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Cost of living crisis 2022 - what have you cut back on?

Ditto

By Ditto
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enjay

enjay

Posted
Posted
Our utility provider have just put our monthly payments up by £30, to reflect us using more in the last 3 months than the quarter before. I know, it's called "winter". They'll re-assess again in 3 months time and put us back down again. I've given up asking why they don't re-assess annually.
mikeprice

mikeprice

Posted
Posted

Just a note that there is another Demand Flexibility thingy tomorrow for those that take part

 

we have 'made' £10 so far

 

already posted on the Solar panels thread those give the option of 'cheating' using the batteries

 

wonder if some electric car systems can do the same?

 

 

anyway - just saying

 

 

Oh and Happy Belated Birthday to @elsiegee40 - same birthday as my sister-in-law

we took them to a local pub who had a quiz night on the same date and still was not totally full

still no pink in evidence and the normal menu and prices - so a good choice

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XiJ

XiJ

Posted
Posted
Our utility provider have just put our monthly payments up by £30, to reflect us using more in the last 3 months than the quarter before. I know, it's called "winter". They'll re-assess again in 3 months time and put us back down again. I've given up asking why they don't re-assess annually.

 

Reject the increase. Most should let you - if not change! For the first time ever last year I set mine to slight abide the ‘recommended’. I always preferred paying quarterly but the recent increase made it better to pay monthly and budgeting easier.

 

I’ve now moved to octopus who i (so far) trust more than most - but I’m in control of the DD.

 

(And I have a referral code that’s shares money on account of anyone wants one!)

PotNoodleTech

PotNoodleTech

Posted
Posted
I know, I've already kind of done this but now it is official... My electric IS more than my mortgage: I owe soo much, I guess I'm not getting a 4090 this year ;)

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]68105[/ATTACH]

 

Wow that's pretty shocking. Yeesh I'll stop complaining about my £100 a month!

 

Is there anything you can cut down on? Thatis actually quite a gargantuan amount of leccy to use every month!!

enjay

enjay

Posted
Posted
Reject the increase. Most should let you - if not change!

 

My only option is to go to a pre-paid meter, which obviously I'm not going to do. I like the company for their ethical and environmental values, but the constantly-changing Direct Debits are annoying. They were one of only a few properly green utility providers when we switched, but there are others now.

HarryMonkey

HarryMonkey

Posted
Posted
Moved house at the weekend (rented) and all of the boiler controls (for the thermostat's rf sender) have been boxed in and sealed with mastic The thermostat is in the coldest place in the house so the whole place is roasting. I'm going to have to dismantle the boxing in so that I can fit my Tado unit. The place is too warm. A job for the weekend methinks.
nicholab

nicholab

Posted
Posted
Moved house at the weekend (rented) and all of the boiler controls (for the thermostat's rf sender) have been boxed in and sealed with mastic The thermostat is in the coldest place in the house so the whole place is roasting. I'm going to have to dismantle the boxing in so that I can fit my Tado unit. The place is too warm. A job for the weekend methinks.

 

Why do landlords do this and leave poor heating controls in place. Also it a shame they seem slow upgrading to a heat pump.

flyinghaggis

flyinghaggis

Posted
Posted (edited)
Why do landlords do this and leave poor heating controls in place. Also it a shame they seem slow upgrading to a heat pump.

 

Has anyone in the position replacing their boiler looked into how the cost compares to buying a heat pump? From some of the prices I saw quoted in the media last year it looked like if wasn't really a viable option compared to the cost of a regular gas boiler even taking the energy savings into account?

 

I'd assume it's even less viable for those living in flats which will make up the bulk of rented properties given the savings will be lower than a typical semi-detached/detached house?

Edited by flyinghaggis
AlistairB1983

AlistairB1983

Posted
Posted
Has anyone in the position replacing their boiler looked into how the cost compares to buying a heat pump? From some of the prices I saw quoted in the media last year it looked like if wasn't really a viable option compared to the cost of a regular gas boiler even taking the energy savings into account?

