Cost of living: what are your biggest concerns?

I agree with you, Vynor. There is a creeping rise in prices for everyday necessities [sometimes disguised by adjustments in the size, volume or quantity].

What might not be taken into account in considering energy bills is that people are staying indoors a lot more these days and using more heating fuel. This might be offset to some extent by reduced travel costs, but in your case, with a hybrid vehicle and some long journeys, what you save at the pumps might cost you more at the electricity meter.

Many of us are already fairly frugal in our lifestyles and making further savings or cutting back becomes increasingly difficult.

Vynor – If you are interested in keeping a track on energy costs you could have smart meters installed free. My display unit shows that since midnight I have used £3.37 since midnight, made of 90p electricity and £2.46 in gas. It is bitterly cold today and the total could reach £4.50 by midnight. I can look at the website and see how much I am spending each day. At present I have a credit balance of £5.04. Smart meters have been criticised but for those who worry about the next bill and don’t understand what costs most to run they are helpful. When I get round to buying an EV I hope to have a smart charger that automatically uses cheap rate electricity overnight.

I’m not using the car at the moment because it is covered in ice. I should have cleaned off the snow promptly but I’m not as smart as my meters. As John has said it costs more if you are in most of the day.

Just on the matter of ‘free’ smart meters – twice in the last two years my prices increased and then dropped again (I’m talking about prior to the current ACTUAL cost increases), coinciding with two waves of smart meter roll-out. Every consumer gets hit by the smart meter installation charges. I even asked my supplier if I could get a discount for NOT having a smart meter installed and they straight away said No. As somebody said long ago, nothing in life is really free.

I know, Vynor, and I have been disappointed in the amount of money that has been spent on the roll-out of smart meters. I inherited my smart meters with the house and when I changed supplier I had to have new ones and a new display unit to be compatible with my new supplier. That additional expense could have been avoided if the companies involved and the government had foreseen the problem. Never mind, the customers can share the costs, even those who don’t have smart meters. 🙁

I learned how to read the meters and do the sums to calculate electricity and gas bills when I was a teenager, but not everyone can do this and some have meters in inconvenient places. The real benefit of smart meters will be to encourage us to use electricity when there is less demand – overnight and at certain times of day. This will help even out the demand on the grid and reduce costs.

I save on heating costs by heating only the rooms I am going to be using. When I go out I turn off the heating and turn it on when I get home. I was surprised to see that my energy use amounted to £5.91 one day, but that was because I had the oven on several times and had used both the washing machine and dishwasher. Being at home all day adds to energy bills but saves in other ways. Now I have to spend £90 on an online order from Waitrose to use a £14 voucher. This is all insignificant compared with the effect of inflation and low return from savings.

I believe the problem of incompatible smart meters was foreseen by government and industry. The protocols for universal use had not been developed when they were introduced. I would hazard a guess that their “premature” introduction was the threat from the EC that fines would be imposed on any state not meeting deadlines. The UK has always seemed to be receptive to such threats.

This is, I think, an interesting overview http://watt-logic.com/2018/06/13/smets2/