Are energy prices fair

kippen_noedel

Well are they ? some questions I have in my head, I'm sure you can think of more.

do energy companies make too much profit from each of us

what is a fair amount of profit in a year per household

who should pay for future energy needs

are taxes too high
did you know around 25% of your annual bill goes in one form of taxes or another

should energy costs reflect usage more directly, the higher the usage the higher the rate you pay per unit.

why cant the regulator set a universal system for energy comparisons

A_fiend_for_life

kippen_noedel wrote: »

are taxes too high
did you know around 25% of your annual bill goes in one form of taxes or another

should energy costs reflect usage more directly, the higher the usage the higher the rate you pay per unit.

why cant the regulator set a universal system for energy comparisons

I'm not well versed on the tax system but if that includes income tax paid on salries I wouldn't be surprised. Actually I'd have thought there was more tax than that considering corporation tax and VAT.

Second point I agree with in principle but you'd have to set the higher rates stupidly high at first. What happens with big families in rented, poorly insulated, all electric accommodation?

Not sure on the third point. At least if one comparison site fluffs it you can compare with other sites. Maybe we should invest more in numeracy and physics education.;)

Ken68

£60 per customer profit, as I've seen mentioned, aint a lot.
And as long as there is competition, no problem.
It is the confusion marketing that is wrong.
And the sheer WASTE in public places, street lighting, shop displays, computers left on in offices etc. Probably the same goes for private users.

oldskoo1

As far as i see it, its an incredibly difficult thing to get right. Especially when we know the prices of energy in other countries.

Problem is, we need to think about what our country produces naturally and what we have to buy in.

The problem with energy prices is it has to be priced to be JUST affordable If it was cheap there would be endless consumption which could produce energy shortages in the mid to long term. If we do not have sustainable resources of renewable energy which isn't going to happen overnight the energy will run out or become short which would cause absolute disasters for world economies.

The price needs to stop people endlessly consuming and giving them enough time to come up with enough alternative energy or ideally for the oil and gas companies, conserve stock, buying them time. The higher prices also allow for R&D into alternative energy and then we have co2 reduction measures and tax for more investment into warmer better insulated houses with grants and money into nuclear energy possibly.

What i find extremely annoying is that the majority of us work very hard but there are some people that cannot afford to heat their family homes. That just isn't right considering what we all contribute to the economy.

To answer the question, i think it is just the wrong side of fair. Which is probably the right choice imo. The heating is there but quite a lot of us are forced to use it sparingly. Considering the situation i think it is the right thing but i also think more help needs to be given to low income families.

KimYeovil

oldskoo1 wrote: »

i also think more help needs to be given to low income families.

:mad::mad::mad:

<bites tongue>

Mazio_2

The simple answer is Energy companies are profit making privatly owned (nothing wrong with that) they will try to make as much profit as they can get away with if they are not controlled properly (which in my opinion they are not).

The market is not open enough for proper competition no matter what anybody says.

Also people will not think about saving energy if its too cheap.

mattcanary

What is cheap? The definition of cheap varies from person to person. Whilst £30.00 a month is a lot to someone on JobSeekers Allowance, it is nothing to someone that is a banker in the City. The instalment will need to be massively high, before it would really affect a banker's lifestyle. Electric companies can't set prices that are just right (ie: just enough for people to not use their electric as much as they wish) -it is not possible!

The regulator should be seriously looking at why utility companies massively increased the price of electric and gas(especially) a while ago because of the rising prices of buying them in, yet only very slightly decreased them when the trade prices went down quite substantially. That is taking the !!!!, frankly!

Haarlem

oldskoo1 wrote: »

.

Considering the situation i think it is the right thing but i also think more help needs to be given to low income families.

Those of us not on social tariffs are contributing enough already. Taking the figures quoted by the industry those not on social tarriffs contribute an average £38 per fuel annually to let the Suppliers give help to those on low incomes.

It never seems to be made clear how subsidised tarriffs are funded. It is just another hidden tax.

mattcanary

Everyone should be able to heat their home sufficiently within a modern, so called civilised country. Many people that have problems in doing this are elderly, often frail people that are someone's parent or grandparent. Many die each winter because they cannot afford to keep their house warm. In a supposedly civilised country!

If higher-earning people have to be taxed a little (a LITTLE) bit higher so this can be achieved, it should be done. Richer people can afford it.

mattcanary

Mind you, I should make it clear as well that I believe utility prioviders over-charge in many cases for electric and gas. So it may not be an issue of people being charged more to subsidise poor people (which isbn;t working anyway), as much as utility providers reducing their prices all-round.

mech_2

mattcanary wrote: »

Many people that have problems in doing this are elderly, often frail people that are someone's parent or grandparent. Many die each winter because they cannot afford to keep their house warm. In a supposedly civilised country!

This idea is often repeated, but I have yet to see evidence for it. From what I've seen, it's more likely that there are significant numbers of old people out there without adequate heating in the first place. In which case pricing would be rather irrelevant.

After all there is already a winter fuel payment for the elderly, whether they need it or not. This is set to go up this year as I understand it.