Power Generation, Companies and Prices

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

So something that affects every single one of us deserves it's own thread with prices, profits, renewables, environment, government and opposition policy etc all in the news a lot these days.

So here is a radical thought and a suggestion for the power company bosses.

Being a privatised public service you are still a public service - therefore the most important short term objective you have is to keep prices to the consumer down. Coming next in the short term stakes are profits and shareholder value - main long term objective is funding new power generation.

So focusing on your most important short term objective. I suggest that we the public would be happy to pay you a bonus (yes we - not the company you run) if your bonus was inversely proportional to the increase in power charges to the customer. So keep our increases capped to the current level of general inflation, and you get your maximum bonus. I don't expect the reduction a zero% increase to me would imply. 10% increase - you get nothing. Fair I think.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Bloody nora - just heard nPower increases - >9% for electricity, and >11% for gas. Are they smoking something?

 

[Rooter]

Bloody nora - just heard nPower increases - >9% for electricity, and >11% for gas. Are they smoking something?

Yes and they are lighting them up with £50 notes. nothing can realistically be done since they were privatised, just wait for a first class stamp to rise to £1.. no point moaning about it, what are you gonna do? organise a strike so we dont use power?

we are screwed every which way you look as a worker and contributor of tax, the sooner you accept this and just plod along the better, its not worth the stress. no point voting in anyone new either, they are all the same.

Do as i do, work hard, play hard, get on with it. i could moan about lots of stuff, but its going to change nothing.

 

[blackpuddinmonster]

Bloody nora - just heard nPower increases - >9% for electricity, and >11% for gas. Are they smoking something?

Not to worry SLH you can always put an extra jumper on.

 

[Slab]

Shocking, something smells about this
(see what I did there )

My leccy costs about £210 ! fortunately gas is only £24....oo:






oh, did I mention those are my annual costs :whoo:

 

[jp5]

They are a private company and as such have no obligation to keep prices down. Do you expect these businesses to absorb the rising cost of oil? Whether companies such as these should have been privatised in the first place is another question. In my opinion the government needs to be focusing on renewable energy to provide for the future as the cost of oil is only going to go up.

 

[Ethan]

They are a private company and as such have no obligation to keep prices down. Do you expect these businesses to absorb the rising cost of oil? Whether companies such as these should have been privatised in the first place is another question. In my opinion the government needs to be focusing on renewable energy to provide for the future as the cost of oil is only going to go up.

[sarcasm]

Oh, sorry. I didn't realise they invented and owned electricity or gas.

I thought they were just given it all by the Government on a silver platter with a whole bunch of sweeteners so the Gov't could put some credits on the balance sheet. I bet the poor utility companies hardly make a penny from their tireless and selfless efforts.

[/sarcasm]

But these guys always elevate prices when wholesale prices go up (even if they have bought cheaper futures for the power), but what happens when wholesale (or futures) prices fall?

And where do the tax revenues from their profits go? Into the UK exchequer?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Not to worry SLH you can always put an extra jumper on.

Central heating has been out for neasrly 10 days so I have been cutting wood and setting an open coal fire every evening. Heating has just (10mins ago) been fixed but Mrs wants us to keep with real fire - and yes - wearing a jersey and taking a hot water botle to bed

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Yes and they are lighting them up with £50 notes. nothing can realistically be done since they were privatised, just wait for a first class stamp to rise to £1.. no point moaning about it, what are you gonna do? organise a strike so we dont use power?

we are screwed every which way you look as a worker and contributor of tax, the sooner you accept this and just plod along the better, its not worth the stress. no point voting in anyone new either, they are all the same.

Do as i do, work hard, play hard, get on with it. i could moan about lots of stuff, but its going to change nothing.

I just about agreed with everything else you posted but this is a complete cop-out. They are NOT all the same - and we can make them become ever more different if we pressurise them. They want our support - we CAN influence them.

On the general point of voting - IMO if you don't vote you then cannot complain about anything a government does or influences. Besides - if you couldn't vote I bet that you'd feel upset - being disenfranchised - just as non-dom Scots and the referendum. Anyway bacj to power.

I have been trying to contact my supplier this morning (Scottish Power). Looks like their website is being pounded with hit as I can't get to it. Wonder if that is anything to do with the nPower rises as Scottish Power have not yet announced 'theirs'.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Shocking, something smells about this
(see what I did there )

My leccy costs about £210 ! fortunately gas is only £24....oo:






oh, did I mention those are my annual costs :whoo:

Smug g*t

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

They are a private company and as such have no obligation to keep prices down. Do you expect these businesses to absorb the rising cost of oil? Whether companies such as these should have been privatised in the first place is another question. In my opinion the government needs to be focusing on renewable energy to provide for the future as the cost of oil is only going to go up.

