Energy Prices

I worked out that the cost of living increase from 22-23 has seen us as a family loose just under £3000 to it

And as a small business owner I’ve not been able to give myself a pay rise since 2020, staff have.

Any increase in profit our business has made has gone to the increase in all overhead

It’s a very bad time to run a small micro business

Nightrider_1uk Absolutely on the updates. An operating system without security updates, if it’s being connected to the internet, is just a timebomb.

If anyone is on the Octopus Tracker - keep an eye out when it’s due to expire.

Last year the email was worded as “do nothing and we will continue you on the tracker”

This year “do nothing and we will put you on the flexible tariff - please reply to the email if you wish to stay on the tracker”

Cheers

Matt

To be fair to Octopus they let me know in very good time when my deal was coming to an end and yes, said the same to me, giving me plenty of time to look at the new tariffs and go for one that suited me being an EV driver, which gives me 10p per kWh between the hours of 11:30pm and 5:30am when I charge my car.

Having said that, I’m not even having to use the home charger at the moment, because where my other half works (42 miles round trip) they have just got EV’s for thier managers and put charging points in their car park free to use. She goes into the office twice a week and books a charging point for 4 hours and so it is costing us nowt to run at the moment, unless we do over 280 miles in one trip….which is rare.

Yes I have a very smug look on my face as I type this…☺️

DavecUK After about 8 years, I would be dubious of the remaining storage capacity of the batteries, they might well need changing by then

DavecUK Is it worth getting a storage battery and inverter for those days when you are not charging your car might well have a 8 year payback and be something worth exploring?

Would love to have both solar and batteries but just do not have the capital to buy them.

App the fixed deals may be coming back. Quick let’s fix at £4k per year…

powers that be are letting us have some breathing space, to save up for our winter bill, july will see prices comedown for a while….

The Wholesale price gas and electricity is 4x what it was in June 2020. Back then it was approx 4p per Kw/Hr for Electricity and 1p per Kw/Hr for gas Now its approx 12p for Electricity and 4p for Gas

Chuffin Hell! I just went on-line and have seen that I am over £800 in credit on my gas and electric and I am just about to pay my June direct debit payment, which at the moment stands at - after we lost the £67 government help - £237 per month.

I think I need to re-assess.

I could rant about this for ages. Consumers are basically being screwed in both ways whilst the energy companies profiteer and government protect them. Eviscerating our gas storage, not being able to fix to spot, wind being almost impossible to put on your own land, solar panels being villified, forest management being trash, the prebuying being paid for by the consumer in advance, our own gas not being for our benefit. It’s a huge mess.

It’s reflected at the pumps too; we’re not protected in any way. And don’t get me started on boat energy costs.

Not got this issue with Octopus - if you have credit you can request a refund and adjust your DD as you like (they will suggest a payment amount based on your bills)

Anybody can request a refund from their supplier if they re in credit

Funnily enough though octopus have now altered the DD setting, atleast for me, I used to be able to choose any amount. Last summer I set our DD to £90 to cover bills, now the minimum I can set is £220

I don’t bank with octopus so I have just enough to cover what’s going out, I’m currently now £200 in credit and coming into summer paying £220 per month

It’s the biggest con going