Cost of living crisis

[rennie]

Think we may have to put the heating on 

We've got visitors this weekend

[Fiddlesticks]

Well, I took meter readings the other day when the heating was on, threw them into a spreadsheet to calculate what 24 hours in a nice warm house would cost, and decided that we could put an extra layer on instead.

 

Mrs. Fiddlesticks is in disagreement with this proposed course of action, so we have compromised and put the heating on full.

 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

So the weather is getting milder. We've turned the heating off. And then Shell Energy who we left but then got landed back with via Ofgen sent me an email.

 

They are dropping their electricity prices a by a whole 1.5p per unit. 

 

BUT.....

 

They are raising their standing charge by 14p a day, which is a 29% increase.

 

Maybe I'm being overly cynical but is it a coincidence they drop the unit charge but whack up the standing charge just as we get into spring when usage will drop?

[MikeHorton]

5 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

So the weather is getting milder. We've turned the heating off. And then Shell Energy who we left but then got landed back with via Ofgen sent me an email.

 

They are dropping their electricity prices a by a whole 1.5p per unit. 

 

BUT.....

 

They are raising their standing charge by 14p a day, which is a 29% increase.

 

Maybe I'm being overly cynical but is it a coincidence they drop the unit charge but whack up the standing charge just as we get into spring when usage will drop?

Wouldn't want the shareholders or ceo's to go without bonuses 

[Fozzie]

2 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

So the weather is getting milder. We've turned the heating off. And then Shell Energy who we left but then got landed back with via Ofgen sent me an email.

 

They are dropping their electricity prices a by a whole 1.5p per unit. 

 

BUT.....

 

They are raising their standing charge by 14p a day, which is a 29% increase.

 

Maybe I'm being overly cynical but is it a coincidence they drop the unit charge but whack up the standing charge just as we get into spring when usage will drop?

 

If it looks like a corrupt act of corporate greed, in this market it probably is. The weather is warming up, people will be outside more, electrical load tapers off as central heating systems and large TV/sound sets are switched off impacting on both gas and electricity that the company would like to sell you. And we live in a world where making less eye watering profit than last year is considered a loss, because many accountants are only able to view a situation within a given tax year, and through their severe myopia make recommendations that suit the company at the expense of literally everyone it serves. 

 

Then there's the price cap, which is set to rise by 20% in April, and is now being hijacked by corporate busy bodies who seek to use it as a way of setting a high price that pushes over the cap, and then lets them claim the difference back from the government, while also petitioning for a further cap increase, despite wholesale energy prices going down!

 

The LPG tankers that sit off shore for days at a time waiting for the demand to reach a point they can offload for a more "suitable" price, which they got comfortable with over the crisis period. 

 

The gas price is nearly back down to pre-crisis levels, and is bought wholesale 3 months in advance. Yet fixed price tariffs aren't expected to return until later this year, which less than coincidentally maximises the amount of people on the standard rates, often 100% higher than what they paid a year ago. And while they tell you that it's just in case the energy prices spike again, and they are hit by it, the simple fact is that they made record profits in the past year. 

 

Been saying this for a while, but capitalism is turning rampant. It only works when you have a tax and social programme system that brake checks it and keeps it from spiraling. But you mention that, and the frothy mouthed members of the older generations (a vocal minority, I hope) hurl abuse that you're some sort of socialist/communist for wanting to bring in measures that they largely lived with their whole lives with, and were eroded by corporate interests, despite the fact you're basically just trying to make capitalism work rather than abolish it...

 

/Rant

Edited March 24, 2023 by Fozzie

[Bender]

On 24/03/2023 at 10:01, Fozzie said:

 

If it looks like a corrupt act of corporate greed, in this market it probably is. The weather is warming up, people will be outside more, electrical load tapers off as central heating systems and large TV/sound sets are switched off impacting on both gas and electricity that the company would like to sell you. And we live in a world where making less eye watering profit than last year is considered a loss, because many accountants are only able to view a situation within a given tax year, and through their severe myopia make recommendations that suit the company at the expense of literally everyone it serves. 

 

Then there's the price cap, which is set to rise by 20% in April, and is now being hijacked by corporate busy bodies who seek to use it as a way of setting a high price that pushes over the cap, and then lets them claim the difference back from the government, while also petitioning for a further cap increase, despite wholesale energy prices going down!

 

The LPG tankers that sit off shore for days at a time waiting for the demand to reach a point they can offload for a more "suitable" price, which they got comfortable with over the crisis period. 

