Energy price rises

[bobbasrah]

hI Bob,
That too!
The reason i mentioned "comunity spirit" was because over the last couple of decades we have all been quietly encouraged to look after number one, and it has turned us into an "i am alright Jack" society, where as long as it dosent directly affect us personaly we pay little attention to it, hence we have lost our comunity spirit! So, unless we get back to caring about others and our comunities' and therefore that which affects us all' instead of just ourselves and our imediate family, what hope do we have of changing anything???
A...

Agreed 100%.
I gave up and left for good, the easier and more realistic choice in the face of what seemed insurmountable odds at the time... I have never regretted it over the last 12 years, and visit occasionally to remind myself of UK PLC's values. It is a business not a society now I'm afraid. Europe has a better balance on things IMHO, but you have to leave it to appreciate it unfortunately...

[Macca]

Agreed 100%.
, and visit occasionally to remind myself of UK PLC's values. It is a business not a society now I'm afraid. ...

If only the country was run as a business then we would all be a lot better off! Something I have been saying for years - the problem we have today is too much concentration on the cost centres and not enough on the revenue streams. A well managed country, just like a well managed business, will draw wealth in, wealth that can then be used to improve the quality of life for everyone.

Note I said 'can'. The solar and wind scams are just two examples of how this does not add up. If you need to subsidise something in order to attract uptake that prooves it is not a viable proposition long term. No well run company would do such a thing. The UK governmert excels at it.

[hifi_dave]

Hopefully, the Government will do something to force the energy companies to put us all on the lowest tariff, instead of baffling us with a bewildering array of figures.

Apparently, there are almost 800 tariffs available from the energy suppliers. These have nothing to do with choice but all to do with scamming us. You are never really sure if you are on the best deal and this shouldn't be. At one time, the energy companies only had a handful of tariffs and all was clear and fair.

I bet our foreign owned energy companies are not allowed 800 tariffs in their own countries.

[Reid Malenfant]

I see a problem there, if everyone goes onto the lowest tariff, then it'll be bloody expensive you can bet

Think about it, there will only be one tariff that they can supply

[The Grand Wazoo]

There's no easy fix - doing what Cameron has proposed will only serve to reinforce and legitimise the cartel that already exists in the retail power industry.
As stated earlier on this thread, the foreign owned suppliers of our energy are busy using us to offset the the low charges they are forced to levy in their home markets - how do we feel about paying a good portion of the power bills of people living in France & Germany?

[Reid Malenfant]

There's no easy fix - doing what Cameron has proposed will only serve to reinforce and legitimise the cartel that already exists in the retail power industry.
As stated earlier on this thread, the foreign owned suppliers of our energy are busy using us to offset the the low charges they are forced to levy in their home markets - how do we feel about paying a good portion of the power bills of people living in France & Germany?

This is also what I have taken to be a given. Their bills are capped by the governments, so the foreign suppliers take it from us.....


From what I have read it might be a 2% cap in France, now what energy company do they own? .....

[The Grand Wazoo]

I spent a few years working as an in-house consultant to a wholesale energy supplier - i.e. one who supplies only to the grid & not to the end customer (yes, a strange place for a forestry professional to work, I know) and I gained a remarkable education in the high level machinations of the power industry.

[goraman]

You could all buy shares in the company pool them and do a hostile take over in the next board meeting.
Start up a group of people able to kick in a thousand pounds each,name an executive share holder and take them to task at there own game.
If that doesn't work, start a nation wide bill paying freeze,just get everyone to stop paying there bill at the same time and in one week if 1/3 dosen't pay they will be brought to there knees,executives fired ect.. then new rates ,lower ones.

[bobbasrah]

....I bet our foreign owned energy companies are not allowed 800 tariffs in their own countries.

Rather afraid they do not Dave, but it is a minefield elsewhere whereby your assessment of how much you are liable to consume determines the rate, and if you exceed that either way you attract penalties. It is a lousy way to do business but Eon (predominant here on both gas and electric) seem to be halway between a energy supplier and a croupier these days.

Another scam they run here is penalty charges for late payment. They bill for a date with 4 weeks to pay but with delivery of the bill up to 3 weeks later, if it arrives at all. If you are on holiday or working away, or put off chasing the bill in a 3 hour queue at their offices, penalties are inevitable.
They also charge penalties on when the money shows up in their accountancy system, rather when it was received in their bank account. I have seen up to 6 days difference in some cases. Other utilities are following a similar tactic in efforts to raise additional cash, as nobody has yet gone to court over it. Look out UK....

These companies have a monopoly for a contract term and milk it for all it is worth, something they can not do in germany for instance. Are we better off with choice of supplier? Not so sure to be honest....

[goraman]

Or you could have Neville Chamberlain get them to sign a non aggressive rates treaty.