Energy news in general

spot1034

savers_united said:

Today the latest energy chief to come out about rising energy prices and what to do, Chris O'Shea on Centrica predicts prices will remain high for another 18 to 24 months, he has not said they will keep rising just don't expect them to fall back anytime soon, do you trust an energy chief? Keeping prices high benefits their generation side and getting people to fix and lock in longer term and move away from the SVT is also in their interest. 

He has also suggested deterring the costs of failed suppliers and associated costs for SOLR, a removal of Vat & Green Levies from bills. Combined this would half the expected increase in April to the cap. 

Personally I am not a fan of removing the 5% vat completely as it gives everyone a price cut, yes even those who don't have any problem now or in the future paying their bills, but takes much needed tax revenue from the coffers.

Then you have all those at different stages on different tariffs, there are some who are on a good fixed deal for another year or so who fixed prior to these big increases, a 5% cut for them would be like christmas coming early, why do they need a cut on an already decent rate.

If they are going to cut vat on energy bills then at least make it so that only the Ofgem price capped tariff benefits or only tariffs after a certain date that will face the biggest increases, just don't see the benefit of removing vat from a fix taken a year ago. 

No mention of the windfall tax. Surprise Surprise. 

No one yet has mentioned the non means tested winter fuel allowance, not to upset the grey vote I guess but if this was means tested surely there could be extra support for those pensioners / families most in need without any extra cost to the treasury by diverting the allowance away from those who simply do not need it. Appreciate this would take longer to implement but it seems crazy that a millionaire gets this when so many are going to struggle. 

What you're proposing is a mountain of cumbersome administration which would be very costly and time consuming, with the press full of sob stories from people who haven't been dealt with fairly or have fallen just the wrong side of an arbitrarily drawn line. 

One thing they could do if you want to go down that path would be to make the winter fuel payment taxable as only better off pensioners would be affected. It would yield very little, but it's one thing which would be easy to implement. 

On the windfall tax, what's needed is to allow  production companies to use their profits as they would like - to increase investment in gas production that's under this country's control, creating British jobs and ultimately leading to bigger taxable revenues.  This is a far better policy than virtue signalling by punishing companies who happen to be in the 'wrong' industry, whilst you're forced to buy from abroad the same product that these companies would like to be producing more of themselves.

savers_united

spot1034 said:

savers_united said:

Today the latest energy chief to come out about rising energy prices and what to do, Chris O'Shea on Centrica predicts prices will remain high for another 18 to 24 months, he has not said they will keep rising just don't expect them to fall back anytime soon, do you trust an energy chief? Keeping prices high benefits their generation side and getting people to fix and lock in longer term and move away from the SVT is also in their interest. 

He has also suggested deterring the costs of failed suppliers and associated costs for SOLR, a removal of Vat & Green Levies from bills. Combined this would half the expected increase in April to the cap. 

Personally I am not a fan of removing the 5% vat completely as it gives everyone a price cut, yes even those who don't have any problem now or in the future paying their bills, but takes much needed tax revenue from the coffers.

Then you have all those at different stages on different tariffs, there are some who are on a good fixed deal for another year or so who fixed prior to these big increases, a 5% cut for them would be like christmas coming early, why do they need a cut on an already decent rate.

If they are going to cut vat on energy bills then at least make it so that only the Ofgem price capped tariff benefits or only tariffs after a certain date that will face the biggest increases, just don't see the benefit of removing vat from a fix taken a year ago. 

No mention of the windfall tax. Surprise Surprise. 

No one yet has mentioned the non means tested winter fuel allowance, not to upset the grey vote I guess but if this was means tested surely there could be extra support for those pensioners / families most in need without any extra cost to the treasury by diverting the allowance away from those who simply do not need it. Appreciate this would take longer to implement but it seems crazy that a millionaire gets this when so many are going to struggle. 

What you're proposing is a mountain of cumbersome administration which would be very costly and time consuming, with the press full of sob stories from people who haven't been dealt with fairly or have fallen just the wrong side of an arbitrarily drawn line. 

One thing they could do if you want to go down that path would be to make the winter fuel payment taxable as only better off pensioners would be affected. It would yield very little, but it's one thing which would be easy to implement. 

