Energy Price Cap

Oblivion

Yes, I think it's time to bite the bullet and opt for paperless and set up a DD.

Farway

Oblivion wrote: »

Yes, I think it's time to bite the bullet and opt for paperless and set up a DD.

When you do please make sure you don't fall into the trap some make of not reading the meter & comparing with the reading shown on bills

Some carry on with estimated readings and then cry foul when they eventually get a huge bill, or a massive DD increase when a real reading is submitted

Oblivion

Farway wrote: »

When you do please make sure you don't fall into the trap some make of not reading the meter & comparing with the reading shown on bills

Some carry on with estimated readings and then cry foul when they eventually get a huge bill, or a massive DD increase when a real reading is submitted

Thanks farway. No worries about that, I am an anorak when it comes to submitting meter readings

Oblivion

I am no 'left-winger' but I do think it is time for a level playing field. I would welcome a single rate for all throughout the country and do away with this cynical approach to different charging.

We all need the same level of temperature to stay comfortable. A basic commodity like electricity should never have been let loose to the commercial market.

System

Oblivion wrote: »

I am no 'left-winger' but I do think it is time for a level playing field. I would welcome a single rate for all throughout the country and do away with this cynical approach to different charging.

We all need the same level of temperature to stay comfortable. A basic commodity like electricity should never have been let loose to the commercial market.

Different standing charges is a legacy from the days of nationalised industries which were based on regional electricity boards. It reflects the cost of getting energy to you. Be careful what you wish for, Nationalised industries were not known for being very efficient.

Oblivion

I'd take it over the current rip-off regime. It can all be legislated for, but no one wants to take it on.

One price for everybody, evened out over the country. It's not rocket science.

System

As I say be careful of what you wish for:

Quote: The situation in the energy market is similar. Privatisation was an unalloyed success with prices falling by over 30 per cent in the following decade or so. What has happened since is a form of corporatist state control of private businesses as regulations and costs have been loaded onto the energy companies – and investment plans dictated by the state. The government has locked in a nuclear power deal that involves guaranteeing twice the current market price for electricity. The state also requires companies to source energy from renewables costing up to three-and-a-half times the cost of producing electricity through the cheapest method.

It is true that, today, after a decade or more of increasing state control, we have an energy industry that serves vested interests rather than the consumer interest once again. Electricity prices before taxes are now 15 per cent higher than the average of major developed nations. Electricity could be around 50 per cent cheaper without the government’s interventions. We must liberalise that industry and not return to the state control that is the source of most of the industry’s problems.

We should, perhaps, remember one fact from the era of nationalisation. In the post-war period, government planning dictated the development of a nuclear programme using expensive technologies promoted by the government of the day. This led to the most expensive government project disaster in British history, costing well over £30bn. Unquote

It is worth remembering that only 33p in every £ that we pay for our energy has anything to do with the wholesale costs. A big chunk of the other 67p is down to Government policies (Green energy; Smart meter rollout costs; climate change; supplier failure Consumer Levy and so on).

Source: Institute of Economic Affairs

Farway

Hengus wrote: »

As I say be careful of what you wish for:

Just to echo Hengus.
Am I the only one who remembers having to stay in so the meter man could come along to read your meters when you moved?
Then wait around at the the other end for another reader to turn up