⚡️Energy Price Fear Porn

Author

Jason Mountford
August 18, 2022

This is The Hedge, the email that gets to you every week, even when the guy who writes it is sunning himself in Portugal. Yeh, you know.

Reading Time: 3m 18sec

  • Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 8:30PM BST.

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⚡️Energy Price Fear Porn

I'm on one this week. I'm sick to death of analysts and consultants constantly trying to one up themselves with a new scary figure that gets splashed across the news. First it was £2,000 then it was £3,000 and now we're seeing that prices are supposedly going to be hitting £4,000+ for the average household next January.

The scaremongering is bullshit, and I'm sick of it.

Even the nations money saint, Martin Lewis, is part of this problem. It's fear porn. Maybe it drives engagement, clicks and likes, but it makes everyone scared, nervous and afraid.

Every time there's a new figure from a different firm of analysts, the media latch on to it and splash it across the headlines. Ofgem themselves provide forward estimates, which are much lower than the figures doing the rounds.

Also remember that these figures are for the average household. That's generally going to mean a family with a couple of adults who are likely both earning money. An increase to the levels they're talking about will be shit, but it's nothing to be scared of for most people.

The discussion about pensioners living in a flat, who will need to choose between heating and food this winter is bullshit in my opinion too. They aren't going to be paying £4,000+ a year, because they're not the average user.

Yes, some people live on very tight budgets. But if an extra £30 a month is the difference between life and death, that's a totally different issue than just energy prices.

Right, rant over. Just remember, headlines don't say anything about your personal financial situation. Do your own numbers. Make your own plan. Take control of your own circumstances.

Could be worse👇

💬 Incredible AI text to speech

Ok, now for something fun. AI is showing up on tech everywhere from warehouses to streaming services to our cars and obviously in our phones. Some of the applications are bloody incredible, and I came across this one the other day that has blown me away.

Text to speech is nothing new, but it's always been super robotic and awkward. That's all going to change.

Unreal Speech is one company making AI text to speech that can match anyones speaking style. The business applications are huge. You could use the tech to change languages on foreign TV shows. like Squid Game in full English, but using the real actors accents and unique delivery style.

For the vision impaired, it could bring new life to the content they consume on a daily basis and people who develop speech impairments later in life could potentially use technology to keep their own voice.

Check out the Unreal Speech website here. They have a few examples you can try with your own text, including Gary See and Jordan Peterson.

🚀 I'm on TikTok Now

Not going to lie, it's actually awesome. You can follow me there if you want.

🌏 Snippets

See you next week 🚀

Jason