Grecian2K
Very well known Exeweb poster
Though this topic might be significant enough to justify it's own thread for discussion (but if not, feel free to submerge it into the "Politics" thread)
With our current 12 month contract due to expire at the end of the month we have started to look around for it's successor. And BOY, WHAT A SHOCK!
I know that those pesky percentages have been bandied around in the press but, when converted to £ & p the forthcoming sh!tstorm is staggering (even before the "April Cap Review")
As relatively frugal users our current annual dual fuel spend is about £1,000 pa. Looking ahead to the next 12 months none of the (few) deals on offer will come to less than £2,100 for the same (precisely measured) consumption.
The best we can find (from our current supplier, thanks to a "loyalty deal") is £2,050. The rest of the (so called) open-market "fixed" plans are in the region of £2,150-£2,300.
With the bankruptcy ("or take the money and run" of some many of the smaller players?) the so-called "competitive market" the financial libertarians were once so proud to boast about has contracted back to the old, near monopoly (or even "cartel?"), of the "big boys" again. So much like that other branch of the energy industry, road fuel. That trusty old upstream/downstream model, where the Mr Upstream forces the prices up to Mr Downstream to pass on to the punters, secure in the knowledge that those ill-gottens will still end up in the same, capacious pocket. Capitalism red in tooth and claw. The nudging towards a private (rather than public) monopoly continues apace.
Two things though. Even when the media are reporting upon headline inflation around 4%-5% (which is bad enough) how the hell can any sane person ignore price rise of 100+% without comment...nay ANGER. And before anyone accuses me of ignoring the effect of "world events" please answer me this.
One thing in the home energy market that has always annoyed me is that split (even back in nationalisation days) between product and standing charges...a device much used in the fragmented market to confuse and confusticate the consumer. (So, for example, that during the summer when we are using booger-all gas, we are still paying richly for the privilege of having all that little used pipework and metering)
But it is what it is, I suppose. . However, while I can appreciate that "global events" can directly affect the costs of the raw product (increases of 195% in the gas element and 88% for the electricity part in our case) how the clucking hell can they justify "inflation busting hikes in the fixed charges as well (a curiously exact 25% for the gas bit and 12.5% on the leccy). Is it because they are having to employ armies of expensive specialist "security guards" to escort these precious cargoes? Or just another sly, backdoor way of slipping through extra bunce to fund their bonuses and shareholders?
So there we go...even before the imminent "cap review" we are facing having to find twice as much from our respective pensions just to keep the lights on and the house tolerably warm. And, as I've said, our consumption is still considerably below the recognised average. And this on top of all of the inflationary pressures on the likes of other things (like council tax, water rates, food etc) - you know, all of those other little "luxuries" that we should be grovellingly grateful for. And, let's admit it, in the faces of the above figures even the reduction of the 5% VAT on home energy will be like peeing into a hurricane)
Thankfully, if we are prudent we should still (just) be able to manage but many of the poorer paid won't. Whether it's the NI raid, the reduction of UC, the punitive attack on jobseekers this sort of assault on personal finances for those already with the least (the old "JAM's" of Cameron law) April 1st is going to the THEIR "Fool's Day". No wonder, at the moment, the runners and riders for the No 10 Handicap are keeping their old nags in the stable (Mad Nad excepted of course). Let BOoBoo inherit that as his final badge of shame and then ride to the rescue...once the "annualised figures" can be compared with 2022's financial disaster.
Happy Easter.
With our current 12 month contract due to expire at the end of the month we have started to look around for it's successor. And BOY, WHAT A SHOCK!
I know that those pesky percentages have been bandied around in the press but, when converted to £ & p the forthcoming sh!tstorm is staggering (even before the "April Cap Review")
As relatively frugal users our current annual dual fuel spend is about £1,000 pa. Looking ahead to the next 12 months none of the (few) deals on offer will come to less than £2,100 for the same (precisely measured) consumption.
The best we can find (from our current supplier, thanks to a "loyalty deal") is £2,050. The rest of the (so called) open-market "fixed" plans are in the region of £2,150-£2,300.
With the bankruptcy ("or take the money and run" of some many of the smaller players?) the so-called "competitive market" the financial libertarians were once so proud to boast about has contracted back to the old, near monopoly (or even "cartel?"), of the "big boys" again. So much like that other branch of the energy industry, road fuel. That trusty old upstream/downstream model, where the Mr Upstream forces the prices up to Mr Downstream to pass on to the punters, secure in the knowledge that those ill-gottens will still end up in the same, capacious pocket. Capitalism red in tooth and claw. The nudging towards a private (rather than public) monopoly continues apace.
Two things though. Even when the media are reporting upon headline inflation around 4%-5% (which is bad enough) how the hell can any sane person ignore price rise of 100+% without comment...nay ANGER. And before anyone accuses me of ignoring the effect of "world events" please answer me this.
One thing in the home energy market that has always annoyed me is that split (even back in nationalisation days) between product and standing charges...a device much used in the fragmented market to confuse and confusticate the consumer. (So, for example, that during the summer when we are using booger-all gas, we are still paying richly for the privilege of having all that little used pipework and metering)
But it is what it is, I suppose. . However, while I can appreciate that "global events" can directly affect the costs of the raw product (increases of 195% in the gas element and 88% for the electricity part in our case) how the clucking hell can they justify "inflation busting hikes in the fixed charges as well (a curiously exact 25% for the gas bit and 12.5% on the leccy). Is it because they are having to employ armies of expensive specialist "security guards" to escort these precious cargoes? Or just another sly, backdoor way of slipping through extra bunce to fund their bonuses and shareholders?
So there we go...even before the imminent "cap review" we are facing having to find twice as much from our respective pensions just to keep the lights on and the house tolerably warm. And, as I've said, our consumption is still considerably below the recognised average. And this on top of all of the inflationary pressures on the likes of other things (like council tax, water rates, food etc) - you know, all of those other little "luxuries" that we should be grovellingly grateful for. And, let's admit it, in the faces of the above figures even the reduction of the 5% VAT on home energy will be like peeing into a hurricane)
Thankfully, if we are prudent we should still (just) be able to manage but many of the poorer paid won't. Whether it's the NI raid, the reduction of UC, the punitive attack on jobseekers this sort of assault on personal finances for those already with the least (the old "JAM's" of Cameron law) April 1st is going to the THEIR "Fool's Day". No wonder, at the moment, the runners and riders for the No 10 Handicap are keeping their old nags in the stable (Mad Nad excepted of course). Let BOoBoo inherit that as his final badge of shame and then ride to the rescue...once the "annualised figures" can be compared with 2022's financial disaster.
Happy Easter.