I looked into this and by law the energy companies cannot make a profit from standing charges, its there to pay for the upkeep of the infrastructure apparently. Strange though how, come summertime when people are using less units, they put up the standing charge hmmm
Some of the electricity standing charge funds the Warm Home Discount. If you Google and dig deep enough you will find that this is true. The details are hidden on the Ofgem website and other obscure places.
My Dad would have called this 'Legalised Robbery'. Especially with the cost of energy having come down for the energy companies. He applied this phrase to other things as well.........Parking Fines, Standing Charges, Credit Card interest rates etc........and he was right !
@@wanderingturnip He was. He challenged almost everything. In the nicest way but with logic. Always quietly proud of the way his mind worked. He would have liked you. Independent thinker.
My blood was boiling when I read about 87 year old Barbara Bolton from Bury . She couldn't afford to heat her home and was admitted to hospital with hypothermia and pneumonia and died after a few days in hospital. With energy companies making their highest profits recorded . Disgusting. This government need to be held responsible too
Obviously it's sad but the situation is a lot more complex than greed. Energy costs so much because the market was unstable due to world wide geopolitical issues. We shouldn't be taking our anger out on businesses we should be directing it at the decisions of governments and world leaders. (also the solution to our energy costs is to become self sufficient in energy needs but it would require nuclear power stations and to cut out gas signifficantly as a way to heat our homes - these would be extremely difficult though being that we spent 60 years building britain gas central heating)
It was one of the brexit lies told to you by the tories. That VAT was a "euro" thing and leaving would allow a Govt to reduce to omit it. But they lied about everything else, so coulour me surprised.
We moved 6 months ago to Charlestown from the other side of town. Our electric price was unbelievable. 6 months of fighting and we proved our “smart” meter doubled every unit we used! How many others could this happen to? We spent a lot of money to sort this and they never admitted responsibility
@@wanderingturnip we got a new meter eventually but we had to threaten ombudsman and got proof as we were lucky enough to have solar panels fitted ( they came with an app showing how much we ACTUALLY used from the grid compared to how much they charged us( double) The people that sold us the house must’ve been paying double for years ☹️
I'm with Edf I keep getting phone calls and emails saying I should book to have a smart meter fitted, no way I am NOT having one. I know the tumble dryer costs but I have asthma and I can't have wet washing hanging around the house. I just love the advertisement on TV telling us to switch off lights in rooms that are not used. That advise must have saved people loads of money. It makes my blood boil.
Couldn't agree more. It's disgusting how much its costing. I'm struggling to put gas on. I'm a single mum with 2 boys. I'm on pre payment smart meters. I boil the kettle to do dishes. We use cold water to wash hands and I don't have the heating on and it's still costing a fortune
The only gas powered appliance in my apartment was my stove and they were charging over $17 a month even though I rarely turned it on. I bought an electric hotplate for $10 and had them disconnect my gas.
Yes indeed. Have to keep a check on them every month to make sure they're not overcharging. They overcharged me several times. Estimating bills when I sent in meter readings. When you try to contact them on the phone it's the usual long wait to actually speak to a human being. Try and chat on their websites and you just get a robot.
When you have your smart meter fitted, you have to ring them up afterwards to tell them you actually want to be charged for what you’re using, otherwise they still leave you on an estimate, despite you having the meter. That caught me out when I didn’t see any change in my bill for a couple of months.
Exactly. Just had a smart metre fitted recently, and they are charging me an estimate which is way above what I'm using. I hope they will reimburse me when I get in touch.
Support from The Völve, Asatru shaman of Denmark and the lands of the North. I don't have gas but electric heating in my rural flat, here out by the coast. My electric bill was 6000 Danish kroner for three months (712 pounds), twice, this winter. Now it's down to 1750 (205) for three months. It has to do with Putin's war in Ukraine - but also greedy energy companies, charging extra for the 'transport of energy'. The press needs to focus on this issue. Cheers from The Völve
We were paying 60-70 a month and were fixed. But, we moved house and had to end our fixed deal. Then we were at 300 or so a month over winter and that is with a brand new boiler and brand new windows and just 2 of us. There isnt much we could have cut back on without giving our pets hypothermia
The worst thing is wholesale gas prices have dropped lower than than they were before the big price hike in October. Yet the suppliers will not pass this onto any of the consumers. So they are blatantly keeping prices high to make extusionate profits from us all. And as for smart meters. I refuse to have one. They keep emailing me. Sending me letters phoning me and sending texts to book an installation. But they get told no or ignored. I see these as another form of tracing like you covered in your cashless vlog. Knowing when I'm in. What I'm using and when. It's too intrusive. They can also remotely disconnect your supply with the smart meter. This can affect non or late payments. So again as on a cashless society problems you raised The big corporations have taken control and Joe public is held to ransom. So be smart yourself. Cancel energy direct debits Refuse a smart meter as they are not mandatory. Do your own meter readings and only pay for what you use. And hold on to what little control you have left. Love this channel Great vlog. .
