[News] Energy bills to top £4200 at the start of next year

[CHAPPERS]

Because I live in the US, haven't been home in ages and just saw a headline saying energy bills are going to top 4200 without a link to an article for clarification, as someone who is in the process of moving back to the UK I wanted to ask the question, sorry for offending you, but your answer still doesn't make it clear to me either tbh.

Average annual bill.

 

[Uncle C]

Ouch…I’m currently living in a parallel universe having ‘fixed’ nearly two years ago …reality hits on November 20th when it ends

And we have all been subsidising you during that period.

 

[The_Viper]

Average annual bill.

Got it, thank you. But with the world melting down around us it may have seemed a stupid question but I just wanted to ask and clarify.

 

[Simster]

there's plenty of competition in extraction and energy producers so privatisation meets your criteria. the infrastructure less so, but you could chose billing company from dozens (didnt help long term). the practices of the old state monopolies made it a very easy sell to the public.

Plenty of competition is who extracts the energy (Shell, BP etc) but we consumers didn't buy directly from them in the first place, so that is completely irrelevant. That competition was always there.

What is relevant is that the Tory party privatised the infrastructure and billing side of the industry and said that we'd all benefit from any profits via our pensions. This ignores the fact that a) the poor don't have big pensions so don't benefit there b) the poor are now on the highest tariffs and c) some of those billing companies have gone to the wall and the state is bailing them out despite not benefitting from large profits until now.

 

[British Bulldog]

You may not have noticed that there is a quarrel in a far away country, between people of whom we know nothing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chamberlain-addresses-the-nation-on-his-negotiations-for-peace/zjrjgwx

I know there's a war going on but prices have been rising quite sharply since before that started? Or at least ours have?

 

[JJ McClure]

Just had an email from British Gas with whom I'm on the variable rate asking if I'd like to move on to a fixed now for twice the current price to avoid the potentially even higher prices that will be on the way. The numbers look scary either way

 

[Jim in the West]

Privatisation of public utilities was always the very worst of excessive Tory short-termism and now we are seeing why.

I genuinely don't understand why the public swallow the bullshit on why selling off the family silver like this was ever a good idea. It's perfectly simple - only in markets where there is genuine competition is there an argument for privatisation. So fair enough, break up and sell off Parcel Force or British Telecom. You can even make that argument for rail companies at a push. But privatising energy and water companies should have provoked national outrage at the time. It has done nothing but line the pockets of shareholders and is effectively a tax on the poor who invariably end up paying the most. Even though energy firms have made billions in recent months, Sunak still only added a windfall tax 3 months after everybody else called for it, and even then it looked suspiciously like it was only to deflect from yet another lie or bout of Tory incompetence.

I broadly agree, but not all privatised utilities are bad. Bristol Water has been privately owned throughout its 176 year history. It has a great reputation with customers. It has a clear social purpose, and a great team. [NB: I'm biased as I used to work there, but its still true that you can have a great private water company that delivers for its customers]

 

[Si Gull]

Just had an email from British Gas with whom I'm on the variable rate asking if I'd like to move on to a fixed now for twice the current price to avoid the potentially even higher prices that will be on the way. The numbers look scary either way

I just caved in and fixed with British Gas. I've been gambling on prices dropping next year but Mrs Gull was starting to panic. Like you say, fixed rate is double our current variable rate but it could get worse before it gets better. Tricky times for sure. Interesting that the standing charge is significantly lower with the fixed rate.... assuming I've interpreted the info correctly.

 

[southstandandy]

Feel like that's a massive generalisation.

I struggle hugely to keep my feet and hands warm in the winter, even with the heating on.

I was generalising, but I'm lucky that I have triple glazed windows and cavity wall insulation so our home never gets too cold.

