Can someone explain again - how are energy companies make so much profit?

sevenhills

matt_drummer said:

And our media thrives on doom and gloom and often fails to tell the whole story.

The media want viewers and readers, they are selling something.

Some people are just negative about everything and some media outlets feed on that.
It's great if Apple or Centrica our making good profits. I the case of Centrica, we can tax them because they are based in the UK. If we tax them too much they could base their headquarters in Germany. Since Brexit, more companies have moved away. The London stock exchange is now smaller than the German equivalent.

leenux_tux

Here is the reason why energy companies make so much money.  

Search youtube for "Yanis Varoufakis exposes Europes energy scam".  I can't post the link as I have only just joined MSE

You need to watch this multiple times to really get a grip on what is being said.  At it's very basic level though it's all a con and the energy "market" is manipulated/rigged so that the energy firms can milk the public for as much money as they want.  

Seriously, if this is going on, it's almost criminal.

Gerry1

Dave Brown summed it up in today's Indy cartoon...

Gerry1

Guardian: UK arm of EDF returns to profit as household electricity prices soar.

Mobtr

Gerry1 said:

Guardian: UK arm of EDF returns to profit as household electricity prices soar.

How many people will see the word ‘returns’ meaning didn’t make a profit last year then go on to read the record losses they made globally & the 200m loss made by the UK supply side of the business. 

MattMattMattUK

Mobtr said:

Gerry1 said:

Guardian: UK arm of EDF returns to profit as household electricity prices soar.

How many people will see the word ‘returns’ meaning didn’t make a profit last year then go on to read the record losses they made globally & the 200m loss made by the UK supply side of the business. 

At the moment people seem to see what they want them to see, energy companies are apparently "evil" for making a profit, supermarkets should make food "free" because they made a few billion in profit, ignoring the fact that the margin on supermarkets make is very small. It seems that people want to make profit a dirty word, whilst ignoring the fact that profit is taxed and those taxes help fund all the nice things as a society that we want, things like healthcare or policing.

Mstty

MattMattMattUK said:

Mobtr said:

Gerry1 said:

Guardian: UK arm of EDF returns to profit as household electricity prices soar.

How many people will see the word ‘returns’ meaning didn’t make a profit last year then go on to read the record losses they made globally & the 200m loss made by the UK supply side of the business. 

At the moment people seem to see what they want them to see, energy companies are apparently "evil" for making a profit, supermarkets should make food "free" because they made a few billion in profit, ignoring the fact that the margin on supermarkets make is very small. It seems that people want to make profit a dirty word, whilst ignoring the fact that profit is taxed and those taxes help fund all the nice things as a society that we want, things like healthcare or policing.

Don't go rationalising it all with sense and facts.

What it needs is a punchy headline something to attract the click on the phone.

Krakkkers

Yes, Profit is good as long as it is shared out among those that took the risk (investors) and re-invested for ongoing projects/improvements.
Oil and gas exploration is a risky and expensive business, not every well drilled finds oil/gas and those oil and gas companies have transformed the lives of working people in the last 100 years.