Further to my recent rant about energy prices .......?

along with my new found skill of posting links - This could be good news at last couldn't it?





http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/…Further to my recent rant about energy prices .......?
Don't get too excited. This is just a ruse to make us shut up and go away for a while. They will come back and say the (disgusting) increase is fair!Further to my recent rant about energy prices .......?
A few brown envelopes with make the inquiry findings favorable to the suppliers.
What I want our politicians to do is to ask this question. ';Why are energy prices going up';? There is no shortage of natural gas - the Dutch have the major part of the North Sea gas fields - we buy from them.





There is an estimated 200 years of coal beneath our feet here in Britain. What are we waiting for? Get digging.





The reason for the increase [often in the region of 15% or more] in the price of fuel is lead by greed. Nothing else. Not a reasonable profit, but greed.





We were told that if we switched energy suppliers we could avoid the increases for a while. Not so. It is a lie. All the energy companies operate as a cartell - they all charge the same for their energy.





The simple way to control energy prices is to Nationalise the energy businesses.





Of course I realise there is a whole generation of people now in UK who have never experienced living in a Socialist country where prices were controlled when the people owned everything.





My water company is French. Just how effin' stupid is that?





This is not free enterprise, it's joining the collaborators.
It's the same with everything, the cost of raw materials go up, the prices go up to reflect it. The cost goes back down, the price to the consumers stays the same or if you do get a reduction, it's not as much as the initial rise anyway.
Good luck guys! Every couple of years (usually around an election season) the Congress of the United States instigates a probe into fuel prices and energy companies profits.


This has been going on for decades! They have never, I repeat, NEVER influenced the price of fuel.


The only time the government ever tried to reduce fuel costs was back in the 70's when they instituted price controls, and the energy companies sabotaged that effort by creating shortages. Turned out to be a near disaster.


But hey, good luck. Maybe you have some government officials with integrity!
I'm not building up my hopes, I've just moved, I was all electric, and I compared my last bill with one from the same period 4 years ago, it was a little under 3 times as much.





edit: if anyone is unlucky enough to have prepayment metres check this out: www.ebico.co.uk, or call: 0800 458 7689 they don't charge extra.
Very good though I wonder how long it will take and how much the energy companies will milk us for before agreeing to a reduction that will close the enquiry with the usual mumbles.





Also, I don't see anything mentioning pre-paid metering being considered. It does say that direct debit customers are 'only' paying 13% rather than 15%. It doesn't mention that people with token meters or key meters also pay a charge for having a meter, so their increase will be nearer 20%. Oddly, it's often people who have got in arrears that have these meters, so again the poor and disadvantaged are paying more.





The 'liberalised' UK market this article speaks of is another term for the privatization of energy. It is an inefficient model if you're trying to reduce consumption.





After all, it's not in the interest of shareholders for their customers to reduce usage. The only way to reduce output and still pay their dividends is to increase prices and see by how much before the public squeaks. What is suspicious is that these companies all increased at the same percentage rate, more or less.





Also, shareholders' profit is supposed to be built on the investment they're making in the company. But the Grid and most of the existing infrastructure was built from UK taxes. Thatcher and her cronies helped themselves to the country's silverware through privatisation. I hope that this enquiry exposes some of the vested interests politicians old and new have in the Great Energy Theft .





Heh, I can rant too.
What's the betting that they find for the energy companies?





They should re-nationalise the lot.
man I have to pay $100 a month just to get gas. that doesn't include what I use. So an average winter months it costs me almost $300 to heat my house!
we need all the good news we can get cheers
About time the MPs looked into the Gas companys





May not make a difference, depends how much British Gas contributes to the Labour party





or am I being cynical again
It's about time it was looked into Fuel prices are an obscene disgrace in the UK, the government might want to look a little closer to home at the same time and review the equally obscene amount of tax they put on it.