Governor of the Bank of England

dippydolly

Any thoughts about the Govenors statement this morning? 'The British people should enjoy this period of very low energy prices.......':j

nomoneytoday

And why not - with the 25% cut in petrol prices, it cost me under £30 to travel 300 odd miles to Cornwall

dippydolly

Whilst agreeing with you that petrol prices are lower (though rising now). I do not consider gas and electric prices are low, and they come under the same Energy 'umbrella'

JJ_Egan

The raw materials are mostly out of the UKs control as to prices .

Nada666

For average domestic usage short to mid term prices are cheaper (or, at least, as cheap) than for quite a while.

Bark01

Yep, standard prices are too high but BG have to cut prices later this year to meet profit expectations (~5% off gas before Oct, would be my guess), and they drive the market.

Products are cheaper than they've been for years.

Gas wholesale is still falling but electricity has started to rise. Long term forecasts for oil (not a direct link to gas/elec) show a slight increase this year and a larger increase next year followed by a slow decline until 2020.

martinsurrey

we have some of the cheapest energy prices in Europe.

slightly old article, the EU expects to update data this month

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Half-yearly_electricity_and_gas_prices,_first_half_of_year,_2011%E2%80%9313_(EUR_per_kWh)_YB14.png

here is a bit of narrative

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10727731/Why-whinge-UK-energy-costs-are-among-the-cheapest-in-Europe.html




why do you consider them NOT low?

Torry_Quine

I must admit I was surprised as I don't consider our energy costs are low!

sheffield_lad

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I must admit I was surprised as I don't consider our energy costs are low!

Yet as the poster before you points out we are one of the cheapest places in Europe for both gas & electricity below both Germany & France (who are state aka nationalised run).

stator

Of course currency fluctuations would affect any attempt at comparing our prices abroad. So not really worth it. The real question is, can people afford them?

Cardew

stator wrote: »

Of course currency fluctuations would affect any attempt at comparing our prices abroad. So not really worth it. The real question is, can people afford them?

Agreed about currency fluctuations, but how do you define 'afford'? Proportion of household disposable income??

The UK's homes are relatively energy inefficient, compared to other European countries. But despite this, we still have lower bills than many of our neighbours. The amount spent on energy is relatively low in this country as a proportion of total household expenditure.
Southern European countries - like Spain, Cyprus and Greece - tend to spend less on energy, as they have lower heating needs, according to the report. Central and eastern European countries spend more, because the countries are colder and household incomes are lower. But richer European countries, like the UK, spend less because they have a higher disposable income.

Is £1,100 - £1,200 pa expensive when you compare that with the cost of running a car - even with much cheaper fuel prices.

This is a good report:

http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04153/SN04153.pdf