£2500 Price Cap Martin's view

deano2099

Robgmun said:

"The big benefit, and problem, of this is (almost) everyone gets it."

Mr Lewis has been heroic and I think he's great, but It's phrases like this that get my goat, why shouldn't I benefit? I worked my behind off my whole life and Middle-income workers like me have been shafted lately and watching on the sidelines as those who are considered poor and on benefits get handout after handout after handout.

Without the price cap freeze my bills would have gone up from £97 a year ago to over £550 by next April, that's crippling to us and 10,000's of families across the country. Unless of course, the plan is to destroy the middle and make everyone poor and on benefits.

Because it's going to be funded by commercial loans, which means it's paid back with interest. Either by increased bills for the next ten years or general taxation. If you could afford it anyway, then in the long term you'd be better off without it. Especially if it's done through general taxation, as those who work their behinds off foot a much greater portion of that bill too.
If you couldn't afford it and in fact find it "crippling" then I wouldn't worry - you're not one of the rich people he's referring to!

Sterlingtimes

Robgmun said:

"The big benefit, and problem, of this is (almost) everyone gets it."

Mr Lewis has been heroic and I think he's great, but It's phrases like this that get my goat, why shouldn't I benefit? I worked my !!!!!! off my whole like and Middle-income workers 

I agree. We often read that the "most vulnerable" or the "poorest" should be subsidised by those who would already expect an 82% increase in their energy bills.

Hence the poor could pay for the poorest or the vulnerable could pay for the most vulnerable.

The middle earners could have their bills loaded to pay for the lower-income workers. We could say that middle earners have their bills increased by 110% such that the poorest and the poor pay nothing extra.

Mstty

Astria said:

Mstty said:

Also will the freeze price per kWh only apply to the first £2500 worth of energy then it goes up to the price cap rate?

That would cause a lot of people to think and cut back on their energy usage to try and not exceed that figure, but I fear it will be difficult to implement and confuse a lot of people, causing mass phone calls and complaints when they see their electric go up from 30p/unit to 69p/unit.

In my little utopian brain it made sense.

But yes to the masses that still don't understand pence per kWh and what a price cap actually means maybe they need to learn through their mistakes.

mmmmikey

Whoaa, slow down! Martin is in agreement with all the points being made about everyone needing some help, not just the poorest. That is why he has said the "big benefit of this is eveveryone gets it". He also points out, though, that there is a problem with this too which he goes on to explain.

I can understand why people want to "fight their own corners" but I find this reluctance to consider the broader implications a bit depressing. The sooner we all start seeing life as a team game rather than a stuff-everyone-else-winner-takes-all-fight-to-the-death exercise the better.

ariarnia

CSH1 said:

£2500 sounds the most likely of all the scenarios because it takes account of the £400 and stops people moaning about it being taken away and looks like the government have done a 'good thing'

and if it's a two year fix then the £400 is only this year so it also makes it cheaper for the government. i know people are worried about it being taken away but i can't see how the government would do that. people tend to react badly to things being taken away and truss hasn't even had chance to warm her seat. 

Robgmun

ariarnia said:

CSH1 said:

£2500 sounds the most likely of all the scenarios because it takes account of the £400 and stops people moaning about it being taken away and looks like the government have done a 'good thing'

and if it's a two year fix then the £400 is only this year so it also makes it cheaper for the government. i know people are worried about it being taken away but i can't see how the government would do that. people tend to react badly to things being taken away and truss hasn't even had chance to warm her seat. 

Agreed, I highly doubt they'd do that, it was a promise made months ago and loads of people have budgeted around that, expecting the handout. If the rug was pulled it would look horrendous for the Tories and allow Labour to jump on them for being the 'nasty' party again. If she was smart she'd keep it.

bomdabass

Any chance I can just pay the going rate and opt my children out of 20 years of higher bills?

Any chance I can just pay the going rate and opt out of artificially high bills when prices inevitably fall?

The unintended consequences of this will be massive and none of them good

The_Green_Hornet

bomdabass said:

Any chance I can just pay the going rate and opt my children out of 20 years of higher bills?

Any chance I can just pay the going rate and opt out of artificially high bills when prices inevitably fall?

The unintended consequences of this will be massive and none of them good

One possible option would be to emigrate but then that is probably a bit of an extreme solution.

deano2099

bomdabass said:

Any chance I can just pay the going rate and opt my children out of 20 years of higher bills?

Any chance I can just pay the going rate and opt out of artificially high bills when prices inevitably fall?

The unintended consequences of this will be massive and none of them good

Depends if you're able to invest the money you save at somewhere with a higher return than the interest on the commercial loans the energy company are taking out.

ariarnia

bomdabass said:

Any chance I can just pay the going rate and opt my children out of 20 years of higher bills?

Any chance I can just pay the going rate and opt out of artificially high bills when prices inevitably fall?

The unintended consequences of this will be massive and none of them good

you can maybe not benefit from the cap by signing up for a fix (if you can find one). but government borrowing is government borrowing. no opting out of 'your share'. one of the reasons i'm sympathetic about the people saying the middle earners should benefit. yes those struggling most should get more support but everyone is struggling. even with the increase only being to 2500, that's double (more than double) what people were paying before if they were on a decent fix.