ChaoticMusings

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Household energy bills could soar to £500 pm...while the rich gets richer.

Digger · Admin

It's a disgrace but not really surprising. It begins and ends with greed. We've seen cost of living rise so much and all the while the rich get richer, and none of these massive companies are prepared to take a drop in profits.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

The government should do something...and quick.

Our bills (if the estimated amounts they will rise to materialise in Autumn) will be increasing by 500%....how the hell can families with kids, pensioners who don't have private income and rely on the state pension, and almost everyone else who is considered 'working class', going to manage those increases?

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Could the reason be the government are doing sweet sod all that will help the average energy user in the UK, is the fact that many of them are investors, wallowing in the vast profits?

Shell posted record earnings of $11.4bn (nearly £10bn) for the three-month period from April to June and promised to give shareholders payouts worth £6.5bn.

Asked about the stark contrast with punishingly high bills faced by households already struggling amid sky-high inflation, Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, said the company could not “perform miracles” to bring oil and gas prices down, adding “it is what it is”.

At the same time, Centrica, the owner of British Gas, reinstated its dividend, handing investors £59m, after reporting operating profits of £1.3bn during the first half of 2022.

“These eye-watering profits are an insult to the millions of working people struggling to get by because of soaring energy bills,” said Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress."

Digger · Admin

we need to frack

Digger · Admin

Syl wrote:
The government should do something...and quick.

Our bills (if the estimated amounts they will rise to materialise in Autumn) will be increasing by 500%....how the hell can families with kids, pensioners who don't have private income and rely on the state pension, and almost everyone else who is considered 'working class', going to manage those increases?

We have a log burner. It heats up the whole house it's that hot. So we don't tend to use our central heating that much. But I think it's going to be the electric that'll be the killer. Who can live without that?

Magica · Go Outside

I'm finding this all impossible. How are people meant to pay these exorbitant prices. Many old people will die of cold and many thousands of families will not be able to heat their homes.I

What the hell has happened to this country. We're going backwards. Be more like Victorian times in a few years!

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

The government have announced today that all households will get £400, in six monthly instalments, starting in October.

A start??... or more like a drop in the ocean.

Maddog · Go Outside

Syl wrote:
The government have announced today that all households will get £400, in six monthly instalments, starting in October.

A start??... or more like a drop in the ocean.

Giving away money doesn't help in situations like this.

It makes things worse.

But it does make a lot of folks support the politicians throwing money at them.

Maddog · Go Outside

Digger wrote:
we need to frack

The past 50 years has demonstrated how dangerous it is to rely on unfriendly nations for your gas and oil.

The UK and parts of Europe could produce more fuel through fracking. But they decided that they would let other countries frack amd just buy it from them.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Maddog wrote:
Syl wrote:
The government have announced today that all households will get £400, in six monthly instalments, starting in October.

A start??... or more like a drop in the ocean.
Giving away money doesn't help in situations like this.

It makes things worse.

But it does make a lot of folks support the politicians throwing money at them.

There is a growing number of people who are threatening to cancel their direct debits.....I think that's why the government have suddenly announced this.

If enough people stopped paying, there would be pandemonium....a similar thing happened in the past with poll tax.

£400 is a pittance, but it's a start. Some already on benefits will be getting up to £1000, short term it'll help, but the government needs to be thinking long term, which so far, they haven't.

Maddog · Go Outside

Syl wrote:
Maddog wrote:
Syl wrote:
The government have announced today that all households will get £400, in six monthly instalments, starting in October.

A start??... or more like a drop in the ocean.
Giving away money doesn't help in situations like this.

It makes things worse.

But it does make a lot of folks support the politicians throwing money at them.
There is a growing number of people who are threatening to cancel their direct debits.....I think that's why the government have suddenly announced this.
If enough people stopped paying, there would be pandemonium....a similar thing happened in the past with poll tax.
£400 is a pittance, but it's a start. Some already on benefits will be getting up to £1000, short term it'll help, but the government needs to be thinking long term, which so far, they haven't.