I'd assume it's even less viable for those living in flats which will make up the bulk of rented properties given the savings will be lower than a typical semi-detached/detached house?

We replaced our boiler in December after it kept cutting out - around the same time as everyone else's when it was -7! - and although I didn't look at the time, I quick 5 minutes google special has just suggested that the cost of the heat pump alone would be almost double what we paid for our boiler and installation. And I don't think installation for us would be cheap due to it being an old house the only exterior wall it could probably go on would then require a lot of extra interior work as well.

 

So similar (for me) to electric vehicles - a nice idea, but so long as they're still (essentially) double the cost of the non-green alternative, I won't be buying one.

Rob_D

Rob_D

Posted
Posted
Has anyone in the position replacing their boiler looked into how the cost compares to buying a heat pump? From some of the prices I saw quoted in the media last year it looked like if wasn't really a viable option compared to the cost of a regular gas boiler even taking the energy savings into account?

I'd assume it's even less viable for those living in flats which will make up the bulk of rented properties given the savings will be lower than a typical semi-detached/detached house?

 

A family friend was looking into a heat pump (and I think went for it in the end). He was really pushed to get all the radiators replaced which pushed the cost up a lot.

 

In flats and tightly packed housing estates you'd have to think carefully about where the outside bit goes as it needs a fair bit of space to operate efficiently and (form what I've heard) isn't quiet. For flats the ideal solution would be to do the whole block on one big central system.

PotNoodleTech

PotNoodleTech

Posted
Posted

Unless you already have a stack of solar panels on the roof and cheap night time electricity rates, an air to water heatpump is a terrible idea - between 3 to 10 times as expensive to install (depending on if you need your tank radiators and all pipes upgraded too..) and 1 to 2x as expensive to run if your paying the full 34p/kwh whilst it's running all day long and all night long. And if leccy goes up even more.......your even more screwed!

 

However if you pay 12p/kwh overnight and have solar bunging power into your house during the day an elextric powered heat pump is a good idea especially if you have a newer build with decent pipes and radiators already there.

Ditto

Ditto

Posted
  • Author
Posted

From another thread but better here.

RPI is deprecated

 

O2 don't think so - OH and kids O2 mobile contract increase just received RPI 13.4% plus the additional increase of 3.9%. That's a 17.3% increase!

BT have used CPI at 10.5% plus the 3.9% given a bargain increase of just 14.4%

 

Just where did this mythical 3.9% additional increase come from? To me it appears to be used a lot. Given it's on top of whichever inflationary index is chosen, it can only fuel inflation further, so not going to help bring that down. It also appears to have coincided with the cost of living crisis. What are these corporates trying to do? Feels like given us all an extra kicking when times are tough.

localzuk

localzuk

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'm fairly sure the 3.9% was something the govt said they were allowed to do at some point in the past, but I cannot find a definitive source saying it.

 

The idea was the 3.9% was to allow them to invest in the company.

 

Switch providers, what's the current monthly rate? £8 seems standard now

If you are mid-term in your contract, you can't switch providers...

Edited by localzuk
LeMarchand

LeMarchand

Posted
Posted (edited)
From another thread but better here.

 

 

O2 don't think so - OH and kids O2 mobile contract increase just received RPI 13.4% plus the additional increase of 3.9%. That's a 17.3% increase!

BT have used CPI at 10.5% plus the 3.9% given a bargain increase of just 14.4%

 

Just where did this mythical 3.9% additional increase come from? To me it appears to be used a lot. Given it's on top of whichever inflationary index is chosen, it can only fuel inflation further, so not going to help bring that down. It also appears to have coincided with the cost of living crisis. What are these corporates trying to do? Feels like given us all an extra kicking when times are tough.

 

Virgin have also sent out their calculation for this year's annual increases which unsurprisingly use the same/a similar justification. It's almost as if the corporations have found a way to hike their prices higher than normal whilst placing the blame on "the economy".

Edited by LeMarchand
mavhc

mavhc

Posted
Posted

You can usually quit your contract if there's an increase in price, right?

 

I've never bothered with contracts, plenty of monthly offers around

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