What should the unit prices be to cover wholesale prices?

wakeupalarm

When bills have gone up around £400 already over the last year for many and are due to go up another £800 in April and potentially further in October.  £200 doesn't really make a dent in the problem and with the proposed loan delayed payment scheme is actually offering zero.

Sea_Shell

wakeupalarm said:

from The Times

Every home would get £200 energy bill rebates under new plans being debated by government - but only temporarily.

However, the cash would be a sort of loan, not a grant. The money would help with the immediate problem of high energy bills, but the government wants homes to repay it over time.

The scheme would see £6billion of taxpayer cash handed to energy firms, which would be used to lower energy bills for each household.

However, this cash would be paid back by consumers over the following years in the form of slightly higher bills.

Hmm, makes me a little suspicious of what the final repayments will end up costing.   Any interest being charged?

I wonder how "transparent" it'll be?  Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of a loan, that has to be paid back, for this or anything!!

I doubt they'd be an "opt out" either!

tghe-retford

Sea_Shell said:

wakeupalarm said:

from The Times

Every home would get £200 energy bill rebates under new plans being debated by government - but only temporarily.

However, the cash would be a sort of loan, not a grant. The money would help with the immediate problem of high energy bills, but the government wants homes to repay it over time.

The scheme would see £6billion of taxpayer cash handed to energy firms, which would be used to lower energy bills for each household.

However, this cash would be paid back by consumers over the following years in the form of slightly higher bills.

Hmm, makes me a little suspicious of what the final repayments will end up costing.   Any interest being charged?

I wonder how "transparent" it'll be?  Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of a loan, that has to be paid back, for this or anything!!

I doubt they'd be an "opt out" either!

You'll have energy companies finding a way to coup that £200 of easy cash from the state (every time I see the Government give money out, it goes to the companies in increased prices for consumers) on top of increasing prices already, consumers will have to pay it back, no doubt with interest and prices will increase further to fund the payback. It's another absurd populist poly to distract from current controversies that sounds good but will do more harm than good in the long term.

QrizB

The April cap being announced tomorrow, four days sooner than expected, is quite exciting.

It's like Christmas coming early

... and I'm already rehearsing my excuses

PennineAcute

As a teacher, I have been using the price cap and Martin's 40% figure as real life examples, when doing percentage increase and decreases.

I mentioned to the class today what the Government had announced and one student came back with a brilliant observation.

Is this £200 going to be split over both energy bills, so £100 on elec and £100 on gas?  What about people who do not have gas?

spot1034

I have a feeling it'll be a simple cash credit similar to that £12 rebate we got for a couple of years during the Cameron government if anyone remembers that. And I doubt it'll be a £200 lump sum - maybe split into monthly or quarterly chunks. The bill would be drawn up as usual using the full price, then the credit applied.  As for paying it back, it would just be clawed back through the unit price (and/or standing charge) being a bit higher than it would otherwise have been. 

That's just my guess. We shall see tomorrow.

MattMattMattUK

spot1034 said:

I have a feeling it'll be a simple cash credit similar to that £12 rebate we got for a couple of years during the Cameron government if anyone remembers that. And I doubt it'll be a £200 lump sum - maybe split into monthly or quarterly chunks. The bill would be drawn up as usual using the full price, then the credit applied.  As for paying it back, it would just be clawed back through the unit price (and/or standing charge) being a bit higher than it would otherwise have been. 

That's just my guess. We shall see tomorrow.

Whatever it is, it will end up being a pointless gesture that will cost us more in the long run, so I would rather they just did not do it.

Sea_Shell

This is going to be very awkward (or fairly useless) for those who have pre-pay meters for both fuels, IF they decide to merely credit everyone's electricity meter, because everyone has electric, and not everyone has gas.

They could end up in debit on their gas meter, with credit sitting on the other meter.

I wonder how they'll square that circle.


There was a thread a little while ago, when this happened with someone's warm home discount or winter fuel payment etc.  It was credited to their electric, when they had GCH.   So in that moment, for the winter....useless!!

MattMattMattUK

Sea_Shell said:

This is going to be very awkward (or fairly useless) for those who have pre-pay meters for both fuels, IF they decide to merely credit everyone's electricity meter, because everyone has electric, and not everyone has gas.

They could end up in debit on their gas meter, with credit sitting on the other meter.

I wonder how they'll square that circle.

I don't think the rumoured scheme is a per fuel credit, but a per dwelling credit. Ultimately if the apply it to electricity only that will be fine as it will get used in the end. It is not really a circle to square as it appears to be an entirely a non-problem. 

Sea_Shell said:

There was a thread a little while ago, when this happened with someone's warm home discount or winter fuel payment etc.  It was credited to their electric, when they had GCH.   So in that moment, for the winter....useless!!

Not useless at all, they are still going to be spending £50+ pcm on electricity so they would use up the credit in a few months anyway. 

The proposed £200 scheme is an entirely meaningless gesture and will end up costing everyone more in the long run anyway, I would rather they did not bother. 

Shedman

I see The Times this morning is saying it will be both a council tax rebate for A-C bands and the £200 scheme.  The announcements this morning will be interesting....   But as Matt says it'll all end up costing us more in the long run no doubt.