Energy Bills

[Chicken Runner61]

Dear Mr Cameron

Telling all the energy companies to put us on the lowest tariff they offer will mean they will just add up all the tariffs and charge us the average. Thats going to probably mean that most people will pay more.

Having a choice of companies to compete to send me a bill for the same product is plain stupid. They now send me six adverts asking me to use them and one of the ***** then sends me a bill for the privilege. How is that competition?

In any case I don't need competition i just need the lowest price for Gas & electric thats available to the country as a whole.

I could actually do without having to worry that i'm paying too much - in fact I'm happy to pay a little more if I don't have to worry about it.

I'm pretty sure all our bills could be less if the energy companies stop advertising how good they are in the press and on the telly and stop paying Blur £5 a go to use their song to advertise.

Its the same poxy energy energy whoever I buy it from just give it to me at the cheapest price from one nationalised company on one bill every month.

You tell me how to live my life in every other ******* way why not actually do me a favour and do your job and produce or buy energy for our nation in all our interests - we don't need the hassle just give me something that works and doesn't cost the earth!

I don't need u switch, compare the market or any of the other crap sites that make money by telling me who to buy energy from and getting a commission that gets added to my bill in the long run anyway. People will use the amount of energy they can afford, businesses are busy trying to survive by producing and selling goods, we don't want to waste our lives fretting about which brand rips us off the least!


Just ****** sort it.

 

[smeariestbat]

+ 1

 

[Westdene Seagull]

D

I'm pretty sure all our bills could be less if the energy companies stop advertising how good they are in the press and on the telly and stop paying Blur £5 a go to use their song to advertise.

Or indeed weren't being forced to fund "Green" initiatives such as free energy saving light bulbs ( which are shit anyway ) or free loft insulation. I'm no fan of energy companies but let's not kid ourselves that for every "Green" idea they force on the companies it's US the customer that ends up paying for it in some way.

 

[bha100]

Old condom head blamed Mr sinus yesterday and claimed he did sweet fa when he was energy minister,but the blame lies firmly at the door of the government who privatised the whole shebang

 

[Hyperion]

If he was that concerned why does he not take the lead and remove the 5% VAT from energy bills. Oh, no. Can't be doing that now.

 

[bha100]

If he was that concerned why does he not take the lead and remove the 5% VAT from energy bills. Oh, no. Can't be doing that now.

I am going to cover myself and say i stand to be corrected but im sure i read once before that the 5% vat on energy bills is some kind of European law and not something the uk Government can change

A Treasury spokesperson said: “The Government is taking a number of steps to help people struggling to pay their fuel bills, both through improving the energy efficiency of homes and through direct support on bills. However, gas and electricity for domestic use is subject to the reduced rate of VAT of 5 per cent, which is the lowest permitted reduced rate under European law. It would not be possible to reduce this further.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

If he was that concerned why does he not take the lead and remove the 5% VAT from energy bills. Oh, no. Can't be doing that now.

Once you impose VAT on any goods or services you cannot scrap it completely or reduce it to 0%. The only scenario where VAT on energy bills is scrapped means leaving the EU.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Once you impose VAT on any goods or services you cannot scrap it completely or reduce it to 0%. The only scenario where VAT on energy bills is scrapped means leaving the EU.

Yet another good reason then !

 

[vegster]

How about re nationalisation ? This is the what you get when you " open up " the market to competition. If we had a British Gas as in the old days it would save a fortune. here are some of the savings.

1, No need for expensive advertising of Gas and all this " so and so is cheaper for the next 6 months " tosh.

2, No cold calling from aggressive salesmen desperate to get you to change suppliers for a commission.

3, No shareholder dividends to be paid thus reducing costs.

4, If the government owned British Gas it could start to turn the economy around and employ people by actively recruiting Apprentices

5, There would probably be no need for Ofgas any more.

6, A national company supported by the Government would have better buying power for wholesale Gas.

7, Pensioners and the poor could be offered reduced rates during the winter to tide them over.