Found your channel last week and watched everything. You make fantastic content. Moved from England to Australia and we are getting the same sort of thing with our power. People having to fork out so much money for power even before they have used any of it. Its criminal.
I have had my supplier chasing me for years to try and convince me to have a smart meter installed. I'm so glad now I never got round to it. Ironically I had it booked at one point, but they never showed up (long story). This was about 4 years ago. I made it a point to never give them the time of day since. Looks like these meters are very smart indeed. Smart enough to inflate your usage and assist with legal robbery. I have a couple of other properties again with no smart meters. I think I'll stay away from them for as long as I can legally.
January I had a bill for £399 just for electric E - ON and I had to have the coal fire on, I now hardly use the cooker now, turn off all the heaters, I use my slow cooker and go to bed early to keep warm. It's 14th October my house is starting to feel cold, but I am going to hold off for as long as I can so I don't have to put the heating on. It will be living in a one-room situation in the end. Dreading the full effects of winter it is just miserable and I feel sorry for the elderly, I really do, The government has done sod all about it. Legal racketeering. Disgusting.
I'm lucky, fixed in december 2021 when everyone was saying not to, fixed til jan 2024. I also don't have a smart meter and won't be getting one anytime soon. I send readings every month and have my own spreadsheet with my usage and costs calculated. I don't trust the energy companies to not have my own records.
My parents have lived in the same house for 40 years. It's a larger house tbh and obviously bills have gone up a lot over these years. for the last year they have had to pay an extra 500 a month. 6 grand a year. Extra. Double. Insane.
My grandma was paying £150ish last year and then this year in about january EDF sent the bill through of £690 so i looked back through it and was trying to work out where the £690 was spent, she was in her 90s and was slim so she does have the heating on. but as a chap who worked and studied for provision of energy and green energy NVQs i did some maths and worked out that what they were charging was outrageous and if it wasn't for me spotting the bill and having a look they would have continued. this was the second month they had charged that. Thankfully my grandad was a smart man and had set her up with a reasonable private pension that he had paid out of his own pocket before he passed away so she could just about afford to cover that for only the time period before i did the maths and changed her to a new provider using the accurate figures of what she had used the year before with EDF and a slight increase based on what they had quoted for the year ahead. Up until she passed away at the end of april this year she paid no more than £230 a month for both gas and electricity (and the heating was set higher than your average user) When i was trying to leave EDF they were saying stuff like "leaving now isn't the best thing to do with the uncertainty" but my question was what was it not best for because they gave no clear indication as to what the down side was for her, so my assumption is that it was only bad for their profits. I feel like those things that we use as an essential means of living such as heating, electricity and water should be either better regulated or nationalised and therfore profit the greater good and not those large pockets of the Big Wig energy CEOs and stakeholders. I appreciate your rant and 100% sympathise with what you're saying and you're right, those of us that have the money shouldn't be penalised but also those who can't afford it should also not be punihed because some of them are unable to work or stuck in a job that doesn't render them the funds to then live with even the heating on for an hour a day because they are living scared of large bills followed by late fees and maybe even baliffs and court charges when they fall into that sinking pit where once they could just about budget to keep themselves and thei familes warm and are now left with bills they can't pay all huddled up under blankets trying their best to stay alive, hoping that the time passes quick enough and they survive the night where they can send their children off to school to be warm and go to a friends house or work to take away their own chills. The world we live in is absolutely twisted at the minute and its crippling all but the ones causing these same proiblems.
