Wonder what effect this will have on crunching in Europe?
Due to foresight got 30 days electricity left at the old price.
Didn't plan it this way but the date I top up on the new price is 5th Nov. :-(
Don't have to worry about gas until early Jan.
Energy costs to sky rocket?

But price volatility could continue as investors remain nervous about low stockpiles of gas across Europe.

Hindsight is okay but foresight is much better
Shame bozo's like Bojo thought so before they use a dumb soundbite like "Build Back Better"
Then again, bozo's seem to be everywhere these days, even in the energy industry.
"We noticed that you haven't topped up your gas in 4 months.
Please contact us for help if you're struggling in paying your bills."
I still can't get over the fact that they actually e-mailed that to me.
Prepayment is approx. £2 a month more expensive, but it sure beats getting a hefty bill every 3 months & more often as not, at the wrong time.

My fixed-price contract ends this month, and the replacement fixes are eye-watering.

Thanks goodness the Tories stole Ed Miliband's idea of a variable price cap (although they rubbished the idea when he first proposed it). I'll risk my luck with that for the next six months.

My fixed-price contract ends this month, and the replacement fixes are eye-watering.

Thanks goodness the Tories stole Ed Miliband's idea of a variable price cap (although they rubbished the idea when he first proposed it). I'll risk my luck with that for the next six months.

My supplier only has one rate but 3.4KW extra solar finally connected last week to go with 1.92KW already installed is already showing a big difference. Our bill will go down despite the increase. Gas usage will also go down as excess production will get dumped via immersion heater into thermal store rather than go back onto the grid.

Will look at figures in a couple of months' time to see if it is worth increasing size of immersion above the 1.2KW currently installed. Will take a further look after next summer when I will be able to tell if increasing it will just get the temperature up above the limit where it will turn off the diverter.

I think that's all most can do.
Seeing that report about prices, I felt great that I now have 6 months free of bills(excluding living expenses).
Hoping to make sure that I have topped up sufficient on gas & electric before April. That should take me to Oct(Gas) as electric...
Spreadsheets are great if used properly & regularly.
Forced into keeping a close eye on bills due to the local council messing up big time with their council tax system.
Took them on & won. :-)
Normally double up in Oct & Nov, but on 1st, said stuff it & paid all 4 remaining months.
Was looking forward to paying 2022-23 bill in one hit but after seeing the energy situation & now this, wondering if that is a good thing, considering I'll be collecting my pension a couple of months later.

My fixed-price contract ends this month, and the replacement fixes are eye-watering.

My old 3 year contract ends in December, just around the time the new prices for gas and electricity get re-indexed (we have them done every 1 July and 1 January). With the prices of gas sky rocketing all over Europe - it's not a UK only thing - and the prices of electricity following suit because a lot of electricity plants run on gas... it's best to renew any ending contracts early. Which I did. My new contract starts in December but against old prices. Okay, I go up a little (1 ct for electricity and 2 for gas), but that's better than the prices of the variable contract (3 ct up for electricity and 73 ct for gas!!!)

Edit: some people with a variable contract have gotten the new prices already and have to pay 80 to 155 euros extra per month on their instalment amount... brrr, no thanks.

use a dumb soundbite like "Build Back Better"

Build BOINC Better 😁

Bojo wants a high skill economy. I assumed when I heard that, it would mean he plans to resign so that we can have a leader who would set an example.

Build BOINC Better 😁

LOL

Now I can't get the image of Boris Johnson chasing Carrie round the cabinet table, calling "boinc, boinc, boinc", out of my mind.

No need to resign. We already have a high skilled economy.
If you can tick a box, you have a job for life, if not preplan & budget your box ticker's salary & as Harry Enfield used to say "LoadsaMoney" will be yours.

Now I can't get the image of Boris Johnson chasing Carrie round the cabinet table, calling "boinc, boinc, boinc", out of my mind.

& I thought me & Rob were "terrible". :-)

#AustraliaHasFallen

#AustraliaHasFallen

The fact that I had to look it up suggests not!

For others wondering, it's a Twitter hashtag: #AustraliaHasFallen and then mostly about the new rules per November 13 for the Northern Territory:

The Northern Territory government has issued a legal direction mandating workers in a broad range of settings receive their COVID-19 vaccine within a month.

In a press conference on Wednesday Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the mandate covered all public-facing roles, including those likely to come into contact with a vulnerable person. The mandate also includes workers involved in "essential infrastructure, food or essential goods security or supply, or logistics in the Northern Territory", the government said.

These workers will be required to have received at least one dose by November 12 and a second by December 24. Those who do not comply will not be permitted to attend their workplace and could face a $5,000 fine if they do, according to the government. Mr Gunner said the vaccine mandate included workers whose job included "interacting with members of the public".

