Energy Prices

[Aufc]

This new load of cash the government are giving out is like bailing water out of a sinking boat but ignoring the leak.
It will only help a little, and since it's a one off, will only help a little only once. What happens next year when, whoops, the prices either don't go down much or don't go down at all?
The 'cost of living crisis' could probably be more accurately termed 'the profit crisis', as it's all being driven by companies who insist on making increasing profits each year. Never mind that they are making ludicrous profits, it must always be more. Their greed long ago got out of control and we're increasingly paying the price. Many greedy companies could see theit profits halved and they'd still be making obscene sums of money. 
Short term greed is so fucking vile and insidious. It always has been and always will be. History has shown time and time again how damaging and short sighted it is.

I mentioned this elsewhere. There isn’t a cost of living crisis. There is a huge inequality crisis which has exasperated by covid. Until this is addressed and something is done to reduce the inequality then it will continue to get worse.

[Brother Blades]

1 minute ago, Aufc said:

I mentioned this elsewhere. There isn’t a cost of living crisis. There is a huge inequality crisis which has exasperated by covid. Until this is addressed and something is done to reduce the inequality then it will continue to get worse.

Nothing will be done, ever. 
It doesn’t matter what shade of government, zero will happen to upset the profiteering shareholders. 
The only reasonable solution (which will never, ever happen) is to ban these companies from paying any dividends when their charges are within £500 (or whatever) below  the Ofgem price cap. See them all scrambling to reduce charges then, as the fat cat bosses are voted out by the shareholders. 

[Detournement]

On 31/05/2022 at 22:20, invergowrie arab said:

Can someone explain to me what energy "suppliers" actually bring to the table, as opposed to energy producers?

Could P&B all bunce in and buy some electric and sell it on?

There's more chance of us doing it than the Scottish Government.

[BFTD]

Aye, this is a fundamental problem with capitalism. Attacking public companies for ruthlessly chasing profit at all costs is missing the point that it's their one and only job; everything they do has to be justified in terms of increasing profits. They don't get involved in charity fundraising out of the goodness of their hearts, for example - that comes under 'advertising'.

Still think it's more likely that hot water will continue to become a luxury for people at the bottom end of society than for anything to fundamentally change yet. Until the folk in the middle start struggling to pay their bills, poverty will still be put down to the paupers wasting their money on fags, booze, and Sky TV (or the modern equivalents like avocado toast and Netflix).

[vikingTON]

17 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

This new load of cash the government are giving out is like bailing water out of a sinking boat but ignoring the leak.

It will only help a little, and since it's a one off, will only help a little only once. What happens next year when, whoops, the prices either don't go down much or don't go down at all?

The 'cost of living crisis' could probably be more accurately termed 'the profit crisis', as it's all being driven by companies who insist on making increasing profits each year. Never mind that they are making ludicrous profits, it must always be more. Their greed long ago got out of control and we're increasingly paying the price. Many greedy companies could see theit profits halved and they'd still be making obscene sums of money. 

Short term greed is so fucking vile and insidious. It always has been and always will be. History has shown time and time again how damaging and short sighted it is.

^^^ First year sociology student found. 

The driving force behind recent price rises in the energy market are quite clearly:

• increased demand post-Covid (especially in countries like China whose zero-Covid nonsense has repeatedly shut down crucial areas in its economy)

• reduced supply due to sanctions on Russia (which next to nobody in the West seriously thought through), and of course

• speculation about wholesale energy prices on the global market, encouraged by those two factors above.

The greed of profit-seeking energy suppliers was always priced into the UK market. It therefore cannot explain why household costs have shot up in the past 6-12 months and will remain extremely high for at least another year. The fact that dozens of suppliers have literally gone bust because their hedging on low energy costs and competitive pricing backfired on them confirms that reality - and the costs of picking up the pieces of those failures and shifting customers is now being slapped onto bills.

[Clown Job]

 

[Detournement]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jun/08/a-moment-that-changed-me-i-lost-my-home-moved-into-a-van-and-found-freedom

Cut your bills by living in a van while working full time in the tourism industry! The Guardian doing a Nomadland bit but at least they didn't mention eating bugs. 