That's all so far, but probably many more good reasons if you think about it, the Gas companies currently still have to pay shareholders so any potential decreases will have to be clawed back from somewhere.

 

[bha100]

How about re nationalisation ? This is the what you get when you " open up " the market to competition. If we had a British Gas as in the old days it would save a fortune. here are some of the savings.

1, No need for expensive advertising of Gas and all this " so and so is cheaper for the next 6 months " tosh.

2, No cold calling from aggressive salesmen desperate to get you to change suppliers for a commission.

3, No shareholder dividends to be paid thus reducing costs.

4, If the government owned British Gas it could start to turn the economy around and employ people by actively recruiting Apprentices

5, There would probably be no need for Ofgas any more.

6, A national company supported by the Government would have better buying power for wholesale Gas.

7, Pensioners and the poor could be offered reduced rates during the winter to tide them over.


That's all so far, but probably many more good reasons if you think about it, the Gas companies currently still have to pay shareholders so any potential decreases will have to be clawed back from somewhere.

Re-nationalise the utility companies - e-petitions

 

[Chicken Runner61]

How about re nationalisation ? This is the what you get when you " open up " the market to competition. If we had a British Gas as in the old days it would save a fortune. here are some of the savings.

1, No need for expensive advertising of Gas and all this " so and so is cheaper for the next 6 months " tosh.

2, No cold calling from aggressive salesmen desperate to get you to change suppliers for a commission.

3, No shareholder dividends to be paid thus reducing costs.

4, If the government owned British Gas it could start to turn the economy around and employ people by actively recruiting Apprentices

5, There would probably be no need for Ofgas any more.

6, A national company supported by the Government would have better buying power for wholesale Gas.

7, Pensioners and the poor could be offered reduced rates during the winter to tide them over.


That's all so far, but probably many more good reasons if you think about it, the Gas companies currently still have to pay shareholders so any potential decreases will have to be clawed back from somewhere.

They could go one stage further One company to rule them all Gas, Electric and water! Just get decent people to run it from the top down

No Ofgen or Ofwat, no comparison sites advertising -

I bet the savings could easily fund new green technology

Nah! thats too simple

 

[porkdog]

EDF are robbing bastards, they put my elec bill up from £36 a month to £74 a month, 2 bed flat in Worthing

A mate at work lives in Croydon, 2 bed flat and pays £27 and they put his down from £38. how the f*** does that work?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

EDF are robbing bastards, they put my elec bill up from £36 a month to £74 a month, 2 bed flat in Worthing

A mate at work lives in Croydon, 2 bed flat and pays £27 and they put his down from £38. how the f*** does that work?

Regional pricing , the tariffs vary around the country depending on who the main competitors are in that area.

 

[beorhthelm]

i see you've been taken in whole heartedly by the left wing spin on this.

the energy companies have been playing hide the tariff for years, with this policy they have to compete with each other, not with internal promotions. since the regulator practically determines their profit margin anyway, they'll have to force down costs to compete. there's no reason for more than two or three tariffs per company (i cant htink of a reason for more than 1 tbh).

the best way to cut the costs would ultimatly be to remove the whole layer of providers and go direct to the business unit that generates the power. theres no competition on delivery etc (all goes down the same pipes and cables) so we're paying for an awfull lot of people to admin accounts which are computerised so could go online.

 

[Hyperion]

Once you impose VAT on any goods or services you cannot scrap it completely or reduce it to 0%. The only scenario where VAT on energy bills is scrapped means leaving the EU.

I never knew that, however the EU is as useful as a chocolate sock in my opinion. The FIFA of the politcal world.

 

[gazingdown]

Arguably, things need changing but nationalisation is NOT the way forward.
Strikes when staff don't get rises
Powercuts for days/weeks on end whilst "negotiations" go on
Wage demands ultimately met (no choice) resulting in higher bills to pay for it
Failing equipment/services that take AGES to get fixed (no incentive to sort things, not as if consumers can changes suppliers)
Even more power cuts
And so on. There's no alternative/competition so they have a monopoly so can get away with it and nothing we can do.

