Re: Rising cost of living
 

Our water bill has arrived.

Up 11.2% to £825pa.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Wow!

We pay £37 per month by Direct Debit…

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Yeah think mines £23 or something, I begrudge them every penny to

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Wow, how many swimming pools do you have.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Are you on a water meter?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

How would he know the per annum rate if he was?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Ours is around £45 per quarter which is good compared to our energy bills.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Taf's in Wales. Water is famously scarce there. ;)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

From £61.79pm to £68.71pm. Welsh Water has no shareholders, and the adverts say it's "Not for profit".

No meter, no swimming pools, the garden is watered by rainwater from 2 butts.

---------- Post added at 20:30 ---------- Previous post was at 20:17 ----------

I just looked at Anglian Water charges. Up from £581.35 to £663. That's 14% up!

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Mine is £418.81 for 2023.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Scottish Water was never privatised and water/sewage charges are set nationally and based on council tax bands. If you’re in a band D house you paid £478 for the year just passed and £502 from this April. At band F I’ve been paying £691 and this will go up to £725.

I was blessed with a communal septic tank at my old house which cost about £500 to empty, every 3 years, split between 7 houses - saved us a fortune on sewage charges over the years we were there.

(Edited with correct figures for last year and this year)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Looking at previous bills, its gone up by 10.8%, which is actually less than last year, when it went up by 11.1%.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Ours is up about 5% this year.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Just got the service charge for the flat, £2909 :shocked:

More than double last years and two thirds more than 2020's :shocking:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

What do you get for that?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Not a lot, cleaning, communal heating, minor repairs, buildings insurance, that kind of thing, nothing special, oh and ten quid ground rent

Re: Rising cost of living
 

That seems a lot of money for pretty little in return. Have you and your neighbours thought about self managing?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

We're not all owners sadly, I am going to email them tomorrow though, if nothing else to get a grip on next years increase

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Yeah, mine has gone up £40 a month! :rolleyes: To about £2,800!

Many of us from the building will challenge for the same reason as making it clear they can't fleece us further the following year. It's something like a 20% increase overall, which is unsustainable in the long term, especially when you think further increases are a percentage increase over the existing massive increase! :shocked:

It'll become impossible to sell if service charges get too high as well.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

For those that had bought their flats under Right-To-Buy, service charges were already higher than the full council rent we were paying. And they each got clobbered to pay 1/124th of the cost of overcladding, new windows and doors, plus safety upgrades.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I didn't bother emailing them, I emailed my MP instead for what good that'll do, it's crazy we're spending double on heating communal areas than I'm spending for all my energy in the flat :spin:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Who runs your block?

Did they even give you a breakdown of the forthcoming year's charges? We're still chasing that to see where the breakdown comes from and whilst it's worth writing to your MP it's also worth challenging them directly to justify it.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

We worked out last night since Last December when I went into hospital until now, we shop at Tesco our average weekly shop has risen from £85 to around £110.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

The council, I've seen the breakdown and rang them where a prepared statement was read out "for anyone phoning moaning", wasn't satisfied with their rationales either tbh

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Just had a letter from Yorkshire Water, and we are in credit for this year (£6.92, woohoo!), and our DD is staying the same for next year (we have a meter).

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I looked back and our last water bill was £72 odd for 6 months. We have a meter and try not to waste it.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

My water bill went up over 50%. Thankfully I am on the Big Difference Scheme and it went up from £24 to £49

Re: Rising cost of living
 

We just got a letter from Yorkshire water (no meter), gone to around £860 from just over £800 :( must be due to the the 10 bedroom mansion we live in :shocked:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Nothing from Yorkshire Water yet but because of the hosepipe ban (and electricity prices) we didn't use the Jacuzzi this winter so our usage should be well down. Currently pay £30 per month on a meter.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Wow!

We live in a 4 bed detached, but there are only 2 of us (+ 3 yo grandson 1or 2 nights a week).

Re: Rising cost of living
 

3 bed smallish 1970's detached, band C, 4 of us. It's always been really expensive but I'm beginning to wonder if they've got us confused with some of the Adel millionaires. Looking at what others here are paying we're the second highest :erm: I wonder if the rateable value charged is based solely on the house band, if so it's crazy expensive.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

https://www.yorkshirewater.com/bill-...a-water-meter/

We have a meter and pay £44 a month for two people (but heavy users)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

cough cough ;)

Seriously though, we are Band E in the Leeds Council Tax bands, so pretty sure it’s not linked that way (but we are metered).