 

The gas price is nearly back down to pre-crisis levels, and is bought wholesale 3 months in advance. Yet fixed price tariffs aren't expected to return until later this year, which less than coincidentally maximises the amount of people on the standard rates, often 100% higher than what they paid a year ago. And while they tell you that it's just in case the energy prices spike again, and they are hit by it, the simple fact is that they made record profits in the past year. 

 

Been saying this for a while, but capitalism is turning rampant. It only works when you have a tax and social programme system that brake checks it and keeps it from spiraling. But you mention that, and the frothy mouthed members of the older generations (a vocal minority, I hope) hurl abuse that you're some sort of socialist/communist for wanting to bring in measures that they largely lived with their whole lives with, and were eroded by corporate interests, despite the fact you're basically just trying to make capitalism work rather than abolish it...

 

/Rant

Don't think it's worked very well for Cuba. 

 

Can't remember what the explanation from Martin Lewis was but he it's very complicated and not profit driven at all  

 

The system that is broke is the bit where everyone gets paid the going rate for the most expensive generation method regardless of what it's costing them, the once expensive green energy suppliers must have been laughing their socks off, Europe has the same system it's not just us. 

[Fozzie]

12 hours ago, Bender said:

Don't think it's worked very well for Cuba. 

 

Can't remember what the explanation from Martin Lewis was but he it's very complicated and not profit driven at all  

 

The system that is broke is the bit where everyone gets paid the going rate for the most expensive generation method regardless of what it's costing them, the once expensive green energy suppliers must have been laughing their socks off, Europe has the same system it's not just us. 

Cuba actually is a socialist state though, I just want a better regulated capitalist structure with our energy that doesn’t let a continuation of corporate knobs who lobby to erode rules and constantly drive up costs for profits sake. If I was socialist, I’d be seizing control of companies and distributing the wealth generated between its workers. Which is why I get baffled by some folk online, the young ones are desperate to call you fascist and the old ones prefer commie

 

Taking your point on us paying for the highest rate of generation rather than the average. Shell have been shifting their interests in recent years. They get large tax cuts for their oil production as theres encouragement to boost production closer to home from the North Sea oil fields. There were whispers in the industry a couple of years back that they were using the tax savings to more aggressively buy up renewables like wind power rather than invest more in the North Sea fields. They are keen to get a car recharging network built as well. 
 

They ended up renewable assets that made a fortune over the crisis. When threatened with a windfall tax, it was reduced as they threatened to reduce investment in the UK. Namely these recharge stations and new renewable assets. 
And it just rubs me up the wrong way, money they should have given in tax wasn’t used to invest in the oil fields that the government had said the cut was for. They instead buy more assets with it, and when they make an eye watering return, throw toys out of the pram when they get asked to pay a one off wind fall tax on it. And corporations having power over the government is something that worries me, as I want to vote for leaders, not puppets bound to corporate needs.

[Bender]

27 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

Cuba actually is a socialist state though, I just want a better regulated capitalist structure with our energy that doesn’t let a continuation of corporate knobs who lobby to erode rules and constantly drive up costs for profits sake. If I was socialist, I’d be seizing control of companies and distributing the wealth generated between its workers. Which is why I get baffled by some folk online, the young ones are desperate to call you fascist and the old ones prefer commie

 

Taking your point on us paying for the highest rate of generation rather than the average. Shell have been shifting their interests in recent years. They get large tax cuts for their oil production as theres encouragement to boost production closer to home from the North Sea oil fields. There were whispers in the industry a couple of years back that they were using the tax savings to more aggressively buy up renewables like wind power rather than invest more in the North Sea fields. They are keen to get a car recharging network built as well. 
 

They ended up renewable assets that made a fortune over the crisis. When threatened with a windfall tax, it was reduced as they threatened to reduce investment in the UK. Namely these recharge stations and new renewable assets. 
And it just rubs me up the wrong way, money they should have given in tax wasn’t used to invest in the oil fields that the government had said the cut was for. They instead buy more assets with it, and when they make an eye watering return, throw toys out of the pram when they get asked to pay a one off wind fall tax on it. And corporations having power over the government is something that worries me, as I want to vote for leaders, not puppets bound to corporate needs.

Any large corporate monster is going to look after itself first and foremost, it's like tax avoidance and evasion, one is illegal the other frowned upon, if they can get away with it they will, it's all down to shit regulation and ridiculous complex tax system. 

[Fiddlesticks]

Tax avoidance vs. Tax evasion. One is legal and the other isn't. I can never remember which is which so I do both, just to be on the safe side.

[Bender]

20 minutes ago, Fiddlesticks said:

Tax avoidance vs. Tax evasion. One is legal and the other isn't. I can never remember which is which so I do both, just to be on the safe side.

They will remind you which is which when they catch you (never going to happen)