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

footyguy

smala01 wrote: »

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

Indeed.

The savings are 6% and the co-op are offering the customer a 2% cut.

I can see the decision making now.

With this levy cut, a pound for me, a pound for our members/shareholders ... and I suppose we ought to give our customers a quid too as they pay our wages

spikyone

smala01 wrote: »

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...

As I've previously posted on these boards, that's absolutely not true, because that amount doesn't include the profit made by the generation side of energy companies. Energy companies generate the energy, then make a useful profit by selling it to themselves, then make a much smaller profit when they sell it to the end user.

"[SSE] said its retail arm, which supplies energy to homes, lost money in its first half while its other two divisions - covering areas including wholesale energy production and energy distribution - were both in profit."
(http://news.sky.com/story/1167838/energy-firms-sse-and-e-on-confirm-profits)

So SSE are getting a tidy profit from their wholesale production side: "oh and by the way, it's not our fault that consumer energy costs are high - it's the wholesale price..."

smala01 wrote: »

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.

I'd believe the environmentalists far more if green issues weren't used as a means of increasing profit, raising taxes, etc.

smala01 wrote: »

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.

Only 26.6% of UK energy resources are imported (http://www.energy.eu/) - so it's highly unlikely that competition for resource is a significant contributor.

shadowspy24

At least Co-op and EDF are giving us something I suppose. If the government do get rid of these green taxes will the others who have already announced big hikes reverse them or will they suddenly go very quiet?

dude89

I love the MSE News team and their sensationalist headline writing. A 3.9% edf increase is a hike while co-ops 2% reduction is just a trim.

dude89

shadowspy24 wrote: »

At least Co-op and EDF are giving us something I suppose. If the government do get rid of these green taxes will the others who have already announced big hikes reverse them or will they suddenly go very quiet?

They will have to reduce the increases. Even if not required to do so by law they would VERY foolish to even think about not passing it on

chanz4

didn't co-op already rise this year anyway? The way to look at price rises is what they risen from, just because one supplier is 10%, another is 2% what if the 2% one was already a lot higher.

dude89

chanz4 wrote: »

didn't co-op already rise this year anyway? The way to look at price rises is what they risen from, just because one supplier is 10%, another is 2% what if the 2% one was already a lot higher.

Yep 9% in April

christabell

Co-operative energy...ethical??? How do I know this? Only by their marketing.
Co-operative energy...I phoned up and asked to be placed on their register for disabled/chronically ill customers...the advisor did not know what I was talking about on my call to them last month, he placed me on hold and came back to me a few minuets later...
"Right then I have arranged that for you" he said
"Arranged what?" I asked as a few moments ago the guy had no clue...
"I have arranged a meter reader to come out to read your meters for you".

I am quite capable of reading my meter.

Next email to Co operative energy...

" Can I apply to have the Warm Home Discount Scheme please?"

Now, I know that not every energy supplier has to comply with this, and it is at the discretion of the supplier.
ignored email
Emailed again...same question

This time answered that "as I was below the governments age criteria to be added to the scheme", I did not qualify.

I have a chronic health condition, and dare not get cold.

Thank you for reading

Define Ethical please

Bark01

footyguy wrote: »

Indeed.

The savings are 6% and the co-op are offering the customer a 2% cut.

I can see the decision making now.

With this levy cut, a pound for me, a pound for our members/shareholders ... and I suppose we ought to give our customers a quid too as they pay our wages

The size of the ECO commitment is dependant on the size of the suppliers customers base. I think if they are under 500k customers they don't have to pay any ECO.

footyguy

shadowspy24 wrote: »

At least Co-op and EDF are giving us something I suppose.

No they aren't. With both companies it is totally reliant on the government reducing the levies the suppliers have to pay.

EDF took a wild guess (and reserve the right to re-assess the situation if the government don't reduce the levies by the amount they anticipate)
With the Co-op, it seems they will only give us about 1/3rd of any reduction in levy the goverment allow them.

shadowspy24 wrote: »

If the government do get rid of these green taxes will the others who have already announced big hikes reverse them or will they suddenly go very quiet?

Did you not read my previous post at all?

Ok, it may only have been 3 of the big 6 suppliers that were answering questions at the time, but the big 6 do supply over 95% of british households. I don't know how they could have made their answers any clearer.