News: Energy bills to rise by £700/yr for many | Chancellor unveils up to £350 households support

QrizB

wild666 said:

Why is it that the price for London for electric is the lowest? Most densely populated shouldn't mean a lower standing charge for electric!

Higher population density means shorter distribution network, means lower network charges and therefore a lower standing charge.

Kosmar04

QrizB said:

Kosmar04 said:

I want to know how I can opt out!

Well, here are a few options:

1. Move to a caravan, canal boat, hotel, care home etc. where you don't pay a conventional electricity bill.
2. Move to Northern Ireland or out of the UK completely.
3. Surrender your electricity connection. You can still have gas (gas lighting has a wonderful ambience, gas fridges & freezers are available).

And you only need to do this for five or six years, until the "loan" has been "repaid".

For maximum moneysaving, only do this after you've received the £200 bill credit but before you've started to repay it.

Er... thanks, but I only have electric.  

I didn't ask for a loan.  If gas prices don't come down, I guess they'll just 'give' us another loan?  Then another?  And increase it along with inflation?

What does the contract say?... Does it force me to have a smart meter?  Further down the road, will they do exactly the same as they did in China and add interest?... increase the "loan"... increase the interest?  Until they have our social credit system running just as smoothly as theirs?  

If we've learnt anything during the past two years, it's that what any politician says "now" is meaningless... they change their promises and policies like the wind, with no recourse. 

Locking people into a loan they don't want is wrong... it's usually referred to as a 'scam'.

What these “loans” actually look like are debtors, helping the UK’s balance sheet look better than it is. It’s like creating an invoice for something you haven’t sold.

Shady as hell.

The Consumer Credit Act 2014 comes into play for me... You can't just give or take a loan without an agreement.

This govt is corrupt. Untraceable £600 million PPE contract written off... no culpability... is the tip of the iceberg.  I'll trust my own instincts on this one, thanks.

wolvoman

studio_two said:

MaggieGroundhog said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

Andy1T said:

All this talk and hype about those fortunate to live in a home with mains gas and/or electricity.  What about a price cap for the significant numbers of people living in rural homes who MUST  use oil or natural gas?

Nobody MUST use any fossil fuel.  We're 100% electric.  Have you looked at heat pumps?

I just heard the Chancellor say we couldn't have a windfall tax on energy company profits because they needed to invest in North Sea oil fields: fossil fuels. What climate crisis?

It's up to the shareholders to fund the prospecting, since they are the ones that benefit from the profit. I am not a an investor, I am a customer. I can purchase shares if I choose to do the former.

I had a similar discussion with a supplier at work who wanted to put up his prices so he could purchase some new equipment.

Yes but if you put a windfall tax on such companies then you will reduce shareholder value - which will mean they invest less. Then by your own, correct, reckoning there will be less prospecting.

I mean, would you invest your money in something if you thought any return you get might get heavily taxed by a tax not yet announced or known about?

Astria

The Consumer Credit Act 2014 can't come into play as it's not a personal loan and you don't get a personal repayment plan. Also, as it's a credit into your energy account you don't have to use it, just leave it there and ignore it. It's like a fee free overdaft in a way.

The part that makes it more like a stealth tax and incredibly shady is that if you don't have an energy account until next year you don't get the £200 but you will still be expected to be paying towards it!

Briskly

There seem to be lots of guys on this forum that are know an awful lot about the UK energy market and the Ofgem workings - I would like to thank them for their input. I have a question which I would really appreciate an answer to, if possible. I did a quick check on electricity prices in the USA - which is surprisingly difficult - but I seem to have got figures suggesting that prices range from a low in Louisiana at 9.6c/kWh to around 13c/kWh in NYC. This is much less than 10p/kWh. There also doesn't seem to be any standing charge. Looking at the new Ofgem price cap, this would mean someone in the UK using 1500 kWh/year  would in April pay  around £535, whereas someone in the USA would pay only £106 -  in other words UK bills will be  500% higher. Can anyone explain how this has happened? I know gas is 1/10 the price in the US - leading to questions why the US can't supply us with more LNG  and how we can even begin to compete in a global market unless this is sorted?

QrizB

Briskly said:

I did a quick check on electricity prices in the USA - which is surprisingly difficult - but I seem to have got figures suggesting that prices range from a low in Louisiana at 9.6c/kWh to around 13c/kWh in NYC. This is much less than 10p/kWh.

Well, according to https://www.electricitylocal.com/states/new-york/new-york/ the rate in New York is 23.21c/kWh and "Residential rates in the U.S. range from 8.37¢/kWh to 37.34¢/kWh."

And for natural gas, I get a residential price of $17/thousand cubic feet, which is about 4p/kWh. Not far off our prices.

Briskly

QrizB said:

Briskly said:

I did a quick check on electricity prices in the USA - which is surprisingly difficult - but I seem to have got figures suggesting that prices range from a low in Louisiana at 9.6c/kWh to around 13c/kWh in NYC. This is much less than 10p/kWh.

Well, according to https://www.electricitylocal.com/states/new-york/new-york/ the rate in New York is 23.21c/kWh and "Residential rates in the U.S. range from 8.37¢/kWh to 37.34¢/kWh."

And for natural gas, I get a residential price of $17/thousand cubic feet, which is about 4p/kWh. Not far off our prices.

But no standing charge. The 37c/kWh is just for Hawaii I think and an outlier. The gas price for April here is going to be around 7.3p/kWh I think, so around double.

JonVarnas

How's this £200 "loan" going to work for those of us who are on prepayment meters? Are we getting a credit, like the Warm Homes Discount, or are they just going to lower the tariff across the board? Personally I'd rather have the £200 credit.

QrizB

JonVarnas said:

How's this £200 "loan" going to work for those of us who are on prepayment meters? Are we getting a credit, like the Warm Homes Discount, or are they just going to lower the tariff across the board? Personally I'd rather have the £200 credit.

Credit or vouchers. See Martin Lewis's explainer:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6332457/martin-lewis-how-the-new-flat-rate-200-energy-bill-loan-really-works

studio_two

wolvoman said:

studio_two said:

MaggieGroundhog said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

Andy1T said:

All this talk and hype about those fortunate to live in a home with mains gas and/or electricity.  What about a price cap for the significant numbers of people living in rural homes who MUST  use oil or natural gas?

Nobody MUST use any fossil fuel.  We're 100% electric.  Have you looked at heat pumps?

I just heard the Chancellor say we couldn't have a windfall tax on energy company profits because they needed to invest in North Sea oil fields: fossil fuels. What climate crisis?

It's up to the shareholders to fund the prospecting, since they are the ones that benefit from the profit. I am not a an investor, I am a customer. I can purchase shares if I choose to do the former.

I had a similar discussion with a supplier at work who wanted to put up his prices so he could purchase some new equipment.

Yes but if you put a windfall tax on such companies then you will reduce shareholder value - which will mean they invest less. Then by your own, correct, reckoning there will be less prospecting.

I mean, would you invest your money in something if you thought any return you get might get heavily taxed by a tax not yet announced or known about?

Regulations change all the time and that can often mean that companies  / shareholders don't necessarily get the return they were expecting. Small businesses get hit all the time, so the oil and gas companies should not be immune to this.

In my industry, I have known larger clients to demand a rebate (essentially a share of our profits) if they spend more money with us than they originally expected to - irrespective of them underspending in previous years.