The news on the radio said the energy price cap was not going to rise in April as the wholesale price of gas is lower. That's good I thought, but then came the bad news. The £400 everyone got over the last 6 months ended this month. it was £60 off everyone's monthly amount, so next month, although the cap will not rise, it will be £60 extra more per month. I had been paying just £40 month a year ago, then Avro went bust, so I got put with Octopus, and the bill was £125 month for about 5 months, for the last 6 months, it was £68 month, but this will no doubt be back at more than £120 month from now on. Luckily I don't use much energy, and my thermostat is set at 14c. I feel sorry for elderly people who live in homes they have lived in for decades, and will not have turned their heating down enough, and through habit, lack of smart meter etc, have used loads of gas over the winter, as their bills will be massive.
I’m living in Sweden and am on a fixed rate at the moment, but my son had his heating on and for December his bill was nearly £1000 and he doesn’t earn much. He’s had to turn everything off 🫣 - total nightmare. Sweden is apparently the worst for energy costs in Europe even though we don5 use gas and have loads of wind and hydroelectric power. Doesn’t make any sense, does it! Love seeing your videos - I love it all round Hebden. Used to walk my little dog round there loads before I emigrated and I miss it!
That’s horrible to hear about your sons bill, but I bet that isn’t uncommon at all. Most of the country is probably say in the cold, can’t afford to go out, can’t afford to stay in😞 yeah that’s odd about the amount of hydroelectric power you have and yet high bill. Very interesting. Thanks for watching I appreciate it 👍👍
@@wanderingturnip sadly things everywhere are really grim right now and I’m not confident we will ever return to “normal”. Will these companies want to give up their obscene profits? And there is no will in govt. They truly don’t give a shit . I’m already starting to worry about the end of my fixed rate which is 3 years away! 🙄 Maybe start building a wind turbine in the garden? Plenty of wind where I live!
Natural gas prices are at a 20 year low, they did spike last year but right now it is at a 20 year low. The standing charges are the killer, it is money for nothing and it is high time people and there is 10s of millions of us Vs a dozen major players in the utility supply sector, stand up against these greedy corporations. That is the only way to solve this problem.
it's also effecting those of us who live on boats! The marina I was moored in last winter had electric meters for each berth, and you had to top up your electric card with credit to keep the meter running. No joke, i was spending £10 a day, A DAY, throughout October to January when I decided to leave the marina. That was just for keeping my batteries topped up, keeping my fridge freezer on, and using a blow heater for only a couple hours a day, and charging my laptop, as I had solar panels for my 12v lights and USB sockets, and a wood burner for my main source of heating. I don't understand how I was going through £10 a day for such basics. Adding about £300 p/m on top of an already expensive mooring fee. Still, it's slightly cheaper than renting a double room in London. The marina I'm in now is costing me less than £10 a week for the same electric usage. Tbf it is summer now, but my usage hasn't changed much as I'm still using my blow heater occasionally (it's not cold enough to warrant making a fire but still having nights where some heating is required).
What pisses me of the most is these companies are bragging about record profits and we suffer there is only so much people will take then the shit will hit the fan
I’m writing this in January 2024. My energy bill is surprisingly cheap (compared to yours). I rent an old cottage with single glazed windows and it’s all electric. The house is freezing and our storage heaters 1 cost £5 a day to have on and 2 are rubbish. Fortunately we have a wood burner so we don’t ever put the heating on, I use about £70 worth of logs a month and around £10 of coal. No gas bill. Our electric is around £60-£80 a month depending how long we’re at home. However when people come round our house they usually can’t believe how cold it is, the living room gets very warm with wood burner but the rest of the house you can genuinely see your breath. We use an electric blanket at night to stop us freezing
Another instance where we are being screwed. The gas and oil wholesale prices are not that high...Profiteering because they can..They go up so quickly but don't come down quickly
It's ridiculous. My energy bill is a very similar amount to yours. I am disabled and am home all the time and I can't afford to have my home warm. The smart meter is a joke, it says I spent £178 last month, yet the bill they emailled me for last month was £208. My standing charge and unit rate are very similar to yours as well. I've lost my rag on the phone to them a few times now and even stated once that it would be cheaper to disconnect the supplies and get a generator and watch a bag of coal burn in my living room, at least I'd be warm..
