Discontent #10 food, energy, transport, cost of living, society etc

[fireflies]

In South west wessex water and last 6months bill was £210 so £35 month theres 6 of us and we have a water meter.

Think I read water bills increasing 12%.
My council want raise council tax 4.99%.
AA wanted a 15 quid increase a month we phoned them said we leave and they left it at 20 quid a month.
Reading some people saying sky and broadband going up not had that letter of doom yet.

Energy is shocking been on £400 last 2 bills so have to up direct debit in March as we now in energy debt.
Still refusing a smart meter give montly meter readings too early tell if new combi boiler giving gas saving as before we had heat the water.
Looked at same months last year but weirdly octopus combined most of Dec with jan so not same time period this year.
They want dd changed from £270 per month to £337 they say to stay on track.

Why are media and politicians ecstatic about 0% growth?
I always thought it would be April tit really hits the fan.
As energy price cap increase and 67 quid a month stops.

My wage should go up as mininimum wage going up so extra 100 per month but them over £12500 tax threshold.
So who knows net benefits.

Worried about mortgage as can't shop around until July and expect maybe 2 more rate rises.
Fixed deal ends Dec.

We just trying pay off credit card
Build up energy credit in summer
Save a emergency fund

I don't believe inflation will massively fall.
I think food inflation will stay high and government misleading public saying falling inflation benefits them when really prices still be high.

Food price inflation: Why is it so high and when will costs fall?

The price of groceries is starting to fall according to the latest figures but it still remains much higher than headline inflation. Why are prices still so high?

www.dailymail.co.uk

Aldi sunflower oil upto to £2.40 yesterday.
Lilds still ridiculous prices as we to get some non alcohol wine for work.
Lidls £3.75 v £2.79 aldi.
Also needed cakes but again massive increases then so ended up getting in morrisions as cheaper.

Did latest big shop in sainsbury and was as cheap as tesco I think buy might do big tesco next month to compare.
Nectar points are baffling me keep accruing loads compared to tesco club card.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

My wage should go up as mininimum wage going up so extra 100 per month but them over £12500 tax threshold.
So who knows net benefits.

You’ll only be paying tax on anything over your tax free allowance, so you’ll still be better off.

(I don’t know about benefits and eligibility for that but I’ve always believed it’s tapered? So you lose a % as you earn progressively more)

 

[fireflies]

You’ll only be paying tax on anything over your tax free allowance, so you’ll still be better off.

(I don’t know about benefits and eligibility for that but I’ve always believed it’s tapered? So you lose a % as you earn progressively more)

Thanks yes I know I'm only taxed on the £1000 over £12500.
Just not sure with costs rising in all other bills will feel much better off.

 

[BaxterBillions]

Reading some people saying sky and broadband going up not had that letter of doom yet.

I don't have Sky but I have both my mobile and broadband with EE and they're going up 14% each based on the CPI in January plus 3.9% for good measure. TBH though, it's not really that much of a dent to me because it amounts to just shy of £9 a month extra. It's the energy costs that I'm more concerned with, particularly the standing charge: It's £15 a month for me to have the priviledge of just having an electricity supply and I can't see any justification whatsoever for putting that up.

 

[Falkor]

In South west wessex water and last 6months bill was £210 so £35 month theres 6 of us and we have a water meter.

Think I read water bills increasing 12%.
My council want raise council tax 4.99%.
AA wanted a 15 quid increase a month we phoned them said we leave and they left it at 20 quid a month.
Reading some people saying sky and broadband going up not had that letter of doom yet.

Energy is shocking been on £400 last 2 bills so have to up direct debit in March as we now in energy debt.
Still refusing a smart meter give montly meter readings too early tell if new combi boiler giving gas saving as before we had heat the water.
Looked at same months last year but weirdly octopus combined most of Dec with jan so not same time period this year.
They want dd changed from £270 per month to £337 they say to stay on track.

Why are media and politicians ecstatic about 0% growth?
I always thought it would be April tit really hits the fan.
As energy price cap increase and 67 quid a month stops.

My wage should go up as mininimum wage going up so extra 100 per month but them over £12500 tax threshold.
So who knows net benefits.

Worried about mortgage as can't shop around until July and expect maybe 2 more rate rises.
Fixed deal ends Dec.

We just trying pay off credit card
Build up energy credit in summer
Save a emergency fund

I don't believe inflation will massively fall.
I think food inflation will stay high and government misleading public saying falling inflation benefits them when really prices still be high.

Food price inflation: Why is it so high and when will costs fall?

