Energy Bills Crisis - Fixed vs Variable Tariffs? - Other Supplier Support?

ThriftyThree

pochase said:

What exactly do you expect them to do?

Their profit for the SVT is limited to 1.9%, and on Friday a consultation was started to reduce that even more.

And they have already donated 10% of the profit last week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62666221

At-a-glance: What British Gas is offering

• British Gas customers in fuel poverty and with less than £1,000 in savings are eligible
• A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if it has to spend 10% or more of its income on energy
• Eligible customers can apply for a one-off grant through the British Gas Energy Trust
• Since its creation last year, British Gas said "thousands" of customers received average grants of over £550
• Over a third of the recipients were on disability benefit, 30% were single parents and 25% had children under five

We do not qualify for that as it has VERY specific requirements such as you already being in energy debt. TBH British Gas already had the energy trust for ppl in debt. They should have announced help for pensioners and vulnerable such as a social tariff. Their current measures only help those who have already gotten into debt, yet those who have struggled to keep their account in good standing get absolutely nothing from them, really winds me up TBH. 

Not saying there shouldn't be support for those in fuel debt but should be balanced with other support for other vulnerable groups too, and unless you can tell me otherwise BG do nowt whatsoever for pensioners and vulnerable?

[Deleted User]

Same as several other threads on here - everyone seems to think that their circumstances should allow them extra help above and beyond others.

You already have the £400, and iirc the winter fuel payments, and if a pensioner the triple-lock comes back next year.

MattMattMattUK

ThriftyThree said:

pochase said:

Sure, they could always chose to sell at a loss.  That is what happened last year and almost 30 suppliers went bust.

Well maybe they should all just go bust and renationalise because the current set up isn't working either unless you actually consider where we are now to be anything other than a total disaster. Major change is needed IMHO.

The suppliers make very little money, 1.9% maximum on the SVR, for thr big suppliers their recent losses have wiped out their last five year's profits. They are expected to lose money again this winter. Nationalising the suppliers will not help.

pochase

Do you receive pension credit, in this case you will also get the £650.

As a pensioner (with pension credit) you are getting potentially over £2000 help already.

I

ThriftyThree

[Deleted User] said:

Same as several other threads on here - everyone seems to think that their circumstances should allow them extra help above and beyond others.

You already have the £400, and iirc the winter fuel payments, and if a pensioner the triple-lock comes back next year.

Unhelpful.

Why exactly shouldn't their be targeted help for the pensioners and vulnerable? There are social tariffs in other similar services so there is no reason this should not be possible for energy too. 

If anything I was trying to argue BG should have been more general in their support instead of restricting it to those already in fuel debt. 

MattMattMattUK

ThriftyThree said:

[Deleted User] said:

Same as several other threads on here - everyone seems to think that their circumstances should allow them extra help above and beyond others.

You already have the £400, and iirc the winter fuel payments, and if a pensioner the triple-lock comes back next year.

Unhelpful.

Why exactly shouldn't their be targeted help for the pensioners and vulnerable? 

Why exactly should pensioners get blanket handouts? The majority or them are not poor, with private pensions on top and on average low housing costs due to the majority living in homes with paid off mortgages. There also seems to be regular talk of "vulnerable", but at points it seems to vary from single disabled person with ongoing medical issues to a couple on £40k a year between them.

ThriftyThree said:
There are social tariffs in other similar services so there is no reason this should not be possible for energy too. 

Overall social tariffs make little sense, they are subsidy at the point of billing which increases costs for the majority. If people need helping financially then it makes sense to do that though the benefits system, funded from general taxation. 

ThriftyThree said:

If anything I was trying to argue BG should have been more general in their support instead of restricting it to those already in fuel debt. 

They have limited capacity to hand out more help as this can only be funded from profits. BG the gas supplier makes a maximum1.9% profit on the SVR, this year it will make a loss, the recent losses have wiped out all the profit it made in the last five years. Where do you expect the money to fund the wider support you want to come from?

LindsayT

[Deleted User] said:

Same as several other threads on here - everyone seems to think that their circumstances should allow them extra help above and beyond others.

You already have the £400, and iirc the winter fuel payments, and if a pensioner the triple-lock comes back next year.

@[Deleted User],I had already said in detail what help the OP and pensioner will be getting but in the reply to me, he/she did not want to apply that to energy as other things are going up too. Now the OP says your post about the help is unhelpful. 

ThriftyThree

 

ThriftyThree said:

If anything I was trying to argue BG should have been more general in their support instead of restricting it to those already in fuel debt. 

They have limited capacity to hand out more help as this can only be funded from profits. BG the gas supplier makes a maximum1.9% profit on the SVR, this year it will make a loss, the recent losses have wiped out all the profit it made in the last five years. Where do you expect the money to fund the wider support you want to come from?

The suppliers/generators making record breaking profits such as Centrica in the case of BG. 

MattMattMattUK

ThriftyThree said:

 

ThriftyThree said:

If anything I was trying to argue BG should have been more general in their support instead of restricting it to those already in fuel debt. 

They have limited capacity to hand out more help as this can only be funded from profits. BG the gas supplier makes a maximum1.9% profit on the SVR, this year it will make a loss, the recent losses have wiped out all the profit it made in the last five years. Where do you expect the money to fund the wider support you want to come from?

The suppliers/generators making record breaking profits such as Centrica in the case of BG. 

The suppliers are not making record profits, they are losing money.
The generators are not making record profits across the board, some solar and wind generators are, most that rely on gas are making similar profits to other years and some lost money due to inadequate hedging.
Exploration and extraction companies are huge multinationals and are making record profits on their global operations, they are separate companies. When the exploration and extraction companies were losing billions in 2020 I very much doubt you wanted to help them.

ThriftyThree

LindsayT said:

Deleted_User said:

Same as several other threads on here - everyone seems to think that their circumstances should allow them extra help above and beyond others.

You already have the £400, and iirc the winter fuel payments, and if a pensioner the triple-lock comes back next year.

@[Deleted User],I had already said in detail what help the OP and pensioner will be getting but in the reply to me, he/she did not want to apply that to energy as other things are going up too. Now the OP says your post about the help is unhelpful. 

It's about SparkyGrad's tone I find unhelpful i.e. making me and others seeking help they may be entitled to out to be greedy and some of the govt help, not sure that we even receive all mentioned, is intended for cost of living in general therefore should not be used entirely for energy or will end up short in other places.