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Fuel Bills
A sure way to end light-hearted conversation is to mention household fuel bills and their meteoric rise over the past seven years. According to the comparison website moneysupermarket.com household bills have doubled since 2003. With record low temperatures in December, my heart goes out to all of you who rely on oil to heat your homes who have seen unfair and exorbitant price rises as demand for oil has soared. Fuel poverty is a real issue amongst the vulnerable and occurs when more than 10% of household income is dedicated to paying fuel bills. However, with a degree of guile and imagination, we can do our best to reduce our energy consumption in the following ways:-
- Be savvy and search out competitive deals from other suppliers. There is nothing a service supplier likes more than a customer who is compliant and loyal to them. One thing I have begun to recognise in life is that there is little personal gain in being a loyal customer. Make your supplier be it your telephone provider or utility supplier work for their money and above all, take the time to search out more competitive deals. Also, avoid being caught in the trap of thinking that you have to stay with a supplier for a certain period of time. You can in some circumstances, change supplier after as little as 6 weeks for example but do check that the tariff you are on does not incur any penalties for doing this. I changed my dual fuel supplier last year and was rewarded with a more competitive tariff and Nectar bonus points which paid for my turkey!
- Be Proactive and submit your meter readings. Again, we are all too comfortable in paying estimated bills which falls right into the hands of the utility supplier. If your gas and electricity meters are not regularly read, estimated readings mean that you could be paying more for gas or electricity than you actually use. More importantly, if you do not submit your own meter readings, you will not be entitled to a refund should you find you have overpaid.
- Take the exercise and switch your appliance off at the plug. It is something we all do with unerring regularity and will ultimately cost us in the long run. Leaving appliance on standby is a real no no and can cost us up to £10 per month per appliance.
- Invest in Mastic and Foam. If you feel a draught, that will often indicate a potential heat loss source. In this case, try if possible to seal any gaps by either using mastic or expandable foam. By doing so, you would not only reduce the draughts but also your carbon footprint by approximately 15-20%!
- Get those Curtains lined or shutters ordered. Sadly windows are one of the most efficient ways of losing heat from your property. This is a real issue if you live in a listed property with single pane windows and the potential to have them replaced not possible on historic building grounds.
- Last but not least, wrap up warm and turn that thermostatic control down by 1 or 2 degrees.
If you have imaginative ways of reducing your fuel bills, we look forward to hearing them in the comments.
Has the Chancellor gone far enough in helping the housing market in these troubled times?
In his speech to the House of Commons, Chancellor Darling outlined a £600 million package of new measures aimed at stimulating the beleaguered housing market. In his attempt to stop the slide in property prices and entice new buyers and movers, the Chancellor is to extend the stamp duty holiday on properties worth less than £175,000 which was due to end in September. Homes sold for less than £175,000 will now be exempt from the charge until the end of December. After this, the 0% threshold will fall back to £125,000.
Currently, properties worth more than £175,000 incur 1% stamp duty. If you purchase a home worth between £250,000 and £500,000 you will continue to incur an eye watering 3% charge and buyers of homes priced at more than £500,000 must pay 4%.
The stamp duty waiver is intended to offer an incentive for first-time buyers to step on the property ladder this year, but housing experts fear it could only harm the market's recovery at the beginning of 2010. In a classic smoke and mirrors manoeuvre by the Chancellor, the stamp duty holiday is considered to be nothing more than a gimmick with most homes in the south east exceeding the £175,000 barrier anyway. Additionally, what incentive does this really offer to those homeowners whose properties are worth more than £175,000? From bitter experience, I have recently had to pay 3% stamp duty on a £500,000 purchase. A stealth tax I remain resentful at paying. If the Chancellor really wants to send out a positive message that his government is keen to get people moving again, how about halving these quite preposterous charges or better still, removing them altogether?
Whilst stamp duty is an issue, the main obstacle to recovery is the lack of available mortgage finance at reasonable rates of interest for first time buyers. If people cannot secure mortgages at reasonable rates of interest, what incentive is there to buy a home?
For many, extending the stamp duty holiday will do little if anything in convincing them that now is the right time to move. The Chancellor has wasted a real opportunity to show that his government really does care.
