19581970

Ada said:

@1981VJ  Even with the extra help it’s difficult. I don’t want to seem ungrateful but we’re still to scared to enjoy the heating when cold. 

I agree with you, not wanting to sound ungrateful. I'm in northern Ireland, I qualify for the £150 cost of living payment, got a letter Oct 13th saying it would be paid in due course, still not got it, also not got second cost of living £324 yet and still no definitive date as to when Northern Ireland will get the £400 energy help. Tough times 

V2K_TI

Mercifully, there hasn't yet been any really cold weather this autumn where I live, unless there was some cold weather I missed during the first three weeks of October, when I was away.  I have a different problem.  The government is sending me so much money so long before I shall need it, to help me with my forthcoming winter electricity bills (in case we get cold weather this winter), that I'm worried that the Legal Aid Agency will treat this pot of mony as my "capital", jeopardising my Legal Aid for an important matter in the family court, and perhaps even my Pension Credit Guarantee Credit entitlement if the DWP also treats the money the government is paying towards my *future* bills before I need that money as "capital".

I've made matters worse for myself by asking my gas supplier to stop collecting ever-more-hefty monthly payments to cover, in advance, future bills.  I've asked them instead simply to collect whatever I already owe them each month, after they bill me.  So far, since I made this change, they haven't collected a single penny from me by direct debit, because I had and still have a credit balance on my gas account.

I may need to pay into my gas account some money I don't owe to my supplier, just to prevent money in my bank account that the government has given me to cover future bills from being treated as my "capital".

V2K_TI

ron19581970 said:
I go round the house every day now switching off any electrical item not needed, what great times we live in 

If you use standard-priced electricity for (resistance) heating, you don't need to do that on a day when you need the heating one.  The small amount of energy used by electrical appliances that aren't designed to be heaters more-or-less all turns into heat.

The times you need to switch off appliances like this are:
when you use cheaper fuel than standard-priced electricity for heating, e.g. gas or off-peak electricity (fed into a storage heater)
when it is warm enough not to need any heating in your home at all
when you use a heat-pump heating appliance to heat your home.

L_Volunteer

This sounds really difficult @1981VJ. How are you coping with everything at the moment?

Also, thank you for initiating such an important conversation. If anyone needs any further support, please remember we are all here for and listening to each other 

V2K_TI

woodbine said:

just seen on facebook a photo of a box of 240 teabags in a well known supermarket for £8.25

That works out at thrupence ha'penny a cup, if you use a bag for every cup, or about ten thousand cups of tea for a month's PIP.  How much tea do you want to drink?

tifo

The energy costs have doubled since october, because of the price cap rise but also we're using central heating more, but i've had a new A rated boiler since March and wouldn't expect it to use as much as the old one. But from the bills seems there's no difference.

Shopping is also almost double, many things are now 50-120% higher.

Mortgage up. 

leeCal

Pretty sure there’s some opportunism going on lately, everything you care to mention has suddenly gone up in price, even brake pads apparently.

Luchia

Thankfully it hasn’t really affected us as of yet but I’m trying to keep updated on the news 

OverlyAnxious

Oddly, my bills don't really seem to have changed yet. 

My shopping is about a fiver more each week.  My electric bill has dropped considerably with the current gov't help!  

Bit annoying though, as I can actually afford a bit of increase right now.  Sods law suggests everything will go up if & when I lose the PIP review!