4 ms·

In what way did people have to make this choice? I take your point I’m just not familiar with how people we’re actually affected.

Waterluvian 4y ago
For every percent that utility prices go up (or really: non-optional bills), A larger and larger slice of people simply cannot make it work and have to sacrifice something. There's an important point: how much of this was non-optional vs. luxury? I keep my home at 22, but if I had to, I could probably set it to 19 and tell everyone to wear a sweater in the winter. So not everyone, but definitely some slice of the population probably went from 19 to 16 or lower. In Canada this can be a serious issue. My gas bill literally doubled for the same volume compared to last winter. This can be a sudden $100-200 extra monthly expense. Luckily it's illegal to ever cut anyone off from gas in the winter... but that doesn't fix the financial catastrophe.
- MayeulC 4y ago
  Wait, you are not wearing a sweater inside during winter? 19 is like, the temperature we set during off-peak hours, otherwise it's more like 18 (and we let it coast down during the evening). Admittedly, it's quite cold when not moving around, so I spent most of the winter with at least 3 sweaters, a hot water bottle, and a blanket (and 2 layers of pants, usually). When moving around, 17-18 is quite comfortable though, a long sleeved shirt or light sweater is usually enough.
  - 908B64B197 4y ago
    > Wait, you are not wearing a sweater inside during winter? He's Canadian. Over there electricity costs 0.044 €‎ / kWh https://www.hydroquebec.com/residential/customer-space/rates/rate-d-billing.html https://www.hydroquebec.com/residential/customer-space/rates...
    - Waterluvian 4y ago
      My monthly gas bill was $350 in January. It’s a luxury I enjoy given how pedantic my dad was about the thermostat. Also my hydro is closer to 9 cents.
onion2k 4y ago
The price of energy went up and the price of food went up, so people who don't have much money had to choose one or the other.
gambiting 4y ago
Electricity prices have literally tripled or quadrupled for some people - and for poor people the effect was even worse because the poorest groups are on prepayment meters which are on the most expensive tariffs of all. So yes, there were people for whom the choice was "well I have £5 for today, either it's going in the meter so I can put heating on for a few hours and stay warm, or I need to use it to buy food to feed my family". This isn't some theoretical edge case scenario - this was a dilemma that many British families were faced with this winter.
- youngtaff 4y ago
  What’s worse is they still get charged the standing charge so if the meter has been empty for days, then adding credit to it may just get swallowed up by paying the standing charge due for those days
- nonethewiser 4y ago
  Thank you for explaining.

Waterluvian 4y ago

For every percent that utility prices go up (or really: non-optional bills), A larger and larger slice of people simply cannot make it work and have to sacrifice something. There's an important point: how much of this was non-optional vs. luxury? I keep my home at 22, but if I had to, I could probably set it to 19 and tell everyone to wear a sweater in the winter. So not everyone, but definitely some slice of the population probably went from 19 to 16 or lower. In Canada this can be a serious issue. My gas bill literally doubled for the same volume compared to last winter. This can be a sudden $100-200 extra monthly expense. Luckily it's illegal to ever cut anyone off from gas in the winter... but that doesn't fix the financial catastrophe.

MayeulC 4y ago
Wait, you are not wearing a sweater inside during winter? 19 is like, the temperature we set during off-peak hours, otherwise it's more like 18 (and we let it coast down during the evening). Admittedly, it's quite cold when not moving around, so I spent most of the winter with at least 3 sweaters, a hot water bottle, and a blanket (and 2 layers of pants, usually). When moving around, 17-18 is quite comfortable though, a long sleeved shirt or light sweater is usually enough.
- 908B64B197 4y ago
  > Wait, you are not wearing a sweater inside during winter? He's Canadian. Over there electricity costs 0.044 €‎ / kWh https://www.hydroquebec.com/residential/customer-space/rates/rate-d-billing.html https://www.hydroquebec.com/residential/customer-space/rates...
  - Waterluvian 4y ago
    My monthly gas bill was $350 in January. It’s a luxury I enjoy given how pedantic my dad was about the thermostat. Also my hydro is closer to 9 cents.

onion2k 4y ago

The price of energy went up and the price of food went up, so people who don't have much money had to choose one or the other.

gambiting 4y ago

Electricity prices have literally tripled or quadrupled for some people - and for poor people the effect was even worse because the poorest groups are on prepayment meters which are on the most expensive tariffs of all. So yes, there were people for whom the choice was "well I have £5 for today, either it's going in the meter so I can put heating on for a few hours and stay warm, or I need to use it to buy food to feed my family". This isn't some theoretical edge case scenario - this was a dilemma that many British families were faced with this winter.

youngtaff 4y ago
What’s worse is they still get charged the standing charge so if the meter has been empty for days, then adding credit to it may just get swallowed up by paying the standing charge due for those days
nonethewiser 4y ago
Thank you for explaining.