Energy Bills

[sidcow]

35 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Won me over.

Imagine the impact they’d have had if they just did a leaflet drop, or a sponsored knitting session.

Sometimes, you gotta upset the people that are napping.

So what impact has gluing themselves to the road made?  What have they changed?  Have more houses been insulated?

Imagine the impact they'd have had if they'd campaigned and got someone elected or had reasoned debate with their local MP's to put pressure on the Government.  As it turns out they've upset the public and changed literally nothing, in fact they've probably made those in charge more obstinate and unlikely to take action - stupid though that is.

Oh, and they've ensured a ton of carbon from the traffic queues has been pumped into the atmosphere which is kind of counter what they're supposed to be about.

[Davkaus]

I'm feeling pretty smug about locking in for 2 years in late September at an expensive 3.88p per unit when Martin Lewis et al were telling people to ride it out and stick to the variables.

[Genie]

1 minute ago, sidcow said:

Oh, and they've ensured a ton of carbon from the traffic queues has been pumped into the atmosphere which is kind of counter what they're supposed to be about.

Not to mention the poor sods who died that couldn’t get to hospital, or missed flights.

The other thing I don’t quite understand is that a few years back barely a week went by that I didn’t get someone knocking my door or ringing my phone asking me if I wanted free cavity wall or loft insulation. It was relentless. I did get it done at the time, for free. It went on for years.

There has been a major push in the recent past to insulate homes for free.

[chrisp65]

3 minutes ago, sidcow said:

So what impact has gluing themselves to the road made?  What have they changed?  Have more houses been insulated?

Imagine the impact they'd have had if they'd campaigned and got someone elected or had reasoned debate with their local MP's to put pressure on the Government.  As it turns out they've upset the public and changed literally nothing, in fact they've probably made those in charge more obstinate and unlikely to take action - stupid though that is.

Oh, and they've ensured a ton of carbon from the traffic queues has been pumped into the atmosphere which is kind of counter what they're supposed to be about.

This argument about ‘what have they achieved?’ Has been raised on here several times now.

I’ll give the same answer I’ve given every time, we’re literally here now discussing it. It’s put the subject into the conversation.

If we have a government that wouldn’t do the right thing because someone they don’t like raised the subject, well that would suggest we have a pretty poor government incapable of grown up thinking. Which, as it happens, is exactly what we do have.

[Genie]

3 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I'm feeling pretty smug about locking in for 2 years in late September at an expensive 3.88p per unit when Martin Lewis et al were telling people to ride it out and stick to the variables.

I’m annoyed that my PE tariff ended and they kept the variable rate low which meant the comparison sites couldn’t detect a saving by switching (which felt really odd). 
3 months later they go bust and all hell broke loose.

If they’d have priced properly I’d have moved onto another fixed rate at the perfect time. Annoying doesn’t cover it.

[Genie]

2 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

I’ll give the same answer I’ve given every time, we’re literally here now discussing it. It’s put the subject into the conversation.

It doesn’t make it right though.

If it wasn’t for the bomb at the office killing the innocent people we wouldn’t be talking about the anti-Islam cartoons they printed. 

[chrisp65]

1 minute ago, Genie said:

It doesn’t make it right though.

If it wasn’t for the bomb at the office killing the innocent people we wouldn’t be talking about the anti-Islam cartoons they printed. 

I’m not sure that’s quite on the same level?

They were a traffic nuisance a few times, they didn’t to my knowledge kill people with bombs?

 

Look, let’s drop all talk of greater insulation until some tory donors have cornered the market and can quadruple the price, then we can do some insulating as a sort of emergency hustle. Like with PPE.

Imagine a country where ‘levelling up’ meant employing people to become specialists in making and installing insulation which would create skilled jobs, create an exportable product, create paying jobs, reduce carbon emissions, reduce people’s energy consumption, reduce bills.

Imagine farmers selling wool and straw to the insulation industry.

Imagine specifying more energy efficient stuff.

Let’s wait a bit longer, energy bills doubling is clearly not quite the tipping point. It’ll be over by Christmas.

 

[Genie]

11 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

I’m not sure that’s quite on the same level?

They were a traffic nuisance a few times, they didn’t to my knowledge kill people with bombs?

 

Look, let’s drop all talk of greater insulation until some tory donors have cornered the market and can quadruple the price, then we can do some insulating as a sort of emergency hustle. Like with PPE.

Imagine a country where ‘levelling up’ meant employing people to become specialists in making and installing insulation which would create skilled jobs, create an exportable product, create paying jobs, reduce carbon emissions, reduce people’s energy consumption, reduce bills.

Imagine farmers selling wool and straw to the insulation industry.

Imagine specifying more energy efficient stuff.

