Dispatches: The Truth About Your Energy Bill

cepheus

Perhaps this may be of some interest tonight

Dispatches: The Truth About Your Energy Bill
Deborah Davies investigates the 40 per cent rise in fuel costs during 2008, examining the suppliers' claims that they have no choice but to pass increased costs on to the consumer. After discovering the effect of the increases on a Liverpool single mother and an Oxford couple, she studies the true value of the help promised by Gordon Brown and the regulator Ofgem

Channel 4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 20 Oct
(Subtitles) Starts in 1 hour(s) 32 minutes

KimYeovil

The spelling of "Duel Fuel" summarised the quality of the programme and the advice!

Cardew

Kim,
I couldn't agree more!

I am quite a fan of Dispatches, but that programme was abysmal.

Why did they drag that comparison site employee Ann Robinson onto the programme.
1. The 300 kWh under-estimate of Electricity "will cost you £70 to £80" - Really?

2. On her company's website - no need to enter kWh for the comparison, just enter how many people etc in the house and "you will get a really accurate figure of consumption" Really?

3. I see just about the most expensive tariff available - with this new company First Utility - was heavily pushed. Their claim to fame is they they provide a Smart meter. So the savings for this company was based on the proviso that you will cut your consumption by 15%.

That is like saying that the computer in my car that displays mpg, reduces my fuel consumption by 15%.

Tabloid TV that would make the Sun newspaper seem like the Wall Street Journal.

icefall

So the shareholders dividends have gone up by 20% whilst bills are up by 40%. :eek: So we pay so the investors will invest? But these are utilities as in absolutely essential services, we cannot live without electicity or gas.

Also the government did not come out very well, all the power stations are old and not being replaced fast enough, we are now left with 6 major energy companies and no choice at all. Ofgem do not fufil their consumer part of their remit any more, and Gordon Brown pontificates about fuel poverty whilst all his policies ensures everyone pays higher and higher prices . Yes I felt good after watching this programme - not!

Now energy is higher up on the governments list of priorities but the programme was basically saying its too late!

magyar

The programme was shockingly poor. It couldn't decide whether it was an expose on the energy companies or advice on how to reduce your bills.

There were some asinine comments, e.g. "it's like a postcode lottery"... well duh! Someone explain to her that the utilities have nothing whatsoever to do with regional network pricing...

Likewise the comment about 'these companies are all making a profit from one bit of their organisation, even if another part isn't'. OK, numpty, so would be nice if you pointed out that they have to separate out their business in their way because the government told them to.

They only got a few things right.

- there really should be more investment in things like smart meters, this has been avaliable for a long time and the industry is dragging its heels.

- we are in a pretty dire situation in terms of investment in new plant. But equally we don't help ourselves by having Johnny Tree-hugger camping outside every new development.

- we should have more simple tariffs. The utility industry should take a leaf out of the rail industry and just have two or three tariffs which all companies have to price against. Then you're comparing like with like.

- it should be made more clear that your bill is estimated, if it is, and what the impact could be. The over-60s and other vulnerable groups should have quarterly meter readings taken.

Cardew

magyar wrote: »

They only got a few things right.

- there really should be more investment in things like smart meters, this has been avaliable for a long time and the industry is dragging its heels.

I quite liked the comment from the boss of the now defunct Energywatch on Smart Metering on how easy it would be for the Government to force companies to fit Smart meters.

Yet Energywatch produced a paper on the costs of installation of these meters weighed against the benefits and IIRC were put off by the huge costs of installation.

With 26 million homes, the cost to manufacture, fit and commission will run into many £billions.
Bear in mind these meters save the consumer nothing, but will reduce meter reading/accounting costs for the companies.

Who will bear the cost of the meters? guess?

One thing is certain, they will have to make all companies contribute in proportion to their share of the market. You can hardly expect, say, BG to pay out £billions for their customers and increase prices, only to have their customer move to say, EDF, who have not fitted meters.

cepheus

No mention of energy conservation except for switching things off, for all I know their attic wasn't insulated and they used conventional lightbulbs especially the way the price increased as the lights were switched on. If so the easiest saving would be to buy 5 energy saving lightbulbs from Lidl for 50p in total! Cashback deals could have saved them extra as well.

With the govenment planning to save 80% on greenhouse gases by 2050, I can only see prices per kW increasing substantially, our only hope is that conservation measures can countact that so the overall price remains similar.