British Gas Made Even More Profit Because We Used More Gas...

Other companies may have higher profit margins but we are talking about one of life's essentials here.

Exactly they should never have been privatised, making money out of something that is essential to supporting life is morally wrong.
We have thousands of elderly people over winter who have to decide to eat or put the heat on, that isn't right in a so called modern western society. Meanwhile British gas etc. shareholders and fat cat bosses with MPs in their pockets make millions.
 
Isn't the entire point of a private company to make profit?

They can't make profit if you don't use them - if they're making too much profit then change to a cheaper supplier. That forces them (British Gas) to reduce their profit margins to compete. If you can't change supplier then they have a monopoly which should be acted upon by the government.
 
Well a lot of the time you can't move until the contract is up, unless you pay, typically £25 for electric and £25 for gas. It's unlikely you'll save £50 switching to another supplier, they're all pretty competitive really.
 
Isn't the entire point of a private company to make profit?

They can't make profit if you don't use them - if they're making too much profit then change to a cheaper supplier. That forces them (British Gas) to reduce their profit margins to compete. If you can't change supplier then they have a monopoly which should be acted upon by the government.

You realistically have to use one of the energy companies, as for finding one cheaper, they all follow the same trend with the price, it goes up.
 
Isn't the entire point of a private company to make profit?

They can't make profit if you don't use them - if they're making too much profit then change to a cheaper supplier. That forces them (British Gas) to reduce their profit margins to compete. If you can't change supplier then they have a monopoly which should be acted upon by the government.

But energy is a monopoly, they price fix, notice how they all put prices up together, and the government won't do anything as the politicians have too many places on boards of energy companies
 
Exactly they should never have been privatised, making money out of something that is essential to supporting life is morally wrong.

So who should make a profit? Only those supplying non-essential products or services?

So that rules out food, clothing, housing and water companies then...
 
What do you want them to do? Not make profits?

£50 profit per household per year is measly.

I'm not sure how that relates to what I said.

You said that people have a choice to not be a BG customer, I asked who the cheaper alternative is.
So your post gives me nothing........
 
So people who are on the bread line, what do they sacrifice in order to make ends meet?

It's the Governments job, not the energy companies, to provide help to the poor. Do you see Tesco offering discounted food to people on the breadline?
 
It's the Governments job, not the energy companies, to provide help to the poor. Do you see Tesco offering discounted food to people on the breadline?

They offer a much cheaper set of products. People have a choice - pay more or pay less.

How does that compare to energy exactly?
 
I'm not sure how that relates to what I said.

You said that people have a choice to not be a BG customer, I asked who the cheaper alternative is.
So your post gives me nothing........

Go out and chop some wood and stick it in a burner.

Of course it'd be easier to buy wood from someone and pay for their time. And of course you'll have to buy the burner, most likely with a profit to someone for their time and skill.


Yep

And your point is......

That your idea is ridiculous. Stop buying so many tin foil hats and I'm sure you'll save £50 a year ;).
 
But energy is a monopoly, they price fix, notice how they all put prices up together, and the government won't do anything as the politicians have too many places on boards of energy companies

Then why is this thread just about British Gas?

I've just moved away from British Gas to another provider called first-utility - I'm not sure of the exact tariffs but it's supposed to save me at least £100+ a year for dual fuel supply.

As for privatisation, if the profit margin is just £50 a year for BG, do you really think the government could run a 'not for profit' energy company for £50+ a year less than BG do? I know I don't. They'll have no incentives to make things more efficient and all the other things that come with private companies.
 
Go out and chop some wood and stick it in a burner.

Of course it'd be easier to buy wood from someone and pay for their time. And of course you'll have to buy the burner, most likely with a profit to someone for their time and skill.


.


So you suggest going back to the dark ages? Good work.
 
Go out and chop some wood and stick it in a burner.

Of course it'd be easier to buy wood from someone and pay for their time. And of course you'll have to buy the burner, most likely with a profit to someone for their time and skill.




That your idea is ridiculous. Stop buying so many tin foil hats and I'm sure you'll save £50 a year ;).

It's not ridiculous why should greedy fat cats line their pockets from things needed to support life, it's a sad reflection on our greedy capitalist society.
 
They're a private company. They're supposed to be liming the shareholder's pockets - that's the whole point.

This is the answer that gets wheeled out every time and the stance Russinating is arguing from.

Well, then maybe that should change. Companies don't live in isolation to society, so maybe the rule book should be re-written, especially for services that are essential, to include social responsibility and not just profit for shareholders > everything else.

Everyone knows a company has to make profits, for future investments etc, but it just galls when they say they have to put prices up to cover their 'increasing costs' then make a higher margin overall. And then when their 'costs' decrease, there isn't a comparable drop in retail price.

As for the argument of 'well change supplier', price fixing and inter-company colluding negates any form of free market competition being effective in this sector.
 
I don't expect the energy industry to suddenly become philanthropic - it's a business at the end of the day, the real point is - should services which the populations needs be run for profit.

Which goes back to the whole capitalism debate - but personally I'd prefer "capitalism light" - in which you work for money to pay for luxury goods, with all essentials being provided by the state (along with a token fund for minor entertainment).

As for the argument of 'well change supplier', price fixing and inter-company colluding negates any form of free market competition being effective in this sector.
I agree with the rest, but not on the last point - the market causes price merging (as they buy the commodities from the same place).

You also have to stay with a certain percentage of your competition or you will lose your entire customer base - even if it means having a loss (which has happened for two years running for the domestic supply for one of my previous companies) - just to ensure they don't lose all their customers.

I've worked in energy trading & two pricing departments for two of the big 6 & have seen no evidence of price fixing or collusion.

I've just moved away from British Gas to another provider called first-utility - I'm not sure of the exact tariffs but it's supposed to save me at least £100+ a year for dual fuel supply.
This is only so because the smaller suppliers are except from the additional green charges until they hit a set amount of customers (a few hundred thousand if I recall correctly) - the government is giving certain suppliers an unfair commercial advantage.

On-top of this, if everybody started switching to them - they would get too big & the prices would rise to the standard.
 
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So you suggest going back to the dark ages? Good work.

Couldn't care less what you do. If you don't want to go out and collect wood every day then pay someone to do it for you and stop moaning. And that's where we are now.

It's not ridiculous why should greedy fat cats line their pockets from things needed to support life, it's a sad reflection on our greedy capitalist society.

Completely disagree. Please feel to start up a philanthropic energy company, don't make any profit and live off a salary of £0 pa.

Also, you don't need gas to support life.
 
Couldn't care less what you do. If you don't want to go out and collect wood every day then pay someone to do it for you and stop moaning. And that's where we are now.



Completely disagree. Please feel to start up a philanthropic energy company, don't make any profit and live off a salary of £0 pa.

Also, you don't need gas to support life.

Not for profit doesn't mean nobody receives a salary.
 
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