re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Just as well people didn't think that about Churchill in 1940....

I would rather judge a person from their actions than by their parents income, but you may find it easier to use stereotypes (but would probably be annoyed if people started making comments about 'typical taxi driver' or 'working class oik', etc etc.....).

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

This winter who knows?

---------- Post added at 12:37 ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 ----------

As if by magic the Tory Free Press appears. :rolleyes:

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Your wit is only matched by your intellect.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Typical response.

---------- Post added at 12:45 ---------- Previous post was at 12:40 ----------

http://www.maxfarquar.com/wp-content...rd-Or-Liar.jpg

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Taking political colours out of this we are in the mess because of a lack of investment and lack of foresight by all political's parties and its us the consumer who is paying for it at the end of the day and lets hope the spectre of blackouts does not happen in the next few years because if they do then whatever party is in power we are going to have a distinctly unhappy public that's for sure.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

The green subsidy hasn't gone up from last year despite what they'd have us believe, you know last year when they made so much profit the promised to use it to keep bills down this year.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

hey I get to be pretentious

That is a very Ad hominem post there Hugh

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

The "Ad Hominem Fallacy Fallacy".

If you are going to accuse someone of something, it's probably best to fully understand what you are accusing them of.....

You appear to be confusing sarcasm with undermining a proposition by attacking the proposer.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

The rise has nothing to do with the Green Energy Subsidy imo it has more to do with the energy companies putting the likes of Millibrain in his place for threatening to cap their profits .The Green subsidy should be abolished simply because it is a licence to print money at the expense of the consumer but again we can't get out of it because Millibrain signed us up for it when he had his love in with Europe

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

you see when you do it you are really pretentious I am just playing at it

not misunderstanding anything. What you said was a personal attack dress it up however your want

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Don't make me laugh, what's the reason for all the other rises other than blatant profiteering, we shouldn't be fooled into being divided on this with talk of green subsidies and politicians.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

They've been doing this for years. Nothing to do with putting Miliband in his place. If anything it will only increase his policies' popularity.

Also it's not the EU who imposed the Carbon Emission Reduction Target, it was the UK Government. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate...nergy_Act_2006

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Thats a different legislation i think ,i'm talking about this http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/package/


This is responsible for all the wind farms and our target to have them generating 40% of our power by 2020 which in itself is laughable the legislation you quoted is responsible for Micro generation allowing houses,factories to generate their own energy

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Exactly, the moment that idiot opened his big gob it was obvious they would show him who is the boss. Now we have to pay yet again for his miss management of the power market.

Its not the first time he has messed up big time, it was him who was the energy minister was it not when Labour was in full economy destruction mode.

---------- Post added at 17:52 ---------- Previous post was at 17:51 ----------

I think you and Hugh need to get a room where you can fight it out. :LOL:

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

So how do you explain all the other price rises? Also if the Energy companies are just increasing their prices at a whim then they are just profiteering at the expense of their customers so why shouldn't they be reigned in?

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Yep ,he had a brand new department and decided to go with wind farms for our future power generation at the behest of Europe of course , instead of something that worked like nuclear plants .Lets hope that Cameron grows some balls and tells the anti frackers to frack off

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

I don't need to explain the rest of the rises, anyone with half a brain knows they are to feed more money to shareholders. But the second that idiot Milliband said he was going to sort them out and halt there price rises, just like any bully they retaliated with even more bullying. This price rise is just them saying you have no chance of stopping us and if you try this is what we will do. Problem is thats thanks to the idiot we are all paying for it.

---------- Post added at 18:02 ---------- Previous post was at 18:01 ----------

He was an idiot then and he is still an idiot only this time he has more power to create even more problems :rolleyes:

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

This is the British Gas unofficial bill simulator! :D

http://toys.usvsth3m.com/british-gas...ill-simulator/

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

He was an idiot then and he is still an idiot only this time he has more power to create even more problems :rolleyes:

The fact he rolled out the EU's stupid wind farm plans just shows how much of an idiot he is.

---------- Post added at 18:05 ---------- Previous post was at 18:03 ----------

They were nice enough to offer me weekly payments

£1,403.79 per week plus vat :D

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

It's a nightmare trying to find all the taxes in question but these seem to them:

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeeh...nd-brought-in/

There are a number of them. It seems that only one, adding £8, is a specific implementation of EU policy (Permits to pollute). There are a number of policies there which certainly could be cut, as could the 5% VAT on fuel. If the Government isn't doing it then it's either because they don't want too or are being blocked by the Liberal Democrats.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

No you should explain the rest of the raises because it makes your rant illogical otherwise. If your contention is that this rate raise is a anomaly as a result of Miliband then you need to answer why all the previous rate raises occurred when he hadn't said these things.

