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Fuel Bills Rise

 
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mark occomore



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 9955
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:11 pm    Post subject: Fuel Bills Rise Reply with quote

One after another all the Fuel companies put up prices. Is like a Bus following another Bus. Laughing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7533389.stm

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I'm sure these fuel companies will help those people who can't afford these huge bill rises? There again it will put people into debt. So at the end of the day they will change everyone too pre - payment meters.
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The_migster



Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 30
Location: In your darkest dreams

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:13 pm    Post subject: Hmm Reply with quote

I've just been reading some of the readers comments on the BBC website.
It seems that so many people don't seem to fully grasp the situation. Or should I say, they read a news report but only take in the bits that they can grumble at.

So many people seem to be blaming this on privatisation. Now I might be too young to comment, but I just don't get it.
British Gas will announce half yearly profits tomorrow, and I suspect it will be plenty of millions. But most of the profits go straight back into either building power stations for the future or trying to find new sources of energy, be it wind farms, new gas reserves or simply new forms of power.
Of course, they could have made a loss. Despite the huge profits last year, they were all made in the first half, in the second half they only just broke even!!

We are only a few years away from this country being 100% reliant on imported gas. We could be in real trouble then and might just thank British Gas for what they are doing now in terms of investment.
If it was still in government hands though, I suspect that there would still be so many inefficiencies that there wouldn't be the money to invest, the infrastructure would just crumble and we'd truly be at the mercy of the world market.

As for the poor. Well all the utility companies have a 'social tariff'. And British Gas has said that theirs will be fixed until after the winter period (April I think). But come on, just because these companies are privatised, it doesn't mean that the government can't do more to help. Even if they paid ALL of the winter bills of the poorest, it would only be a reflection of what they could do if it were in government hands.

And what of the oil prices falling? It's highly likely to be just a blip. And the way the gas supply chain works means that most of the gas for this winter has already been bought and stored.
And I did hear in the radio that they promise not to raise prices again this year. For some of the other companies that make smaller increases, that may not be the case.

I know this has been a bit of a rant. But I'm fiercly proud to be British and British Gas are one of only two British utility companies left and I like to see them do well. Plus I just transfered my gas account to them on Monday and got one of their fixed price deal Very Happy. Well they did warn us this would happen and I listened lol

D
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mark occomore



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 9955
Location: UK

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Boss of British Gas owner Centrica keeps saying " They are going help people to insulate homes" "We give free light bulbs".

This is not going to cut fuel prices.
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SantaFefan



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 11258
Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You make some good points Mig but the fact is they still made a £Billion profit in 6 months.
As I've mentioned on another thread, why didn't they see this coming in such a short term and more importantly to me - how are they being allowed to put up the price this much in one go? I've heard nothing from the regulator Offgem or any government minister.
I think it's an utter scandal.
The government should only allow them to increase the price by 15% or so and let their profits be reduced.
Of course they would have been making this "investment" for many years so I doubt if one or two years profit drop would really hurt the programme.

Again, as my other thread, we should plan to be gas free in as short a time as possible and concentrate on Nuclear energy. We don't need to be reliant on foreigners!

I can remember the nationalised companies and speaking with various people over the years in my job, I feel the situation was better then with top quality workers and equipment - all standardised.
But more importantly, the customers could walk up the street in many cases and speak with a person at the desk! not hang on the phone for ages listening to music and punching numbers usually for nothing!
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Heloise



Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 237

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

And those people who have smart/token meters are often the worst hit. Like many others I had my smart card meter installment installed when I got into debt after being made redundant. I can understand and would expect to be charged a reasonable amount extra whilst a debt exsists. They were afterall allowing the customer to keep my fuel supply whilst the debt is being paid off.

Once the debt is cleared it is nothing sort of daylight robbery to keep the tarriffs for prepayment meters so high. My debt has now long since been cleared but I kept the meter in because it was an effective way to budget. I'm paying for my supply as I go along with and have no nasty bills to worry about. Not everyone is in a position to pay online (for which there are savings) It's not as if they have to send someone to empty the meter every week yet my supply is continually paid for and in some weeks actually in credit.

I have just moved and this house a prepayment meter in but unless something changes soon it will be taken out. I do not have huge utility bills as the family have mostly all grown up and flown the nest. But for someone who does use a lot of fuel it makes a big of a difference
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The_migster



Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 30
Location: In your darkest dreams

PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 2:48 pm    Post subject: How much Reply with quote

SantaFefan,

The £992m profit is of course for Centrica rather than British Gas and it is pre tax profit.
Now just forgetting for a moment all the talk of how much is too much and price rises etc, what just hit me in the face, reading a piece in The Independent, is how much of that £992m they pay to the government in tax.
I know £992m is the headline figure that everybody is talking about, but of that they had to pay £557m in tax. Wow!!!
And people talk of a windfall tax needed too.

Now if anybody still has questions around how the government can help the poor pay their bills, I think there is a nice pot of money there which might help.

I'm going for a lie down in a dark room now Smile
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