Why be angry at scottish power raising energy prices??

steven88_2

I dont understand why there's alot of angry people out there when one company raise energy prices.... if you think about it, everything is being raised:

petrol
clothes
food

just to name a few....

we live in an economy where its not stable, we need to expect these sort of things to happen.

Its going to be a matter of time when: British Gas, EON, EDF, Npower and Southern Energy will raise your prices.

Just remember, if you want to use gas or electricity, pay for it... If you dont want to use it, then you wont need to pay for it - depending on your on a no standing charge option.

For all OAP and elderly, i totally agree, there should be Goverment intervention done to help BUT I very much doubt this will happen until there plenty of people wanting to freeze to death until action will be taken....

brewerdave

People are angry because the power companies are making very healthy profits on the back of these sorts of price rises when a) wages are generally being frozen or cut b) unemployment is going up and c) government spending cuts are starting to work thru the economy. Also the rate at which energy prices are increasing is far higher than food,clothes etc.Its less than a year since the last round of horrendous rises ...how many wage rises have you had in the past year????

steven88_2

it normal for any company to make a profit, without profit theres no company meaning no staff meaning (in this case) no electricity or gas to provide.

but i do agree yes, unemployment is high, pay is mostly being frozen or cut, but at the end of the day everyone needs to wisen up and get over it.

Alot of poeple look for cheap deals on the market at a time when energy prices are unpredictable. What most don't see is if you look at longer term then everyone should have at least capped or fixed their prices so to be honest i dont have any pity on anyone who didnt want to CAP or FIX their energy rate at a time energy prices are unstable!

norapower

Why does no one mention Thatchers role in this mess, Selling all the gas and electricty compaines to overseas buyers. Now the profits all go to Spain France or Germany instead of being paid in the UK. When they were owned by the govenment all the profits were paid to the British taxpayer instead of overseas. If they doubled gas and electricty prices we could do nothing about it.

Thanks Maggie thanks alot, What a terrible legacy she has left

JSR

The profit made by energy retailers is not that large as a percentage of turnover. Their profits are also pretty volatile which makes for distorted media coverage. You always hear when profits are up 25% but the previous year's results when profits were down 40%, or they actually made a loss, isn't shouted about so loudly. You could nationalise but then instead of a profit margin you would have the inevitable inefficiency associated with public monopolies.

There is no point getting angry about the rising price of fossil fuels. The price may come down again short-term but the trend will be significantly upwards until we build replacements. In the mean time all we can do is find ways to use less of it and wait for the investment in carbon-free technology and infrastructure to start bearing fruit.

HalloweenJack

actually oil prices are heading back down - and theres mp`s asking when petro, prices will now be reduced

norapower

Take your point JSR, but how many people Pre-Thatcher were in fuel poverty. If essentials like water gas and electric were under government control, the price could be controlled to the benefit of users instead for the benefit of shareholders. Its a shame that this country is going down the greed is good route

hcb42

when they were under government control they were also hopelessly inefficient (like most government controlled organisations..!)

It's not as simple as saying it is a legacy of Thatcher, countries all over the world have deregulated in utilities, comms, etc.

Wobblydeb

Scottish Power are going to increase the prices on my deal by between 31% (elec) and 52% (gas). I firmly believe that businesses should pass on cost increases. What I cannot abide is them setting up a deal with an exit fee, and then putting in price increases that far exceed the increase in costs they have experienced.

I will not deal with a business that treats its customers so unfairly, so will vote with my feet and not do business with them again.

grizzly1911

JSR wrote: »

The profit made by energy retailers is not that large as a percentage of turnover. . You could nationalise but then instead of a profit margin you would have the inevitable inefficiency associated with public monopolies.

There is no point getting angry about the rising price of fossil fuels. The price may come down again short-term but the trend will be significantly upwards until we build replacements. In the mean time all we can do is find ways to use less of it and wait for the investment in carbon-free technology and infrastructure to start bearing fruit.

Retailer is the key word here. The retail arms do show "weak"results as they take the profit through their wholesale arms like the oil companies who struggle to show a return at the pump but healthy profits at the wholesale supply side.

Agree that good/free competition is beter than waste but at least the waste would more than no it would be recycled in our economy rather than some foreign profit.

Agree that energy prices are only going up that is predictable (as opposed to the OPs assertion). I am afraid that non of us can really wait for utopia it is too far away, real intervention to control the current rampant increases are required unless fuel poverty is to affect he majority.

I would be interested to understand what carbon free salvation you are expecting - that is a genuine question as I do not see any obvious saviour in the medium term.

I wonder how long it will be before we start digging up those carbon reserves under our feet - maybe not in our lifetimes but I am sure the human race will resort to them at some point.

grizzly1911

norapower wrote: »

Why does no one mention Thatchers role in this mess, Selling all the gas and electricty compaines to overseas buyers. Now the profits all go to Spain France or Germany instead of being paid in the UK. When they were owned by the govenment all the profits were paid to the British taxpayer instead of overseas. If they doubled gas and electricty prices we could do nothing about it.

Thanks Maggie thanks alot, What a terrible legacy she has left

But in her desperation to sort out the Coal Industry she did us a favour. As I understand that we have a couple of hundred years supply under our feet which will be taken out and used in the decades to come.

At the present time apart from Atomic energy there is no alternative form of "consistent mass" supply other than oil/gas/coal.