Why did British Gas raise their prices 6% last year: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19921042 ?

Why did they raise their prices 16%! the year before that:
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/blog/201...energy-prices/ ?

Why did they raise their price by 7% the year before that: http://www.britishgas.co.uk/blog/201...-announcement/ ?


Every year they raise prices but this time it's because of Ed Miliband?

---------- Post added at 18:22 ---------- Previous post was at 18:19 ----------

OK. I concede that. So one of the green taxes and the 5% VAT is down to the EU but it still leaves a lot that isn't.

The cost of fuel is down to the fact he didn't build new power plants 5/10/15/20 years ago. France is a member of the EU and has relatively cheap energy because they built nuclear power plants decades before. This is our own fault and we need to address it.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

France has high electricity costs despite the nuclear plants. I know, I paid bills there. And most of their gas comes from Russia AFAIK, and the Russians are very quick to follow the trends of the energy market.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

We now have the issue in this country that any major project is held up for years and years in red tape and protests whilst we fight the following group :)

Greens
Tree huggers
Toad protectors
Green belt protectors
We will complain about any major project group
NIMBY's amalgamated
The Liberal Democrats
Any group who does not like anything they dont understand

So any new power stations might be built at the end of the next century :LOL:

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Energy companies are worse than fuel companies, we can live without a car.

Leeches the lot of them.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Whatever gets built in the future must be built quickly or else the spectre of power cuts will loom large as we need far more capacity and quickly.

---------- Post added at 18:56 ---------- Previous post was at 18:54 ----------

Can't we keep politics out of this discussion as it always seems to descend into a Tory/Labour blame game and that's not going to help us now.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Thing is though wholesale gas prices are pretty much at the same level they where in 2009 so that cannot be reason why there has been such a big rise and then there's this from SSE

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2013/10/5.gif




http://www.sse.com/PressReleases/2013/OctoberPriceChange/

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Nor can Green levies since they've been there years.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

SSE say they have gone up from last year though

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Apparently they went up £10.

---------- Post added at 19:49 ---------- Previous post was at 19:46 ----------

BTW It's a nightmare to get any concrete figures on this stuff. If you Google it you come up with news story after news story otherwise it's figures from the Taxpayers alliance (it's all green taxes!!!) or Green pressure groups (Green Taxes actually make it cheaper!!!)

Still some progress:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24604218

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

i've no idea ,and i'm as confused as the "energy experts" that where on the radio on friday ,they also have no idea what could justify such a rise so i still think that the energy companies are showing the gov who's the boss

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

They rise every year. It's either profiteering, reflecting a genuine increase in operation and investment costs or an increase in wholesale prices, as well as the portion which are Green taxes (which seem to be about 10%). Probably all three. I doubt they did it as a political decision as it doesn't make sense, it only increases the pressure on the Government to act. If they are simply making massive margins then isn't this what competition is meant to solve? Someone could come in and undercut those margins drastically after all...

Wholesale Energy prices do seem to be increasing: http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/poli...-retail-prices

It is quite difficult to get a clear idea. For a start we don't know exactly what the energy companies actually pay...

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

You're probably correct but the cynic in me is screaming that they are getting what they can while they can.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

OK This seems to be the structure of the typical UK energy bill:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publi...uly2013web.pdf

Gas:

Wholesale: 67%
Distribution Costs: 16%
'Transmission' costs: 2%
VAT: 5%
Green Taxes: 6%
Other Costs: 4%

Electricity:


Wholesale: 58%
Distribution Costs: 16%
'Transmission' costs: 4%
VAT: 5%
Green Taxes: 11%
Other Costs: 5%

Some places seem to put 'Other Costs' (Ofgem describes this as the cost of electric meters, storage and so on) as a 'Green Tax' so that raises to 10% and 16% respectively or 15% and 21% if you wack VAT onto that as well but the actual green policies are included in the Green Tax figures (minus the poverty taxes as well).

