Over here many people are in serious deep chit because the prices of electricity and especially gas have skyrocketed!

Most pay 4-6 times more than 1-2 yrs ago and cannot pay the bills any longer, nor heat their house properly and live with blankets and coats on.
Absolutely ridiculous situation in this day and age.

We even now have restaurants, pubs, hotels that closed the doors for the winter as they can no longer afford to pay the gas/electricity bill. For some as high as E80.000 PER MONTH! (Euro and US$ are about the same at the mo).
That's around 1 million Euros/US dollars a year?!!

Expectation is that many will go bankrupt, especially since many haven't got any reserves anymore after having to close the doors during the pandemic.
Many of them have gone through their savings, pension, and often even their children's savings to get by and now this...

Someone in my family lives in a small apartment and used to pay E80 / $80 a month, now she pays a wopping E300/$300 a month!


Low income households have been given extra money but with these prices it won't be enough. And people with average income won't get help from government so they too can get in serious trouble.

I still have a fixed contract, thank heavens for that! In January things will change again in an attempt to keep prices affordable for everyone.
I just did calculations online, I shouldn't be affected by anything yet.
But in July my contract ends... My only regret is not getting a 5 yr contract instead of a 3 yr one. Otherwise I'd be okay until mid 2025.

Utility companies say that most people pay E200/$200 too little PER MONTH! Go figure the **** you get in?!

How bad are things in your country? Do you notice anything?
Do restaurants/pubs/hotels also have to close doors or go bankrupt because of this?
People ending up in serious debt?

Exactly the same here Crystal. It’s a choice of eating or heating for so many.

I’m paying 3 times as much for gas and electricity now than I did 1 year ago! And…..it’s to increase again in a few months. This time last year I was paying £50 per month and now they’re asking me to pay £149 despite me cutting back. It’s a dire situation here in the UK.

I don't pay by direct debit (I get a bill every quarter), so mine will be a shock in a few months, but I've not turned any heating on yet this year, just found out extra jumpers, and staying at work longer.

The electric company want me to have a smart meter, but given the issues with them and security, I'd rather stick with my outdated one!

Unfortunately I inherited a smart meter when I bought this house otherwise I wouldn’t have one as I don’t like them.

I’ve read that suppliers are now disconnecting their supplies remotely to those with smart meters who cannot afford to pay!

So the same thing there... Sad isn't it...
Indeed coming down to eat or heat, and food is also insanely expensive. Even if you try to not buy anything luxurious -which I couldn't afford anyway- you pay 1/3 to 1/2 more of what it used to be.

People that got a woodstove with still a lot of wood in stock that didn't cost a bomb are laughing. For now.

I got a smart meter for electricity 2 yrs back and this year one for gas.
And sure they could cut you off easier I suppose, but if they want to cut you off, they will cut you off anyways.
It does help to keep track of your own usage.

In any case, for this winter I'm not too worried because of my fixed contract.
Fingers crossed for next winter. Hopefully gas prices have gone down a bit by then...

Staying at work longer is also a way to circumvent heating the house.
I don't work so normally speaking I'm home all day long and I cannot stand being cold.

Fortunately I somehow can make do with less high temps indoors and still feel comfortably warm, so it makes a difference. Not much colder, but somewhere between 0,5C - 1,5C less warm, which does add up as I've just seen online after I logged into my provider's account.
So far I've used quite a lot less gas than last year.
That's the advantage of smart meters, you can see that info instantly online.

I think in my case due to hormones. Post-menopause I sometimes get warm waves. I don't have hot flashes. Warm waves is my version. It does help concerning heating the house, hahahaha.
My normal used to be 22C - 22,5C but as it is that's way too hot for me.

Here in the US folks are paying anywhere from $400 to $500 for 100 gals. Of heating oil. 100 gals. may last half way thru winter. Prices on everything else is up and now the railway system is planning on striking in a few weeks. It’s gonna get worse, and we can Thank the go green environmentalists and Joe Biden for all of this. The Green initiative is a big hoax . Nothing will ever come of it while nations like ours go broke fulfilling the conspiracy dreams and the pockets of big tech and the holier than thou liberal elites.

Although a bit expensive, and depending on how long 'half way through winter" is, it's still quite a lot cheaper than what many pay per month over here, which for some is also around $400. Not to get halfway through winter, but per month.

Maybe that's the difference between heating oil and gas for heating. It seems especially gas prices have gone through the roof, over here at least.

Average current gas price per 1m3 is E2,08 (Euro being same as dollars) while I still pay E0,67 per 1M3 with my fixed contract, which was already on the high side).

