Politics Today

[Alistair20000]

Yep..They had around 300,000 consumers.
Expect more to follow.

I tied my deal in with Shell Energy for 18months about a year ago,I would imagine/hope they have enough collateral to see this through.

It’s a very fragmented UK Energy market that is probably not fit for purpose going forward.
The free market for domestic consumers stated in 1996,that model has only been tweaked & is not up to the challenges ahead.
The UK was self sufficient for gas & electricity generation back then.I would imagine half of our energy requirements are imported now.

Imported from unreliable rogue states too which is madness.

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

Imported from unreliable rogue states too which is madness.

Yes daft...Ran down the UK Nuclear industry which was world leading at one point,now we import electricity from France’s Nuclear Industry at a premium.
I remember a few years ago when Russia had a fallout with Ukraine.The Russians just turned off the gas pipeline in the middle of Winter to the former Soviet Republic for a few weeks.

There is very little storage for gas in the UK these days because of the way the market is configured.

 

[angelic upstart]

One things for sure,we will all be paying a lot more once this cull is over.

The cost of gas will fall again soon, and whilst we'll likely pay more it'll be nothing to do with the big six.

If the small firms weren't mostly headed up with early funding from venture capitalists and didn't sell their gas & electric below market value (not forgetting they don't have the same costs as the bigger firms as they don't need to pay Warm Home discount costs or for installation of smart meters) they may get some sympathy from me. Instead, we're now in a situation where the big boys look like naughty money grabbers when they've been undercut for years, with larger costs and the plucky underdog goes bust because of their inability to hedge the cost of gas and electricity. Which they didn't think they needed to bother with because some city spiv chucked 'em 20 mill in the hope of grabbing a few quid.

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

The cost of gas will fall again soon, and whilst we'll likely pay more it'll be nothing to do with the big six.

If the small firms weren't mostly headed up with early funding from venture capitalists and didn't sell their gas & electric below market value (not forgetting they don't have the same costs as the bigger firms as they don't need to pay Warm Home discount costs or for installation of smart meters) they may get some sympathy from me. Instead, we're now in a situation where the big boys look like naughty money grabbers when they've been undercut for years, with larger costs and the plucky underdog goes bust because of their inability to hedge the cost of gas and electricity. Which they didn't think they needed to bother with because some city spiv chucked 'em 20 mill in the hope of grabbing a few quid.

The small energy suppliers do have to pay Warm Front & other Green Levies.
They will undoubtably not have been paid when they went under along with any transportation cost to the Shipper(WWU in this area)
Under Ofgem regulations the Energy Suppliers still in business when this is all over will have to meet the costs of Warm Front & the Green Levies from failed suppliers amongst themselves.
Installation of Smart Meters for a small energy supplier would be contracted out,so there would have been a liability for them.

The warning signs have been there in the past couple of years.Nottingham County Council tried to to supply cheap gas & electricity to the residents in their area,it went tits up last year at a estimated £10m loss to the Council Tax payers in that area.

Too many in the market for a quick buck.

 

[angelic upstart]

They all have to pay the Green levies, but only suppliers of 250k or more are obliged to join in the Warm Home Discount payment.

Agree, there's too many in the market, plenty of decent newcomers Octopus, OVO, Shell, the one that the bloke who owns FGR runs. Most of the others are always going to struggle as they don't hedge properly and rely on external cash to offer an unrealistic price to the consumer and then go bust when it all falls around their ears. Interestingly, in the UK we usually have fairly cheap gas prices, but fairly expensive electricity costs. Partly due to half the nuclear reactors we have being on outages.

Hinkley will arrive soon. Sizewell, Moorside and Bradwell a few years later I expect and the UK will be fairly self sufficient for electricity at that point given the renewables market in the UK.

 

[Mr Jinx]

There's talk our supplier, Bulb, will have to be nationalised.

They're too big for another supplier to take on apparently.

Back to the seventies!!

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

It’s quite alarming that the CO2 supply in this country which is critical in food production & healthcare is dependent on the whim of a private foreign owned company.

 

[angelic upstart]

It’s quite alarming that the CO2 supply in this country which is critical in food production & healthcare is dependent on the whim of a private foreign owned company.

I'm not sure we Brits own much that could be considered critical. This needs to change.

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

I'm not sure we Brits own much that could be considered critical. This needs to change.

I don’t believe we do anymore...Other country’s are not as daft.

 

[Mr Jinx]

Kier has just released a document on his "Vision for Labour".

John McDonnell was quick off the mark to rubbish it calling it a long essay unlikely to inspire voters and likening it to "the Sermon on the Mount written by a focus group".

You go girl! Handbags at dawn.