We all live under the money makers with billions in profit that we pay them, I solve it by a small wood burner I use in winter, saving gas use heat and some cooking, I bought a small camping fridge and keeping the main fridge, freezer, on lowest setting over winter, with solar lights lasting two to three days lights up all rooms with out using mains, I sympathise with you mate but it's turning us all back to burning candles like the twentys, my advice is change your providers like I did, my gas and elec at moment is a month dd, 83, quid, she'll company, but that's about to change in August.
Your rant is good. I had been trying to understand what the huge increase in power cost were about in England. They seem crazy compared with our costs.
Putin warned the west a long time ago that spot pricing energy/putting energy to auction would cause these problems. He wanted to stick with 3 year contracts to keep stability and of course the west didn’t want that because that meant stability for Russia, the west want regime change in Russia and we are all having to pay for that, even if it fails or backfires which it most definitely is.
Cancelled my direct debits and told my utility companies how much i was prepared to pay. In a nutshell, i informed them that they could accept my offer or i would change supplier. Both companies backed down and i pay by standing order from now on
You are doing legitimate journalism. You should do a video on the trees that are dying everywhere...on which they will blame "climate change"...but it's not that killing them. Some soil samples would solve the mystery...especially the aluminium levels.
Good video I live alone ,at work full time ,hardly use any thing ,my direct debit is 135 a month for both electricity and gas the standing charges are a total ripp off ,but the government dont care
It’s infuriating that in reality, we don’t have a cost of living crisis, we have a corporate greed crisis. It’s as simple as that - corporations and their share holders are not struggling one bit, their profits aren’t remotely in danger, they’re squeezing the regular person for absolutely everything they can - capitalism has failed us.
I was VERY wrong when I suggested Utilita as being a good choice, they were but not now. Around the 2nd of March we had a smart meter put in, the electric fixing won't connect via whatever they use & We haven't had gas central heating for almost 2 weeks now & with -7C & snow, We have a £600 Gas bill which we can't pay because it's either pay gas or electric but not both, ALL of our food now comes from the foodbank. My Husband is autistic & I have long term heart & lung health problems which utilita know about but STILL insist on us paying the gas bill.
We live in Mijas ,which is near Marbella and I feel your pain our electricity bills went sky high too I had chosen a fixed rate 24/7 plan which at the time was a good deal but with they started increasing the rates due to the crisis 😳😂😂and it got to a point that I was extremely pissed off with them eventually I managed to change it to a different rate with 3 different daily periods where the kWh rate was less expensive, luckily it’s now dropped down to a more manageable cost per kWh crazy like you are pointing out that they are allowed to do this it’s theft technically. Mr Turnip, you are the voice of every man in the land this gets my goat like you say thanks mate for this💪💪💪💪
When I was living in the UK in the 90's, I had a one bedroom flat, and my electric was less than 30 quid a month and gas was even lower.. Today living in Florida, my electric is around $300 a month - it's been very hot so AC is on most of the time. We are all electric, no gas.
Well said. EoN tried to put me on a fixed rate 300% higher. Then 800% . I refused the fix, and complained to the CEO, got it down, and am now still in credit. Mind, when I'm at home, I get in bed and stay there. The standing charge is disgraceful.
British Gas are good for repairing gas boilers and central heating systems, and repairing plumbing and drains but lousy as a energy service provider. I’m with Shell Energy and I’m paying a lot more for my energy bills but it’s cheaper then British Gas. Although, I’m not using a prepaid meter and I’m using a smart meter. I tried not having any heating on for a long time but it was causing damp problems in my home and destroying the plaster on my walls and warping my wooden floorboards. Old houses unfortunately need a minimum temperature to prevent damage to the home, which will end up costing thousands to repair afterwards. So now I just have my heating on 17 degrees most of the time, and on occasions when it’s cold I put it on 18 degrees for 4 hrs before reducing it back to 17 degrees. Doing that my bills are cheaper then yours and I’m living in the south east as well. Also, I changed my payment method with Shell Energy because I was paying more monthly, and changed it to a variable Direct Debit, paying only for the energy I use and not a penny more.
We need a big uprising, unfortunately us Brits tend to do more talking than taking any action ☹️. We're in the exact same position as you by the way. Bill this time last year £83, bill for this year using the same amount of energy £360!
