MSE news: Government says energy bills to rise: time to switch NOW

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

Government says energy bills to rise: time to switch NOW

"Energy prices will rise from 2015 to pay for greener power, so it's worth acting to cut your bills..."

lanstrom

Strangely I got my energy bill today from nPower and despite paying them £90 a month they say I owe them £237.67 so off I went to the various comparison web sites and dutifully typed in my details to be told I could save about £160-£192 by swapping from nPower Sign Online 11 to their newer Online 15.

I then phoned up nPower to check the savings and the customer services lady told me that the comparison sites where wrong and calculations on my current bill would actually work out to a difference of little over £1 so there wasn't much point in changing. So back to the comparison sites I went and this time I checked the finer details of what they said I am currently paying on my tarrif and the amounts were indeed incorrect.

So the question is how to I do an accurate comparison if the prices on line are incorrect ?

Inactive

So prices are due to rise in 2015 and we need to change tarrif's now??

joffmeister

I absolutely agree with the article that people should shop around for the best deal that they can get.

But to say that this is more important because bills in general are going to go up over the period to 2020 just doesn't make sense. If environmental measures mean that prices across the board are going up this doesn't mean the amount you can save by switching will go up. But as I say, people should shop around anyway to get the best deal they can.

Also, yes, wholesale prices of gas and electricity have fallen massively since last year's peaks, but the prices that consumers pay should not fall by the same proportion. Why? Because a sizeable proportion of the price we pay is to pay for the infrastructure to deliver the energy to our home, and this infrastructure doesn't suddenly beome cheaper if the oil price comes down. That said, I'm sure the suppliers could afford to bring down prices a bit further...

penrhyn

A win for the Ecomentalists then? They will be laughing all the way home to their Yurts.
Go Swampy.:rotfl:

The Eco police will patrol with Infra Red Scanners issuing on the spot fines for those household exceeding their DCF (domestic carbon footprint)

magyar

penrhyn wrote: »

A win for the Ecomentalists then? They will be laughing all the way home to their Yurts.
Go Swampy.:rotfl:

Hysterical post... :rolleyes:

It's a win for the country, not just for the environment. Renewable energy isn't just green, it's indigenous. It means we're not reliant upon Russia for gas, for example.

savemoney

Many people cant afford bills rising steeply plenty of people on low incomes are already facing massive problems and energy suppliers still haven't passed on the true costs of lower price of oil. Ideally it isnt the best time when many even on a reasonable income maybe able to afford at present time

Mike_by_the_Sea

Inactive wrote: »

So prices are due to rise in 2015 and we need to change tariffs now??

Absolutely, the headlines are frightening........

Though this comes at a cost to families. The Department of Energy and Climate Change says that between 2015 and 2020, household energy bills will rise by a typical £92, or 8%, a year.

If only this could be relied on - ONLY going up by 8% a year. :eek:

If I was being cynical, it feels like the article is more about switching NOW and less about the impact of getting greener.

Government says energy bills to rise: time to switch NOW

The time to switch hasn't suddenly come forward to today as a consequence of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, has it?

Mike

penrhyn

magyar wrote: »

Hysterical post... :rolleyes:

It's a win for the country, not just for the environment. Renewable energy isn't just green, it's indigenous. It means we're not reliant upon Russia for gas, for example.

Its also unreliable ( windpower being the only practical option being promoted ATM)
What do you suggest we use for the 60% of the time when the wind ain't blowing?

Antispam

The only way forward is to use a combination of all 4 renewables (solar, wind, tidal) and still use gas/nuclear/coal/hydro etc to fill the gap. Also micro generators on peoples homes

However that costs, its all every well us doing it but it may have a knock on effect on the poor. Then where is why should we doing anything, countries like China and using massive amounts of energy and this will only get worse

Telegraph quoted this from Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport

"If Labour were really serious about green transport, they would scrap their deeply damaging plans for a third runway at Heathrow which will inflict major damage on our ability to fight climate change as well as undermining the quality of life of millions of people."

magyar

penrhyn wrote: »

Its also unreliable ( windpower being the only practical option being promoted ATM)
What do you suggest we use for the 60% of the time when the wind ain't blowing?

That's a myth: in fact wind power generates about 80% of the time. The country needs to have backup power, but it doesn't need to generate. The National Grid calculate we can have up to 25% of our capacity generated by intermittent source with no real problems.

To get higher than this - e.g. to the 30% target - then we need to connect into Europe. We already have interconnectors to Holland and France (importing nuclear, for example). It would make economic sense to build more of these rather than having overcapacity all over Europe.