Both Labour & Tory governments have seen to be hell bent on selling off/destroying our infrastructure,for whatever reason.
I really fear what the country will be like in 10 years time.

Because all their mates have interests in big companies and there could be a promise of a lucrative job offer when their tenure is up.

plus shares for their family and friends whilst they pretend to be squeeky clean.

The bbc website saying that the Standing Charge will be frozen.
But dosent state at Septembers price or the new one in October.
Anyone know?

September. Check out Martin Lewis on his web page.

Thankyou for info

£2500 is too high. £2000 would have ok with the £400.
Lets face it some people are traumatised by all of this and many will die this winter.
This government is a disgrace.

It is too high but in reality it's £2500 less £400 - so £2100.

It seems that the £400 was already baked in and couldn't be removed.

It's loads more than it was last winter and for some mid earners it's yet more cash to find. People on certain benefits get an extra £660, so take that off, that takes £2100 down to £1440.

would love that standing charge farce to be scrapped altogether. you can economise as much as you want but that will always be there. never mind paying for what i use but object strongly for paying for stuff i do not. its not even common sense, someone could live with someone else for 6 months and leave their home empty. you,d still get a bill for your energy use when you got back. surely out of useage alone they can make money for future improvements they bang on about.

The future improvements they bang on about are higher salaries and bigger bonuses.

Is it a coincidence that Truss used to work for Shell ?

the amount i have spent with them over the years they should give me a well paid consultants job.

Driving home from Kent yesterday Shell were consistently up to 10p a litre lower than BP for petrol. Noticed also that diesel was anywhere up to 20p a litre dearer than petrol.

a long time from the situation of diesel being actually a few pence cheaper than petrol was. the cynic inside we says its about supply and demand more than the cost of the thing itself. how many of us diesel drivers would ever have thought of purchasing one back in those days with the few crap options around unlike the present.

Just seen the new unit rates for both Leccy & Gas and it is not as bad as I first thought.

Provisioned for £150 month Leccy & £100 month Gas but it is looking more like £100 for Leccy & £80 for Gas across the following 12 months.

The government have ‘borrowed’ the money to temporary subsidise the cost of energy, it will have to be paid back through tax increases. The energy companies are still being paid the same so they won’t lose out, apologies for being so pessimistic
People should consider switching from DD to a normal payment system like we all did years ago, yes it might be a bit more pricey but why fill the coffers up of the greedy energy companies

I get money off my bill for going DD, as well as knowing that the same amount comes out every month. I get sent monthly statements so know exactly how I stand ,so if the provider has my money for a period of time that doesn't bother me. I'm certainly not going to lose my DD discount just to score points whilst paying more.

Agree derwent, we are in the same position and intend staying the same. Cannot see any point in paying more to prove a point unless you can easily afford to do so.

So you would rather enhance the profits and money in the bank accounts of foreign owned energy companies boosting their profits, DD are for their benefit, just think how many millions they hold in their bank accounts from DD payments, no one is ever in debit, they make sure of that.
Energy companies should be barred from charging extra for a normal payment system,it doesn’t cost anymore to produce the energy, it’s sold on fear factor, open a separate bank account and make a monthly standing order to cover your bills.

What I would rather do is what I choose to do and I'm sure Mr Accy is the same. I suggest you also do the same. If these people are making extra money they are at least prepared to share it with those who are DD customers. If you are so irate about what these people are doing and want them barred write to your MP because ranting about it on here will achieve absolute zilch.
Ever heard of cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Apparently OVO give 5% interest on credit balances.

Good to hear.
I think each to his/her own. My philosophy is do what you're most comfortable with and let others do the same.

I can’t believe what you are saying the energy companies sharing their money with you, the only money they share is the dividends to the share holders of the backs of the massive profits they make.
Ask yourself why was the DD system introduced, to make money of the back of the customer, they penalise customers who only pay as and when the bill arrives.

Look, you are telling me I should spend more money on energy than I need to and I'm telling you I'm not going to comply with your wishes. You might be daft enough to pay more than you should but that's your choice under the category that fool's and their money are soon parted.
I want money off my bills not put on. Getting a DD discount is a way of doing that.
Our Lass says if you are desperate to get rid of some of your cash, she'll willingly oblige you.

You say "they penalize customers who only pay when their bills arrive" and then advise people to do just that.
Bloody hilarious.
Keep an eye on yer front window brother, the lads in white coata are coming.

Oh and before you say you're on a wind up.....I know you are but you're just not very good at it.
Bless
Keep it going you are very entertaining if not naive.
I think I'll go for a pint tonight, I'm sure the lads will enjoy this little tale.

It’s obviously wound you up, enjoy your pint tonight.

I actually pay by DD but not by choice it’s due to my circumstances, if I had the choice I wouldn’t. What I do ensure is my account is always in debit not credit. Like a bank account I make full use of the ‘overdraft’ facilities.
Enjoy your pint.

