Can't understand why the Conservatives are on the back foot with the energy debate and labours scam price freeze.
The allegation is that there is an energy cartel and yet we are amongst the bottom of the pile in terms of our energy costs throughout Europe. How can there be a cartel if our prices are generally lower than the rest of Europe?
Why is everyone patting Milliband on the back for suggesting a prize freeze and break up of the cartel if energy companies only earn £65 a year on an average bill of £1,350 (according to the BBC). Forcing them to halve their profits will save £30 a year?? WTF??
Is this really because we have become a nation of people who believe what we want to believe rather than the truth? Energy prices are less in this country than in most of Europe. Energy prices are increasing because demand is increasing and they will not be coming down any time soon. Our current green levy of 10% will be increasing to 33% over the next 20 years and this will exponentially affect already increasing conventional energy prices meaning even bigger energy bills.
People must be seriously deluded if they think that attacking the energy companies is going to result is lower energy bills of any meaningful amount.
Moronic labour supporters and the money for nothing generation sadly.
not sure but if i got this correct the energy companies are in front of Parliament this week.
to justify how they sell wholesale utilities to them selves at huge profits then selling it on to us at just 5% profit with another company, making them look they are doing the Honourable thing whilst making the huge profits further up the supply chain :censored:
Interesting to see what a small independent supplier thinks...and said to the MP's today. Wholesale gas price cheaper now than in 2009 !!!!!
" the businesses practices of the "Big Six" was called into question by small scale competitor Ovo Energy.
Managing director Stephen Fitzpatrick told MPs he "can't explain" the price rises being imposed because his company was buying gas at a cheaper price - 5p a therm less - than it had in 2009.
Loyal bill-payers are charged are a far higher rate, in some cases £200 more, and loaded with environmental costs than those who switch but the companies responsible go "unchallenged" by Ofgem, he said.
"It looks to me like a lot of energy companies, a significant number of the Big Six, are charging the maximum price they feel they can get away with to the customers that they feel will not switch under any circumstances and then maintaining the illusion of competitive pricing with tariffs targeted towards a very small number of relatively well-engaged customers," he told MPs.
"In the case of npower, which is the worst offender, historically and today the price differential is about 16%, which is about £200."
He accused British Gas of being the "most active" in terms of running a dedicated "win back team" whose sole job was to call up customers that were leaving to say 'now we can cut your bill'.
"When this kind of behaviour is allowed to go unchallenged, and an ex-monopoly advantage that the Big Six have, is allowed to go unchallenged by Ofgem, then you will never get effective competition.
"If you don't have effective competition in a retail market then you are always going to be trying to find out where the money has gone and time and time again you will hear very clever, very complex, very confusing answers and you will never get to the bottom of it.
"Effective competition is the only solution to lower bills."
Mr Fitzpatrick has previously suggested that the larger energy companies pay over the odds for energy when their retail arms buy from their own wholesale divisions - a claim the other energy bosses denied today. "
Retail travel companies, ie High Street travel agents can only dream of achieving 5% net profit and I'm sure there are other retailers that are in a similar position.
Have a look at this link re energy company profits, this suggests that the overall net profit ( ie wholesale + retail) is about 7%
We are going to have to get used to paying higher energy bills as long as we have to import the bulk of our energy. Increased demand from the likes of China, India, Brazil etc will only push costs in one direction.
In edit. I've just had a quick look at some retail giants figures
These are the pre tax profits based as a percentage:
M&S 5.6
John Lewis 2.3
Tesco 3. 0
Sainsbury 3.4
Morrisons 4.8
It would appear that a 5% net profit is eminently viable.
GnV.....mrs T did do some things good....There is little doubt the power of the unions was to much.......however she did an awful lot wrong as well....selling off the utilities is just one of many things . Short term gain...long term loss .
getting back on track.....we should simply state to the utilities companies that they can not raise their prices by more than the rate of inflation.
sorry folks, someone is so far off the mark here that it defies logic.
Utilities. Rate of growth of the price of unit is far above inflation. Oddly enough it almost marks the annual rate of expected growth of profit (or dividend return on capital) which is far above the rate of previous, prior to privatisation, inflation rate.
Statistics here government figures so don't argue. And who owns these companies? Tax paid outside eu so no returns for us folks!
Trains. omg. The only outfit to mark a return is the failing industry that was taken over by the government to bail it out. Even so the standards we all expect and the price of tickets have so far exceeded inflation it's a joke. Actually though we are still subsiding rail! What a joke.
And then I move on to education, a chapter in itself. Standards? Who wants their children educated by unqualified staff? Who wants their children educated without ofsted quality inspections? Who wants their children to eat school meals below govenment set standards? If you're happy with answering yes to all three, go to a 'free school' where you can eat crap, be educated by idiots and who cares what you end up being taught as long as it's cheap!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Bugger, left wing leanings coming out again!