Warning that energy prices will rise

kabayiri

I guess the only given is the consumer will be 'stiffed' in the short term.

However, we have been given some sage advice by the Npower spokesperson I just saw on tv. "Consume less". It's a mantra we have been hearing more often of late.

Achieving greater efficiency is not easy or cheap however.

PaulF81

We can easily correct this. We sit on an almost limitless supply of coal. Rip up the deals signed by labour on carbon as unaffordable and re-invest in drax.

Mrs_Bones

PaulF81 wrote: »

We can easily correct this. We sit on an almost limitless supply of coal. Rip up the deals signed by labour on carbon as unaffordable and re-invest in drax.

We are still sitting on our power solution, losing our coal industry was one of the worst political decisions ever taken. They won't turn back now, not because of economics but because of political fears. Other countries don't seem to have the same fear of coal.

PaulF81

Mrs_Bones wrote: »

We are still sitting on our power solution, losing our coal industry was one of the worst political decisions ever taken. They won't turn back now, not because of economics but because of political fears. Other countries don't seem to have the same fear of coal.

We wouldn't even need to reopen the collieries. The simple solution is to use the fuel no one else is using and therefore cheaper. Doesn't stop the Chinese using it does it?

vivatifosi

kabayiri wrote: »

BiL is involved in this industry fairly high up.
He was telling me about the planned closure of the coal fired stations in 2015 ages back. They have known they need to cover the generation gap for some time.

Part of the reason for some of the delay seems to be the profitability of existing power stations. Plants built even as recent as five years ago are struggling to make a profit. This is a problem across Europe.

http://www.gastopowerjournal.com/markets/item/1361-eon-considers-part-closure-of-europes-most-modern-gas-fired-power-plant

It seems that the power generation companies will be especially keen to ensure any deals signed are profitable. EDF can almost write their own terms for the new UK planned nuclear installation.

I was listening to the Today programme this morning and this is pretty much what was being said there. That:

1) Coal is now pretty much defunct and will be phased out (I think they said by 2015).

2) They can't get anyone to build nuclear unless they guarantee to back the scheme for a period of 40 years or so.

3) This means that the reliance on gas in the UK will double and that to get this we'll need to go to the global markets, which will be expensive.

michaels

But building new gas plants isn't going to lose anyone any key marginals...

PaulF81

Neither is building new coal fired ones either....

Thrugelmir

PaulF81 wrote: »

Neither is building new coal fired ones either....

Coal is getting cheaper. As the US is dumping.

A._Badger

And yet still the lies go on. The BBC's midnight news on Radio 4 just managed to spin the entire story as if the idiotic reliance of wind farms hadn't happened.

If there is a competitive problem surrounding gas fired power stations, it is that wind has been given such absurdly favourable sweetheart deals that no company can make a profit from burning gas.

The results? When the wind doesn't .blow, and because the eco-loons have forced the closure of coal plants (Germany, of course, is currently bulding 26 of them), there is no backup.

The figures speak for themselves. We are currently getting almost 19 gw from coal and 0.05gw from wind. On a day like today (typical cold weather high pressure conditions in the UK) the temperature plummets, yet the turbine blades remain motionless. At around 1pm today wind was generating around 0.1 per cent of the UK's needs, yet its featherbedding treatment means that no one can afford to build or run a gas plant.

Milliband was the fool who stepped-up this nonsense and Cameron has simply perpetuated the same suicidal policy. When the lights start to go out around 2015, I genuinely hope to see televised trials of the culprits. Always assuming the two hours of electricity a day we are allocated by 'smart' (sic) meters allow us to watch their well-deserved humiliation.

Mr_Mumble

Graham_Devon wrote: »

As was stated on the radio, the energy companies are making few people extremely rich, while making more and more poorer.

Darn those energy companies who've cut US natural gas prices by 75% over the past 5 years!

Energy prices are a choice. The cost of residential electricity in middle American states is around 6p per kilo watt hour compared to 14-5p in Blighty.

Politicians could allow prices to drop by more than 50% simply by getting rid of all 'green' political interference (subsidies, mandates, regulations, taxes, anti-drilling/digging/fracking rules, et al).