Cost of living crisis and your diabetes?

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Lynne888 said:
It's going up in October though by quite a lot and I don't think they will stop that now.
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The press is reporting that the energy prices will be frozen as. they are now not in October.
However, this is currently press speculation. They are speculating this will be announced tomorrow (Thursday).
 
I'm with British Gas and took a cap out till June 2023 it was on offer for existing customers only - It is what it is 😛
 
helli said:
The press is reporting that the energy prices will be frozen as. they are now not in October.
However, this is currently press speculation. They are speculating this will be announced tomorrow (Thursday).
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I Do hope so!!
 
The other rumour is frozen between the 2 (now and announced Oct) at about £2500 for "typical" use.
 
I know this isn't directly about cost of living and is my personal opinion. Please don't criticise me for it. But bit-by-bit I am doing everything that I can do to prepare for blackouts/power rationing. Due to my not too great eye sight I absolutely hate the dark to the point that I leave a light on at night. So I've bought two lamps that you can use for camping and that (hopefully) can be charged using power banks plus I've collected some pretty decorative battery powered lamps..
The "camping" lamps arriving today so that we can check them. I've also got power banks for the our mobile phones as I rely on my phone for both using my Libre and will need it for my new NHS hearing aid(s).
I've made sure that I've got what I consider to be an adequate supply of my medications and everything that I need for my diabetes/insulin pump.
Various different things like that. Some of my friends think that I'm slightly mad being so prepared but I also can't control my body temperature and get cold extremely easy even with layers on in so have bought cosy feet socks that won't aggravate my feet and thermal vests and leggings and now own more jumpers than I ever owned 🙂
Plus, of course, a reasonable amount of tinned and packet food.
Plus a radio that my now estranged brother gave me years ago that uses batteries.
I know that I can't prepare for everything, and doing so has taken my spare money, but the preparation has helped me to reduce my anxiety of what may happen this winter.
 
AJLang said:
I know this isn't directly about cost of living and is my personal opinion. Please don't criticise me for it. But bit-by-bit I am doing everything that I can do to prepare for blackouts/power rationing. Due to my not too great eye sight I absolutely hate the dark to the point that I leave a light on at night. So I've bought two lamps that you can use for camping and that (hopefully) can be charged using power banks plus I've collected some pretty decorative battery powered lamps..
The "camping" lamps arriving today so that we can check them. I've also got power banks for the our mobile phones as I rely on my phone for both using my Libre and will need it for my new NHS hearing aid(s).
I've made sure that I've got what I consider to be an adequate supply of my medications and everything that I need for my diabetes/insulin pump.
Various different things like that. Some of my friends think that I'm slightly mad being so prepared but I also can't control my body temperature and get cold extremely easy even with layers on in so have bought cosy feet socks that won't aggravate my feet and thermal vests and leggings and now own more jumpers than I ever owned 🙂
Plus, of course, a reasonable amount of tinned and packet food.
Plus a radio that my now estranged brother gave me years ago that uses batteries.
I know that I can't prepare for everything, and doing so has taken my spare money, but the preparation has helped me to reduce my anxiety of what may happen this winter.
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Sounds like some good ideas to me.
 
Lynne888 said:
I can check on Bulb app (see image). It tells me when more electricity is being used and I know from the image that a shower sends it higher, using the ninja air fryer sends it higher and boiling a kettle sends it higher. I’m happy with less than £2 a day though and the peaks are short lived . Recently had our electric aga converted as it was costing £15 A DAY!
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The airfryer will be less than the oven for example, so it is much better and it's healthy.
grovesy said:
Sounds like some good ideas to me.
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@AJLang yes I agree, all good ideas.
Way it’s going we probably should plan for a zombie apocalypse now also
 
PhoebeC said:
Way it’s going we probably should plan for a zombie apocalypse now also
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I always think of Sean of the Dead when anyone mentions zombie apocalypse.
I’m off to find a cricket bat to defend myself with.
 
AJLang said:
I know this isn't directly about cost of living and is my personal opinion. Please don't criticise me for it. But bit-by-bit I am doing everything that I can do to prepare for blackouts/power rationing. Due to my not too great eye sight I absolutely hate the dark to the point that I leave a light on at night. So I've bought two lamps that you can use for camping and that (hopefully) can be charged using power banks plus I've collected some pretty decorative battery powered lamps..
The "camping" lamps arriving today so that we can check them. I've also got power banks for the our mobile phones as I rely on my phone for both using my Libre and will need it for my new NHS hearing aid(s).
I've made sure that I've got what I consider to be an adequate supply of my medications and everything that I need for my diabetes/insulin pump.
Various different things like that. Some of my friends think that I'm slightly mad being so prepared but I also can't control my body temperature and get cold extremely easy even with layers on in so have bought cosy feet socks that won't aggravate my feet and thermal vests and leggings and now own more jumpers than I ever owned 🙂
Plus, of course, a reasonable amount of tinned and packet food.
Plus a radio that my now estranged brother gave me years ago that uses batteries.
I know that I can't prepare for everything, and doing so has taken my spare money, but the preparation has helped me to reduce my anxiety of what may happen this winter.
Click to expand...
I leave a light on all night because we live rurally so it's impossible to not have a light on during the night as I literally cannot see anything, it's pitch black. I've got energy saving bulbs in the lamp and I have to say, it hardly costs anything at all. I can see from my Bulb app that it's just a few pence overnight with the fridge and freezer on too. I've got a battery operated lamp but it costs more to replace the batteries than it does to leave the lamp on!
 