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Tell your inner cynic to pipe down, the top five guys at british gas are paid fifteen million between them, they aren't silly enough to ignore the fact that just about the only thing that resonated with the public during conference season was the fuel cap, if anything their hike will encourage other parties to adopt similar policies or for Dave to tell us all to switch :rolleyes:

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Nice find
:tu:

---------- Post added at 21:16 ---------- Previous post was at 21:11 ----------

Your forgetting that should such a fuel cap ever happen it won't happen for a few years yet and if it does happen the cap will most likely be set at the current prices of the time so getting the prices as high as possible before that happens is very much in the interest of the energy suppliers

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Still can't see it, they saw the effect Ed's words had, do you really think they'd want to put Dave in a position where he had to actually do something, I just can't see this as anything other than a profiteering exercise and anything else political or otherwise is just a smokescreen to disguise that, perhaps that's my inner cynic piping up though.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

The wholesale privatisation of the public services was to make the rich richer while the poor got poorer, it's like the recession, the recovery is for the rich people while the poor remain poor.

It's not rocket science.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

John Prescott had to speak :LOL:

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

UK nuclear power plant gets go-ahead.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24604218

Well at least its a start.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Npower to put up energy prices by 10.4%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24607242

And the question is which member of the cartel is the next to raise their prices.:rolleyes:

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Why doesnt one of them just leave the prices as they are, they`d make a killing when everyone changed to them, or is that too simple.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Indeed they have not used a knife in Millibrains back they used a machette. That man is a complete ******.

---------- Post added at 10:37 ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 ----------

Let me rephrase that for you.

:D

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

that makes it ok then for the elderly and infirm to struggle

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

All this is going to blow up soon.

The country is a pressure cooker waiting to explode.

What is Dave going to do?
probably come up with some more ideas of how to make people poorer. that's his answer, and his true goal in office.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

A compassionate country would not allow the poor elderly and the infirmed to suffer but the trouble is we are living in a increasingly selfish me me world.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

It's becoming cartel Britain.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

It is. it's almost as if they know money is in short supply. and they're working together to get as much out of people as they possibly can whilst there's still some there to take.

the worst thing about it is that the government seem to be in on the act too.

eventually there will be no more to take. and you have to wonder what's going to happen then.

it is a me me me thing now.
but people have to got to accept and realise that it also works the other way around too.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

No doubt the Government will be making thousands with cash for questions. The highest bidder gets access to the Bullingdon Club.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

We used to joke about the government, or anybody. giving with one hand and taking with the other.

now it's just constant taking, and not giving anything back.

and that is what's going to be the root of the evil :)

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

The elderly get Cold Weather Payments, as do some infirm or families with small children.

But that's like HMG giving out extra Benefits because wages are too low, instead of obliging employers to pay decent wages.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

edit I was incorrect the elderly get £25 for each particular cold spell these are unless changed a period of days where the weather is under a certain temp zero degrees for a period of 7 days running

The infirm get £130 but have to jump through hoops

I do not think with the increase of cost of living the £25 is good enough or the threshold in place

I foresee the need for a new fuel benefit for the poor as it stands now anyone paying more then 10% of there income on fuel is energy poor

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

What would be wonderful is for a vast majority of customers to switch to just two of the suppliers... Need someone to start a campaign me thinks... I wonder what panick that would set off in those companies whose customers were moving from them. Would this bring their prices down or would the greedy swines go bust!?!?

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

These cold weather payments are still not enough. Some elderly people feel too proud of taking this money and quite often put this in a tin to save.

I will never forget in my of looking after the vulnerable job is going into an OAP's house last winter. The lady who lived there was 89 years old, the house was freezing and she was sitting there with overcoats one to keep warm. And food that was that little it was bad.

She had an empty fire place but could not afford to get coal or anything to warm the place. I felt ashamed that this is allowed in this country for this person to be in that position.

This is why l have said that we should bring the coal industry back in this country, some people cannot afford ch.

Sadly the lady passed away earlier this year, but it gets my goat that something cannot be done by government to insure the elderly are looked after.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Sir John Major calls for windfall tax on energy profits.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24621391

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

That's exactly the sort of thing Dave will be forced into doing if they carry on.

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

It won't give us cheaper bills though so not much cop to joe public

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

It'll reign in their profiteering

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

bit late for that

re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Darn right, prices have risen a third in three years and profits were up 25% iirc for at least one those companies in the cartel.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

I had an email from British Gas about the price rises.

What's the catch?
so if they put the prices up again next year (which they will) they won't put them up as long as you're a customer of theirs?
everyone that's with them at the time will be a customer that is there till they end their contract.

the prices will only affect new customers?
will never go up for 50 - 60 years?
baloney!

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Maybe you will get a new contract when they install your smart meter ?

