Household bills gone up?

lozgti · 09-10-2007, 08:10

Having a chunter to the wife last night about these articles saying we have less disposable income than we have had in a decade.

Lovely wife tells me she is not surprised seeing as virtually all of our normal bills (gas/electric/water/) have doubled

and yes she does shop around for the best deals.Even our normal food bill is apparantly an extra £30 a week

Anyone else feeling the pinch or noticed everything shooting up? (forgot about petrol too

)

ScoobyChris · 09-10-2007, 08:58

Yup - shame the only thing that hasn't doubled is my salary

Chris

swedishskoda · 09-10-2007, 09:08

I do feel the pinch. Looking at official statistics it seems as if the feeling is worse than reality, but I'm not sure - my wallet is not statistical...

With the breaking up of national monopolies here in Sweden some things became cheaper (telephone bills has gone down a lot) and other things have become more expensive (e.g. electricity, and since our house is electrically heated this doesn't go unnoticed).

Meat seems to have been a lot more expensive during this summer and the price of fish has risen constantly for over a decade. I nowadays have to pay £4 or so per lb. of cod fillet.

Petrol is not that awful (yet), 86p per litre (95RON). And I know that should I try to drive as economical as possible all the time I could probably cut fuel consumtion with 5-10 percent.

The breaking up of monopolies and increasing competition is a twin-edged sword. We could probably cut household costs a bit if we thoroughly compared prices on electricity, insurance, telephone. But it would take a week full time on the internet and it's soooo boring.

ap0gee · 09-10-2007, 09:12

Yup - and fuel prices really do have a lot to answer for on this IMHO, even for some of the less-obvious stuff...

ZootyRS · 09-10-2007, 09:58

Yup.

There were claims a few months back that gas/elec prices were coming down. My bills don't seem any smaller.

I choked when the water bill arrived the other week. They normally read the meter every 6 months, but last time we got an underestimated estimate, so this time the bill is nearly twice the normal amount. I've given up pay-on-receipt-of-bill and signed up for monthly dd

**robmawer** · 09-10-2007, 10:05

A couple of years back my water bill went from £150pa to £300pa which was a bit of a surprise.

Council tax is a fairly steady rise but always at modest percentage.

Gas and electricity always seem to be the same regardless of whichever company happens to be billing me at the time - can't remember back a decade to how expensive it was then, but over the last 5 years there hasn't been any noticeable sharp increases...

Brand-for-brand food prices seem to have increased, but at the same time there's always value brands which seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper. If I'm honest I don't really look at food prices *that* closely when I'm shopping...

Rob.

mac67 · 09-10-2007, 10:53

I think i must be one of the few people who doesn't complain about bill size:

Electric bill: Approx £100 per quarter (includes heating and hot water)
Water: £10 per month (we have a septic tank which keeps it cheap and its maintenance free)
Gas: Approx £10 per quarter (used for cooking on hob and occasionally a gas fire in main sitting room.
Food: £60 per week for me and SWMBO and son who i see twice a week
Diesel: Approx £80 per month

On the other hand, cost of running, maintaining and modding Fabia £100s per month

mac67 · 11-10-2007, 06:08

Just had my gas bill through which was held up by the postal strike. £8.79.... woohoo!

daiking · 11-10-2007, 06:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by lozgti

Having a chunter to the wife last night about these articles saying we have less disposable income than we have had in a decade.

Lovely wife tells me she is not surprised seeing as virtually all of our normal bills (gas/electric/water/) have doubled

and yes she does shop around for the best deals.Even our normal food bill is apparantly an extra £30 a week

Anyone else feeling the pinch or noticed everything shooting up? (forgot about petrol too

)

I can't see why you would think this, the government's figure for inflation is 1.8%

Things have never been better...

**mannyo** · 11-10-2007, 08:34

The gas/electric bills at home have skyrocketed in the last 12 months, U switch say we are on the best we can currently get, yet our electric is more than £60 a month.

soviet · 11-10-2007, 09:28

Hi,

Have just paid my second annual installment of £77.44 to the leaky people, Thames Water. I can't ever remember this being so high. I deliberately make them wait for it until I receive the red reminder, as I learnt my lesson the hard way.
As I do not like bills of any description,and like to get them out of the way, last year, I had the reminder for payment on about the first of September, and so I put a cheque in the post, with the due date of the 1st October on it, and wrote on the back along with the customer account number, 'not to be cashed until the due date of 1st October', but having looked at my Halifax account on line three days later, I saw that Thames water had cashed it instantly.

