British Gas,record price rise !!

[DIFFBROOK]

If you elect Chairman Diffbrook to run Britain PLC, one of my first Acts will be to say to the energy companies, yes make a reasonable profit, but anything in excess of that ( i.e obscene profits where BP make £100m per hour) and you will be windfall taxed. So they in effect would have a choice, either lower their prices or be taxed. This windfall tax would then go those in society hardest hit by fuel charges.

My second Act would be to scrap Britains trident programme (costing billions upon billions) and which will never be used nor independent and use that money to be use on renewable forms of energy so that we are not dependent on Russia and the middle east.

My third Act would be to regulate the banking industry harder. Clearly they have been unable to run a business these so many years and have lent money too freely. They are now in a mess and have spread this mess to all of us. Lessons need to be learned.

My 4th Act would be to legalise drugs. If people are stupid enough to use them, thats their business. Its a total waste of time spending £2 billion just scratching the surface. At least by legalising it, you might be able to take the worst excesses of criminality out of it.

My 5th Act would be the Police reform bill. Get police to actually prevent crime rather than persecute the motorist etc. Jeez, there were two of them manning a traffic light the other day.

My 6th Act would be to reduce the number of MPs. I'm sure that we can run on less

I could go on.

 

[User removed 4]

Poor privatised souls, all those hungry shareholder mouths to feed

THPP, do you think that your pension fund just saves the money you give it or do you think that it invests it so it grows and is able to provide decent returns ? i can understand being angry over gas prices which is reall the fault of both tory and labour governments for failing to build enough storage capacity , but why the prejudice against "hungry shareholders", you would be in for a vastly more impoverished old age without them.

 

[KZNSeagull]

If you elect Chairman Diffbrook to run Britain PLC, one of my first Acts will be to say to the energy companies, yes make a reasonable profit, but anything in excess of that ( i.e obscene profits where BP make £100m per hour) and you will be windfall taxed. So they in effect would have a choice, either lower their prices or be taxed. This windfall tax would then go those in society hardest hit by fuel charges.


Even though the UK government will make in excess of 25 billion pounds from Fuel duty alone this year? I think that they have already got enough money to help those in society hardest hit by fuel charges, if they wanted to.

 

[captainmorganrum]

So..

EDF Energy is the trading name of EDF Energy Customers plc, an energy company that provides gas and electricity to homes throughout the United Kingdom.

The company is owned by the French energy company Électricité de France.

EDF Energy put up gas prices by 22% and electricity prices by 17%.

'EDF Energy, where Gordon Brown's brother Andrew is a senior public relations executive, said it had no choice because of a 70 per cent surge in global energy prices since the start of the year.'

(London Entertainment Guide from The Evening Standard | This is London)
BBC NEWS | Business | Record rise for British Gas bills

But EDF aint putting the gas prices up in France?

So far in 2008, EDF/GDF in France has increased its Gas prices by 9.7%. For Electricity, the French are fortunate, because domestic Electricity prices can only rise by the inflation rate (currently about 4%) until 2010, under a public service agreement with the French government (which owns 85% of EDF).
(Same link as above).

So, whats all this about then?
My mams freezing already mun.

 

[beorhthelm]

If you elect Chairman Diffbrook to run Britain PLC, one of my first Acts will be to say to the energy companies, yes make a reasonable profit, but anything in excess of that ( i.e obscene profits where BP make £100m per hour) and you will be windfall taxed. So they in effect would have a choice, either lower their prices or be taxed. This windfall tax would then go those in society hardest hit by fuel charges.

following news of Chairman Diffbrook's first act of government, Shell and BP announced plans to relocate all their HQ operations to the Netherlands and US respectivley and relist all shares on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and NYSE. In response, the FTSE fell sharply as pension fund managers planned for the inevitable restructuring of thier portfolios.

grow up, we are the shareholders of the FTSE 100 and BP should be congratulated for being a world leader in oil, bring billions to the exchequer and into our pension funds.

 

[User removed 4]

following news of Chairman Diffbrook's first act of government, Shell and BP announced plans to relocate all their HQ operations to the Netherlands and US respectivley and relist all shares on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and NYSE. In response, the FTSE fell sharply as pension fund managers planned for the inevitable restructuring of thier portfolios.

grow up, we are the shareholders of the FTSE 100 and BP should be congratulated for being a world leader in oil, bring billions to the exchequer and into our pension funds.

quality post.

 

[DIFFBROOK]

quality post.

You think so. There is a vast difference in making a profit and an obscene one. And sorry, I personally think that making £4bn pound profit is obscene when people in this country will struggle to heat their homes, particularly the old.

You mention shareholders and pension funds. Not for one minute would I tax all energy firms profits, just the obscene bit. They would make a profit in line with previous stable years. They would still give a very healthy dividend to shareholders and pension funds would still grow. No way would they leave this country just cos I taxed their windfall taxes. They know as we all do that its bonanza time for them and they are probably amazed that they are getting away with it.

What I'm more concerned about are those who are shareholders of this country i.e the public and who are facing very real difficulties this winter. Particularly current pensioners whose private pension/state pension wont cover their fuel bills.

 

[sten_super]

No way would they leave this country just cos I taxed their windfall taxes.