Let’s wait a bit longer, energy bills doubling is clearly not quite the tipping point. It’ll be over by Christmas.

 

New homes have huge amounts of insulation and the builders have been required to do that by law for many years. My house even has insulate in the concrete base.

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, there has been a major push to insulate older homes in the recent past for free. I had my old house done. There are lots of grants for completely free wall and loft insulation still today.

Their stunts generated a shit load of pollution, cost a shit load of money, pisses off a shit load of people and also at least one person died in the traffic all.

All for what? “talking about the topic” doesn’t cut it for me.

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Genie

[chrisp65]

Well everything appears to be fine then.

I don’t know why people are bitching about energy prices, we surely can’t be using very much at all.

[kidlewis]

Got a brand new build. Gas isn’t as bad as electric but as we know the UK electricity grid has huge swathes of gas generating the electricity for it. 
 

that means you’re going to be using it whatever.

Bill was £80 a month, April to April 2022/3 will be £190 for the SAME usage.

regardless of what you use, there’s absolutely no way usage can come down by over 50% in a household.

Smart enabled gear all switches off through Alexa. 
 

plus I’ve worked from home until past few months, even returning to the office two days a week (and house all switched off) bill has still skyrocketed. 
 

the government simply inept at managing public  finances, they’ve made the Labour PFI scandal of the early 00s seem like Fagin from Oliver Twist compared to this.

UHCW Hospital in Coventry was PFI and even with that cost £3.5bn with their contract. This government wrote off over two mega hospitals from PPE wastage at a flick of a pen.

they can easily fund the energy crisis, they just can’t be arsed. It’s really that simple. 

 

[Xann]

There's surely going to be a rush for double/triple glazing now?

[chrisp65]

2 minutes ago, Xann said:

There's surely going to be a rush for double/triple glazing now?

 

There will be.

Unfortunately, and I apologise for banging on like some 70’s socialist, but it’ll be people with money that will be able to spend £4000 on double glazing to save £50 a month on energy bills.

The people that don’t have that £50 a month, they ain’t going to be buying solar panels and a heat pump and a Prius.

I know we all know this.

[OutByEaster?]

3 hours ago, kidlewis said:

The government simply inept at managing public  finances....they can easily fund the energy crisis, they just can’t be arsed. It’s really that simple. 

"Inept" suggest that this isn't deliberate - it's not a mistake - it's a choice, it's doctrinal.

 

 

[Genie]

Do MP’s get a fixed allowance for energy expenses? It’ll be a fun day when that gets increased.

[ml1dch]

2 minutes ago, Genie said:

Do MP’s get a fixed allowance for energy expenses? It’ll be a fun day when that gets increased.

I remember reading the other day that they can claim up to £3,500 per annum for heating costs.  I might have misread it, or misunderstood a joke though, before people start heading to the barricades.

[Genie]

Just now, ml1dch said:

I remember reading the other day that they can claim up to £3,500 per annum for heating costs.  I might have misread it, or misunderstood a joke though, before people start heading to the barricades.

If that’s to be spread across all their properties then there’s going to be trouble ahead.

Who is bravest to ask for it to be increased? My money is on Fabricant.

[ml1dch]

1 minute ago, Genie said:

If that’s to be spread across all their properties then there’s going to be trouble ahead.

Who is bravest to ask for it to be increased? My money is on Fabricant.

A quick Google brings up links to The Mail, Sun, Express etc. So I'm not going to bother linking to it. But it would seem that they can claim up to that amount in their second homes (i.e the ones that they need to be near Westminster), presumably for "work expenses" reasons. 

If I were a journalist though I'd be looking at which Tories have constituencies in and around London, whether they run a second home fairly close to their main one and what claims they'd made for running that home recently...

[chrisp65]

12 minutes ago, Genie said:

Do MP’s get a fixed allowance for energy expenses? It’ll be a fun day when that gets increased.

A quick scan read of the current IPSA regulations suggests that MP’s from outside London can buy or rent a second property closer to Parliament and can claim 100% of the energy bills. It doesn’t appear to give an actual figure that I can see.

But do not fear, if you are a London based MP, whilst you can’t claim for heating and lighting and cooking in your second home, you are automatically entitles to the LALP (London Area Living Payment) to help with your bills, it’s £4,140 per annum on top of the basic MP salary.

 

[Phil Silvers]

 

[ender4]

5 hours ago, Genie said:

You’re mixing 2 different things Dem.

The band A-D thing is a £150 council tax “gift”. Not related to the £200 “loan” from the energy suppliers.

If you’re living in a house in tax band A-D you’ll get a £150 discount on your council tax, plus a £200 credit on your electricity bill. The £200 will be reclaimed over the next 5 years at £40 a year.

So every household in the UK is getting a £200 loan in the form of a credit on their utility bill?