I complained to them, and they said, 'you need to take it up with your bank', and so I duely did, and was told, 'Oh I expect no one even bothered to look at the date on the cheque, or read your note on the back, and in any case you should not post date cheques'.

I now wait for the red reminder, and pay on line, and last time out off devilment I reversed the pence digits, i.e. instead of 63 pence I put 36 pence, just to see if dear old Thames Water would pick up on it, and write to me. They didn't pick it up though.
What a lot of money it is for a drop of water, and I suppose in the future some bright spark will come up with the idea of charging for air.

Soviet ( if it moves, nationalise it)

**mannyo** · 11-10-2007, 09:35

I guess we are lucky with water, we dont have a meter and seem to pay less than those that do.

09-10-2007, 08:10	#1
lozgti Briskodian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: midlands Posts: 5,719 Members Car: Thanks: 10 Thanked 12 Times in 12 Posts	Household bills gone up? Having a chunter to the wife last night about these articles saying we have less disposable income than we have had in a decade. Lovely wife tells me she is not surprised seeing as virtually all of our normal bills (gas/electric/water/) have doubled and yes she does shop around for the best deals.Even our normal food bill is apparantly an extra £30 a week Anyone else feeling the pinch or noticed everything shooting up? (forgot about petrol too )

09-10-2007, 08:58	#2
ScoobyChris Briskodian Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Andover Posts: 18,195 Members Car: Fiat Panda Thanks: 15 Thanked 336 Times in 290 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? Yup - shame the only thing that hasn't doubled is my salary Chris __________________ Holding up the traffic in a little Italian..........

09-10-2007, 09:08	#3
swedishskoda Briskadoodian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Sweden Posts: 3,092 Members Car: Felly Estate 1.6 LXi 1998 Thanks: 50 Thanked 165 Times in 151 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? I do feel the pinch. Looking at official statistics it seems as if the feeling is worse than reality, but I'm not sure - my wallet is not statistical... With the breaking up of national monopolies here in Sweden some things became cheaper (telephone bills has gone down a lot) and other things have become more expensive (e.g. electricity, and since our house is electrically heated this doesn't go unnoticed). Meat seems to have been a lot more expensive during this summer and the price of fish has risen constantly for over a decade. I nowadays have to pay £4 or so per lb. of cod fillet. Petrol is not that awful (yet), 86p per litre (95RON). And I know that should I try to drive as economical as possible all the time I could probably cut fuel consumtion with 5-10 percent. The breaking up of monopolies and increasing competition is a twin-edged sword. We could probably cut household costs a bit if we thoroughly compared prices on electricity, insurance, telephone. But it would take a week full time on the internet and it's soooo boring.

09-10-2007, 09:12	#4
ap0gee ASZ Eternal Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Leafy Chesh-shire Posts: 6,862 Members Car: Black Magic Fabia vRS Thanks: 346 Thanked 366 Times in 317 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? Yup - and fuel prices really do have a lot to answer for on this IMHO, even for some of the less-obvious stuff... __________________

09-10-2007, 09:58	#5
ZootyRS Frustrated Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: It's grim Posts: 1,948 Members Car: Passat by day, Octy RS by night Thanks: 18 Thanked 18 Times in 15 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? Yup. There were claims a few months back that gas/elec prices were coming down. My bills don't seem any smaller. I choked when the water bill arrived the other week. They normally read the meter every 6 months, but last time we got an underestimated estimate, so this time the bill is nearly twice the normal amount. I've given up pay-on-receipt-of-bill and signed up for monthly dd __________________ My goal is to replace my soul with coffee and become immortal

09-10-2007, 10:05	#6
robmawer Briskodian Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Rochdale Posts: 12,476 Members Car: Octavia 1.6 Ambiente Thanks: 2 Thanked 74 Times in 67 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? A couple of years back my water bill went from £150pa to £300pa which was a bit of a surprise. Council tax is a fairly steady rise but always at modest percentage. Gas and electricity always seem to be the same regardless of whichever company happens to be billing me at the time - can't remember back a decade to how expensive it was then, but over the last 5 years there hasn't been any noticeable sharp increases... Brand-for-brand food prices seem to have increased, but at the same time there's always value brands which seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper. If I'm honest I don't really look at food prices that closely when I'm shopping... Rob. __________________

