The start of state ownership
 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../npower102.xml

Would these profits better used helping the poor or would they be better in the treasury coffers.

Re: The start of state ownership
 

easy ,help the poor.

Re: The start of state ownership
 

The answer is a no brainer the reality well thats totally different.

Re: The start of state ownership
 

Oddly enough, this is pretty much what I was discussing with a mate in the pub earlier - the basic issue being that high energy company profits aren't the result of some wondrous engineering effort, but rather a reflection of how successful the company is at buying cheap and selling dear.

The usual economic reaction to such obscene profits is that someone undercuts them and incentivises everyone to switch, but that isn't happening. The reason it isn't happening is the most interesting thing here.

Re: The start of state ownership
 

Sod the poor - It shouldnt be a case of who gets a share of the over charged profits iwe shouldbnt be over charged in the first place (which seems to be the facts now)

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I can think of a few company's that should be taken into state ownership at the moment. :LOL:

Re: The start of state ownership
 

Exactly! If the utilities are making excess profits then surely the best way to help the poor /curb the companies greed (if greed is the correct word) is to force them to drop their prices. Confiscating profits from them whilst not capping prices will simply allow the companies to claw back more money from all of us!
Another point is that confiscating money and then trying to give it back to the poor involves a middleman--the govt--another layer of waste and ineptitude before the money can get back to those who need it.
If the govt was truly concerned about the poor they would simply force the utilities to charge them less....but that way the govt wouldn't be able to get their hands on all that money!
..and lets not even get onto the subject of the govt stealing legally earned money on a whim!! :dozey:

Re: The start of state ownership
 

If they were really serious the easiest thing to do would be to order the utilities companys to issue a rebate to all customers of maybe a percentage of their last annual bill.

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Personally the ammount I pay seems quite reasonable anyway - yes its gone up but it doesnt break the bank

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we are either capitalists or not . Would this not be seen as a step towards communism? obviously I think the excessive profit should really be cut and bills made more reasonable however as a society we are programmed from birth to be capitalist and that is basically be greedy make make make

Re: The start of state ownership
 

Trouble is zing, a free market only works when companies aren't working in a cartel like fashion. this seems to be the case with either the gas/electricity or the petroleum companies. :(

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but with petroleum the majority of the costs is tax

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Yep so the unelected Ex Highway man "Brown" will not be bothered. This Government needs as much tax as it can get to pay for all those Bombs it used in Iraq.

Re: The start of state ownership
 

Actually, traditionally, the UK Economy has been a mix of both. The Government providing things we needed (energy, communications, transport) through nationalised industries, capitalism providing whatever they found profitable (most of the above, and everything else).

The problems have appeared because the government have sold off most of the nationalised industries to shareholders, and haven't placed adequate controls on the companies sold.

Re: The start of state ownership
 

It might be the smiggen of commie in me but i have always had the belief that a country should control it's own energy and water not private company's. We will never get a truly fair deal while there is a profit to be made and shareholders to keep happy.

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I agree...

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State owned companies are good to start with, but there's not incentive to progress or to achieve more efficiencies.
If you have an almost endless pot of money and no competition to provide a service, then eventually the people at the top become lazy and just plod along as they always have, not looking into new ways to give them the edge over other companies in a private sector.

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Unless those private companies get together, then fix prices, but that couldn't happen. Oh wait..

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Actually, gas and electric bills are really starting to annoy me. We pay both by direct debit, both are in credit to approximately £100 (and rising every time we make a payment), yet they're still trying to make us increase our monthly payment.

It beggars belief that the morons who appear to run the energy companies have the intellect to actually run them anyway :shrug:

Re: The start of state ownership
 

I agree with what you say lost but at the end of the day thats a management problem and should be treated exactly the same as it would in the private sector. As it stands are any of our energy and water company's actually fully UK owned if they are they are the minority and that puts us in a weak position.

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I had the same problem and with my water also - They soon stop when you keep asking for a cheque.

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I got asked to stop using them as a bank!