Charlotte says she has never been happier but at least one sub ed isn't completely convinced and included a link to a suicide hotline at the end. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Detournement

[Benjamin_Nevis]

4 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

The scummy behaviour of Shell Energy continues.

Today they sent me my monthly bill but neglected to include my payment from 10 days ago.

Therefore they are telling me I'm in debt (I'm actually in credit) and are asking me to increase my direct debit.

Fortunately I am well on top of exactly what my gas and electricity usage and bills should be so have written to them but someone really needs to reign these utter c***s in TBH.

E-On tried to get my 78 y/o mum to triple her Direct Debit despite being massively in credit. Thankfully she's pretty switched on (I know, i know) and told them to fucking bolt. 

My leccy is about £400 in credit so I'm looking forward to Scottish Gas trying it on as well. Anyone on a district heating system here? Wondering what the crack with that will be.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

1 hour ago, oaksoft said:

 

Lying b*****ds. Honestly, they must think people are stupid.

Thing is they know full well that a massive percentage of the population will get their bill, mutter "fucks sakes" but just pay it anyway without checking, or accept the increase because it's what's happening to everyone else. c***s.

[craigkillie]

Obviously it's shite for folk to be out of pocket in the short-term, but they will get any overpayments back at some point down the line.

[Empty It]

They were talking on the radio about when fuel prices go down in the future, some joke that now that they're this high they're only ever going to go up. Have fuel prices ever dropped significantly?

[Clown Job]

 

[Detournement]

On 09/06/2022 at 17:50, Empty It said:

They were talking on the radio about when fuel prices go down in the future, some joke that now that they're this high they're only ever going to go up. Have fuel prices ever dropped significantly?
 

Oil dropped a few years ago because OPEC and the Obama administration were in a stand off about the price of oil and US fracking. 

There has been talk that the Tories will establish a new method of pricing energy but i'll believe when they actually do it.

 

[PWL]

Hardly the most tempting offer from British Gas. And the phrase "slightly more" doing a lot of heavy lifting. To the tune of £650. 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by PWL

[vikingTON]

Discussion of whether fixing is now an option to consider here.

[scottsdad]

13 hours ago, Clown Job said:

 

Time the kids learned the joys of swimming in an unheated pool. 

When I was 13 I went on a swimming club tour of Aberdeen. We raced against local teams (I was by far the worst swimmer there). Every morning started with a 6am swim in a local, unheated pool. 

[strichener]

9 hours ago, scottsdad said:

Time the kids learned the joys of swimming in an unheated pool. 

When I was 13 I went on a swimming club tour of Aberdeen. We raced against local teams (I was by far the worst swimmer there). Every morning started with a 6am swim in a local, unheated pool. 

It isn't a swimming pool in the traditional sense  wher you do lengths.  It is a leisure pool with (broken) flumes and wave machine.

[bobbykdy]

Aussies having a bit of bother with their energy just now, being asked to reduce their consumption & switch their lights off for a couple of hours each evenings in the hope of avoiding black outs.

[TxRover]

On 15/06/2022 at 16:35, PWL said:

Hardly the most tempting offer from British Gas. And the phrase "slightly more" doing a lot of heavy lifting. To the tune of £650. 

 

 

Christ, I’d kill for that energy usage, but those rates are eye watering to those in most of the U.S. (not California, though). Your yearly electrical power usage is slightly higher than my August usage last year, and maybe less this year. In Texas, variable rates are for suckers, or people with highly automated homes that can be programmed for time of day rates and such. My current rate for electricity is around $0.097/kWh, call it 8p a kWh…but when I renew the rate could easily be over twice as high right now.

[hk blues]

On 17/06/2022 at 07:29, bobbykdy said:

Aussies having a bit of bother with their energy just now, being asked to reduce their consumption & switch their lights off for a couple of hours each evenings in the hope of avoiding black outs.

Where I am the electricity companies are kind enough to do this for us on a semi-regular basis.