Actual cost of living

I recall a certain Mr A Todger… singing the praises of night storage heaters. Was never convinced myself, other than they used cheaper tariff times.

@susan_m@Dextrous63 …storage heaters are absolute rubbish … and costly rubbish at that.
Give me a good old electric bar fire or a nice gas fire/radiator.

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I wish it was all sweetness and light here but the cost of power has gone up tremendously in the last year.

I just got this from my last bill

25c/kWh (13p) for general power. A year ago it was 22c

15c/kWh (8p) for off peak ie hot water - it doesn’t seem that long ago it was 2c because they wanted you to use it to save on oil.

But this is what really bugs me - they charge me 85c per day just to supply power to my house which I think is outrageous. That’s something like $80 a quarter and co incidentally is the same as the rebate I get as a pensioner each quarter. If they would knock that cost down with a smart meter I would be begging for them to fit one.

BTW it is one of the reasons I won’t have gas connected. Why pay two standing charges?

The generation problem is confined to the east coast where the coal fired power stations are coming to the end of their life and they can’t compete on price with renewable energy. The closure of these stations is overtaking the building of gas fired and renewable plants hence a forecast power shortage. There was a coal fired power station which closed after 10 years in WA purely because it was uneconomic, their normal life is up to 50 years. When I worked in Power Stations (and every station had its own mine), coal was $5 a tonne now it is $125/tonne

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Aye. Stuff ambient heat. What we want is dried and burnt shin skin. :grin:

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Aye … good times … like when they warned that sitting on top of radiators, to keep your bum snug …gave you piles.

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Huh? 13p for a kWh?
I need a lie down.

I know!! Maybe the post was late and its a bill for 85 years ago thats just arrived!!!

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Seriously, how much would it cost to run an extension cable over to your gaff Bruce?

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I agree it is ridiculous, no wonder everybody is putting solar panels on their roof, My daughter has just covered her roof with them and bought a battery (I have my doubts about the economics of the battery)

They are both working during the day so rather than sell the excess power to the electricity company they would rather store it and use it in the evening. I am interested to see what their bills will be.

Oh! my mistake, I thought you were saying how expensive it was. What do you pay for a kWh?

I thought with nuclear power yours was cheaper and it was just heating the place in winter that was the big expense.

I know you did … but I’m still lying down, too overcome with shock to splutter out my disbelief.

With the price cap, average is 34p per kWh.

So far I have used £15 , and it’s 6-51 am…I refuse to skimp on keeping warm, I have two modern storage heaters, plus an electric fire for background heat, I love my storage heaters even though they are more costly to run, my friend has gas with radiators, it’s freezing in her house, she has it on low, my priority is heat and food…and it’s dangerous for older people to be in a cold room all day long…plus it’s not good for the house to be freezing cold…pipes can freeze.

I still have my water bottle as well…I know what it’s like to live in a freezing cold house, .those days are gone, plus your clothes can smell as well, when you put them away after ironing, then when you take them out of the cupboard when you need them, they have a horrible musky smell.

The price of electricity has risen from 20c (17p) in January to 28c ( 24p) in September for a kWh which I’ve been paying since, further increases pending. My total consumption is 1,635 kWh a year for which I pay £464, i.e. £38 a month for a two bed condo. The average consumption for a two-person household is said to be 2,550 kWh/year. That’s electricity only. Gas heating is the real issue and comes on top.

Fresh off the press (well, email)

We are with OVO energy and pay 31.49p per kWh for electricity and 9.78p per kWh for gas. Our monthly direct debit is £83. We only heat 4 radiators.

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I’m with Ovo Energy too and I pay 32.24p plus standing charge of 50.13p for electricity and 9.92p plus standing charge of 27.12 for gas. All prices exclude VAT.

Umm, I feel your pain and frankly quite shocked. Mine fades into insignificance but we have been warned the price of electricity will increase by 50% over the next two years if that is any comfort.

It reminds me of my council rates notice which I received when my brother was visiting from the UK, it had gone up 3% from the previous year and I was complaining (raving) to him about the cost of council services. He had a look at my annual bill and said that his council rates were slightly less BUT for each month!

We always think of Australia as being a very expensive country in which to live but it does appear that some things are relatively cheap and our wages/pensions do compensate slightly. I shall not be complaining about power prices for a little while at least (though the standing charge will remain a sore point)

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Contrary to expectations, I’m not inclined to feed on your forthcoming misery😊

The war in Ukraine and consequent fuel hikes have been a sharp wake-up call for most people. We can only hope that some resolution can be reached so as to return things to a less irksome level, while we forge ahead at finding other energy sources somewhat more pronto than up to now!!!

Tosh!. :grin: