MSE News: Government renews calls for energy price cuts 16 October 2015 at 11:43AM in Energy 8 replies 1.3K views

Former_MSE_Paloma

The big six energy firms face continued pressure from ministers to cut bills as wholesale prices remain low...

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Government renews calls for energy price cuts




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Bark01

"On the average bill, it's about 46% of the cost – so there are some costs which aren't going down, which are actually going up, so we have to bear that in mind.

"But actually, if you shop around most bills are £100 less than they were this time last year."

So in short, some costs are going down some cost are going up but bills are going down.

NittyGritty

its funny really, when wholesale prices show a sudden increase then the big 6 are there like a flash to hike prices,


but when they fall, they seem to drag their heels and pretty much do nothing to lower prices

lstar337

Government sets policy's that drive up energy costs, then moans at energy companies to reduce bills.

Interesting system they have there.

cifpower

And when government changes policy to reduce green subsidies to try and reduce bills people get laid off.

Smiley_Dan

lstar337 wrote: »

Government sets policy's that drive up energy costs, then moans at energy companies to reduce bills.

Yes, assume you mean the scrapping of the Zero Carbon Homes programme which means we are still building houses that require heating and are locking in future generations to more of this nonsense.

undercover_peon

This article could just as easily be entitled "Government is p*ssing in the wind*.


I do agree though that the government is being slightly disingenuous by calling for price reductions whilst having policies which push the cost up. Governments of both major parties are guilty of this just as they are guilty of kicking the can down the road and risking the nightmare scenario where we don't have sufficient power in Winter.


This has been declining for years, and they've know FOR YEARS which power stations are closing when and still they continue to sit on their hands.


I'm not sure nationalisation is the answer but Ofgem is hopeless, the tariffs are still designed not to be clear and the companies are generally less than honest with consumers.


I don't know what the answer is, at this point I'd settle for clear pricing.

Pincher

How low do they want it to be?

I am quite happy with 2.802p/10.860p per kWh, including VAT.

I see EDF is doing 2.668p/10.710p for gas, so there is room to go down further.

Inflation adjusted, it must be getting to be as cheap as 15 years ago.

Consumerist

It seems to me that energy suppliers, particularly the smaller suppliers, have significantly reduced prices for those who are interested but what the big six have not done is to significantly reduce prices for those who just can't be bothered.

When it comes to government ministers "putting pressure" on the energy suppliers, King Canute comes to mind.