Last year we got some grumbles from an unfortunate old man who lived on his own in a big cold house, and was quite rightly worried about his heating bills. He'd had to retreat to one bedroom and one living room at the less cold end of his house. Turns out that he had twice the floor space and six times the exposed outdoor perimeter of my house. We have a housing crisis as well as an energy price crisis, so I rather meanly wrote back 'get a lodger'.
Now the winter fuel payments are in the news again. North Sea gas has been used up a bit more and now makes up about 40% of our heating gas (down a bit from last year). [can the supply desk at EoN give a more proper number for winter 24/25?]
Getting a lodger won't suit everyone, and you all have a while to plan ahead, for example for winter 2029-30 by which time there will be less gas from the North Sea, richer foreigners buying the alternatives, and more obviously prohibitive climate damages and feedbacks making new oil and gas exploration a more obviously terrible idea than at present. That is, even after you get a pay rise, burning more gas should not be an option. What does everyone plan to do ? Would any of you downsize as a planned way to Beat The Bills ?
Now the winter fuel payments are in the news again. North Sea gas has been used up a bit more and now makes up about 40% of our heating gas (down a bit from last year). [can the supply desk at EoN give a more proper number for winter 24/25?]
Getting a lodger won't suit everyone, and you all have a while to plan ahead, for example for winter 2029-30 by which time there will be less gas from the North Sea, richer foreigners buying the alternatives, and more obviously prohibitive climate damages and feedbacks making new oil and gas exploration a more obviously terrible idea than at present. That is, even after you get a pay rise, burning more gas should not be an option. What does everyone plan to do ? Would any of you downsize as a planned way to Beat The Bills ?
