Co-op Energy OWNED BY YOU

grahamc2003

The opening post is a bit puzzling. The co-op is owned by it's members, not by everyone, like for example the NHS. The performance of a business is much more to do with the directors/senior managers rather than the owners (as I'm sure the co-op boss on an ethical £1.4m pa would agree), so 'Owned by You' isn't necessarily a good thing, in fact the lessened pressures due to having compliant non-questioning owners can lead to inefficiencies and waste, which I think we can see in the nhs, and the £1.50 milk prices (which isn't very ethical given those who have no option but to pay may be the less well off without a car for example).

kar999

Members have a say in how the company is run and probably have more say that a single shareholder in big companies.

http://www.co-operative.coop/membership/what-is-membership/Membership-overview/

Tescos and Hugh whittingstall was a perfect example of how they had the power to stiffle any opinion on chickens.

grahamc2003

kar999 wrote: »

Members have a say in how the company is run and probably have more say that a single shareholder in big companies.

http://www.co-operative.coop/membership/what-is-membership/Membership-overview/

Tescos and Hugh whittingstall was a perfect example of how they had the power to stiffle any opinion on chickens.

Your first point doesn't make sense. If there are 5 million members of the co-op then a shareholder of a plc has more influence than a co-op member if they own more than one five millionth of the share capital, and less influence if they don't.

I'm afraid I don't understand your second point, even though I understand the tesco/hugh chicken situation. Tesco sell cruelly produced chickens, as do the co-op, with the co-op standard marginally higher than the tesco value chicken, but still, in my view, very cruel, and nowhere near free range standards (which is how I allow my chickens to live).

On your general point, does the average co-op member agree the boss should be rewarded with £29,000 per week?

kar999

Any single member of the Coop can put themselves forward to get elected onto a Regional/National committees and help make decisions on running the company. A single shareholder has practically no influence whatsover on the running a plc as HFW found out. He needed the support of 100 other shareholders to put forward a motion and they also charged him £87k to post it out to others.

I dare say the coop also sells cheap and nasty chickens but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. It had more to do with the ability of influencing the running of the business which you had questioned. As I've tried to explain (and the membership benefits link I posted shows) a Coop member potentially has more influence than an individual shareholder of a company. I have 200 or so shares in NG, Centrica and BG but my vote at any AGM counts for nothing compared to the massive institutional investors.

Personally I dont agree with the boss's salary anymore than bankers obscene bonuses or public sector union barons earning six figure salaries with c. 30% contribution free pensions worth more than many of their memebrs basic salaries.

Ethics and politics aside, the Coop is still (I've just done a fresh comparison) the cheapest tariff for me persoanlly (I'm in the cheapest area) so that's all I really care about! (LoCO2 Energy is £5 cheaper but that is before my dividends c £24 and the £50 switching discount.)

Happy days.

kevin52

While I support mutuality I avoid the the Coop as it is the retail wing of the Labour Party, sponsoring through the Cooperative Party 29 MP's including Ed Balls, and a number of Peers, MSP's, and AM's.

roddydogs

Just had an e-mail saying they are REDUCING energy bills as from Feb.!!

meggsy

roddydogs wrote: »

Just had an e-mail saying they are REDUCING energy bills as from Feb.!!

Don't get too excited, not all customers will benefit only
those on v2.2 and v3 and new customers from 1st February

kar999

kevin52 wrote: »

While I support mutuality I avoid the the Coop as it is the retail wing of the Labour Party, sponsoring through the Cooperative Party 29 MP's including Ed Balls, and a number of Peers, MSP's, and AM's.

If that's true I'll have to get elected onto a committee and try and put a stop to that!! Ed Balls couldn't run a sweet shop let alone the countries finance. Defecit denier!


Merry Christmas!?

meggsy

kar999 wrote: »

If that's true I'll have to get elected onto a committee and try and put a stop to that!! Ed Balls couldn't run a sweet shop let alone the countries finance. Defecit denier!


Merry Christmas!?

http://www.party.coop/lists/members-of-parliament/

http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/Sustainability09/delivering-value/public-policy/political-donations/

Merry Christmas Kar999

grahamc2003

meggsy wrote: »

http://www.party.coop/lists/members-of-parliament/

Merry Christmas Kar999

Rofl - You should get some sort of prize for that!

I think you've just ruined someone's Christmas, those pink specs have definately been smashed!