European gas reserves are low, partly due to the war as much gas normally comes from Russia.

I don't see the green energy as a hoax at all. I'm all for it. My electricity is 100% green. Most people have solar panels on their roofs, and there are many great new inventions to replace the large wind turbines and that also don't have the big impact on bird & fish life etc.

I don't see how that has anything to do with it really as it's not the cause of the mayhem.

My electric bill is the same every month, $30 US. After 10 months if the actual use is more, I will get a bill for the difference. If the actual use is less, I will get a credit. I don't use much electricity since there is just me. Now, heating oil is the bummer. For 100 gallons it will cost about $550 US and that will last me about a month.

I think it’s the root of the problem. The U.S. was the # 1 exporter of oil just a couple years s ago. Fuel prices and food prices were reasonable. What happened when Biden took office was he destroyed our energy independence and hurt the countries depending on the US for their energy. Now we are depending on our adversaries to supply us with energy. By energy I mean oil and gas which heats homes, cools homes, stores food, gets us back and forth to work or get medicine or food. Less fossils fuel’s coming out of the ground only hurts everyday life for everybody… good for you to have solar panels and wind turbines, but what happens if it’s cloudy for several days or no wind to turn your turbines. Green energy is no where near reliable enough for most people to change over to. And the production of batteries is far worse to the environment than a tank full of gas. In California they ask you to refrain from charging your e-car at certain times and plan on scheduled black outs. Stepping back into the Stone Age is what the going green initiative will accomplish . Blame it on the liberal tree huggers.

Maybe you are more oil-reliant. Over here most cook and heat with gas.
The Netherlands are importing more oil from the US as the US is pumping up more and more. But most we get from Russia, ANgola, Nigeria, Irak, Saudi-Arabia. But 1/3 from Russia.
That was until the war, not sure how that is going now.
The EU is also mostly relying on Russia for gas, again until the war.

Oil isn't used for heating here. We had that in the 60s and 70s when we also still used coal. I remember as a very young child having 1 oil heater and a huge coal heater. Coal was the most used at the time.
And then we all got gas so both oil & coal disappeared.

We have to get away from fossil fuels. We have natural gas up north but due to over-extracting it for decades there are earthquakes (go figure, here in The Netherlands!!) and severe damage to people's houses there as the soil is moving/collapsing.

Fossil fuel use is mostly related to greed, Western life-style which doesn't have any respect for the planet we live on, and power.
There are plenty of other ways to provide us with electricity and heating options and it's time we begin to switch over. Too many people are totally ignorant when it comes to pollution, the dire state nature and our planet is in, or if not ignorant don't give a toss.
Loads are for nuclear energy, and more and more plants are being built, incl. in the US. We already have some 450 worldwide, and more are in the making. A huge risk to the planet and with that our own survival and health.

As for "what if there's no wind?"... there is always wind!! And if not in your area then it can be transported to you from another more windy area.
Here people collect electricity with solar panels on their roof, and what they don't use of that themselves goes back to the utility company. You get PAID for that! So if you have good quality panels and a lot of them you even make money that way.
It's not like the wind actually has to blow or the sun to shine when you switch your lights on. It gets stored.
There are people like Ewan McGregor in California who doesn't even have electricity etc. from util. comp. He gets it all from his own solar & wind thingies. For the whole house which isn't small.

As for cloudy days... solar panels work BETTER on cloudy days! Please get informed so you know what is possible with all these technologies!
Cloudy days give more electricity than full sunny days.

Thank goodness technology is being improved and improved. So the solar panels get better, thinner, less of a risk for non=extinguishable fires.
There are a number of smaller wind turbines that do not affect nature / birds / fish etc. and that can be placed on a roof or even in a garden and STILL WORK!!
Just look on YouTube. You can see it all there.
The same will go for electric cars. First new invention can always be a bit tricky. But then they improve and make it better.

And then there are earth-heat-pumps which are used a lot in Scandinavia, very successfully.

If we want to survive, and not just us but also our kids, grandchildren, their children etc., we have to. And why not if it is cheaper and possible?

When I was married, I lived in a large house which was very rural so it couldn’t be connected to mains gas supply. The house had 16 rooms and had an air source heat pump and also had solar panels on the roof.

Air source heat pumps do not get switched off but keep working 24/7, 365 days a year. In summertime when it was hot, we just turned down the thermostats but never switched it off. The solar panels provided us with constant hot water (even through dark winter days) and the cost of heating the house 24/7 was only £25 per month. It was very economical to run and a lot of new houses are now being built with either air source heat pumps or ground source heat pumps. Our government hopes to phase out the use of gas boilers but not everyone can afford to install air source heat pumps as they cost around £10k to install.

