I don't know about you lot

[patman post]

I guess we should be checking more, but we've been paying £110 a month for gas and electricity and our last bill said we were £360 in credit. If this winter's cold, and energy prices raise really high, and Mum visits for more than an evening, we'll probably wipe out our credit in a couple of days...

[papasmurf]

Maybe.
But Steve is talking about dual fuel, both electricity and gas, and his partner might be using a lot of energy to grow their stash.

It is still a lot of money for the size of property.

[Barry]

The electricity bill for my home, (semi detached bungalow is £64 a month.) If it went to £100 a month I would be getting an electrical inspection and the meter checked.

Maybe.
But Steve is talking about dual fuel, both electricity and gas, and his partner might be using a lot of energy to grow their stash.

[papasmurf]

Of course he lives alone.

Any wife/girlfriend would have looked at that bill and torn EON's balls off.

The electricity bill for my home, (semi detached bungalow is £64 a month.) If it went to £100 a month I would be getting an electrical inspection and the meter checked.

[Borchester]

Maybe Steve doesn't live alone and can manage his own affairs.

Of course he lives alone.

Any wife/girlfriend would have looked at that bill and torn EON's balls off.

[Barry]

I hate to agree with Pappy, but he might have a point. Steve might do well to find another supplier.

Maybe Steve doesn't live alone and can manage his own affairs.

[Borchester]

I suggest you need a full electrical inspection and the meter checking.

I hate to agree with Pappy, but he might have a point. Steve might do well to find another supplier.

[papasmurf]

Millions of people on low incomes, many of them working, deal with means testing every month.

Many benefits are already means tested when applying for them.
But widespread means testing is very expensive to do, and the cost many universal benefits can be clawed back via the tax system.

[Sheepy]

Just hang on a cotton pickin minute there.
It's true what Borchester says, but he hasn't factored in the extra costs of essentials like food, which are all going up in line with inflation, currently over 3% and likely to be 5% shortly.
Energy is only part of the equation, but it will be cheap if it all goes off on the coldest windiest days.

And as T00ts alluded to, you can't compare the 14% with the 2.2%.  A bit of Barry mischief.

Barry likes his maths, which can be a bit of squirm time for some. I couldn't help but smile when they were waved away with the sleight of hand and the soup kitchens were the alternative.

[srb7677]

But everyone immediately shouts foul play if you even mention the phrase means tested.

I think means testing is reasonable. Millions of people on low incomes, many of them working, deal with means testing every month. It is just part of life for them. And when Covid first began last year, as someone with a vulnerable condition I was furloughed off for 3 months on full basic pay by my employer. But since I only have a part time contract and rely on overtime, this left me critically short. So for those three months only I was claiming Universal Credit. That this involved a degree of means testing seemed normal and rational to me.

Means testing is a wholly reasonable way of directing resources where they are needed. The problem can be when the starting point is not generous enough, or when the rate of clawback is too harshly disincentivising, as with the withdrawal of 62p of UC for every quid earned. But to be fair to the government, this nevertheless does represent a big improvement on what went before, when people used to lose a quid in benefits for every quid earned and were thus expected to work for nothing in many cases. UC is an attempt to recognise the reality that very few people are motivated to work for nothing and is thus an attempt to make all work pay. And it does help, especially with the 20 quid upgrade that should I believe be retained for now.

It is worth noting, though, that a 62% rate of tax on high earners would be considered massively disincentivising, yet the low paid are expected to be motivated by a de facto loss of 62% of every pound they earn. What should change is that the tapered clawback rate should be much more generous, no higher than 40% at most, and the costs of this reduced by encouraging higher pay by employers. Not forcing employers to pay more NI would have been a help here.

[Barry]

And as T00ts alluded to, you can't compare the 14% with the 2.2%.  A bit of Barry mischief.

Just hang on a cotton pickin minute there.
It's true what Borchester says, but he hasn't factored in the extra costs of essentials like food, which are all going up in line with inflation, currently over 3% and likely to be 5% shortly.
Energy is only part of the equation, but it will be cheap if it all goes off on the coldest windiest days.

[papasmurf]

I am 56 and only have a one bedroom flat yet Eon is charging me 100 a month for gas and electricity.

I suggest you need a full electrical inspection and the meter checking.

[Borchester]

And as T00ts alluded to, you can't compare the 14% with the 2.2%.  A bit of Barry mischief.

Steve is in work and Gerry should be leaving school in a few years, so they should crack on and keep Barry and I in the style to which we have become accustomed. Meanwhile we cottontops have an extra £7 a month and no one wants theirs, they can send it to me where I will put it to bad use.

[Nick]

Shell currently take £158 a month off me so a 14% increase will mean an increase of about £22.12.

The government pays me £1311 a month so a 2.2% increase should mean an extra £28.84.

So it looks as I will end up with nearly an extra £7 a month!

I will be rich, rich !!

And as T00ts alluded to, you can't compare the 14% with the 2.2%.  A bit of Barry mischief.

[Borchester]

Lucky you we've been told by shell they want £125 a month.

Shell currently take £158 a month off me so a 14% increase will mean an increase of about £22.12.

The government pays me £1311 a month so a 2.2% increase should mean an extra £28.84.

So it looks as I will end up with nearly an extra £7 a month!

I will be rich, rich !!