Energy Bills

[markavfc40]

When the government announced the £400 to help with energy bills this winter that was directly off the back of the price cap being predicted to be £2800 in October. Now it is predicted/nailed on the price cap will be at least £3500 come October. That £400 has not just been wiped out it has been wiped out and an extra £300 added. Therefore if the Government deemed £400 of help was needed for all that £400 figure should now be £1100. 

Energy costs for most will have gone up from £1200 a year in January to £3500 just 9 months later an increase of £2300. For the masses as things stand they will have been given £150 c/tax rebate and the £400 help in October. That leaves your average Joe needing to find £1750. The government help isn't even scratching the surface and in fairness they are coming at it from completely the wrong angle as they, in fact we as tax payers, are subsidising the energy companies profits. What the government should be doing is ensuring the price cap is set at a much lower level and the energy companies take the hit on profits.

Edited July 29, 2022 by markavfc40

[The Fun Factory]

Don't want to sound too morbid but I wonder how many excessive deaths we will get this winter due to the fuel crisis. Pandemic levels?

[Genie]

The price cap is clearly a load of bollocks isn’t it? It’s obviously not based on the cost of the product as the supplier profits prove that. 
The government should focus on fixing the price cap algorithm to a place where there is a reasonable, fair profit margin for the supplier and doesn’t bankrupt the population. 

 

[Genie]

2 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Don't want to sound too morbid but I wonder how many excessive deaths we will get this winter due to the fuel crisis. Pandemic levels?

A lot of those people would have died anyway  

[bannedfromHandV]

I think we’ll definitely see a rise in gas explosions and house-fires etc as people try to find alternate ways to heat their homes.

All whilst utility companies continue posting ever increasing profits. 

 

[Davkaus]

28 minutes ago, Genie said:

The price cap is clearly a load of bollocks isn’t it? It’s obviously not based on the cost of the product as the supplier profits prove that. 

 

I think the supplier side is still looking fairly grim, the record profits posted by Shell and Centrica come from their other business ventures rather than UK energy supply. If you limit the cap taking into account the other income streams from the big 6, you may well force the smaller suppliers out of business

[Genie]

3 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I think the supplier side is still looking fairly grim, the record profits posted by Shell and Centrica come from their other business ventures rather than UK energy supply. If you limit the cap taking into account the other income streams from the big 6, you may well force the smaller suppliers out of business

I wonder if it’s cheaper and better for the government to set the cap low so that it’s as affordable as realistically possible, but then offer assistance to suppliers that might struggle.

So rather than giving incredibly rich businesses billions of tax papers money AND have a population who can’t afford energy, you have a population who can largely afford energy and government assistance for suppliers who are struggling.

[Davkaus]

Some further info. "Fairly grim" might be a bit of an overstatement, but the numbers don't stack up for the suppliers being the problem.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/british-gas-profits-centrica-energy-prices-b2133672.html

Quote

British Gas owner Centrica has seen operating profits increase five-fold to £1.34 billion as energy bills soar.

The company’s profits for the six months to the end of June were a substantial increase on earnings compared to the £262m recorded in the same period last year.

The energy giant announced it would be reinstating its dividend at 1p per share this year after suspending it for three years.

Group chief executive Chris O’Shea reportedly claimed Centrica’s profits were not down to customers’ rising energy bills.

Operating profits at British Gas fell by 43 per cent to £98m compared to £172m this time last year, before the energy crisis had properly bitten.

So Centrica did make over £1.3bn profit in the last 6 months, but British Gas had a profit of £98m, which amounts to a profit of about £11 per household over those 6 months. They're doing alright and even if they operated independently as a supplier without the Centrica backing, they'd be ok, but if you eliminated their supplier side profit, it's not going to make a dent in your bill.

[bannedfromHandV]

Not saying for a second that it’s linked but apparently someone’s jumped off one of the bridges over the Mersey shipping canal again near us today.