The price of groceries is starting to fall according to the latest figures but it still remains much higher than headline inflation. Why are prices still so high?

www.dailymail.co.uk

Aldi sunflower oil upto to £2.40 yesterday.
Lilds still ridiculous prices as we to get some non alcohol wine for work.
Lidls £3.75 v £2.79 aldi.
Also needed cakes but again massive increases then so ended up getting in morrisions as cheaper.

Did latest big shop in sainsbury and was as cheap as tesco I think buy might do big tesco next month to compare.
Nectar points are baffling me keep accruing loads compared to tesco club card.

From what I've read, the Bank of England isn't expected to go over 4.5% with the base rate now and most 5-year fixed mortgages have been adjusted downwards accordingly, so if you're thinking about a longer fix then rates shouldn't change too much.

 

[Codiaeum]

Just read that the market price for wheat is expected to go up again Only a few weeks ago I was standing in the supermarket and happily noticed that a bag of flour finally seemed to have returned to normal prices....oh well. Nice while it lasted, maybe I'm picking up a few extra bags of flour and pasta, but there's only that much space...

 

[265]

I had an email from the credit card companies last night!

Last week the Bank of England announced a Base Rate increase from 3.50% to 4.00%.

As one or more of your credit cards is linked to the Base Rate, your Standard Interest Rates have changed too. You may see a difference in your monthly payments from next month so please check your next statement and call us if you’re worried so we can help.

If some or all of your balance is on promotional interest rates, this change won’t affect you until each promotional rate ends.

 

[Princesst]

Went to Lidls today and the price jump is absolutely crazy. Won’t be going there again. Feel pretty rubbish as a few months ago it saved us loads from going there & Aldi VS tesco. We’re at the point now where we can’t really reduce the amount bought down or swap for own brands as we’ve already done it all. There’s only 2 of us & we don’t eat anything luxurious but it’s still costing us a lot it seems

 

[Yel]

I know food manufacturers are in a tricky place with rising commodity prices - they can't just keep rasing the price so shrinking and reformulating is needed.

But I read the back of a pack of Magnums last night and saw "exhausted vanilla bean pieces" as an ingredient. These are apparently vanilla seeds once all the flavour has been taken out and they're added to products for visual and textual reasons only. Bit of a cheek saying magnums contain real Madagascan vanilla! They won't ever taste as good to me now I know those pretty seeds are a lie

 

[emmer_moans]

My freezer broke and needed replacing this month, I had to restock the basic food items every time I try to cut my food bill down I end up spending more

We are trying to eat basic meals with less ingredients to try to curb the cost, but I'm seeing my difference in my wallet 🫣

 

[Anne1448]

We are trying to eat basic meals with less ingredients to try to curb the cost, but I'm seeing my difference in my wallet 🫣

Same here!

I have a monthly tracker in my bank account so I can compare food prices up to 2019. The difference in terms of cost in dairy, vegetables and meat is astonishing.

 

[Chocolategoggler]

Just got my energy bill. I'm over £200 in credit which has been unchanging for months.... I have used 69p more energy than last month and they want to put my monthly direct debit up by £15!!!!

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Just got my energy bill. I'm over £200 in credit which has been unchanging for months.... I have used 69p more energy than last month and they want to put my monthly direct debit up by £15!!!!

What an absolute Liberty -

Am not an energy industry expert so pls take with a pinch of salt but Martin Lewis shared something about the gov raising the price cap 20% around the time the subsidy is ending so I wonder if that’s why they’re pre emptively raising DDs?

I really don’t like them sitting on not insignificant sums of cash and these DD stories are just ridiculous - I’m going to move us over to actual billing once they’ve fixed the issue with our gas smart meter that I told them would happen did

 

[Chocolategoggler]

What an absolute Liberty -

Am not an energy industry expert so pls take with a pinch of salt but Martin Lewis shared something about the gov raising the price cap 20% around the time the subsidy is ending so I wonder if that’s why they’re pre emptively raising DDs?

I really don’t like them sitting on not insignificant sums of cash and these DD stories are just ridiculous - I’m going to move us over to actual billing once they’ve fixed the issue with our gas smart meter that I told them would happen did

I'm pondering whether to shift to that variable direct debit Martin Lewis was talking about where you just pay for what you use.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I'm pondering whether to shift to that variable direct debit Martin Lewis was talking about where you just pay for what you use.

