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

coupleuk

It is about time a tidal barrage was built between Brean Down (Somerset) and South Wales.

The Bristol Channel has the 2nd highest tidal range in the World and it won't ever stop - why aren't we using this amazing natural resource for energy?

The construction cost is less than the new nuclear plant down the road and there would be thousands of job created in South Wales and Somerset too - the 10,000 HPC workers are already in the area so the workforce will be ready in 3 or 4 years time.

Swipe

I'm on a cheap 2 year fix taken out 9 months ago. I take it this loan will be optional?

GingerTim

Swipe said:

I'm on a cheap 2 year fix taken out 9 months ago. I take it this loan will be optional?

As far as anyone knows so far given the lack of detail given by the government/energy companies, there's no mechanism to decline it.

cooners

What I don't get is why Ofgem allowed it to rise so much in the first place. 
The whole point is to protect us from this sort of thing but once again Tory greed wins out over the cost of living.

Astria

Swipe said:

I'm on a cheap 2 year fix taken out 9 months ago. I take it this loan will be optional?

Nope, you'll be given it regardless, and expected to pay it back regardless.

cooners said:

What I don't get is why Ofgem allowed it to rise so much in the first place.

Because of the amount of energy suppliers that were going bust ?

Because of the amount of energy suppliers that had to be bailed out with tax payers money?

If they didn't increase so much then other taxes would have to be increased to make up the shortfall.

georgemorrison

Is it true that the new cap announcement has been made WITHOUT the detail of the unit and day rates for gas and electricity ? The "Average" price is not helpful and I expect some people believe this to be a real price cap not a unit price cap. I have searched for new cap unit/day price details without success. I have seen old cap tables for the different energy suppliers. Can Martin Lewis either publish or push for this much needed detail. 

Etccarmageddon

correct George - lack of detail

GingerTim

georgemorrison said:

Is it true that the new cap announcement has been made WITHOUT the detail of the unit and day rates for gas and electricity ? The "Average" price is not helpful and I expect some people believe this to be a real price cap not a unit price cap. I have searched for new cap unit/day price details without success. I have seen old cap tables for the different energy suppliers. Can Martin Lewis either publish or push for this much needed detail. 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/price-cap-increase-ps693-april

From 1 April the equivalent per unit level of the price cap to the nearest pence for a typical customer paying by direct debit will be 28p per kWh for electricity customers and 7p per kWh for gas customers

(with regional and supplier variation, new tables to be published tomorrow according to Ofgem).

MattMattMattUK

kk20 said:

im all for nuclear but calling it "green" is a stretch when we cant really do anything other than bury the waste.  Solar and Wind are great but we need more reliable mass storage for overnight lull or overcapacity periods - be that stored air or reservoir.  Even H2 cracking would be better than nothing.

Deep geological repository is a perfectly reasonable solution to highly radioactive waste, most of the low level stuff is not nearly as much of an issue as people think it is. It is green in that there is almost no carbon emissions (there is a low level from the construction of the plants). There are plenty of options for storage, pumped storage, air, H2 will be ideal longer term as it has other applications and can be used from all excess production, it also works particularly well with nuclear plants. 

MattMattMattUK

cooners said:

What I don't get is why Ofgem allowed it to rise so much in the first place. 
The whole point is to protect us from this sort of thing but once again Tory greed wins out over the cost of living.

Energy is already being sold at below cost, it is nothing to do with a Tory government but caused by global supply factors. The Ofgen price cap was not designed to give us cheap energy, it was designed to stop energy providers charging high margins, the current cap forces them to sell at a loss, which is why it needs to rise. Greed has nothing to do with it, although Putin's weaponization of energy is at least part to blame.