On the windfall tax, what's needed is to allow  production companies to use their profits as they would like - to increase investment in gas production that's under this country's control, creating British jobs and ultimately leading to bigger taxable revenues.  This is a far better policy than virtue signalling by punishing companies who happen to be in the 'wrong' industry, whilst you're forced to buy from abroad the same product that these companies would like to be producing more of themselves.

Some of your points are valid, the windfall tax I am not a fan of, but what energy companies do need to understand unlike many other industries they are essential and should not be making obscene profits, its not like people can say its getting expensive i'll stop buying it or I'll go somewhere else. But as long as there are commitments to reinvest in the countries future energy generation etc then I can go along with that, it's when shareholders (myself included) get big dividend payment and those who can least afford to heat their homes get hit hard.

I don't see any problem implementing the Vat removal on certain tariffs, you either say only the Ofgem capped variable as its the default tariff nice and easy or only tariffs that have been made available since x. There will always be winners and losers no matter what you do, but someone facing a £600 hike in April is in a different place to someone who fixed a year ago and paying less than the current cap, no justification for them to get a vat cut. Eventually all tariffs will be vat free as people come off their legacy tariffs, but it's phased and helping those most in need now.

The Winter allowance would need work as I said not a quick one this, but it's doable from tax payment data and other benefits that households are in receipt of, or you simply do not make it automatic and instead you need to apply, simple online (Postal) process, a couple of questions and a declation. This move alone would likely root out those who do not need it, not entitled to it. Around 11mil get the payment automatically at a cost of upto £3bn annually.

Once set up the ongoing maintence and costs should be greatly reduced. 

[Deleted User]

Link for National Energy Action, the energy poverty charity that Martin Lewis is going to fund with £100,000 to set up a new helpline from April 1, to assist hard pressed customers. 

https://www.nea.org.uk 

Also https://twitter.com/nea_ukcharity 

QrizB

In slightly better news, gas futures at The ICE are down somewhat; under 190p/therm for Feb and Mar, around 160p/therm for the rest of the year.

It's possible that, come April, suppliers will be able to sell gas for less than the expected cap.

Sea_Shell

QrizB said:

In slightly better news, gas futures at The ICE are down somewhat; under 190p/therm for Feb and Mar, around 160p/therm for the rest of the year.

It's possible that, come April, suppliers will be able to sell gas for less than the expected cap.

I hope whoever is first to offer a good deal is able to deal with tsunami of new customers!!

Who'll be brave enough to make the first move?

Planeteer

Gas prices seem a bit of a mystery. In recent news, the Centrica CEO is saying that energy prices will stay high for the next 1.5-2 years: 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59957716

On the other hand, actual statistical forecasts for energy clearly predict lower gas prices by Q2, '22
https://www.statista.com/statistics/374970/united-kingdom-uk-gas-price-forecast/

So who is right??

Verdigris

Well the costs of all the failures will have to work their way out of the system, whatever happens to gas prices.

savers_united

Sea_Shell said:

QrizB said:

In slightly better news, gas futures at The ICE are down somewhat; under 190p/therm for Feb and Mar, around 160p/therm for the rest of the year.

It's possible that, come April, suppliers will be able to sell gas for less than the expected cap.

I hope whoever is first to offer a good deal is able to deal with tsunami of new customers!!

Who'll be brave enough to make the first move?

Likely be offered to their own customers initially I would have thought, no company at the minute wants to take on extra customers and be stuck with them on the SVT should they choose to dump their fix for a better capped SVT in future. 

Sea_Shell

savers_united said:

Sea_Shell said:

QrizB said:

In slightly better news, gas futures at The ICE are down somewhat; under 190p/therm for Feb and Mar, around 160p/therm for the rest of the year.

It's possible that, come April, suppliers will be able to sell gas for less than the expected cap.

I hope whoever is first to offer a good deal is able to deal with tsunami of new customers!!

Who'll be brave enough to make the first move?

Likely be offered to their own customers initially I would have thought, no company at the minute wants to take on extra customers and be stuck with them on the SVT should they choose to dump their fix for a better capped SVT in future. 

That probably won't stop their phone lines being overwhelmed with enquiries. 😉

[Deleted User]

Ovo announces redundancies, according to Sky. 

https://apple.news/AeGnttvZ0QFqzcE3c_aGd5w