'What I'm going to tell the PM at today's energy summit…' blog discussion

Former_MSE_Helen

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "What I'm going to tell the PM at today's energy summit…" Blog.

Please click 'post reply' to discuss below.

1echidna

Wouldn't a shorter message have more chance of getting heard?

Adrift

We're very frugal with everything, but this year we've decided to put the heating on only when it gets to freezing and then only minimally.

jamesd

British Gas didn't even require dual fuel for me, just gas for loft insulation. A fairly smooth process overall, though not for the impatient because it was popular.

JimmyTheWig

Why do lower users pay more for units? The discounts for high usage ‘push’ behaviour the wrong way.

The high cost of the initial user is to pay for the admin side of things, surely?

And even if they pay less per unit, a higher user will pay more than a lower user in all cases.

[Deleted User]

To get better schooling for my son, I moved from a council house in the West Midlands to a private rented place in Kent. I expected to pay more rent.., I did not expect to be hit so hard by an increase in utilities. I had credit meters in my council house, had to go with prepayment in the private rented house. I was paying £60 a month for both electricity and gas.., from the moment I moved in April (i.e. higher amounts not caused by a price rise) I am paying over £80 per month just for electricity (prepayment meter) plus £10 a week for gas. Its a very large rise relatively speaking - obviously I am using the same white goods as I was in my original house and am VERY careful about my useage - I still use heating minimally however cold it gets. When I tried to get a credit meter, I couldn't thru the supplier to this house, British Gas (high credit rating needed of over 850). Landlord told me to not change supplier.

PLEASE can it be made easier for tenants on prepayment meters to get either lower rates like credit meter users or could it be made easier for tenants to get credit meters. The utility payments are crippling me and I am dreading the really cold weather. Its going to be a nightmare trying to keep my children warm.

mostlycheerful

Tell him you'll do a better job than him and you're up for it and you've got a far bigger mandate than he has as you've got five million regulars on your site who mostly love you to bits and have a lot of respect for you, your great team and all your valiant efforts at improving the quality of people's lives and rooting out badness and confronting it and exposing it and stopping it.

Martin for PM the cry went up everywhere!

Could you do it, run Britain? I bet you could. And I bet you could do a much better job than the current shower.

Do you want to? Hmm, that's a tricky question, isn't it. Well, where to from here. The only way is up... Where do you see yourself in ten years time? More of the same? Or do you want to make a quantum leap up, somehow, somewhere. If so then what. You could do worse than to go into politics. You might be able to do even more good if you take up the challenge and put yourself closer to where the decision making and power is. Maybe.

Ok, practical suggestions.

Well, obviously, although oil, coal, nuclear etc have their current place in the world the future is clearly green energy so do press on with as much solar, wind, thermal, tide, water wheel, methane from sewage etc, hydrogen fuel cells etc as possible.

As the costs of fossil fuels increase and the appalling pollution problem of them and nuclear continue to afflict the planet and accelerate the current sixth mass extinction worldwide it behoves us all to switch to green energy. As much as possible as fast as possible. Obviously. But it's worth stressing the point.

Yes, green energy is becoming a lot more affordable and practicable as time goes on so that's the trend to put effort into.

Perhaps also slip in that you're aware of the current push towards achieving cold fusion and such like miraculous possible sources of energy. If some of the new technologies are finally cracked we could perhaps have virtually unlimited clean energy at relatively low cost. That would be a splendid achievement for mankind and a major breakthrough, a huge leap forward. So it's worth trying to support the quest with more funds and resources, if possible.

Hope this is of interest or use, if you have time to read it.

Oh, just noticed, this was a few days ago. Ok. Well, might still be of some interest or use at some point, if you're in regular dialogue.

Etc.