Re: Rising cost of living
 

:D OK not all millionaires, some nice houses there though.

---------- Post added at 22:57 ---------- Previous post was at 22:50 ----------

Thanks SP, I'd looked at that and we seem to be at the high end of the "is it worth getting a meter" scale based on occupancy. Not sure we fancy a meter based on the leakiness of various household appliances it could be out of the frying pan into the fire.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

my water charges with Anglian water
2021-£545

2022-£606

2023-£691

i resent paying this much to a company that discharges raw sewage into the estuary, and has buggered up our beaches blue flag status

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Yes but it made £96 million profit last year, you should have bought some shares.

Mrs T knew what she was doing, her legacy is with us every day....

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Our lad likes a Fray Bentos pie. They were 89p for years, then £1. But in the past couple of months have been hiked to £2 and today £3!

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Stamps are going up.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64840646

Re: Rising cost of living
 

A privatised industry, what did we expect? Declining and more expensive service. Profits are everything.
Same for other privatised public services like water.

You get what you vote for, and the UK certainly has. Even the current shortages in the shops , shortages of workers in essential services, spiralling prices, can be traced to people not doing 'thinking' before they vote.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

You can't even buy in bulk to escape the price rise now that they are barcoded.

Anyone with a stock of these old style stamps has to send them back in to be replaced.

---------- Post added at 13:25 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Exactly.

---------- Post added at 13:28 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Yep, the sole reason for a company's existence is to make a profit.

Sure, the odd one might do something altruistic, but the law requires directors to always put the interests of shareholders first.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Says who ?


The none barcoded stamps ? Yes.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Not true...

As previously posted when you made this assertion before

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Well, you can, but what would be the point if you can't escape the price times?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

They don't charge to replace them, so you can stockpile. I know someone who's got about 400. He bought them to promote an event that got canned due to the pandemic, but they've been replaced by barcoded ones no problem.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I think you can only buy barcoded ones now though. Do you know if these say 1st or 2nd class on them, or if the barcode can tell how much you paid and require extra payment when postage costs increase?

I do believe that special commemorative stamps aren't barcoded and work in the old way. This may be a workaround to circumvent the new system/price rises.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

The 1st or 2nd class markings are quite distinct on bottom left of the stamp.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

The stamps still show 1st or 2nd on them (and are still different colours afaik).
There is zero evidence anywhere that they would "expire" when the price rises - because doing so would be completely unworkable.
They are having enough trouble swapping out the none barcoded ones - imagine if they had to do that everytime the price went up.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Couldn't tell you the last time that I posted anything, so much is done online now.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

You're right to resent it.
I'm paying £731 for a two-bedroomed flat, two of us, no water meters can be fitted.

This might be why it's so pricey.
https://news.sky.com/story/thames-wa...-pile-12830843

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Individual water meters can be fitted in flats. Just needs to be fitted near the stopcock.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Agreed they can be fitted in some flats but not ours. Think it's because it's a communal stopcock for the block.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Ah well, it's what we voted for


I pay £25 a month because they can't fit a meter, you should insist as if they can't fit one they have to put you on a cheaper tariff

That's not where the issue is...

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Thanks, I will ask them for the assessed charge.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Not great news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65026231

Re: Rising cost of living
 

l only need to look at food prices with our online shop each week and quite a few items are still going up significantly.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Aldi seems to be the worst at the moment, with prices for some products increasing almost weekly.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

But they started at a much lower level than the other shops. Simple percentage increases don't tell the whole story.

One yardstick I use is the cost of chicken thigh fillets.

Aldi £4.48 /kg
Lidl £4.58 /kg
Morrisons £5.99 /kg
Tesco £6.00 /kg
Asda £6.77 /kg
Waitrose £8.89 /kg
Sainsburys £9.06 /kg

Re: Rising cost of living
 

'Which' do a good monthly comparison of supermarket prices. No wonder Morrisons are in trouble, they come out very badly. Lidl for me these days usually topped up with a big Sainsburys shop when they got their 25% off wine offer on :) Can't stand Aldi, gives me a migraine....

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/supe...n-aPpYp9j1MFin

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Apr 22 figure was +2.1%. We'll have to wait until that drops out of the annual figure. So even if the Apr 23 is +1%, then the annual figure will drop by 1.1%.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Dates revealed for when millions will receive cost of living payments.