Lynne888 said:
I leave a light on all night because we live rurally so it's impossible to not have a light on during the night as I literally cannot see anything, it's pitch black. I've got energy saving bulbs in the lamp and I have to say, it hardly costs anything at all. I can see from my Bulb app that it's just a few pence overnight with the fridge and freezer on too. I've got a battery operated lamp but it costs more to replace the batteries than it does to leave the lamp on!
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Modern led bulbs cost next to nothing to run nowadays.
 
I would never willingly get a smart (electricity) meter. We're rural and from where the supply point is, mobile phone signal is nonexistent anyway.

But there are general principles why I'd not want one. When something is offered (in this case, smart meters) I'll try and look at it from the suppliers angle to determine who benefits and what the risks are.

risks to me:
1. I can be cut off remotely either accidentally or deliberately
2. as far as i'm aware, the rate can be changed on the fly
3. as far as i'm aware, there's no shared protocol communicating with the devices among suppliers.
4. the above can lead to difficulty when changing suppliers, which does not exist with a standard meter.
5. there's the privacy aspect to the data. I consider my comings and goings and energy use how much and when to be private data.
6. if I want to determine power consumption over time, i can buy a device that just plugs into the socket. The meter itself doesn't need to be "smart".

If they want to cut my leccy off then I want to be informed about it first. Same goes for unit change. I do not want my "patterns" sold off to or stolen by some entity. The best way to ensure this does not happen is to not collect the data in the first place.

For justification, I've heard suppliers state that it'll be less expensive to bill usage with the assumption those savings will be passed onto customers (LOL) well it's not like the meter people all got a massive pay rise.
 
void said:
I would never willingly get a smart (electricity) meter. We're rural and from where the supply point is, mobile phone signal is nonexistent anyway.

But there are general principles why I'd not want one. When something is offered (in this case, smart meters) I'll try and look at it from the suppliers angle to determine who benefits and what the risks are.

risks to me:
1. I can be cut off remotely either accidentally or deliberately
2. as far as i'm aware, the rate can be changed on the fly
3. as far as i'm aware, there's no shared protocol communicating with the devices among suppliers.
4. the above can lead to difficulty when changing suppliers, which does not exist with a standard meter.
5. there's the privacy aspect to the data. I consider my comings and goings and energy use how much and when to be private data.
6. if I want to determine power consumption over time, i can buy a device that just plugs into the socket. The meter itself doesn't need to be "smart".

If they want to cut my leccy off then I want to be informed about it first. Same goes for unit change. I do not want my "patterns" sold off to or stolen by some entity. The best way to ensure this does not happen is to not collect the data in the first place.

For justification, I've heard suppliers state that it'll be less expensive to bill usage with the assumption those savings will be passed onto customers (LOL) well it's not like the meter people all got a massive pay rise.
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I have a "dumb" smart meter.
It's lost all connectivity six months ago.
It still records the electricity used, and the sell back from the solar panels, just now I have to crawl on the floor to submit a reading again.
 
dumb smart meters! the worst of all worlds lol
 
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My laundry equipment and my new cooking equipment. I have a mechanical carpet sweeper instead of the vacuum cleaner now and a hand whisk and a mechanical grinder to replace my electric ones.
I have done all my laundry using the tumbler (I call it R2D2) to wash and the salad spinner to dry for the last two weeks.
I made one casserole using my Wonderbag and cast iron pot from Aldi.
Last time we checked we'd halved our electricity consumption and reduced gas consumption to 2/3 what it was previously.
Interestingly on the days I do washing - using my gadgets and on the days I use my carpet sweeper - my blood sugars stay around 5.6mmol/L before and after eating and I think I am getting a bit thinner too! I am definitely sleeping more soundly.
We were due to come off our fixed rate and start a new one next week but the new one was still going to be higher unit rate than the variable rate so we have cancelled our new fixed rate. When the energy guy checked our consumption he has raised our monthly payment only by £60 because although cost per unit has gone up a lot our reduction of consumption has mitigated it quite a lot. He said they will reassess the payment in October depending on what our usage goes like.
We have consistently reduced our energy bills year on year and I would like to buck the trend if at all possible - so we'll see what happens next. The next big saver will be to decouple the extractor fan in the bathroom from the light switch as it goes on automatically when the light goes on and often we do not need the extractor when we need the light and vice versa.
 
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