I disagree with this completely. Firms have shown themselves extremely willing to move to wherever the tax burden is lowest; and when you are talking about millions (possibly billions) of pounds difference between having HQ in say London or New York, they'd be foolish not to move.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

This couple of quotes from today's BBC News online says it all really:

Patrick South, Age Concern's head of public affairs, said: "Energy companies say they can't absorb wholesale price rises, but in light of their profits this will sound hollow to the one-in-three pensioners likely to be in fuel poverty this winter."

...

Sam Laidlaw, Centrica's chief executive, said: "This is a business that has got a million shareholders - a lot of pension funds and people have got their savings invested in British Gas shares and we have to look after them".



So there we have it, the end result of privatisation laid bare.

Utterly shameful.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I opted to have mine price capped with EDF in 2006 until 2010.

I had a price cap deal with EDF which finished on Dec 31 2007 which they kindly extended to Mar 31 2008. In the mean time they withdrew a price cap deal that would have carried on from Apr 1. So watch out when your current deal finishes as they might not have a continuation deal. Rather than go onto their standard rate I switched to Scottish on a dual fuel internet only deal fixed until 2011. The bad news is that by getting used to EDF's price cap tariff for 3 years it was a shock to find out the new cheapest fixed price deal was nearly a third dearer than what I was paying.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Are you sure? For a start, we have a humongous debt (ever growing) which needs to be serviced and how much would it cost to re-nationalise our industries ?

If GB adopted truly socialist principles then it would cost NOTHING to re-nationalise as they would be back in the hands of the state.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

THPP, do you think that your pension fund just saves the money you give it or do you think that it invests it so it grows and is able to provide decent returns ? i can understand being angry over gas prices which is reall the fault of both tory and labour governments for failing to build enough storage capacity , but why the prejudice against "hungry shareholders", you would be in for a vastly more impoverished old age without them.

You, like Sam Laidlaw, Centrica's chief executive, have completely lost sight of what SHOULD be the priorities of British Gas. Nowadays its priorities are:

1st - provide returns to its shareholders and the pension funds
2nd - provide affordable fuel to its customers

Time for the snouts to be FORCIBLY removed from the trough methinks

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

It only took EDF to get the ball rolling for the latest round in price increases. British Gas then made an announcement about a price increase reminiscent of the 1970's and the rest will now follow suit. Economists might spout on about it adding 1% to the inflation figure but if you earn the minimum wage and only take home £200 a week its the equivalent of an immediate 3.5% hike on top of current "real" inflation which takes things closer to 20% as people dont but a dab radio , christmas tree, ipod or rotary clothes dryer and other stupid items contained in the rpi measuring basket of goods on a weekly basis.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

try uswitch.com

I used uswitch to change suppliers. They are a business , getting a commission on each successful transaction.

 

[British Bulldog]

This couple of quotes from today's BBC News online says it all really:

Patrick South, Age Concern's head of public affairs, said: "Energy companies say they can't absorb wholesale price rises, but in light of their profits this will sound hollow to the one-in-three pensioners likely to be in fuel poverty this winter."

...

Sam Laidlaw, Centrica's chief executive, said: "This is a business that has got a million shareholders - a lot of pension funds and people have got their savings invested in British Gas shares and we have to look after them".



So there we have it, the end result of privatisation laid bare.

Utterly shameful.

Thats where you need more privatised companies like Network Rail, Non profit making therefore no share holders to worry about.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Thats where you need more privatised companies like Network Rail, Non profit making therefore no share holders to worry about.

Quite. But it took Railtrack and their sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-contractors to slaughter quite a few people first before any action was taken to stop them abusing their position. If we get a really harsh winter and a large number of pensioners die due to not being able to afford to keep themselves warm, then British Gas and the rest of the energy companies should be held accountable.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

A large number of pensioners freezing to death in their homes this winter is acceptable to British Gas shareholders as they will still reap the share dividends. It would also relieve pressure on the NHS as they wont be taking up valuable bed spaces. The Government also benefits by not paying out on their state pensions. There will be seats at the front of the bus.

 

[British Bulldog]

Quite. But it took Railtrack and their sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-contractors to slaughter quite a few people first before any action was taken to stop them abusing their position. If we get a really harsh winter and a large number of pensioners die due to not being able to afford to keep themselves warm, then British Gas and the rest of the energy companies should be held accountable.

Any company that kills people to satisfy share holders should be well and truely held accountable for it, On the point of privatisation i'd be interested to know how many people who are now moaning about it were willing to invest they're own money in their own companies when they were privatised? I mean how easy was it to invest in things like share/save schemes and make a quick bit of money?

 

[Ccider]

So..

EDF Energy is the trading name of EDF Energy Customers plc, an energy company that provides gas and electricity to homes throughout the United Kingdom.

The company is owned by the French energy company Électricité de France.

EDF Energy put up gas prices by 22% and electricity prices by 17%.

'EDF Energy, where Gordon Brown's brother Andrew is a senior public relations executive, said it had no choice because of a 70 per cent surge in global energy prices since the start of the year.'

(London Entertainment Guide from The Evening Standard | This is London)
BBC NEWS | Business | Record rise for British Gas bills

But EDF aint putting the gas prices up in France?

So far in 2008, EDF/GDF in France has increased its Gas prices by 9.7%. For Electricity, the French are fortunate, because domestic Electricity prices can only rise by the inflation rate (currently about 4%) until 2010, under a public service agreement with the French government (which owns 85% of EDF).
(Same link as above).

So, whats all this about then?
My mams freezing already mun.

France generates 75% of it's electricity from nuclear power.
Sensible frogs.