He listed hospitality, retail and supermarket workers, as well as barbers, hairdressers and beauty therapists, as examples of workers who would require the COVID jab. "All these workers, and many, many more directly interact with members of the public," Mr Gunner said. "That means you are frontline workers in our economy. That means you must be vaccinated."

The legal direction allows employers to request proof of vaccination from workers, according to the government, and will be require employers to keep a vaccination status register of staff. The government also said the legal direction would be amended to mandate booster vaccinations for workers impacted. Mr Gunner said an "extremely narrow" portion of impacted workers would be eligible for exemptions from the mandate. "These ... must be backed up by medical evidence," he said. "Simply not wanting the vaccine is not a reason."

I really find it difficult to understand the "don't want to" refusal to accept vaccination.

My starting point is:
1) It's an infectious disease. It spreads from person to person.
2) To a first approximation, all people are different. They have a mother and a father, and inherit from both.
3) Also to a first approximation, all Covid-19 viruses are the same. They replicate, rather than breed.

So, if you pass a virus to another person, the outcome depends on the other person. Whether or not you are suffering from symptoms or a disease outcome from the virus is completely irrelevant. The outcome in the other person depends on their response to the virus, not on your belief that the virus you pass on in symptom-free.

So, why would you be prepared to work in a public-facing organisation, and be prepared to infect your customers / service users / whatever? To me, it doesn't compute.

Totally agree Richard. I don't understand why our government is making the vaccine mandatory for those in the care sector but not those working in the NHS.

You do know that even with the vaccination, you're still eligible to get covid-19 and be able to pass it on? You can even have it with no symptoms at all and be able to pass it on.
I'm finding the mandatory thing going against your personal free will. Just as the use of the QR code here in The Netherlands is going against that. The Government telling you it's mandatory or you get a fine is something you'd expect in China, North Korea. Not in a free country.

I'm thinking of not getting the 3rd jab.

Yes, I'm fully aware that covid-19 transmission is an analogue, rather than a digital, phenomenon - especially concerning the severity of disease following infection.

I'm just concerned about the level of misinformation and false statistics being peddled about vaccination. For example, the difference between the odds of death following vaccination (which is 100%, though it could take 100 years or more), compared with the odds of death caused by vaccination (which is tiny, but non-zero).

I don't see any reference to fines for non vaccination, in the population at large. I see a statement that a fine may follow if vaccine refusal is combined with continuing employment in a public-facing job. That's a choice: nobody is forcing you into a particular work setting - just saying that some combinations are not viable.

Well, like I said, we have the QR code registration that's required if you want to go to a pub, a restaurant (only inside the town's borders), a (movie) theater, a museum and a handful of other places. The people working there are not required to be vaccinated. The person checking to see if I am vaccinated to be able to get into their premises is not required to be vaccinated. I cannot check this person back to see if they're vaccinated.

Meanwhile our infections are on the rise. The politicians are throwing the rise on the unvaccinated, but these people cannot easily go to all the places the infections are rising, they're mostly staying home. So it's the vaccinated who are infecting others. But our Minister of Health is still blaming the people who are staying home because their QR code says they cannot go to all the previous places. (And yes, they can, but then they have to have themselves tested with the cotton swab stuck deep in their nose and throat every time they want to go somewhere and hurry about it as the thing is only legal for 24 hours. Would you do that if you wanted to go to the pub, a restaurant, a museum and a movie on 4 consecutive days?)

As for the odds of dying following vaccination, or during or just thereafter, how can we trust the numbers? Do you trust China to say they had 100K cases total with just 4K deaths, just because they say that that's their numbers? Do you believe that there hasn't been a single case of corona in North Korea? Just because they say so?
Or are numbers like The Economist gives more in the direction of the truth? See also their excess deaths estimate on deaths worldwide during the corona years. Because yes, there is a difference between 4.9 million official deaths and the estimated 10.1 to 19 million deaths.

how can we trust the numbers?

Or even understand them. The numbers are measured differently in just about every country. In UK a Covid death is one that occurs within 28 days of a positive test and Covid appears in any form on the death certificate. Excess deaths which include things like people no calling an ambulance to take them to hospital because of a fear of catching Covid there and then dying are also measured in a variety of different ways. But I have little doubt Covid was a contributory cause to my Father's death earlier this year and also to My mother's death last year even though it doesn't appear on either death certificate.

And I take your point about the person checking whether you are vaccinated not needing to be jabbed themselves. To me that is more than a little crazy.

I don't pretend to have good answers to all your points and sadly, I can't remember the last time I heard a politician admitting they don't actually know the answer to a question. Very few politicians have in my view acquitted themselves well in this and sadly I don't expect that view to change.