Energy Bills

[Johnsond]

1 hour ago, Squaredy said:

Well generally that is pretty much the way it works. 

 

Unless you are in charge of the Duchy of Cornwall or the Duchy of Lancaster, which have special laws.  These two are well known, but as I found out there are other families with royal connections who find ways to avoid inheritance tax and keep it quiet.  I am sure there is a great story there if a good investigative journalist could be bothered to look into it properly.  Sadly most journalists seem to be only good at jumping on the bandwagon and spouting the same half truths and hyperbole as each other.

Yeah you ain’t wrong, im sure the energy bills for all the royal and grace and favour properties kept  in tip top condition are not putting too much of a strain on the royal purse. I’m no republican and have done my bit in the military including a good few stints at Buck, St James etc but I do look at the utter detached luxury that the royal family and hangers on by an accident of birth live in, and wonder what kind of set up is it that is being maintained. I’ve been to a couple of the royal estates and seen how immaculate and well looked after they are, on the other side of the coin ive just spent a few days alongside on weather in Great  Yarmouth and quite frankly walking around and just looking at the surroundings  in places it’s utterly rundown and depressing, sadly I know it’s not alone. 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Johnsond

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Yes the tenant gets free electricity when they are generating I believe.  So if they are able and willing to shift a lot of their energy usage to daytime the benefit during 8 or 9 months of the year could be significant.  The owner of the panels of course gets all the other benefit - i.e. feed in tariffs etc.

 

Buying an ac coupled charger- battery setup and having it fitted (DNO approval required) will benefit them greatly then as they have no costs involved with the panels.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

When my old Dad died the solicitor said " with your allowance , your dead Mums allowance and your Dads  you can have up to one million free of inheritance tax . I just assumed that was the limmit .

That 1 million is only if their dwelling is being past on, If there is cash that is treated differently and tends to attract 40% IHT.

 

Toffs get round that by handing over ownership early and hoping to live a further 7 years.

 

This is all insignificant compared with what company owners get away with, having company fuel cards and drawing a "pool" vehicle whilst owning a classic that is never driven, company has a portfolio of rental properties, including the one the CEO lives in and property services division employs gardeners, decorators and chauffeurs etc.

[difflock]

39 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

That 1 million is only if their dwelling is being past on, If there is cash that is treated differently and tends to attract 40% IHT.

 

Toffs get round that by handing over ownership early and hoping to live a further 7 years.

 

This is all insignificant compared with what company owners get away with, having company fuel cards and drawing a "pool" vehicle whilst owning a classic that is never driven, company has a portfolio of rental properties, including the one the CEO lives in and property services division employs gardeners, decorators and chauffeurs etc.

And how is that much different from how our Politicans live, incl the Labour ones, the Kinnocks for instance.

Wealth is near as easy lost or frittered away as it is earned by savvy entrepreneurs.

[Retired Climber]

Being able to have a million before IHT seemed like a reasonable deal not so many years ago. Now, with house prices as they are, it's going to be a concern for an awful lot of (normal) people. 

[openspaceman]

29 minutes ago, difflock said:

And how is that much different from how our Politicans live, incl the Labour ones, the Kinnocks for instance.

Wealth is near as easy lost or frittered away as it is earned by savvy entrepreneurs.

Yes the Kinnocks certainly played that EU system well. I was trying to show it was not only offshore companies, politicians, old money and royalty that manage to avoid what the man on PAYE has to pay but also owners of fairly small businesses too.

[Squaredy]

Well to bring this thread back on track, the poll (admittedly very small numbers and certainly not a representative sample of society) seems to suggest very few people are concerned that a large proportion of their income will be spent on energy.  In fact almost half of respondents say they expect their energy costs to be less than 5% of net income.

 

Certainly a stark contrast to what the media have been saying day in and day out that "Most people will struggle with their energy bills".  The BBC should speak to more tree surgeons......!

[Retired Climber]

18 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Well to bring this thread back on track, the poll (admittedly very small numbers and certainly not a representative sample of society) seems to suggest very few people are concerned that a large proportion of their income will be spent on energy.  In fact almost half of respondents say they expect their energy costs to be less than 5% of net income.

 

Certainly a stark contrast to what the media have been saying day in and day out that "Most people will struggle with their energy bills".  The BBC should speak to more tree surgeons......!

As a representative group, we are an odd bunch. I'd imagine the self employed are over represented on this forum, meaning many more than average have the ability to increase their income fairly easily, and also we are massively over-represented by people who have alternative sources of fuel and heating, the obvious example being logs / burnable arb waste. 

[Big J]

We just got our bill for electricity for last month. The price has come right down due to Europe filling up with gas ahead of winter.

 

It only came to £126, which covers almost all our heating (we use the stove occasionally) too. We have been making a bit of an effort not to use the tumble dryer. 

 

It has been fairly mild though, and winter hasn't yet started. At present kw prices, we might see £300 over winter for a month, but I doubt it'll be more than that (unless the price hikes again).

[Bolt]

I remember once my dad gave me money to pay for the electricity, but instead I bought 142 tickets to win a brand new car.   When I got home, I explained to my dad what I had done and he beat the crap out of me.

 

But the next day, when my dad woke up and opened the door, outside our house was a brand new car.

 

 

 

Everyone cried.

 

 

 

….But no one cried more than me, because the car was from the electricity company and they’d arrived to cut off the power.

 

Dad beat the crap out of me again.