Energy bills to fall

undaunted

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Suppliers profits are around 5%. You cannot cut those at the same time as begging the energy companies to invest in desperately needed new power stations!!

:rotfl: How much credibility do you give to someone who devises a scheme that inflates house prices, and then calls it 'Help to Buy' :rotfl:

5% retail maybe but that's not the whole story - they are selling energy to themselves in effect & total profits for these groups are far higher.

As to begging them to invest in power stations come off it. It's energy companies trying to force (and getting) subsidy out of Govt / tax payer for an already profitable business.

As far as I'm concerned they should just tell them no. If they don't invest they'll have no business and no profits. If the Govt has to make the investment then it may as well be a nationalised industry again.

Cameron & Clegg - between them at least - seemingly had enough credibility to get into power at the last election. Whether that stands at the next one remains to be seen. I doubt they'll be elected again myself but whether Labour will therefore get in, Clegg jumps ship to get them in or UKIP make inroads we'll just have to wait and see. I no longer have much faith in any of them I'm afraid!

undaunted

MillicentBystander wrote: »

How do we know what Cameron has previously said? I mean, it's not like you can look it up on the Tory's website anymore, is it?

PS In all seriousness this is definitely going to happen and then it's a matter of what happens with the punters who have jumped on the Fixed Bandwagon (TM)? No wonder all the cheap deals at the moment are fixed ones. Crafty b*ggers.

It's probably quite simple really

Ask yourself, if he said it was it likely to get him elected at that point?

If yes then he probably said it even if he's now forgotten it.

If no he definitely didn't but maybe Clegg did - though he may also have forgotten that when he saw a means of gaining even a little power

In neither case was it their fault - they didn't win the election so it must be our fault they didn't deliver, vote for them alone next time & it will all be different of course

undaunted

Road_Hog wrote: »

Nor can you look at NeoLabour website either, to see what Gordon Brown and Tony Blair said. The guy that bankrupted the country and the guy that took us into two wars that we didn't want.


Also, let's not forget, it was the shadow Prime Minister, that as Energy Secretary, foisted these green taxes upon us and sent our bills sky high.

Like Maggie before him Tony Blair got a rough deal from his party - each took them to unprecedented success & should have been entitled to choose their own departure.

Brown - though he was for a long time lauded as a great Chancellor by many who have now conveniently forgotten that fact & Milliband is perhaps another story but that doesn't justify the current Govt's broken promises. They knew the country was in a financial mess when they made them!

sniggings

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Simple answer is they haven't - been investing enough in new power stations. When current power stations are worn out there won't be enough capacity to keep the lights on at peak times.

well you are addressing a different point, the point I was making was the profits are more than 5% because they could easily achieve a 5% return with bonds, stocks etc etc

The point you are making is they haven't invested enough, whilst I agree, my point still stands that the money they have invested albeit not as many billions as is needed, is still in the billions and could have been invested elsewhere for the same 5% return that they quote.

thor

Glen_Clark wrote: »

The main reason for our high energy prices is the Government's Green initiatives.

Is it really the main reason? I think it costs about 50 quid a year. In the last 5 or 6 years the average bill has gone up waaay more. This green tax is a red herring which the utility companies and their apologists love to peddle out. Next year for the first time in many years we will probably get no increase(or decrease mind you) and thereafter the cost will go up at the same rate as before with the likes of Eon, Npower etc jumping on a new scapegoat.

apt

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Never been on a fixed tariff. I figure the energy companies have a better idea of future energy prices than me, so I don't fancy betting against them.

In that case you've been paying hundreds of pounds more than if you took the best fixes over the last 10 years.

DragonQ

Presumably most of us on here wouldn't be affected by a minor price drop anyway since we predominantly have fixes we signed up to before the recent price rise anyway.

PollySouthend

Ha i knew it, all these people lured into fixed deals because of seeing a 10% rise that don't understand compound interest.

Switching tariffs really doesn't save people much at all, its all about confusing the sheep so they think they have a great deal.

macman

sniggings wrote: »

so they say, trying to get the real margin is next to impossible

That 5% even if it is true, is only the profit from selling to us, they also make a profit when they produce the electric/gas and then sell it to themselves at a high price, which also makes them a profit, that markup is not included in the 5%, so sorry I just don't accept the 5%

Heck if it was only 5% profit, why would they invest billions, putting it in a bank or bonds, shares etc would get them at least 5% return.

Please tell me which bank is currently paying 5%+ interest on savings? I wish!

sniggings

macman wrote: »

Please tell me which bank is currently paying 5%+ interest on savings? I wish!

Why have you got a few billion?

I said banks (not the onces we use) stocks and bonds etc I did not just say banks, my bank pays no interest on a currant account and 0.1 I think on a savings up to £10.000 so I wasn't talking about those.

Have a few billion in the bank and you will get a better interest rate.