It is that time of year again.

Sliver said:
I know the pollution is minimal. As for the prices, they have plummeted in America where Fracking is widespread, so you're wrong about that.

*EDIT* http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/45d75ad0-fe7f-11e2-97dc-00144feabdc0.html
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Don't be naive. We have way more taxation than the USA, and a smaller population, so cost per person will be more expensive.

If we're lucky, fracking will cease price rises, but there is absolutely ZERO chance of prices dropping. Just like fuel. Once it is up, people come to expect the cost, so it is accepted on a subconscious level.

Remember when fuel prices were 90p and the thought of going over £1 was painful? Look at where we are now, £1.35-£1.45 per litre, and it continues to increase fortnightly.
 
Amp34 said:
The US has a totally different gas market to Europe. For example tell the Alaskans their gas bills have plummited... The wholesale industrialisaltion if while states in the US is not something that will happen here either (both due to the geology and environmental impact of an industrialised landscape).
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So you are assuming the natural gas price will not fall in the UK if the shale fields are exploited. I profoundly disagree. Supply and demand is what drives the markets, when supply rises costs come down. Simple economics.
 
how much energy do you guys use?
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1 bed maisonette

heating/hot water is separate though about £6 a week if that and I'm in credit by over 20 quid from paying to much
 
a1ex2001 said:
... what I really don't understand is the timming from a PR perspective rising prices every year just as the cold weather hits is stupid and whether or not it is rank profitering it absolutely reeks of it!
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Well, you only have two viable options, trousers down or go cold
 
I got the letter through from SSE the other day explaining why they were putting prices up and they were kind enough to include a pie chart showing their 5% profit margin.

Fine, I guess.

But then they had the cheek to say that with their profits, they have to pay taxes, employ people, and re-invest it back into the company + R&D etc.

Now excuse me if I'm wrong - I am not a chartered accountant - but since when were tax and employment costs part of the profit figures for a corporation? As far as I'm aware, "profit" is a term for money left in the bank after tax, running costs etc

Edit: Oh yes and they were kind enough to "promise not to raise prices until Autumn 2014"!!! Which is a crappy way of saying "We're going to raise prices again, less than a year from now you ****"
 
Energy companies are thieves, squeezing the life out of people.
I pay Eon £100 a month for gas and electricity and that's only me and the wife in a 2 up 2 down.
It drives me insane that they can make ridiculous profits and still put the prices up.
The government needs to grow a back bone and sort them out or nationalise one or two of them.
 
nick.lidgett said:
Energy companies are thieves, squeezing the life out of people.
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No, energy companies are private companies which exist to maximise shareholder value. They are not charities.

The problem here isn't the energy companies - they are behaving exactly as a private company should and is intended to. The problem is the concept of having essential national services in the hands of private companies. It leads to this sort of activity almost entirely unless there is a huge amount of regulation in the industry which usually ends up rendering the entire privatisation process totally pointless anyway, for examples of this see the railways.

We must therefore blame the concept of privatisation in the first place and not the energy companies. Or in other words, dont hate the player, hate the game.
 
Gonna hurt this year, again, thankfully this time I have a properly functioning new boiler, so hopefully won't get AS crazy. Also landlord is fitting a carpet in the downstairs front room, which is probably the biggest heat loss in the house bar the front and back door, which no amount of draft proofing has helped with, doors need ripping out and replacing
 
nick.lidgett said:
Energy companies are thieves, squeezing the life out of people.
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Profits from its residential energy supply arm rose 11% from a year earlier to £606m. It said gas consumption had risen by 12%.
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Seems shocking.

Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw told the BBC that the firm's profit margins per household "actually went down", adding that the company had made just under £50 profit per customer household.
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But isn't.

Link
 
cymatty said:
Seems shocking.



But isn't.

Link
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Fairly meaningless little stat though isn't it? Thats like saying the profit Tesco make on a tin of beans, perhaps just 5p, is really low. But it's a high volume business... £50 per household profit is.. £606m when you've got a large customerbase :p
 
I need to switch suppliers and a colleague has just been telling me how long it has taken for his switch to happen through a switching service that offered him £30 cashback. His advice is to go straight to the new supplier, so you can benefit asap from the new tariff rather than wait 3 months for it to happen.

Anyone got any views on this? Happy to go direct but £30 cashback would also be nice.
 
[TW]Fox;25131600 said:
Fairly meaningless little stat though isn't it? Thats like saying the profit Tesco make on a tin of beans, perhaps just 5p, is really low. But it's a high volume business... £50 per household profit is.. £606m when you've got a large customerbase :p
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Yes the overall profit is large, but £50 per household or ~5% of the bill is not the scandalous profiteering that many would have you believe.

If your gas and electricity cost is £150 per month you would get a whole £4.16 a month of your bill if they made zero profit.
 
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Every time the energy price goes up you don't get hit once with your bills, the price of goods goes up as the companies pass on their costs.
 
cymatty said:
Yes the overall profit is large, but £50 per household or ~5% of the bill is not the scandalous profiteering that many would have you believe.

If your gas and electricity cost is £150 per month you would get a whole £4.16 a month of your bill if they made zero profit.
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The profit per customer is going up though.
 
I moved house at the start of the year and the existing supplier's rates were pretty bad. Spent a couple of months searching for the best deal and eventually switched to a supplier with a decent fixed rate. Although it's a bigger house it's also newer and well insulated so hopefully the bills won't be extortionate this winter.
 
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