How can they justify the increase in your electricity bill !?

[Diddy]

Some replies on this thread make me think that some people are missing their £50 referral fee for those "little" energy providers.
As for prices and what to do ? How do the rest of the world manage ? How about France our nearest neighbour ? 4% increase is it not ? Do they have lots of small energy providers ?
The market will sort it. That is just too funny, Them market has never been known to sort anything indefinitely as it always comes down to other factors. It's all good for most of us as we earn above averages wages (If you don't you need to have a stern word in your own ear) - But then we are a car crash away from destitution and then things like government intervention on prices or even nationalised energy (shudder) would be on all our want list.

 

[pc1966]

It's worth pointing out that, while mainland Europe obtains around 40% of its gas supply from Russia, the UK relies on Russia for approximately 3% of its gas.

Of course those countries that can no longer buy from Russia will drive up prices as the seek to secure alternative sources of supply. I'll keep my thoughts to myself about the recent trend of price increases for all forms of energy.

Yes, the issue is the UK uses a significant amount of gas both for home/business heating and for power, not that is specifically gets it from Russia, so the EU/international pricing aspect from Russia's latest actions hits us as well.

 

[Rockingit]

We're not dual fuel as heating is oil which is a mixed blessing as at least I get some say over when to top up the tank (2500L max!) except the barrel price is so high at the moment that heating oil is over 78p/L too. I'll be needing to order a top-up soon as we're getting low but can probably get away with the minimum order of 500L which will carry through to the summer (mostly just heating a tank of water a day) when hopefully things may have come down. Also, using a proper smart thermostat (Nest in our case) is paying for itself times over at the moment. Set to an eco friendly 19.5c whilst we're home and auto senses when we go out/travelling home via geo-fencing and internal sensors. Having said that, the wood pile has taken a hammering the last few weeks as the log burner is doing the work instead when we're all in of an evening and in the lounge.

Interestingly, we use very little electricity for what is fundamentally quite a large house but again, I spanked the wholesaler accounts a while back and changed every single lamp in the place to identical LED (all Osram and identical colour temps, it's a thing of beauty on the eyes) so predominantly it's just all the I.T. kind of stuff that's on or on standby 24/7. We're with Bulb and they sent the notice the other week that we're going from £111 to £125 as whilst the units have all gone up they're finally convinced that our useage after a year with them is consistently low.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I need a bigger heating allowance and so does my wife.

 

[brianmoooore]

78p for oil? Getting quotes of £1.10!

 

[Zerax]

How about France our nearest neighbour ? 4% increase is it not ?

That 4% figure was used by the media to make a political point. As I understand it, the pricing of energy in France is very different... I think you can choose between 'regulated' prices or market prices for starters. (Mike Johnson will probably know more) Because of this, energy in France has been alot more expensive than in the UK for a long time... So that 4% figure is not comparing apples with apples. Similarly the price of a baguette in France is government regulated.

Always question what you read in the press...

 

[Mike Johnson]

78p for oil? Getting quotes of £1.10!

Oil price this morning from the oil club is £1.007lt.

Electricity in France is a mine field, there are four tariffs, but always found the electricity to be slightly cheaper than in the UK, France has quite a few nuclear power stations which is the way we will have to go to keep up with demand, unless we want to cover the UK in solar panels and wind turbines, perish the thought.

 

[Diddy]

That 4% figure was used by the media to make a political point. As I understand it, the pricing of energy in France is very different... I think you can choose between 'regulated' prices or market prices for starters. (Mike Johnson will probably know more) Because of this, energy in France has been alot more expensive than in the UK for a long time... So that 4% figure is not comparing apples with apples. Similarly the price of a baguette in France is government regulated.

Always question what you read in the press...

What's political about the facts ? Electricity in France is cheaper now and has been for decades lol. They are state owned. Like you say always question what you read and hear even if it is what you want to hear just to confirm a preconception.

 

[7029 dave]

Makes me wonder if nationalization of the energy sector would be better, because we just cant keep taking these price rise's.

 

[Diddy]

Makes me wonder if nationalization of the energy sector would be better, because we just cant keep taking these price rise's.

Nah you don't want that mate, It's not as if any other country successfully uses state controlled energy and critical infrastructure. Much better in the hands of foreign governments. I mean what could possibly go wrong getting a French company in to build a nuclear power station on British soil lol, At one point we were inviting the Chinese on board too.
BTW this is a issue not confined to one party nor government. We are where we are due to many governments failure to plan for more than 5 years.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Makes me wonder if nationalization of the energy sector would be better, because we just cant keep taking these price rise's.

The only problem with that is the probable rise of the Unions inside the sector and the ransom of the consumers, and around we go again.

 

[nicebutdim]

It was conceived as a way to keep a lid on the profits of the 'legacy' suppliers, who relied on the loyalty and ignorance of existing customers to be able to rip them off.

With the unintended consequence of reducing choice for consumers and leaving many in the position of being unable to move to better tariffs.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I have never been able to fathom how its a good idea for us to sell off our utility companies to foreign countries, it just seems to be accountancy gone mad, Cable and Wireless sold off their UK corporate HQ in the UK in the City and then leased it back, that just has to be an accountancy work around budgets.

 

[Mike Johnson]

With the unintended consequence of reducing choice for consumers and leaving many in the position of being unable to move to better tariffs.

But with state controlled tariffs the consumer would not have too move to get a better deal, the Electricity supplier being a non profit making organisation not having to satisfy its share holders the cost would be held down.

 

[nicebutdim]

But with state controlled tariffs the consumer would not have too move to get a better deal, with the Electricity supplier being a non profit making business having to satisfy its share holders the cost would be held down.

Weren't price caps a form of state controlled tariffs?

The issue with non-profit making businesses/organisations is that they can still hoover up vast amounts of money in the process of not making any profit. It's a model which many social media grifters have latched onto, so they can sell overpriced tat while paying themselves significant sums and pressing particular agendas, while doing so on a 'not for profit' basis.

It's easy for us all to provide answers to life's many challenges, but not so easy to predict loopholes that'll be exploited by those inclined to do so.