Energy prices predicted to rise to £3,850 in January...

Well, that thoroughly depressed me even more. I don't believe the British people are as stupid as that article portrays and you always have to be on the side of truth and honesty.
The extra deaths this winter, won't be from the cold,they will be from the increased number of suicides. People see no hope in this country, whatever their age or political persuasion, no amount of lies will alter that.

 

The theory is that Russia forced the price up last winter to pay for the invasion this spring - and also to show Western countries how reliant they were on Russia and what could happen if they intervened.

 

Of course, the counter-argument is that if we had completely switched to renewable energy we'd be laughing at the countries facing the pain now. Since 2015, the Tories have been rolling back the incentives to switch to renewables and improve home insulation so the rate of progress slowed significantly. Unfortunately, too many of their fingers are in too many oil/gas company pies.

Currently (https://grid.iamkate.com/) 27% of our electricity is renewables - 9:52 on 30th August. Of that, 16.8% is wind power - if we had ~6x the number of turbines we'd be running 100% on wind with no gas for electricity and no price hike for using gas. Another 9.9% is solar - again 10x the number of installations and we'd be running 100% on solar with no price hike. The amount of solar will increase as the day progresses, and will probably hit 20% by lunchtime.

With sufficient investment, we could be 100% off coal (and until very recently we were importing Russian and Belarusian coal) and gas (only 6-9% was Russian, but the prices were driven up by the market) - and with nuclear and hydroelectric for baseload on other days we'd be Carbon neutral for electricity. We'd all be better off and the atmosphere would be cleaner. Win-win all around.

 

They may have taken advantage of the situation but i don't think they arranged for a cold winter in Europe leaving Stocks lower. The increased demand from Asia for liquefied natural Gas. This coupled with the unprecedented change in demand with most of Europe choosing to shut down then re open economies.
A perfect storm that would have seen Gas prices rising drastically anyway.
It would be more likely Russia/Putin just saw a opportunity and took it.

 

@Loko the Tyke

This article paints a very bleak picture

BBC News - Pubs face closure due to soaring energy bills
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62688692

 

The rises are just too steep to be absorbed. Then you have the likelihood of less people eating and drinking out through the winter as they struggle with their own bills.
The Hospitality sector is poised once again to take the brunt of the pain. I really feel for everyone I the sector.

 

I’m not a person given to worrying but what lies ahead I dread to think about.

I heard Alister Darling on the radio yesterday talking about how they dealt with the financial crash. Just listening to him highlighted the vast gulf there is between the statesman we had then and the chancers we have now. His main point was, that in a crisis, you have to take decisive action - do more than people expect and do it fast. What chance have we got with this lot?

Mind you Brown and Darling were pretty boring. Perhaps we'll be better off with some vacuous tub-thumping patriots.

 

No i have zero confidence aswell. Its disgraceful that they continue with a self indulgent leadership campaign while this is on the horizon. It's definitely scary to think what might be in store.

 

Wonder if football clubs will play midweek fixtures in afternoon before gets dark,floodlights must cost a fare bit each game?

 

https://www.isthmian.co.uk/league-approves-early-starts-to-help-clubs-combat--71678

Could do as early starts are already allowed in the lower leagues because of it. I can see EFL clubs this winter wanting Saturday home games to kick off around midday to save on energy costs.

 

Not thought of that!

 

Further to this I was out in the car earlier and listening to 5live. They were doing a section on small business energy charges and it was devastating. Most seeing rises if 300% and more. Some will be making the decision to close down now.
Meanwhile the Government sits and waits.

 

I can easily see clubs folding. Forking out £20+ to watch a match when you can't afford to heat your home or feed your kids sounds like a non-starter to me. If the choice is whether to buy a season ticket next June or use the money to stay alive, it's no choice at all.

 

None league clubs could certainly be in a lot of trouble.

 

Some of us on here will remember exactly this happening in the early 70's in the midst of miners' strikes and power cuts while Ted Heath was in power. I seem to recall a fixture against Wrexham (I think) at Oakwell which took place on a midweek afternoon. A few of us were on the bus back from school in Sheffield and legged it down to Oakwell to get in when the big gates were opened in the second half. If I've got the right game the Reds won 2-1 with goals from Jimmy Seal and Kenny Brown. The crowd (in the circumstances) was 2,185. JLWBigLil was probably there!

 

Do you turn your heat pump off in the summer months and obtain hot water via electric / solar or do you keep the pump on for the hot water? Looking at ways to try and cut down energy usage if I can as I’m staring down the barrel of a mental monthly electricity bill!

 

We keep the heat pump on all year, but we change the heating curve in summer so that it doesn't waste energy warming water for the heating that isn't needed. We also have the heat pump timer set so that it only heats water for the heating when it's light, so that even in winter it uses solar if available. We still get hot water for showers etc from the heat pump, but we set it on a timer for an hour either side of midday, so it uses solar as far as possible. In summary, the heat pump costs us nothing to run from May to September, unless there's a total eclipse.

 

Pubs shutting already

https://news.sky.com/story/brewdog-...ect-of-help-from-clueless-government-12686261