I can well see suicides spiking during this cost of living squeeze and energy ‘crisis’ (it’s a crisis for all of us mere mortals but it’s seeming like an ever increasing opportunity for the utility companies).

[foreveryoung]

12 hours ago, markavfc40 said:

When the government announced the £400 to help with energy bills this winter that was directly off the back of the price cap being predicted to be £2800 in October. Now it is predicted/nailed on the price cap will be at least £3500 come October. That £400 has not just been wiped out it has been wiped out and an extra £300 added. Therefore if the Government deemed £400 of help was needed for all that £400 figure should now be £1100. 

Energy costs for most will have gone up from £1200 a year in January to £3500 just 9 months later an increase of £2300. For the masses as things stand they will have been given £150 c/tax rebate and the £400 help in October. That leaves your average Joe needing to find £1750. The government help isn't even scratching the surface and in fairness they are coming at it from completely the wrong angle as they, in fact we as tax payers, are subsidising the energy companies profits. What the government should be doing is ensuring the price cap is set at a much lower level and the energy companies take the hit on profits.

The price cap is a load of old tosh. Lets set it this quarter at £5k. Hang on the energy companies have only made 15 Billion this quarter and are on to us, we need to increase it to £8k. What does all this mean, it's not a price cap, a price cap is, you must not charge the consumer over this amount, so the BP's and Shells for example, need to find savings as not to rip it from the consumer.

But we all know in reality it's more about the share holder getting there cut, that's basically what we are paying for. It's been said if they don't make money every quarter they will pull out their investment and the companies cannot afford that.

 

[chrisp65]

If only there were swathes of empty land and proven cheap safe ways of producing renewable energy.

 

 

[rjw63]

Our monthly bill has gone up from £41 (last month) to £84.50 (this month) for just electric.

We have LPG gas which hasn't gone up. Yet.

[foreveryoung]

10 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

If only there were swathes of empty land and proven cheap safe ways of producing renewable energy.

 

 

F**** renewable energy, I'm gonna get the log burner out the garage and burn everything I can find to keep us warm, save some money and not put it into companies that are posting billion  pound profits every quarter, while most struggle there knackers off to live.

[bickster]

9 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

F**** renewable energy, I'm gonna get the log burner out the garage and burn everything I can find to keep us warm, save some money and not put it into companies that are posting billion  pound profits every quarter, while most struggle there knackers off to live.

Logs are renewable energy. The objection to log burners isn’t about renewable energy. It’s about heart attacks, asthma, strokes and lung cancer to you and your family. Burning other shit that isn’t logs will only increase that risk

The only thing they banned with wood burners was making it illegal to use wet wood

[Genie]

1 hour ago, bickster said:

making it illegal to use wet wood

 

[MakemineVanilla]

On 29/07/2022 at 10:08, The Fun Factory said:

Don't want to sound too morbid but I wonder how many excessive deaths we will get this winter due to the fuel crisis. Pandemic levels?

Across Europe there are ten times as many deaths each year due to cold than due to heat.

It seems certain that the high cost of energy will increase the number of deaths due to the cold, which would mean that the governments' decisions to sanction Russia, will result in casualties amongst the European civilian populations.

 

 

[markavfc40]

Noticed quite a drop in fuel at ASDA (Queslett) as I drove past last night. £1.72 petrol and £1.84 for diesel.

[Xela]

195.9p for V Power Unleaded the other day. Down from 202.9p a fortnight earlier. 

Shell Four Oaks. 

[foreveryoung]

3 hours ago, bickster said:

Logs are renewable energy. The objection to log burners isn’t about renewable energy. It’s about heart attacks, asthma, strokes and lung cancer to you and your family. Burning other shit that isn’t logs will only increase that risk

The only thing they banned with wood burners was making it illegal to use wet wood

Iv'e got a huge conifer recently cut down, heard you couldn't burn that either, because it's smokey.

[sidcow]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

 

Fantastic KW