It looks as though we are going to be facing very high heating bills that is if the projection of fuel costs are correct, and so far I can’t see a reason for them not to be.

All of this reminds me of what life used to be like in the bedsit world of the 1950s and 1960s.
In those days your bedsit had its own meter and you had to make sure that you had the right coins to put in it. On very cold days or rather evenings, you would be working in a heated office or workshop during the day, anyway you found it cheaper to go to the pictures in an evening rather than heat your room. It was in the days when the cinema had a rolling programme, you went in when you’re ready and came out when you had had enough. On a cold evening you would go in early and stay in the warmth of the cinema until closing time, I will admit that sometimes you weren’t watching the film you had nodded off.

Another alternative was to go to whist drives in the church hall, another place that was warmer than your bedsit, and it was cheaper than heating your room. You also had a cup of tea thrown in.

Some people used to go down to the local pub and make a pint of beer last a long time, in fact the bedsit people were up to all the dodges to keep warm at as little cost as possible.

My advice to the older citizen living in residential homes is to take part in as many communal activities as you can, these are usually held in a communal drawing room or lounge and will save you having to have your own heating on. In fact you will be acting in the way you use to act in the 1950s and 60s, leave your bedsit and find a warm place.

Are we reverting back to those days, especially when you read about the Russian action on the Ukraine border?

Costs

I have just looked at what the electricity or rather energy suppliers say is the split of their costs.

Buying the energy – 36%

Delivering the energy to your home – 24%

Looking after you which includes billing, customer service and IT systems – 20%

Government environmental and social schemes – 13%

VAT – 5%

Supply business profit – 2%

The way I read it, the energy company is taking VAT and government environmental social scheme into account when working out their profit. I could well be wrong but I thought that the VAT was based on the final price. Perhaps someone will put me right.