That’s what I’m going to do. It’s also the best time of year to do it come Feb/March as your bills will be leaner so you can put aside what you’d otherwise have paid ready for the rougher winter months. I just don’t understand why they’re sitting on so much cash when they’ve got enough money to declare all these great financial results? Like we are the cash flow to those prospering businesses for what reward pls not even base rate interest.

I’ve just emailed to chase up getting my gas meter fixed as I imagine they’ll not let me move over til that’s fixed.

 

[Jc456]

I'm pondering whether to shift to that variable direct debit Martin Lewis was talking about where you just pay for what you use.

I'm considering this too, I'm £997 in credit and paying £85 a month plus the gov £67 but my credit seems to of increased over winter rather than gone down.
Eon.next aren't billing me properly atm so probably why

 

[Falkor]

SSE normally bills us quarterly and send me a text and email a couple of weeks before it's due to ask for meter readings (smart meters don't work in our village, we don't have a signal for them). So I sent readings in December, the bill generated on 23rd December, they then sent us another bill on 3rd January for some reason and now they're saying the next bill isn't due until the end of June. We're currently £1,449 in credit, our direct debit goes out on the 20th and is £349, so by the time the next bill generates we'll be £3,194 in credit. Every time I try and contact them to speak to someone about it I get through to Ovo who say they can't help me because the account hasn't been transferred to them yet, they give me another number to try, I get through to Ovo again, they give me the first number etc. etc. etc. Seriously considering writing to my MP to see if he can at least get me a phone number, because with so many houses on THTC (legacy SSE tariff which Ovo can't cope with) in this area I can't be the only person having this problem.

EDIT: Ooh, their phone number now asks for your account number and diverts you to the right team On hold now to try and get this sorted.

EDIT 2: They can't get into it to change it their end either. Great. Been through two different departments to try and get it resolved, they've said it may be a system error their end and try again later in the week.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

smart meters don't work in our village, we don't have a signal for them

I know your geographic area varies a lot from mine but just sharing for anyone who is semi rural and thinks they’ve got no hope at a smart meter but would like one especially if it helps you pay for usage only - we have 0 phone signal and get internet access via Starlink but Octopus said our smart meter would work as there is another house in the area with one that would signal boost ours. That house is not particularly close but it’s somewhere where you might be able to get 2/3 bars of signal so obvs this doesn’t apply if you’re in a totally isolated village or island or larger signal black spot - but if there’s enough signal to make a call at any point near enough to your house I’ve been informed there should be enough to support a smart meter. It’s not worked for the gas meter annoyingly but electric has always been fine thankfully. They were more than happy to send someone out and he did tests to see if it’s tenable and I did check that they wouldn’t charge me for the time if it didn’t work and they said ofc not.

I do wonder if you’d be allowed to pay on useage if you didn’t have a smart meter? Bet they’d have you outside in all weathers providing them daily readings if you didn’t have one

 

[Falkor]

I know your geographic area varies a lot from mine but just sharing for anyone who is semi rural and thinks they’ve got no hope at a smart meter but would like one especially if it helps you pay for usage only - we have 0 phone signal and get internet access via Starlink but Octopus said our smart meter would work as there is another house in the area with one that would signal boost ours. That house is not particularly close but it’s somewhere where you might be able to get 2/3 bars of signal so obvs this doesn’t apply if you’re in a totally isolated village or island or larger signal black spot - but if there’s enough signal to make a call at any point near enough to your house I’ve been informed there should be enough to support a smart meter. It’s not worked for the gas meter annoyingly but electric has always been fine thankfully. They were more than happy to send someone out and he did tests to see if it’s tenable and I did check that they wouldn’t charge me for the time if it didn’t work and they said ofc not.

I do wonder if you’d be allowed to pay on useage if you didn’t have a smart meter? Bet they’d have you outside in all weathers providing them daily readings if you didn’t have one

Our village hall is on a smart meter only tariff - British Gas Lite - and six months after the start date they're still ambitiously trying to arrange an installation. Doesn't help that there's been a mix-up on their system somewhere and as well as the hall's actual address they've also attached some random address in Wales several hundred miles away as also being our site. So every couple of weeks I get an email from the smart meter installation company they've contracted the job to asking if they can come and install our meter at our site, it gives the Wales address, I reply with the Scottish address and they go away again for a couple more weeks. I do have to send in a reading every month though.

 

[Yel]

I'm guessing you have to be with a certain company to pay what you use/variable monthly payments?

I'd much prefer that, never trust their calculations - always trying to extract more cash for them to play with and it's massively complicated to work out if their calculations are wrong. I spend less on other things during the winter so makes sense to pay more then for me.