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

I've switched to Npower since the other day.

tried uSwitch earlier, and it congratulated me for being on the cheapest deal there is.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

I just changed my plan yesterday with SP to a fixed rate ending March 2015 - Just in Time!

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Fixed rate plans are the answer i think we were on one before these price rises were announced and we got a letter today from british gas telling us the announced rises won't be affecting us. They may cost a little more when you first have them but they end up saving you a load over the timeframe they apply. All this switching is all well and good but all of them will put their prices up eventually so your back to square one you get maybe a few weeks cheaper. As far as energy is concerned were paying now for politicians of all colours having done nothing about the energy question for decades and in the case of the this lot and the last lot shutting down power generating capacity to meet some stupid EU target that we cheat on anyway.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Seems like I've been throwing money away so this is just advice to get things checked over. I had a gas leak in my boiler which got fixed today. The boiler had a new valve fitted and pilot kit if thats correct :erm: anyway the guys were great and checked over the boiler and made a few tweaks elsewhere too. The new kit and tweaks have boiled water in 10-15minutes rather than 20+ prior to the fixes and a test on heating heated the place up a lot quicker than before.

what pee's me off is ive had annual checks done with nothing found as a fault even though these guys found a fair few including no bonding to the gas meter outside. the gas leak could have appeared anytime really, theres a window by my boiler which is normally open so the gas could gone straight out the window. i only noticed it by leaning down to grab something so not an everyday event. that said it is my own fault for the gas leak, for however long its been going on because i had no carbon monoxide alarm by the boiler.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Se graph someone posted on here showing that the worst rises were well before 2010....

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Green Taxes are not the worst causing of the rises as I said in few posts ago. They make up around 9% but haven't increased that much in relation to the massive increases we're seeing elsewhere. They're also a far wider ranging set of tax measures than just eco ones, i.e the warm home rebate.

To be honest though I don't think TheDaddy was having a Labour vs Tory bash, he was having a go at the energy companies generally.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

That 9% is based on an average across gas and electricity. For electricity alone it is 14%, and for Gas it is 5%. And that is nothing compared to the future impact. 41% by 2030.:shocked:
LINK

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Correct Damien I wasn't, labour, conservative, different cheeks of the same arse imo.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

What annoys me more than anything is they say that they are going to help the poor vunerable pensioners.. Whilst I agree with this in my personal situation I am POORER than a pensioner yet what are they saying? Because I am 40 and not 70 I can just freeze? I have to run my house and eat on less than £5 a day which might sound alot but i've yet to put my heating on for the whole of 2013. Which is good with the warm summer we've had.

What they forget to realise is that since 2007 the majority of pensioners who live in accomodation that has a warden have heating as a part of their rent (which is always council based) I often make a joke about competing against my Nan to get the lowest bill, And yet I always win. Not because I meant to either!

where as for me? Well I have a onesie but I still freeze my tits off. basically.

---------- Post added at 23:36 ---------- Previous post was at 23:34 ----------

Of my last quarter gas bill which was £70 over £50 of that was standing charge.
For Electricity I use about £10 a month and bill was £91

total rip off!

---------- Post added at 23:49 ---------- Previous post was at 23:36 ----------

That's the common misconception which is totally and utterly wrong.

You wouldn't get either. You get a knock you tell them to go away - they have no more powers than the postman as they are capita.. an outsourcing company.

Im another who has not had a TV licence for some years yet I enjoy all of Iplayers content daily.

You do not need a TV licence to watch any catch up TV, you only need one for tv that's being broadcast live. I watch all the stations catchup services most days.

So why be worried about something which will never happen and you're legally allowed to avoid if you don't have a need for one?

You tell the TVL that you don't need one every 2 years and that's it. I've never had anyone from TVL knock on my door. Well I've not been in if they ever have and I am home most of the time!

You do not need a licence to own a TV or a DVD player or a console or a smart TV which gets it's content from the internet.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-i...-needed-top12/

---------- Post added at 23:58 ---------- Previous post was at 23:49 ----------

You'd have a heart attack and thus save on your gas and electric if you saw me without one on I can assure you! :erm:

---------- Post added 26-10-2013 at 00:09 ---------- Previous post was 25-10-2013 at 23:58 ----------

Our neighbour makes his own bio fuel in his garage with a machine. He makes about 2000L a year and so is under the limit for paying tax. he gets the fat free from the chippys as it saves them £150 a time for it to be collected so all he pays for is the cost of the machine's power and the chemicals he has to use.

He's well smitten :D

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

haha!

