Utilities

raznictrot

If the government want to be popular with the masses then they should take back into PUBLIC OWNERSHIP the energy and water companies. Consumers are being ripped off by SHAREHOLDERS. There is no reason why profits can't be made in these services, to be ploughed back into infrastructure, future investment, research and developement. Stop the fat lazy cats, getting fatter at the expense of the poor.

HappyMJ

raznictrot wrote: »

If the government want to be popular with the masses then they should take back into PUBLIC OWNERSHIP the energy and water companies. Consumers are being ripped off by SHAREHOLDERS. There is no reason why profits can't be made in these services, to be ploughed back into infrastructure, future investment, research and developement. Stop the fat lazy cats, getting fatter at the expense of the poor.

You are better off switching. They only make profit from people that do not switch.

Retire

They only make profit from people that do not switch.

You don't actually believe that, do you?

System

So if the utilities were all re-nationalised, who do you think would have to pay for that process, and how do you think a nationalised utility would be able to charge consumers lower prices.

It would be paid for by taxes, so consumers end up paying even more in the long run, simple economics.

World fuel prices and infrastructure changes to move to greener energy supply all costs, someone has to pay for it. Fuel resources are not endless, so we cannot go on wasting the planet's resources, the utility companies need to invest to improve the infrastructure, that work would still need to be done by a nationalised industry so would still cost the consumer.

HappyMJ

Retire wrote: »

You don't actually believe that, do you?

The profit margins on standard tariffs are much higher than any other tariff that you can switch too. They don't make a profit on my account. The whole company Npower makes a profit but I pay less than the sum of the cost of the wholesale price plus reasonable admin costs and VAT per unit of energy that I purchase. I would be paying 33% more on the standard tariff for my area if I didn't switch regularly. At the end of the deal if I do not switch they will start to make a profit again on my individual account unless I switch away then they make nothing. If you put it back into public ownership you won't get all these competitive tariffs any more it will just be expensive.

bengasman

raznictrot wrote: »

If the government want to be popular with the masses then they should take back into PUBLIC OWNERSHIP the energy and water companies.

Hurray for the Labour voters.:doh:Not.
Did you forget that every utility became massively cheaper after privatisation? The less governments and civics interfere, the better off we are. God forbid we lose the free market.

C_Mababejive

The Government could not afford to buy mine and others shareholdings back as they have risen considerably since first flotation..

mattcanary

HappyMJ wrote: »

The profit margins on standard tariffs are much higher than any other tariff that you can switch too. They don't make a profit on my account. The whole company Npower makes a profit but I pay less than the sum of the cost of the wholesale price plus reasonable admin costs and VAT per unit of energy that I purchase. I would be paying 33% more on the standard tariff for my area if I didn't switch regularly. At the end of the deal if I do not switch they will start to make a profit again on my individual account unless I switch away then they make nothing. If you put it back into public ownership you won't get all these competitive tariffs any more it will just be expensive.

And if everyone switches to a cheap tariff (as the government are advising us to do) suppliers won't make a profit on any of their customers (if you what you say is true).

The suppliers will then just raise their prices on the special discounted tariffs

mattcanary

bengasman wrote: »

Hurray for the Labour voters.:doh:Not.
Did you forget that every utility became massively cheaper after privatisation? The less governments and civics interfere, the better off we are. God forbid we lose the free market.

The old utility supplier in each area (eg: Eastern Electricity in the Eastern area and North London) were not allowed to offer cheaper prices than their competitors within their old geographical area. That is why proces went down after utilities were opened up to competition

bengasman

mattcanary wrote: »

The old utility supplier in each area (eg: Eastern Electricity in the Eastern area and North London) were not allowed to offer cheaper prices than their competitors within their old geographical area. That is why proces went down after utilities were opened up to competition

Exactly my point. Despite the fact that there was ample room to lower prices, as long as they had the monopoly, companies had no intention of giving us a better deal. Competition = consumer better off. (State) monopoly = expensive and wasteful management.
Prime example? The NHS. The total money spent on the entire NHS system divided by the amount of families using it, comes out at around £10,000 per year per household. Methinks you can get a hell of a lot better cover for your family for half that.
The NHS is NOT free, it is charged to all of us BEFORE we use it at an exorbitant rate.
That is what state run "services" boil down to.