 

[robinsonsgrin]

I'm not sure I'm with you regarding mild winters. We're in Somerset, which logically should be one of the mildest areas of the country - but we tried to drastically cut down on the central heating in Feb/March and it wasn't fun! My wife and I both work mainly from home, and often resorted to blankets and hot water bottles. During the day we had a couple of hours of central heating, but otherwise got pretty cold. For this winter we're creating a "snug" in a small spare room where we can watch tv, etc without having the central heating on. We're reasonably well off, and could actually afford to pay the £4,000+ pa, but it seems a monstrous waste of money. I'm getting pretty concerned about the many millions who definitely can't afford it. The fact that the government doesn't yet seem to understand this looming crisis is testimony to how out of touch our so-called leaders are.

PS: The standing charge issue is a good point - our Electricity standing charge went up by over 100% on 1 April. I've heard the reasons why this happened, but don't agree with how Ofgem has handled this. High standing charges are effectively a hugely regressive tax on the poorer in society.

Jim - oversized fleece hoodie blankets are amazing!

 

[A1X]

Meanwhile...

[tweet]1557018063647694854[/tweet]

 

[beorhthelm]

Plenty of competition is who extracts the energy (Shell, BP etc) but we consumers didn't buy directly from them in the first place, so that is completely irrelevant. That competition was always there.

What is relevant is that the Tory party privatised the infrastructure and billing side of the industry and said that we'd all benefit from any profits via our pensions. This ignores the fact that a) the poor don't have big pensions so don't benefit there b) the poor are now on the highest tariffs and c) some of those billing companies have gone to the wall and the state is bailing them out despite not benefitting from large profits until now.

overlooked the generation side once state run, now businesses that produce electric from whatever energy source. whatever the pitch at the time, privatisation is about moving assets and debt off the state balance sheet, have it run by people with domain expertise and motivation to improve it. keep it public and state pays % to fund investment (more than the profit % in many cases) and a dozy minister with PPE or Classics degree makes operational decisions.

in many years infrastucture and billing parts have reported loses, dont hear much about it outside business pages when that happens. many suppliers only existed because of artifical incentives (levy reductions) and playing the daily markets to fund discounted rates. tariffs for poorer households is a problem for the regulator to fix, and they should, no reason a key meter should pay a higher unit rate than others. some companies have gone to the wall without bailout (a bit of honest capitialsm for once) and thier customers protected. the other relevant part is this pattern is replicated across europe and the world, we're not an outlier in how energy markets and supply are managed.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Meanwhile...

[tweet]1557018063647694854[/tweet]

"Old Sparky" in Private Eye has been predicting power rationing this winter for weeks now.

We had it in introduced in South Africa as a temporary measure in 2007 due to lack of power generating capacity and rampant corruption. It is still happening now.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Meanwhile...

[tweet]1557018063647694854[/tweet]

Everything is FINE

 

[The Oldman]

And we have all been subsidising you during that period.

I understand that those fixed rate deals available say last year or the year before were based on the then future fuel market prices Which the energy companies signed up to. So do not think customers on present variable tariffs are subsidising the fixed rate customers .

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Get your Damart order in ahead of the winter curve because thermal long johns are going to be rarer than pasta on the shelves during lockdown, or a Liverpool fan from Liverpool if the scaremongering continues apace.

 

[KZNSeagull]

I really don't think we should go down the nationalisation route: governments should be enablers not doers. We really wouldn't want this current government in charge of anything more complicated than running a bath and I wouldn't trust them to do that properly.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Boris has spoken - expect more announcements of help in Sept or Oct. Hoorah, we are all saved

 

[Westdene Seagull]

to split hairs you do pay service charge for ISP infrastructure, its the line rental. for some time we've wanted to see the use of energy, to encourage us to reduce it, so its stayed seperate. who really cares its there as a line item, the fact its dramatically increased is the issue. if it were in the unit price you wouldnt know, so wouldnt be able to object to it.

PRECISLEY my point. I pay for it within the product cost. I can't cancel my gas, electric or water and not pay the service charge. I know as I have FOUR properties standing idle from an inheritance and I still, as executor of the estate, get standing charge bills. I've told them to eff off.

They can sue my dead parents for all I care.

 

[SeagullDubai]

How anyone can say they're not concerned is beyond me.

Add your gas/electric to your council tax and you could be talking of between £7k and £8k combined for just two bills.

That's before you eat, run a car, water/broadband etc.....

That is more or Less your state pension gone


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