Energy news in general

Scot_39

Chrysalis said:

I see a news article on the BBC that energy debt without a repayment plan is still soaring.  Looks like a new stealth SC tax coming to write that debt off.  A tax to cover the perils of fixed DD?

Debt would be lower - if our energy bills did not include 

- the come Oct £215 in policy costs - up £58 /37% in 18 months 

- net zero costs - that just aded another £15 ex VAT on network costs in Oct on top of current costs.

 

Scrap policy costs - scrap VAT - even better scrap net zero - and bills would be £100s less.

And far less likely to have people in debt.

Govts - past and present - need to learn the lesson - fuel costs are far to high to keep the extra charges they deliberately chose to place onto them.

They should be trying to reduce them.

But rather than doing so - they have just lumped £10s more - ave cap up £35 - wholesale energy costs down -£15 ex VAT - the £51 diiference - largely govt policy.

And even those on WFD see these extras on their top line.  New recipents arent £150 better off - now only £99 if concume at median TDV.

The 3.4m on WHD before - share in the £51 extra - just as other bill payers do.

superkoopauk

Chrysalis said:

I see a news article on the BBC that energy debt without a repayment plan is still soaring.  Looks like a new stealth SC tax coming to write that debt off.  A tax to cover the perils of fixed DD?

Yes the debt relief scheme will be coming soon.  Why will it be a stealth tax though?  Ofgem usually clearly explain the reason for any changes in standing charges in each price cap update

molerat

superkoopauk said:

Chrysalis said:

I see a news article on the BBC that energy debt without a repayment plan is still soaring.  Looks like a new stealth SC tax coming to write that debt off.  A tax to cover the perils of fixed DD?

Yes the debt relief scheme will be coming soon.  Why will it be a stealth tax though?  Ofgem usually clearly explain the reason for any changes in standing charges in each price cap update

Because it is unrecoverable debt caused by government / OFGEM policy that will be picked up by other energy users irrespective of their ability to pay rather than the government through general taxation, the stealth "not increasing tax" tax.

wrf12345

Ofgem should be closed down and the government mandate a yearly decrease in the margin between buying and selling energy (current buy at 10p, sell at 25p), standing charges gone, but the companies can make as much profit as they like as long as the buy/sell margin decreases each year - that is forcing efficiency into the bloated system that relies on cartel pricing and a compliant Ofgem. All the consumer would then see would be the unit price when they compare various offers, capped only in relation to the wholesale price. When the industry went private the government was well aware that competition would need to be forced into the market and mandated a fall in price each year, as soon as that mandate finished greed entered the system and has led to the current rip-offs and hapless Ofgem.

QrizB

wrf12345 said:

Ofgem should be closed down and the government mandate a yearly decrease in the margin between buying and selling energy (current buy at 10p, sell at 25p)...

With the average household using 2700 kWh of electricity each year, that would mean raising another £270 x 25 million households = £6.75 billion in taxes.

Cutting £1000 from the Personal Allowance would probably cover it. Or they could add £270 onto Council Tax.

wrf12345 said:

..standing charges gone, 

That's another £500 x 25 million = £12.5 billion. So £2000 off the Personal Allowance, or £500 onto Council Tax.

The energy companies would be very happy with this, since HMRC and local authorities are allowed to be much more enthusiastic at debt recovery than energy cos are.

Ildhund

QrizB said:
... 25 million households

Closer to 30 million, perhaps: 2023 - 29,136,767 according to Accredited Official Statistics on the distribution of domestic electricity consumption in Great Britain, reckoning one domestic meter = one household. 

QrizB

Ok, so £770 x 30 million = £23 billion.

Scot_39

Youd think the number of grid connected homes and grid connected businesses would be readily available.

I found estimates out by millions from each other last time I went down the rabbit hole

And I guess on the per meter data - many old legacy and dual rts setups - there were c1m rts until not too long ago - but again - some of those would be 1 meter some 2 meter.  

Ildhund

Scot_39 said:

I found estimates out by millions from each other last time I went down the rabbit hole

That can come in very handy, depending on what you're trying to prove.

Scot_39 said:

And I guess on the per meter data - many old legacy and dual rts setups - there were c1m rts until not too long ago - but again - some of those would be 1 meter some 2 meter.  

Yes, but the cases of multiple meters per household will be offset one way or the other by the cases of multiple households per meter, e.g. student and other rented accommodation. 

We may just have to settle on the 27 million figure we arrived at a few months ago, perhaps qualified as 27±2 million. 

michaels

Scot_39 said:

Chrysalis said:

I see a news article on the BBC that energy debt without a repayment plan is still soaring.  Looks like a new stealth SC tax coming to write that debt off.  A tax to cover the perils of fixed DD?

Debt would be lower - if our energy bills did not include 

- the come Oct £215 in policy costs - up £58 /37% in 18 months 

- net zero costs - that just aded another £15 ex VAT on network costs in Oct on top of current costs.

 

Scrap policy costs - scrap VAT - even better scrap net zero - and bills would be £100s less.

And far less likely to have people in debt.

Govts - past and present - need to learn the lesson - fuel costs are far to high to keep the extra charges they deliberately chose to place onto them.

They should be trying to reduce them.

But rather than doing so - they have just lumped £10s more - ave cap up £35 - wholesale energy costs down -£15 ex VAT - the £51 diiference - largely govt policy.

And even those on WFD see these extras on their top line.  New recipents arent £150 better off - now only £99 if concume at median TDV.

The 3.4m on WHD before - share in the £51 extra - just as other bill payers do.

I would rather pay more for my energy and have a liveable planet for my kids, even if it means I can't afford ubereats, the apple tax, tattoos, Taylor Swift tickets or millions of other 'essentials'.

I am in a very small minority.