After all that you, actually pay by Direct Debit jeeeeez.

Snowy I just don’t believe in feathering the nests of companies who are making massive profits of the man in the street more so we are now borrowing massive amounts of money to subsidise tax cuts for the very rich instead of a windfall tax on the profits of the energy companies.

Nah it couldn't have been anything else but a wind up, no one would seriously come out with all that and be taken seriously.
I've had a good laugh though.
Didn't go for a pint in the end, me ribs were aching too much.

You've set me off again, please stop you'll have me ribs cracking with any more of this.

As the west adjusts its supply to cope with the Ukraine issue prices should reduce but lets just see what happens.
But i expect it never to return what it was.

It never does but the more self sufficient we become the more pressure, as electorate, we have.

We only receive 2% of gas from Russia, some one had the bright idea to stop any more developments in the North Sea, loads of oil and gas there, that has been reversed now but it takes years to developer a new field.

and if it actually gets developed and starts producing what we need there will be some impractical greenie lot that shuts em all down for the net lunacy they want to shove us all into. come on we need those pits re opened and we can then export every single ton of it to china to help their economy and way of life but only on a deal where cwe,d be worse off financially for doing so.

I have received my new price for gas and electricity, which comes into force on October 1st.
Gone up by £9.63 per month. When I take the extra winter fuel allowance of £300 pounds off at Christmas I will have had a decrease on what I'm paying now. That's a step in the right direction.
Anybody else got their new deal through.

Crude oil has dropped below $90 a barrel a substantial drop from a few weeks ago, I don’t drive, has there been a similar drop in fuel prices also as the the fuel costs were blamed for the rise in the cost of living has there been any significant drops of food prices etc in the supermarkets ?

It depends where you look on fuel prices but the independents are the cheapest. Food prices have definitely come down for us cos we switched to Aldi and only use the usual suspects for the stuff we can't buy there. People are getting more discerning with their shopping and their use of gas and electric. We've stopped using the tumble drier and only put enough water in the kettle for the number of cups we require. We haven't turned the heating on yet. As the temperature drops I just put a jumper on at the moment. All these little things are having an effect. It's embarrassing to think of the waste we were all involved in. Like driving half a mile into the village instead of walking. I've noticed more kids are walking to school, so there are good things happening as well. We'll see how long this awareness lasts if and when things get back to something near normal.
I think Lidl are now the 4th biggest supermarket in the country thus knocking morrisons off their perch. It shows we're still adaptable.

Apparently because the value of the pound has crashed against the dollar, the cost of fuel won't come down as we thought. Oil is traded in USD, so we lose out - again.

Me Standing Charge for gas n leccy up to 90p a day.
We all back to struggling in April when these grants run out.
Cant imagine many houses in Hpool getting anywhere near this £2500 price cap for next 2 years.
Hopefully by then Putins been killed or died before he sets the big bombs off.

Now the ‘referendum’ has gone Putins way which it always was Putin says any attacks on these regions is an attack on Russia threatening nuclear attacks if they come under attack.
Would he dare knowing the that it could be Armageddon or is he bluffing again ?

I believe a lot relies on the moral of the new conscripts some who thought they were being sent on training courses by their employers more so as the cold weather is coming up.
They are setting recruitment hubs up at the Georgia border to stop Russians fleeing to Georgia.

we are just trying to make a game of the whole thing. thinking up and trying ways to save like the ones you said. on top of that we picked every blackberry we could find, using em ourselves and giving loads away to those who know how to cook. same with apples now as we have loads of apple trees growing wild around our area. any rough ones get given to the horses and goats helping their owners. might not be an exciting thing to do, but every one you pick is a saving and two fingers up at supermarkets and those who think they are the only place that fruit actually grows.

This referendum thing with Putin could be his get out card.
If he says that his whole purpose of invading Ukraine was to free these four oppressed areas and the referenda prove that he was right as they all want to be part of Russia, he can now end the conflict as his aims have been fulfilled.
My theory might be regarded by some as far fetched but he has to find a way, other than nuclear, to get out of this situation.

Sounds good Derwent but I don’t think Putin will stop there, he wants to revive the USSR, are the Ukrainians going to sit back and let Russia govern the 4 regions, only time will tell.

I was going to add that he would then lie low and then try again maybe somewhere else but I thought of two things that stopped me saying it.
1 The timing would have to be right. He doesn't impress me on that.
2. The West would have time to be more prepared.

Except he can’t because he has stolen these areas and there is a war going on.

I could drive up to Scotland, invade *Del Amitri’s house, hold them at gunpoint, have a fake referendum, then a fake ceremony, then Del Amitri would belong to me, and I could live off their song writing royalties. Happy Days.

* note, all bands live together, I know this because of the Beatles films.