MSE News: Co-op Energy trims price hike as green tax cut expected 13 November 2013 at 12:48PM in Energy 28 replies 3.3K views

Former_MSE_Helen

"Co-operative Energy has reduced the amount it's going to hike prices by from 4.5% to 2.5% from 8 January..."

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Co-op Energy trims price hike as green tax cut expected




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MillicentBystander

They are all at it. What happens if it doesn't happen though? Another price hike?

Richie-from-the-Boro

I've been tub thumping on this forum for years for the removal of subsidies :

- the abolition of green tax's on [regressive] the leccy bill, transferred [progressive] to taxation
- the abolition of green tax's altogether by a complete halt of stupid little windy mills and mirrors pointing at the sky
- the abolition of the astronomic 'transport costs' of on-shore and now the more expensive off-shore windy mills
- the legislated removal of all obfuscation by energy providers with a kW common denominator
- from generation through wholesale [firewall] to postcode householder retail delivery all at the same common kW

I'm still live in hope .. ..

smala01

The government PR policy has backfired on this one, they made hot air in the media about energy prices knowing the energy companies have very little they can do to reduce them.

Profits on average for a dual fuel customer are about £60, so would the problem be fixed if all our bills were £60 loweer? I dont think so...

Some people are prepared to pay for Green things in the good times, but would prefer to spend on other things when money is tight. Social tarrifs and green energy are expensive, and there is more opportunity for bill savings if these are cut than energy companies making less profit.

The root cause is that we are in competition for oil and gas with energing nations, who in the previous generation farmed pigs in the dark, and burnt logs to keep warm. Now they would like the normal standards we in the west are accustomoned to.

We like to grumble. The government has made this hot air topic No1, but as a nation one has to conclude this is not really a problem as the public simply cannot be bothered to log onto uswitch and change supplier to save £100-200.

smala01

apt

The cost of things that are social policy should come from general taxation. The extra cost of cleaner energy should be paid for by the consumer, otherwise there is not enough incentive for energy saving.

ACG

MillicentBystander wrote: »

They are all at it. What happens if it doesn't happen though? Another price hike?

No, they would just re-instate the original price hike... that would make sense though wouldnt it?

[Deleted User]

"Co-operative Energy has reduced the amount it's going to hike prices by from 4.5% to 2.5% from 8 January..."

:think:

For arguments sake say thats a £30 reduction when green taxes is actually four time that...

What a crock of !!!!...

DragonQ

Oh great, so removing green levies from energy bills is basically reducing one single price increase out of the dozens that have been applied and will be applied in the future. It's not even providing a price cut! What a waste of time.

smala01

DragonQ wrote: »

It's not even providing a price cut! What a waste of time.

This is precisely the point - there is very little fat to trim without sending Brazil/India/China back to the dark age.


Hot air by governments trying to be seen to do things, whilst deflecting attention from their own deficiencies.


Smala01

footyguy

jeepjunkie wrote: »

"Co-operative Energy has reduced the amount it's going to hike prices by from 4.5% to 2.5% from 8 January..."

:think:

For arguments sake say thats a £30 reduction when green taxes is actually four time that...

What a crock of !!!!...

Indeed, yesterday we had EDF being less than open & transparent when they announced only a small price rise (even less than that of the co-op) but hiding in the small print that it was dependant on the government rolling back the green levy ... and as EDF couldn't quantify that amount exactly (as it has not been agreed or announced), the prices could still go up or down as a result
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4818673

Now today we have the Co-op trying to second guess the government as to what they may or may not do, again not having any facts to judge it upon.

Sounds like a couple of suppliers trying to play politics, or at least bounce the government into playing the game the way the suppliers want it played.

Let us remind ourselves what some of the suppliers told parliament just a couple of weeks back:

Q55. Fundamentally — I hope you can answer this question with a yes or no — if levies are lifted, is a cost is lifted from you

Tony Cocker [Eon]: Absolutely

Q56. And that saving would pass in total to your customers.

Tony Cocker: Yes.

Guy Johnson [nPower]: Yes.

Q57. And how quickly could that be done?

Tony Cocker: How quickly can it be changed

William Morris [SSE]: My answer is that we could do it in a matter of weeks, as soon as we can physically administer it. We need to be black and white with this. It is important. If the Government respond to our request to put this into general taxation, pound for pound and penny for penny it should come straight off the customer’s bill.

If we are ever going to achieve our goal of being transparent and trustworthy, that would be an example of how willing we would be. We would do it as fast as possible, and I would suggest that Ofgem oversees the process. Let us hope and pray it happens as soon as possible.

http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/WrittenEvidence.svc/EvidencePdf/3242

Btw, Q48 & 49 suggests the average saving would be about £60 a year [SSE] or about 6% [nPower], which would be just over £60 for the typical £1247 annual bill.

So how come the co-op are only giving us 2% back? :huh:

smala01

footyguy wrote: »

Sounds like a couple of suppliers trying to play politics, or at least bounce the government into playing the game the way the suppliers want it played.

Like i said in the post above, the government played games blaming suppliers for headlines, when they knew that suppliers have little fat to cut.

This is a little revenge.

Smala01