This isn't a tax though.

Do you actually pay the government for these bills?

I doubt you do or they could simply lower the price and operate at a loss.

Sounds like the government is going to subsidize some energy bills, which will just make the problem worse.

If prices of something are too high, you need to increase the supply or decrease demand.

Throwing money around is what has gotten us all into this mess.

Unfortunately, things that suck for the economy can easily be sold to the voters.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

No we dont pay the government, we pay whichever energy supplier we buy our gas and electric from.

The government make billions in tax, the higher the cost of energy, the more they make.

Jobless Oddball · Boring Twat.

At least Centrica are now paying a dividend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Jobless Oddball wrote:
At least Centrica are now paying a dividend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great if you are a shareholder....just checked my portfolio, unfortunately I am not.

Maddog · Go Outside

Syl wrote:
No we dont pay the government, we pay whichever energy supplier we buy our gas and electric from.

The government make billions in tax, the higher the cost of energy, the more they make.

They tax everything though, and not everything is rising exponentially in cost..

Energy is just another product or service that gets expensive as demand soars or supply drops..

Those are the two factors that matter.

You need to increase.your supply and control your supply..

Everything else is just pandering and posturing.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Maddog wrote:
Syl wrote:
No we dont pay the government, we pay whichever energy supplier we buy our gas and electric from.

The government make billions in tax, the higher the cost of energy, the more they make.

They tax everything though, and not everything is rising exponentially in cost..

Energy is just another product or service that gets expensive as demand soars or supply drops..

Those are the two factors that matter.

You need to increase.your supply and control your supply..

Everything else is just pandering and posturing.

I think several factors have happened that have amounted to the rising cost in energy....but the record profits that some companies are boasttng about is obscene. Demand will always soar as winter approaches, expecially in a colder climate.

I hear Germany have already started economising with energy, not lighting public buildings and statues etc. I suppose it's a start.

Maddog · Go Outside

Syl wrote:
Maddog wrote:
Syl wrote:
No we dont pay the government, we pay whichever energy supplier we buy our gas and electric from.

The government make billions in tax, the higher the cost of energy, the more they make.

They tax everything though, and not everything is rising exponentially in cost..

Energy is just another product or service that gets expensive as demand soars or supply drops..

Those are the two factors that matter.

You need to increase.your supply and control your supply..

Everything else is just pandering and posturing.
I think several factors have happened that have amounted to the rising cost in energy....but the record profits that some companies are boasttng about is obscene. Demand will always soar as winter approaches, expecially in a colder climate.

I hear Germany have already started economising with energy, not lighting public buildings and statues etc. I suppose it's a start.

Was it obscene a few years ago when energy companies were losing money, laying people off and closing down because of low demand?

Profits are the incentive to go produce more of something, which will eventually increase the supply, unless an entity (government) puts up barriers to more supply.

Energy companies aren't opposed to producing more energy whether it be from fracking or nuclear power..

The restricted supplies and higher prices and profits from those restricted supplies are not a function of the suppliers, but the regulators.

Maddog · Go Outside

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/grid-has-no-power-for-new-homes-in-west-london-until-2035-qnrn065cb

You have a supply problem, coupled with a ban on fracking.

Of course that commodity (energy) is going to become expensive and the folks that sell that increasingly rare material will make more money..

Economics.is always about scarcity.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

What is obscene, is that people will die of the cold this winter, because they cant afford to heat their homes.
What is obscene is that energy companies have made more profits in the last few months than ever before.

"Shell posted record earnings of $11.4bn (nearly £10bn) for the three-month period from April to June and promised to give shareholders payouts worth £6.5bn.

Asked about the stark contrast with punishingly high bills faced by households already struggling amid sky-high inflation, Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, said the company could not “perform miracles” to bring oil and gas prices down, adding: “It is what it is.”