@@wanderingturnip I think due to them protesting ( rightly so) the increase has actually just been passed onto us. I believe France owns many of its own nuclear power stations and we get some of our energy from them hence the passed on cost. It's wrong but there's bugger all we can do about it unfortunately
The thing i love is all those brand new shiny, modern gas pipes and elevtricity pylons we must have built to cause the daily charge (the cost to get the energy from the supplier to your house) to skyrocket. I guess its only right as we need to pay fir all of this somehow, oh wait there is no new pylons or gas pipes!
That's a lovely walk you have there, lichen covered stone wall and woods, fresh autumnal smells. You're right about energy costs, private monopolies basically screwing folk to make the rich richer.
i must say. your seriously above your game!!! you just need the right nerve to hit, the right news report to touch, and i think u may make a difference. you have the voice to speak to everyone!
Get a massive set of people to get together and finance each other for solar panels the power is in the people's hands but they need to wake up and get together 🙏👍
Our bills are based on price caps. A primary price cap that effects our bills as it leads to our final retail price cap is the price cap on a commercial unit, a therm, of natural gas, our gas and electricity prices are both directly effected by this and they are set by the government, officially speaking. The average price cap on gas in EU countries is 37 Euros per unit. In Britain our government has set our cap at 1369 Pounds per unit. Only 2 EU countries have access to gas fields and then no where near to the extent of the UK yet we are charged for our own gas that is drilled via tax payer subsidies not just the highest prices in Europe but the highest prices on Earth. The Tories' biggest donors over the last 30 years are the fossil fuel "companies" and the Russian state.
Mate, you have to shop around. I know we have some goodwill to BG, coz it's ours, but if someone's offering better rates, switch, and ignore the people crying for you to come back (I've worked call centre. I never lied, but lots did to get people to stay) Thankfully the standing charge here (Rio/Brazil) isn't so bad. I don't have gas, but leccy charges less than I use. Gas comes in cannisters that you have to get replaced every (3/4?) months
The regulator’s main role is to protect the privatisation model. In other words, they protect the profitability of the energy company. They get a profit supposedly because they are risking their investment money - but there is no risk when their profits are protected. If you have the money, invest risk-free in British Gas. No risk but a good return. Capitalism in 2023.
We are on a fixed rate till October, we only put 2 radiators on when it gets really cold. Our bill for electric wet heating , we have no gas is £320 a month
Fridge is not something really essential. I never use fridges. I sometimes cook with tea-lights... 1 tea-light lasts nearly 4 hours, gives lights and makes cooking possible with a lot of patience and is also relaxing. I reckoned that 4 tea-lights might be just enough to boil water or heat pans for cooking. 50 tea-lights cost round 3,00 £. Fruits, cereals and cheese do not need to be refrigerated. In the 18th and early 19th century candles were as expensive as electricity nowadays. In the middle ages candles were made out of animal fat and meat was kept in salted jars. History might teach us something...!
Paying DD monthly is cheaper than paying for what you use monthly. They are overcharging in the summer to cover the winter costs. It's about a third cheaper that way and you're not supposed to get a nasty shock when the winter bills come in. Trouble is that base the DD off your previous year's consumption. Two of sons left home and I'm selling so don't want to rack up a massive credit, but the computer says no. I changed providers and will keep doing so until I sell to keep to a reasonable DD.
Same here in Germany. From 4 to 14 ct / kwh. And of course energy companies have record surplus. They calculate 8 % win on the cost. When cost triple win also triple.
My Mum called me in tears a month ago as she got a bill for two grand and the direct debit was being jumped to £800 a month. Turned out the last quarterly meter reading didn't go through to the energy company so they did an estimation. That estimation is what my Mum uses in nearly an entire year. Spent two hours on the phone and in the end only threatening legal action got them to accept a new meter reading. Lo and behold it turned out my Mum HADN'T been lighting up the entire town off of the outside socket. What if I hadn't been there for her or it'd been some OAP or someone with mental problems? They'd be on the street.
My energy company lies to me - Octopus Energy has a combined gas and electric smart meter that shows the totals for the last year. For the total last 4 months, Octopus is charging me that amount per month and they can't explain how/why.
