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Power Generation, Companies and Prices

...and so the tories and PC apologists continue to bleat on about market forces and a free market economy - do they not get that the UK power market is failing if it has not already failed. When something fails you do something about it - you do not keep prodding it and turning it over to see if there is still life in it. Making tariffs simpler and easier to understand will change little or nothing - we the public are getting taken for a ride - simple. It has to stop - it CANNOT go on - we just cannot afford it.

And it will stop - it has to. Prices CANNOT keep on rising at 10% a year - they just CANNOT - regardless of what the PCs claim and say. Something will cause them to stop. We may as well decide what that is now and do it - bacause it wuill happen eventually - so let's stop the pain now.
 
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So the National Audit Office tells us today that our power bills will go up by significant above-inflation amounts for the next 17 years. Best start speaking to my boss about getting a wage rise. Easy enough to work out what the average bill of £1300 is going to be in 5 yrs time - not good. Let's assume 5% increase a year - so that's 5x£65 and a few more £10s on top of that - say another £350 a year in 5 yrs time - splendid.
 
And yet inflation has gone down.......
If inflation is around 2% then somethings going waaay down in price to compensate for these rises.
 
Thought MaggieT had removed fuel/energy costs from price/inflation indexes...

Anyway we've another 17 years of above inflation rises in energy costs to look forward to apparently...
 
Thought MaggieT had removed fuel/energy costs from price/inflation indexes...

Anyway we've another 17 years of above inflation rises in energy costs to look forward to apparently...

...when many of us are struggling to deal with current ones. I suggested in a previous post

Prices CANNOT keep on rising at 10% a year - they just CANNOT - regardless of what the PCs claim and say. Something will cause them to stop. We may as well decide what that is now and do it - bacause it wuill happen eventually - so let's stop the pain now.

Sounds like I was wrong - but I can't really be wrong. £2,135 a year by 2030 - yer having a laugh.

Mind you I know what's going to happen. The green tax and saving grants aspects of our bills will be taken from our power bills and go on general taxation.

Now how this is going to be done without raising taxation or reducing tax level boundaries I do not know. Those who don't pay tax won't contribute to the green tax and energy saving grants pot - and funnily enough they are those who will most benefit from grants. Meanwhile likes of muggins here will pay through his tax and won't qualify for any grants (nothing new there then). Mind you I can feel good about helping us all feel greener.

So let's hear from the low-taxation Tories on how they would wangle that one and sell it to their core constituency - the 'hard-pressed middle'
 
...when many of us are struggling to deal with current ones. I suggested in a previous post



Sounds like I was wrong - but I can't really be wrong. £2,135 a year by 2030 - yer having a laugh.

Mind you I know what's going to happen. The green tax and saving grants aspects of our bills will be taken from our power bills and go on general taxation.

Now how this is going to be done without raising taxation or reducing tax level boundaries I do not know. Those who don't pay tax won't contribute to the green tax and energy saving grants pot - and funnily enough they are those who will most benefit from grants. Meanwhile likes of muggins here will pay through his tax and won't qualify for any grants (nothing new there then). Mind you I can feel good about helping us all feel greener.

So let's hear from the low-taxation Tories on how they would wangle that one and sell it to their core constituency - the 'hard-pressed middle'

The problems you are experiencing are due to the socialist way that taxes you to the hilt and redistributes your wealth to finance things they want you to have and to support others that have learned they don't have to live within their needs or take responsibility for their own actions.

If you were taxed less you would be able to use your hard earned money on keeping warm.
 
The problems you are experiencing are due to the socialist way that taxes you to the hilt and redistributes your wealth to finance things they want you to have and to support others that have learned they don't have to live within their needs or take responsibility for their own actions.

If you were taxed less you would be able to use your hard earned money on keeping warm.

Which may well be the case - but I'm still interested to hear the low-tax party approach to doing this.
 
DC is forever telling us that 'something has to be done' without me having to ask him personally. That's all well and good - so now DC please tell me what is going to be done.
 
Anyone with First Utility.They had the cheapest deal on a well known comparison site I was checking last night.What are they like to deal with?

Kev

I was with First Utility until very recently... Straightforward to deal with and I had no issues with their service during the time I was signed up to them... Only changed as there was, for me, better deals to be had elsewhere when the fixed price period expired...
 
I thought I just did.

To have more money in my pocket (to pay for such as my power bill) I must pay less tax - as you say. But how am I gong to be taxed less if the government is going to remove the 'green taxes' and 'energy saving levy' from our power bills and include them in general taxation? That's what I hear they are going to do - so that these costs are met by taxpayers rather than the population as a whole. If they can get my tax bill down at the same time as doing that I'll be surprised.
 
I think there is a problem with the way the energy companies are portrayed.

Profit is publicised in monetary value i.e - British gas made £500 gabajillion last month.

Increases are measured in percentage i.e - increase of 10.986593%

When really, profit should be a percentage also, the figures are just so enormous because EVERYONE needs an energy supplier, so say 30m households, each supplier has 5m, you make £10 profit on each house which averages £700 spend a year you make £50m in profit which is a lot of money, but percentage wise that's 7% profit. Which is reasonable!!!
 
Nice bit of 'horse-trading' going on behind the scenes between the gov and the power companies - and we have a shambles. Asking PCs to hold bill to mid-2015 if the gov reduces the green levees etc. No one ever tell the Tories that in a capitalist and market economy, companies and their boards have a duty to maximise shareholder return. What a farce. Whole thing is a complete and scandalous mess.
 
We switched from BG to First Utility this morning for Electric only. Saving of over £100 a year.

We've cut our monthly DD payment from £220 to £150 by switching radiators off around the house when we are not in the rooms- and not using our convection heater to heat the conservatory and bathroom electric towel rail both 12hrs+ a day. So when I work from home these days - no central heating on. I put on a jersey if I'm feeling a bit cold.
 
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