This is all very well and good - but they are a public service with a captive market - notwithstanding their actual standing as a business. And talking of renewables as you do is also fine and dandy and I can agree with you on that...mixed with nuclear.

But two things.

One - we have to make planning permission for renewables a given by default - with there being a fixed time limit for opponents to have their case against any proposal upheld and the default position overturned. If you cannot make your case in a matter of months then you do not have a case that will succeed and the scheme goes ahead. We have to kill NIMBYISM in the context of future supply energy as plannign for the future is too important for us to be worried about - such as - windmills on the hill spoiling the view.

Two - the problem and hit on the cost of living is now and needs addressing now. That requires political will and political will will only come about through massive public pressure and through the ballot box.

I regularly read of this or that costing say £4.50 a week more (can't remember what that figure related to recently) - and that for many that amount is a lot of money - well 10% on a £1300 a year average dual fuel bill is £130 a year and that is >£10 a week more.

And on this whilst you may be legally correct the ArchBish of Cant is absolutely spot on when he said this weekend that the power companies have a "moral responsibility to 'act with generosity'"

 

[jp5]

And on this whilst you may be legally correct the ArchBish of Cant is absolutely spot on when he said this weekend that the power companies have a "moral responsibility to 'act with generosity'"

I bet the energy companies feel compelled after hearing that then! The days of corporations having moral responsibilities are gone, highlighted most spectacularly by the growth of loan sharks.

 

[USER1999]

On a 1300 pound bill, they make about 65 pounds profit, according to BBC news. That's not much in my view.

 

[Crazyface]

On a 1300 pound bill, they make about 65 pounds profit, according to BBC news. That's not much in my view.

This does not surprise me. How the hell can one company charge less than another when they are all getting it from the same sources and using the same method of transportation to get it to our homes? Very stupid idea to privatise in the first place IMO.

 

[Shaunmg]

Are we just plain mugs or what? Other governments such as Germany, France and Spain cap energy prices for domestic use, why on earth aren’t we? The energy companies must definitely think we are mugs, if they can’t get higher prices from other counties then just bang the cost on the UK.

Utilities should never have been privatised. Services vital to the nation should not be left in the hands of organisations whose only object is to make as much profit possible. The only remnant of true socialism we have left is the NHS, and now the private companies want their grubby hands all over that.

I’m not advocating communism, rather a mixed economy. Look where unfettered capitalism has got us today

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I bet the energy companies feel compelled after hearing that then! The days of corporations having moral responsibilities are gone, highlighted most spectacularly by the growth of loan sharks.

The church has an absolute reponsibility to speak up on matters that especially affect the poorer of our society. Whether the energy companies give a toss is entirely up to them - but please don't be cycnical about the church speaking out in this way. Every voice matters. You might not think the voice of the church matters but I for one do - in that it gives a view on the issue from a non-political standpoint.

 

[ger147]

I regularly read of this or that costing say £4.50 a week more (can't remember what that figure related to recently) - and that for many that amount is a lot of money - well 10% on a £1300 a year average dual fuel bill is £130 a year and that is >£10 a week more.

Arithmetic check - 10% of £1,300 is indeed £130 extra per year, but this is not the equivalent of > £10 per week more. £130 extra per year is £2.50 a week extra.

 

[ger147]

On a 1300 pound bill, they make about 65 pounds profit, according to BBC news. That's not much in my view.

Here is a link to the latest Scottish Power profits. According to my calculator, £1.5bn net profit over 6 months and 5.7 million customers = £263 profit per customer for 6 months, equivalent to annual profit per customer of £526. Not too shabby...

http://www.scotsman.com/business/energy/scottishpower-numbers-hit-high-but-profits-slide-1-3012363

To put those figures in context, Sky TV's ARPU (average revenue per customer) is just over £500 per year and they made £1.3 bn profit this year from twice as many customers.

So the power comapnies charge us twice as much as Sky TV do and make over twice as much profit per year.

 

[USER1999]

I am only going by the cost breakdown on the BBC. Where it also shows gb to have pretty much the cheapest energy bills in Europe.

 

[ger147]

The stuff posted on the BBC website is all analysis based on assumptions done by the power companies themselves.

The actual net profit they make is a matter of public record.

I know which figures I believe...