I'm not living in the UK but one thing I recently learned is that using hemp fibres in plaster increased the insulation value considerably. As for the change to green technology, energy, the production is much lower per KWH than gas, coal, and especially nuclear. Hopefully soon the ability to get solar panels installed with built-in converters will shut down the corporate profits far enough to get people to enjoy living in their homes. I have seen small wind turbines that will power houses, but I don't know if those are available in the UK. Even adding insulation, hemp, wood fiber, almost any other natural insulation should keep at least one room warm enough to be used. For now, curtains that cut draughts will help.
If people can get enough neighbours to change to LED light bulbs, that should help. 1 incandescent bulb takes 10 times the power usage than an LED. Add in the cost of constantly changing incandescent bulb, vs 1 LED lasting 5 years, just that cost goes down.
Would love to know who is on the board of these companies and who owns the most shares. Usually have ties with the people, agreeing to the price increases and extortionate charges to the public and the bosses getting fantastic wages and bonus packages, by way of family or government etc
Surge effect, if you let your house get cold, then turn the heating on for an hour, it will go full pelt to hit your target temp. So full on for an hour at those rip off prices . Agree though, the energy prices are down to Gov mismanaging it, we produce next to nothing here so have to buy it at high prices. This is what is fuelling inflation, when these prices fall, inflation will fall.
When British Gas was privatised ("If you see Sid, tell him"), we were told that privatisation would make the supply of gas more efficient and save us (the consumer) money. Private industry is much more efficient than public ownership, we were repeatedly told. And look where we are. My gas was disconnected when I moved 10 years ago as the central heating boiler was knackered and so was the rad system. I went wood fired as I can get free logs as part of my work and I have the space to season and dry it. I knocked two rooms together to make a sitting room/office and chopped out the original small fireplace and put in a big chimney breast with an 'inglenook' to take a big/oversize wood burner. The mass of masonry acts like a storage heater and heats the bedroom above. So I have slipped all the gas bills at the cost of doing the work on the house to make it work. So far, so smug, but here's the downside: Woodsure and set-up costs. My set-up cost was around £2k. I didn't have to get any permission as I own the house. I have the space to build a wood store and the skill to build it with recycled/repurposed materials. Not everyone is so lucky. There were (and are) issues with people burning wood to heat their homes. If you burn at less than 20% moisture and use a well-designed wood burner, pollution is kept at a minimum as combustion efficiency is maximised. Pollution from burning wet/green wood is an issue, especially in the suburbs or in towns where houses are densely packed. Don't get me started on burning coal. Our masters were right to do something about trying to ensure that bought wood fuel was 'ready to burn'. So they brought in Woodsure, which hasn't worked as many suppliers registered with Woodsure (which costs £300+) are still supplying wet logs. I never saw any consultation on it and I work in the sector (ecologis/woodland manager). They gave councils powers to act to ensure that if a complaint about smoke pollution is received, receipts can be demanded to 'prove' that wood fuel being burned is sold at less than 20%. I buy none of my fuel. I cut it myself (hazel coppice) and season it myself. Oh dear...... Still, no complaints yet as after 10 years only some of the neighbours have noticed and at least two have copied what I've done. Check out the channel to see where my fuel comes from and the nature conservation benefits (and carbon capture benefits and carbon sustainability benefits) of why I do it. But again, very few people can actually do this sort of thing. Liked your 'rant'. Shutting up now......
Ordinary people are being screwed all over. Our wages and benefits etc are not keeping pace with the cost of living! Rents, Mortgages going up, food soaring in price. Energy is a rip off as well
I now literally everywhere I go at the moment the price is being put up. Then I try and just stay in and not spend money, and have to keep warm and end up spending all my money 😂😂 cannot win
Something definitely wrong £1.40 a day @ 0.34036p per kWh = 4.113 kWh. Your fridge is either on continuously or something else is on. Your fridge should use less than ~1 kWh per day 34 pence. Get a plugin power meter and seen what your fridge is using or count the red led flashes (1000 per kW normally) 1 per watt, and time the difference between flashes .
they did say not to use the gas as they would need it to produce electricity now we do not use central heating on ever we never used it ,as we are cold blooded people i guess if we do need to get a bit warm we shut the window ,this is no joke but electricity has shot up.
Aye, your gas boiler would have an elecy pump, doing me in n all, they keep wanting to me to get a smart meter. I am on prepay I just work out how much I use a day by looking at the meter display.
@@wanderingturnip going to another company will make it a "dumb" meter anyway, I doubt they will remove it though, however I have not done much research on that.