09-10-2007, 10:53	#7
mac67 Mmm Skodacious! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: West Cumbria Posts: 896 Members Car: '04 Fabia VRS in Black magic, re-mapped to 180bhp, goes like **** off a stick! Thanks: 48 Thanked 27 Times in 25 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? I think i must be one of the few people who doesn't complain about bill size: Electric bill: Approx £100 per quarter (includes heating and hot water) Water: £10 per month (we have a septic tank which keeps it cheap and its maintenance free) Gas: Approx £10 per quarter (used for cooking on hob and occasionally a gas fire in main sitting room. Food: £60 per week for me and SWMBO and son who i see twice a week Diesel: Approx £80 per month On the other hand, cost of running, maintaining and modding Fabia £100s per month __________________ If this post can be interpreted in two different ways, it was meant the good way! Fabia VRS 180 Angel Tuning re-map, Jabbasports rear ARB, PD160 air intake pipe and Green cotton air filter, Millers Diesel Power Sport 4 fuel additive, Briskoda sticker (front and rear windscreen), Navman F20, set of Rosary beads blessed by the pope!

11-10-2007, 06:08	#8
mac67 Mmm Skodacious! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: West Cumbria Posts: 896 Members Car: '04 Fabia VRS in Black magic, re-mapped to 180bhp, goes like **** off a stick! Thanks: 48 Thanked 27 Times in 25 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? Just had my gas bill through which was held up by the postal strike. £8.79.... woohoo! __________________ If this post can be interpreted in two different ways, it was meant the good way! Fabia VRS 180 Angel Tuning re-map, Jabbasports rear ARB, PD160 air intake pipe and Green cotton air filter, Millers Diesel Power Sport 4 fuel additive, Briskoda sticker (front and rear windscreen), Navman F20, set of Rosary beads blessed by the pope!

11-10-2007, 08:34	#10
mannyo BRISKODA Staff Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Stevenage Herts. Posts: 11,467 Members Car: Octavia 2.0 TDi Elegance Thanks: 58 Thanked 359 Times in 330 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? The gas/electric bills at home have skyrocketed in the last 12 months, U switch say we are on the best we can currently get, yet our electric is more than £60 a month. __________________ Manny 2005 Octavia 2.0TDi Elegance combi my skoda website http://www.octaviars.co.uk Join the briskoda.net folding team click Here for more info

11-10-2007, 09:28	#11
soviet Briskodian Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Swindon Posts: 925 Members Car: skoda 2002 1600 lx saloon Thanks: 63 Thanked 19 Times in 19 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? Hi, Have just paid my second annual installment of £77.44 to the leaky people, Thames Water. I can't ever remember this being so high. I deliberately make them wait for it until I receive the red reminder, as I learnt my lesson the hard way. As I do not like bills of any description,and like to get them out of the way, last year, I had the reminder for payment on about the first of September, and so I put a cheque in the post, with the due date of the 1st October on it, and wrote on the back along with the customer account number, 'not to be cashed until the due date of 1st October', but having looked at my Halifax account on line three days later, I saw that Thames water had cashed it instantly. I complained to them, and they said, 'you need to take it up with your bank', and so I duely did, and was told, 'Oh I expect no one even bothered to look at the date on the cheque, or read your note on the back, and in any case you should not post date cheques'. I now wait for the red reminder, and pay on line, and last time out off devilment I reversed the pence digits, i.e. instead of 63 pence I put 36 pence, just to see if dear old Thames Water would pick up on it, and write to me. They didn't pick it up though. What a lot of money it is for a drop of water, and I suppose in the future some bright spark will come up with the idea of charging for air. Soviet ( if it moves, nationalise it)

11-10-2007, 09:35	#12
mannyo BRISKODA Staff Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Stevenage Herts. Posts: 11,467 Members Car: Octavia 2.0 TDi Elegance Thanks: 58 Thanked 359 Times in 330 Posts	Re: Household bills gone up? I guess we are lucky with water, we dont have a meter and seem to pay less than those that do. __________________ Manny 2005 Octavia 2.0TDi Elegance combi my skoda website http://www.octaviars.co.uk Join the briskoda.net folding team click Here for more info

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