Just heard on sky news Ed Millaidiot got stung for a high energy bill so he had to swap suppliers.

Made me LOL :)

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...nto-doubt.html

Maybe it was just simple profiteering....

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Stop misleading.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Well green taxes and subsidies still aren't enough to make this project viable

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...r-project.html

I think this is the thin end of the wedge. And many of the R3 wind projects will probably not get built.

It's a potential election winner/loser.

We the people will not put up with paying through the nose for unreliable wind energy.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Its alright as we will sneakily slip out our price rise when this country is in the midst of a severe cold snap.:(:td:

https://www.theguardian.com/business...ay-of-the-year

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

i keep reading that we are on the verge of running out of gas supplies.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

l think that has been exaggerated somewhat...

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

What we have is a temporary situation where the flow required is slightly higher than can be provided from North Sea and Continental sources. As there is negligible storage in the system, demand from big industry has to be moderated to safeguard domestic supplies.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

British Gas is to increase gas and electricity prices by 5.5%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43711556

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Nothing like putting your prices up twice in 4 months..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45111743

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Why don't people get a fixed-rate deal?

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Wholesale prices rise because producers know that resellers like BG will just pass on the costs to customers. No real competition in the utilities market at all.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Working well for the consumer- privatisation. Then there's the railways.... Health next no doubt.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Plenty of old people just stay on the standard deals and don't shop around as it's outside their skills and comfort zone.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Sorry Andrew but that's rather over generalising as my parents are of the older vintage and they certainly know how to get the best deals as l am sure many others do.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Yes I know how to get s good deal. Was with GB Energy - went bust, then switched to Iresa - going bust !

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

I said plenty Den, not all. That's why the government is regulating standard tariffs. Price comparison is not so easy for those who are not internet savvy and many are cautious of switching to companies they've never heard of.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

To be perfectly honest one does not have much faith in regulation Andrew as here is a example of despite a cap being in place prices rises still happen.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...n-energy-costs

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Unfortunately price rises are inevitable so long as the market is as clear as mud.

If you wanted real competition force them to have only one tariff irrespective of the way the customer uses their product. No special deals or introductory offers that then rocket after the first year.

The you could see at a glance who was the cheapest supplier.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Well, since 3.5 million British Gas customers are on Standard Variable Tariff, and 2.4 million are on fixed rate tariffs, that may not an optimum interpretation of actuality, as the UK demographics are not 57% pensioners and 43% non-pensioners (yet...).

I worked for a Utility supplier for a year, and the main reason given for not taking a fixed rate deal (and the suppliers ring out. a lot, to customers on SVTs trying to get them to change to fixed rate, as they are under pressure from Government on this) is that customers did not want to set up a Direct Debit - this was given as the main reason for over 65% of customers contacted.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Question is why so many ruddy tariff's - it is the same gas and lecy that every body uses. I say re-own the utility companies to make two one for lecy and one for the gas.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Nationalisation is not the answer that some think. You only have to look at the economic disaster that is Venezuela to see where that leads.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

If that is not the answer then what is the answer? as thus so far what we have currently is a cartel which fails the customer dismally and makes huge profits for the owners..

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Sadly this describes much more than Utility companies. Businesses try to attract investors by offering good returns on their cash input . . and there's only one set of people who end up paying for those returns.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Greed comes to mind here then.... which equals stuff the customers.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Some sort of cap on tariffs/profits might be the answer. Theresa promised this (copying Ed Miliband), but hasn't delivered. Poor show old girl.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Nationalisation can be a good thing, Venezuela's problem is Socialism and corruption.

It is also worth noting that nationalsation doesn't just mean taking over a company/companies. The Government have to buy out the investors. In Venezuela the socialist Government just took them over, the outcome was obvious.

If you want to talk about the rail companies prior British Rail then that is a different matter. They were all on the verge of collapse following the 2nd world war due to Government debt, part of that the debt still owed by the Government following the 1st world war.

During both conflicts the rail industry worked flat out supplying industry with the raw materials it needed, transporting troops and munitions on Government promisory notes. It got even worse during the second conflict because instead of the necessary upgrades and improvements money had to be diverted to necessary repairs due to the bombing.

There was no alternative to privatisation of the railways otherwise there would be none now. They were cheap to buy.

So as imperfect as it is (due to lack of investment) nationalisation saved the railways.

Re: [MERGED] Utility companies - price rises
 

Its amazing how many things us the electorate are promised by UK politicians and yet so many of them either don't turn out the way we hoped for or never happen at all.