ENERGY MATTERS

[Stanley]

I have no doubt you are right Ken. I can't do anything about it, I have cut back on all other expenditure as far as is possible. I don't drink, smoke, bother with women, go out or have holidays. I buy raw food and cook it myself and don't buy any expensive foods. I can't do any more and will just have to hunker down in the bunker and see how I manage. I haven't tried to work out the costs or how I will do, I'll get to know that soon enough when the bills come in.
They didn't tell me that this was how the bright new future was going to work out..... At least we had the glory days of reasonable charges. The youngsters haven't got that comfort.
And don't forget the full effect of inflation plus Brexit isn't yet upon us. Deep Joy!

[plaques]

Don't worry about the bills Stanley besides the massive tax break you are going to get Liz Truss will be saying a prayer for all those in fuel poverty. There is all a suggestion of bringing back the system of indulgences, for a small fee of course, which will ameliorate your past sins and excessive fuel usage.

indulgence, a distinctive feature of the penitential system of both the Western medieval and the Roman Catholic Church that granted full or partial remission of the punishment of sin.

[Tripps]

I posted a picture with a joke about electric, bills a short while ago. I have since had an email from Octopus which tells me what is going to happen next Friday, when the new price cap takes effect. I had a caption - "we will need a sense of humour" There is nothing funny about it at all - so I've removed it.

[Stanley]

I got a long email from BG yesterday explaining how I would get the present support and reassuring me that more help is on the way but they don't know how much yet....
I get the feeling that 'they' are getting quite worried as to the effect the price rises will have on public order. They know full well that very few people in the lower 50 percentile will be able to cope with the combined effects of all the price rises. Don't forget inflation as well. And on top of that what happens effect will possible food shortages have?

[plaques]

I got a long email from BG yesterday explaining how I would get the present support and reassuring me that more help is on the way but they don't know how much yet....

Which probably has an underlying meaning. of....If you are unable to pay your bills tell us as quickly as possible so that we can cut you off and minimise our losses.

[Stanley]

Despite all my efforts over the last five months they still haven't taken a payment from me on the variable debit route...... How can anyone be so inefficient?

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the extension of the energy shortage 'war games' this year. The government says there is no prospect of gas shortages or electricity cuts.... Really? So why extend the exercise?

[plaques]

Just another way of looking at the price of energy rather than a bill to be paid. If the energy price increases by £1000 per year the true cost is £1000 + the 20% tax on earnings. Overall that bill means a £1200 pay cut. Do the same with all the other price increases and you can quite see why workers are prepared to go on strike to maintain essential living standards.

[Stanley]

I have no difficulty in understanding the strikes. If you have watched your wage shrink for say five years as normal annual increases have been omitted, you get to a stage where a week of work doesn't produce enough to maintain living standards and you have first to cut back and secondly, start eating into savings if you have any. Looking at items like housing and feeding and supporting children what do you do? There is no alternative but to use whatever industrial muscle you have.
The blame lies with the inept politicians who see the answer to a shortage of money as being a cut back, a reduction in spending. This means lower wages and staff cuts and this in turn makes the shortages worse.
Even if the politicians realise this they press on because their basic aim is to keep as much of the money flow as possible in the hands of the Treasury. From there it can be managed in such a way as to favour the biggest capital holders and the financial markets. This is where the funding for the Tory Party comes from. Look at the donors, property developers, hedge funds and the biggest speculators in the market, the Insurance companies.
It's all so transparent and yet time and time again we allow them to get away with the same old con-tricks....
We deserve exactly what we are about to get. We, the voters, put this rotten bunch in power.

[Big Kev]

BBC story about British Gas 'donating' 10% of profits to help with fuel costs https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62666221

[Stanley]

Their PR department working overtime..... Not impressed, they are relying on an artificial price structure that divides the different sectors of their business. What counts is the money they are raking in from selling UK gas at inflated prices. The very mechanism that is causing our problems.

[plaques]

BBC story about British Gas 'donating' 10% of profits to help with fuel costs https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62666221

As I have mentioned before the definition of fuel poverty used in this article is now out of date. RE...

A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if it has to spend 10% or more of its income on energy

The definition is now more complicated which makes number counts a pure guess. Added to this the article implies the hand out is dependent on having less than £1000 in savings. I doubt if even the department of work and pensions know who will be eligible at this level of detail.

Perhaps good PR but will it work in practice.

[Stanley]

I think we all know that the answer is that it sounds good but how can anyone check that it really makes a difference?

[Tizer]

This and the nuclear plant in Ukraine are two examples of Putin's desperate attempt to win against the West - at any cost...
`Russia burns off gas as Europe's energy bills rocket' LINK

[Stanley]

Please will someone tell me where the money is going? I'm referring to our money that we will be forced to pay out. Where exactly does it go? In other words, who is screwing us.

[Tripps]

On the day that the new 'cap' is announced August 26th, No minister has been seen on any news outlet to explain things. Ofgem has raised the energy price cap by 80% - from 1 October - the average gas and electricity bill will be £3,549 a year. The Prime Minister went to Kyev yesterday. He said "if we're paying in our energy bills for the evils of Vladimir Putin, the people of Ukraine are paying in their blood".