I can only assume those wanting nationalisation of energy supply are either young and don't know any better or so left wing that rationality goes out the window anyway. stokes fire

Energy, like pensions, is going to be a BIG problem in years to come as we have not invested properly in stuff like nuclear. All these other airy fairy schemes (wind farms, wave machines etc.) only help a little (if at all, most are heavily subsidised anyway) in the whole scheme of things. Nuclear is the elephant in the room and is the only realistic way forward at the moment, no significant alternatives are out there. As with pensions, no-one is *really* addressing the problem and things will get bad in the future. Just something we will all have to put up with. Nationalising utilities will only hurry us towards the crap.

Right, off to get some logs and light my fire, saves on gas

 

[Chicken Runner61]

i see you've been taken in whole heartedly by the left wing spin on this.

the energy companies have been playing hide the tariff for years, with this policy they have to compete with each other, not with internal promotions. since the regulator practically determines their profit margin anyway, they'll have to force down costs to compete. there's no reason for more than two or three tariffs per company (i cant htink of a reason for more than 1 tbh).

the best way to cut the costs would ultimatly be to remove the whole layer of providers and go direct to the business unit that generates the power. theres no competition on delivery etc (all goes down the same pipes and cables) so we're paying for an awfull lot of people to admin accounts which are computerised so could go online.

Left wing spin my arse

There is no free market on the energy, gas or water in your pipes or cables - Having a nations utilities under one wing or state control has no left or right bias about it - its about protecting the nation from outside controls which would suit where ever you sit politically.

Anyone that runs a small business will tell you its a nightmare dealing with energy costs and changing contracts. These companies are worse that anything nationalised before because you are dealing with a cartel of companies that not only do not care about their paying customers but are actually setting up systems and tariffs to take money.

You have to be a turkey voting for xmas to defend whats going on here.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

Arguably, things need changing but nationalisation is NOT the way forward.
Strikes when staff don't get rises
Powercuts for days/weeks on end whilst "negotiations" go on
Wage demands ultimately met (no choice) resulting in higher bills to pay for it
Failing equipment/services that take AGES to get fixed (no incentive to sort things, not as if consumers can changes suppliers)
Even more power cuts
And so on. There's no alternative/competition so they have a monopoly so can get away with it and nothing we can do.

I can only assume those wanting nationalisation of energy supply are either young and don't know any better or so left wing that rationality goes out the window anyway. stokes fire

Energy, like pensions, is going to be a BIG problem in years to come as we have not invested properly in stuff like nuclear. All these other airy fairy schemes (wind farms, wave machines etc.) only help a little (if at all, most are heavily subsidised anyway) in the whole scheme of things. Nuclear is the elephant in the room and is the only realistic way forward at the moment, no significant alternatives are out there. As with pensions, no-one is *really* addressing the problem and things will get bad in the future. Just something we will all have to put up with. Nationalising utilities will only hurry us towards the crap.

Right, off to get some logs and light my fire, saves on gas

That was then and this is now, I'm sure that you can leave the enough competition on the import and production level to stop the disruption of the country by strikes at that level, the problem is at the consumer end where money is being wasted and stolen from our accounts by having a fake free market selling a product that is the same in every house in the country.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

the problem is at the consumer end where money is being wasted and stolen from our accounts by having a fake free market selling a product that is the same in every house in the country.

And have the cheek if you fall for it by charging you extra by saying it is "green"

 

[beorhthelm]

That was then and this is now, I'm sure that you can leave the enough competition on the import and production level to stop the disruption of the country by strikes at that level, the problem is at the consumer end where money is being wasted and stolen from our accounts by having a fake free market selling a product that is the same in every house in the country.

so essentially you agree with the new policy, which aims to address this point of a fake market in competitive pricing. you just dislike who suggested it and assume that it would mean higher price for some, though lower prices for others, and would like it taken a step further.