Rural houses here mostly run on oil….usually stored in an ugly oil tank in their gardens which I think is now more expensive than gas.

When I left the marital home, I rented for 2 yrs and was shocked that I had to pay £75 per month for gas/electricity for a 2 bed house.

no sun provides more energy to solar panels than full sun. Lol… they should be called cloudy panels. Wtf. .. and good for Ewan McGreger whoever that is . Why would I give a damn about his opinion. People are so gullible now a days they would believe anything said by these so called environmentalists. Do you think China is interested in green initiatives or Russia or India. Why we waste billions for these policies that will do nothing to “ save the earth”, people are living and dying homeless, I don’t think these folk are laying awake in their box and thinking” I’m so glad Biden is saving the earth by taking $ I could use and spending it on great concept. The earth will be around well after civilization is gone. The real danger to life on earth comes from “leaders” like joe Biden. And their war monger attitudes. Ignorance and weakness is not a deterrent to war… and btw , how much do those panels pay back to you compared to what you paid for them. .. I know folks that play the lottery every week, and after spending several hundred they win a 100$ or 500$ scratch off and think they actually won. I hope you have plenty of sweaters this winter as said by our energy secretary ( just put on a extra sweater) . Real leadership there. Meanwhile my heat pump and wood stove will keep me warm this winter. Everyday and every night. And my gasoline truck will keep getting me around.

With the exception of the cost of gasoline per gallon, USD $3.39, I'm oblivious to the current
costs of basic utilities.

It's Florida, I bought a new camping trailer.
What can I say?

I pay lot rent.

Whatever. You are arguing for the sake of arguing and clearly don't know what you're talking about.
If you wish to stay ignorant that's up to you but then don't bother engaging in conversation about things you don't understand and don't want to learn about either as it's totally pointless.

Thank you for giving the proper English terms for those pumps!
I've heard they're brilliant, but as you say expensive to install.
A friend of my that emigrated to Sweden with her hubbie has a ground source heat pump as they live out in the sticks so no main gas supply.
It gets frigging cold there, as in -30C, but they heat the house with it. They do have a woodstove, but they use that on the closed off patio. Indoors it's that pump.

What you explain you had sounds brill!
I don't have solar panels, I declined last year as then my rent goes up too for as long as I live here. I was and am in 2 minds about them as the ones I can rent aren't the top quality ones and there's a risk in case of it catching fire as it cannot (easily) be extinguished by fire brigade. Lot of birds in the trees across the street, they sometimes nest underneath solar panels on roofs which is a fire risk.
Most in the street have them though, incl. my neighbours so if theirs causes a fire I'm screwed just the same as it's semi-detached.

When not in need of serious heating because of climate then I can understand you're not busying yourself with it.
And lucky you!

Petrol is E2,07 a litre approx at the mo here. So a gallon would cost E7,82. (Euro basically the same as USD).

For you it's just E0,89 a liter. I cannot even remember petrol being that cheap?!
I'd fill up my entire frigging garage of 7m x 3,5m with jerrycans of petrol if it got that cheap here, hahahaha.

But I understand for you that's expensive. Isn't that amazing in itself? How can it be so cheap in one country and so expensive in another for the same thing??
Oh hang about... just dawned on me that things like petrol and cigs are so bloody expensive over here because it's heavily taxed...
Almost 50% is tax and also rather high % of VAT.
This makes The Netherlands among the most expensive in the world when it comes to petrol.

I know exactly what I’m talking about. Global warming and global cooling is something that has been going on for ions. But because some icebergs melt and polar bears look so sad when ever these holier than thou environmentalist’s want a photo op to shame people for using natural resources . Don’t be so naïve. Nature is “ survival of the fittest. But liberals all over the world won’t accept that. I’m only arguing for common sense and it’s obvious you and your “ green everything “ friends are bankrupt in that department. I’ll engage in any conversation I wish to. A little truthfull education about humanity being at the top of the food chain should convince all people that we should use ALL available resources for OUR survival.

Where I live in the USA, the price of a gallon of gasoline has dropped below $2.80.

Oh, for what it is worth, global warming is real, and much of it during the last 100 years is due to the greenhouse gases put into the air by human activity.

Sure, global warming would occur naturally in a few thousand years, but planet Earth would be heading toward another ice age right now if it were not for the human contribution to global warming.

So, which would you prefer to have, the warming or the ice age?

Also, fossil fuels are non-renewable fuels, which means that eventually they will become scarce. So, it makes sense in the long term to invest in the use of renewable fuels.