How are you coping?

Hi all, HOLD ON TIGHT! =============== Whenever we have an economic spike, often it's followed by an implosion. I believe that far more than energy prices, the conflict in Ukraine has had far more effect on food than energy. Energy was rising anyway. So what to look out for now? There are so many profiteering rackets going on. Retailers & manufacturing in turn have all lined their pockets & are still doing so now. Big brands, the like. Nothing new in that. It's happening all of the time. So even whilst industrial action rolls on, the areas that can't compete will either be closing shops, pubs or telling staff to take a pay-cut. It's all out there & these are already some of the signs that I'm seeing. It's like college course work homework all over again. Pensioners! Don't be surprised if the RPI next Sept is zero! In the meantime, as the war in Ukraine rattles on, that maybe as much as a fifth of your energy bills are cut, as suppliers ply for your custom. I've no prior knowledge of this, we are talking over my breaky cuppa. It's only my opinion. On the subject of my cuppa, I'm off to a local chapel coffee time, following that I visit the fish & chippy for my lunch. Does that make me a chipmunk?

No, it makes you a monkfish Until the governments stop relying on wind and solar, the price of energy will always be a problem come winter. Time and again experts warn ministers that those sources are unreliable and we need a near 100% alternative supply of energy for when the wind doesn't blow. That alternative supply will want funding when the wind does blow because they're not a charity. The obvious choice for a reliable, carbon free supply is nuclear but if you've got nuclear you don't need wind or solar. Everything, especially farming needs energy, so fluctuates in price along with it. Nuclear is not cheap but it could be cheaper than the experiments we're currently experiencing.

For a number of years I have kept watch on where our electricity comes from at https://gridwatch.templar.co.uk/. This has led me to believe blackouts at some point will be inevitable. I have a changeover isolating switch in my consumer box that enables me to switch to a back-up petrol generator (assuming petrol will still be available) for the essentials such as keeping the (gas) central heating running and the modem for my soon to be voip phone. My next door neighbour has PV's and battery back-up. We live in a moderately affluent area compared with most of Coventry and similar de-industrialised towns. I dread to think how those without means will cope if it takes several days to bring the grid back after a fault condition during a January blizzard, such as in 1963. Unlike our close European neighbours, the 'Frogs' who are always ready to revolt, we have been sitting in a pan, slowly being brought to the boil, oblivious of the end point. Fortunately, the 'Frogs' invested in nuclear and are providing 13.5% of our electricity atm. Will they be able to continue do this in winter? It was exciting to be brought up in a city under reconstruction and share my parents optimism for the future. I find I am unable to pass the same optimism to my children.

Hi all, I feel every vibe of that last post. I'm restricted from sharing my thoughts as they are so tied up with my faith. I've grown up to be a positive optimistic nature, which is why I struggle to cope with real disasters like my parents did, bombed out of three homes. Thank you all for your posts & contributions on this. Sharing what we can is a therapy in itself, I believe. Brill.

There is reason to be optimistic just based on history and known facts but the country needs a period of growing up. Most problems have solutions, we just need to be ready for the harder decisions. That our leaders still dither and faff, is actually a measure or how things aren't as bad as we fear.

Ditto Helen

Hi all, Energy unit prices coming down, but only because they are being forced. In times of shortage, manufacturers along with some parts of the supply chain, mostly do very well, extremely very well in some areas. There was a peak of price that sent the world mad, but for most of the time, wholesalers have been selling gas at prices compared to pre-pandemic levels. It reminds me of the accountants joke. Little boy addresses his mum, "Mummy, what happens to cars when they get old, rusty & won't go anymore"?, She replies angrily, "Yer dad buys it"? I know that there are political issues that do matter, which complicates the total scenario. We are not just buying energy, we are paying for the policy of reducing carbon footprint. Also, wholesale gas is priced in dollars, so our sterling exchange rate is unfriendly. Gas in dollars was more expensive a decade ago. As long as we know.

When you have world wide conferences and decisions on climate change with resolutions passed and trumpeted that we are all going to eliminate fossil fuel, that is gas and oil usage, and thereby putting the energy companies out of a very lucrative business, can you be surprised when they decide to make hay while the sun shines. I don't condone it but I can see their reaction.