Gridwatch is showing that Wind is contributing 1.48 % of the demand, and Coal slightly more at 1.54 %. We are also exporting 4.53 % to France via the interconnector. I do hope they have a strong plan ready for a calm, high pressure, no wind day in January.

PS - I bought one of these last year, and paid quite a bit more for it. I used it quite a lot in the evenings and wouldn't put anyone off getting one for this winter.

Heated throw blanket

[Tizer]

...Where exactly does it go? In other words, who is screwing us.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I believe it's due to some mysterious thing called `the markets'.

[Stanley]

As you all know I am no fan of the markets and I'm sure you are all fed up with me repeating Nye Bevan's dictum about retaining control of the economic heights. We have abandoned them all to 'market forces' and what we are seeing now, energy prices rocketing, sewage being discharged into streams and sea, railways so badly managed that the workers are out on strike. Public servants are the next group who will strike before the end of the year because we have even lost control of the NHS and education!
Meanwhile we have an absentee PM who tells us that inflation is a global force we can't fight against and as David points out we are exhorted to accept higher prices as the cost of supporting the Ukraine and I too noted the lack of government spokes persons on any of the media yesterday morning.
Sorry, I'm going off piste!
On the energy front we are in a very calm spell of weather and there is very little wind. It's as if even the weather is just standing there doing nothing while we slide into a catastrophe.

[plaques]

The government is paralysed by their own ideology of not intervening in market forces. This is a green light to the energy companies to push prices up until the pips squeak ignoring the fact that death by hyperthermia is already on the cards. The energy companies have made what they see as a generous offer to LOAN consumers money out of their profits as long as they pay it back in future higher bills. The interim chancellor Nadhim Zahawi makes the brilliant suggestion that people should be thinking about using less. Now who would have thought about that? Our absentee Prime Minster, can't remember his name since he's always on holiday somewhere, is saying, through his spokesperson of course, that there is loads of money in the pipeline, I'm not sure whether he means handouts or more expensive gas, this largesse is something for the next PM to sort out. All this 'jam' tomorrow is typical of the broken promises that we heard about in Brexit. On the other hand it has been suggested that all these unicorn promises are setting Liz Truss up for a monumental failure resulting in King Boris reclaiming his No10 wallpaper.

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Energy Bill Forecast..jpg

[Stanley]

Exactly Ken and music to my ears.....All I would add is that outsourcing control of the commanding heights of the economy wasn't simply to open them up to the passibility of making profit but to distance government from the responsibility of running them.
The elephant in the room which nobody is addressing at the moment is our food supply. This isn't the place to go into it but we are in for a rude awakening. Idiots like Eustise assure us we are safe when all the evidence points to global food shortages in the very near future.
When Brexit was proposed some of us advocated a coalition emergency government a la 1940. Then it got us though the war, now it could possibly help counter the stresses that are coming. Two simple facts for you, we import over 60% of our food and we make none of the artificial fertilizer needed to ensure economic production. Go figure.....

[plaques]

Listened/watched Martin Lewis (money saving expert) explaining the whys and wherefores of the spike in energy prices. He explained that the 'CAP' that we tend to associate with the overall energy prices only applies to the fixed daily standing charge the rest that is the suppliers charge plus the basic energy producer is free for any 'cap' restrictions. These are open to market forces although the retail suppliers profit margin is legally limited to 1.9%. Since the projected prices are based on yearly advanced prices the energy producer can rise it prices at any time to suit the forward price algorithm along with their profit. In effect all this talk of price capping is a load of hot air. The regulators are hiding behind weasel words and consumer ignorance to make it look like they are in control and looking after the customer.

[Big Kev]

The energy required to get this thing off the ground seems to be prioritizing in the wrong place. Why a sudden interest in putting people back on the moon? Have I been watching too many disaster movies?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/id ... 970d6ed7b5

[Tripps]

I read this today in comments somewhere. As with all such comments treat with caution - I don't know if it's true or not, though I suspect it might be.

In 2010, the UK had 13 coal fired power stations. Now we have one, Ratcliffe-on-Soar. Drax has been converted, thanks to massive subsidies, to run on imported wood chips. Meanwhile, China has over a thousand coal fired power stations and in 2021 announced the construction of 40 more.

I do know that this below is true though - whilst we are 'net zeroing' the nation into bankruptcy - in another part of the world such niceties are being totally ignored.

Integrated Steel MIll

Note that - no doubt with Chinese finance and assistance.
Fernandez said they chose Diplahan town of Zamboanga Sibugay as seat of the project because of its proximity to the sources of iron ore and coal being mined locally.

[Big Kev]

These energy price rises certainly won't be sustainable, the predictions from some of the 'experts' show future rises to be more than some of the lower incomes. The government will need to do something or they will see similar to the 'poll tax riots'. A rough calculation, based on the new October rates, will add another £100 a month to my energy bill and there's just two if us in a small house. A lot of young families will be crippled by that sort of increase.

[Big Kev]

With regard to electric vehicle charging. With the current 28p per kWh for electricity, a public charging point would cost around £15 to charge up your car and give you a range of around 200 miles. The 52p per KWh from October will almost double this charging cost, my Yeti would do around 700 miles on a 50 litre tankfull of diesel. At £1.82 a litre that's £91 for 700 miles compared to 600 miles for £90 in an electric car. I presume they're cheaper to charge at home but they're not looking so appealing now.