A total of £900 over the year . first payment of £301 between April 25th and 17th May'

£300 in autumn and £299 in spring.

https://news.sky.com/story/dates-rev...ments-12843397

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Nice if you qualify.
Bizarre how they have done 301, 300, 299.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Telegraph headline

Telegraph article

https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https:/...andrew-bailey/

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Makes it easier to identify if/when people report non receipt etc

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Sounds like a sales pitch for government policy.

Rising interest rates by its nature is designed to increase poverty and unemployment, as it has long been believed a poorer population reduces inflation via lower demand for goods. A banker even admitted this not that long ago in an interview in America when pushed hard on it. But even without doing so it is obvious, raising interest rates causes financial misery.

So why is he blaming early retirement? With more people unemployed there is less spending power, which based on the basic principles of inflation will lower inflation, the only reason I can think off is the government asked him to back up their policy.

Early retirement isnt even the main reason for increased job vacancies, the primary cause is the zero asylum and cancellation of freedom of movement policies. Blaming the sick, and people who have retired is a distraction.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Though I am a big fan of the freedom to move for workers, I am not sure lack of migration is the whole story here. The area of concern is the older age bracket. Over half of the post COVID newly economically inactive group are in the 50-64 year old group (source) This group is relatively high earning before leaving the workforce and highly skilled. Replacing these workers isn’t easy, even through attracting workers from abroad - upping sticks to move abroad is challenging enough but doing it in your 50s or 60s is a big deal.

If low workforce supply increases wage growth, then the effects are much higher in terms of costs at the top end, driving inflation more than lack of low skill, low pay workers. It paid off for me when I got a new job recently with a huge pay rise!

That said, if I could afford to retire now, I would be offski. Work to live, not live to work…

Re: Rising cost of living
 

What he said was two contradictory things...

I'm not a big fan of anecdata, but since we retired, we are spending less (to live within our means), so eating out a lot less, and only dipping into our savings for fixes to the home (replacement side fence, five replacement double glazed panes, etc.). OK, we had four holidays abroad last year, but that was to make up for not having any for two years...

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Ditto, I wish I could afford to retire, but inflation has killed any chance of that for quite a while.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

[COLOR="blue”]
Nothing will make me retire other than through incapacity. Work keeps the brain going. Plus the dosh, of course.

One or two people on here make my point very well!
[/COLOR]

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Thank you for highlighting the quoted bits that explained his reasoning, your own personal experience though is what I would expect from someone with a drop in income.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Thats a bit harsh on your fellow Wokey CF’er… :nono:

tbf, it might be something in the water in RG12/RG40 that could be causing the seemingly prevalent cognitive impairment… :scratch:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

No surprises here. It is Woke-ingham after all :D

Re: Rising cost of living
 

On the other side of cost of living rises are the costs faced by producers. They too need to eat and in many cases prices have been artificially kept low by the big purchasers and fixing. Why should farmers, especially in areas like dairy, not be paid properly? I have family in the dairy industry and, for some, if it weren't that they love there stock they just wouldn't do it.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I've gone back to make and mend just like my mother and father taught me.Which is why I got my old washer,dryer and stove fixed. Pity the fridge freezer didn't oblige.Amazing how long t-shirts can last as well if you take care with them.Same with old woollens.A bit of make and mend goes a long way.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I'm a full-time carer for my dad and I get a crap £480 a month, I was on Universal Credit where I was expected to search for a job, but I had told my joc coach about my dad being in hospital and when he is released I will be his carer.


He gave me the benifit of the doubt as I was honest with him form day one.

So when my dad got Attendance Allowance (This pays for the food) I was then able to get Carers Allowance, which comes out of UC, plus I get a roughly £150 top up.

But still crap money, when you bare in mind I paid £600 a month in tax.

So no my spur of the moment spends and therefore my Conway Stewart Churchill Fountain Pen is on hold as I cannot justify the £850 cost.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Cheap kebab. Just over £2 a kilo

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2024/02/4.jpg


https://www.parmainternational.co.uk...-10kg-meahbd10

Under £2 per kilo

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2024/02/5.jpg


https://www.parmainternational.co.uk...40lb-meadoub40


I am wondering what type of meat it is, with such price? What animal?

"Parma", prestigious name .....

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Maybe the butcher had given the floor a good sweeping and got creative with a secret mix of herbs and spices.