I missed that. They have effectively said they are waiving 1p, but not said what additional charge they are making for the last 12 months. Unless somebody used the wrong variables for the displayed dates in the detailed calculation and it is the 1p.
The only way they can claim money off me is if they have been charging me from the wrong tariff; example if they charged me 3.5p kwh for gas and it should have been 6p, however when I signed up to the standard deal, if the contract said 3.5p that is what we both signed up for. Otherwise why have a contract? It's now just over 7p as it went up in line with the previous rise. They can't really come back and say "oh, we got it wrong, you should have been paying 10p" because the contract currently reads 7p. But that's all immaterial as the bills match my useage and the tariffs are correct!
And has been shown time and again, all that havrestinf, processing and transporting releases more carbon over the life cycle than just burning fossil fuels.
Or, if you've planted the tree specifically to burn it.
OVO pay 5% interest on credit up to £1000*. Better than building society rates, and in effect they are paying my VAT for me!
www.telegraph.co.uk
I can't see Truss slapping up to 3% on income tax (depending which ban you're in) having campaigned on a policy of cutting tax!Looks like the government is going to have to dig deep intoourits pockets this winter.
The Resolution Foundation are suggesting that there should be a 1p in the pound increase in all income tax rates to pay for this, and whilst some people might object to this, the cost of a 1p in the pound increase in income tax would in many cases be less than the increase in energy bills if there is no freeze to the energy price cap.
I would expect an emergency budget before the end of September.
Covid-style bailouts for energy bills considered as Government warned of civil unrest
Calls for urgent help to stop the crisis from wiping out swathes of the economy
You don't need to be. You just need to have taken an Intro to Psychology course and be able to read a history book. When people's base physiological needs aren't met, governments tend to fall.
They will be met, it's just going to cost more so people will have to be more selective and less wasteful about how they use it. Maybe that's not such a bad thing?
Indeed, it's not a bad thing. But the warning is valid - if action isn't taken to make sure that people can survive through the winter, the Government won't.
There's a lot of hyperbole flying around at the moment. Government is being railroaded into another COVID-style splurge IMO and that's not good. We are all going to be immersurably poorer for a very long time (thanks to inflation, higher tax and poorer public services) if they start dishing tens of billions out for years. And it will be years as energy prices are not going to come down any time soon, if ever. When do you stop handing out the money once you start?
you seem to massively underestimate how many people don't own their home (and so aren't allowed to make efficiency upgrades) or who were living on the edge of poverty before this explosion of energy prices happened (going from £1000 to £4200 in typical bills), or more commonly, both. Many people will not be able to afford the higher bills, and have no options to lower them. You also seem to think everyone is behaving massively wastefully, and that is plain wrong, specifically among those least well off. I'm sure most middle class families could use less energy (and I really hope they will), but not everyone can. Combined with the rising prices of food (and the cheapest options in the supermarket are going up more quickly than the expensive ones!), this could get really bad if the government doesn't step in
That's why I, and loads of others on this thread were advocating for insulation, green energy expansion, etc., with measures like:
And when would you propose government "step out", given prices will not come down to previous levels? Or do we just print money and then everyone suffers through rampant inflation (and guess who suffers most from inflation...)?
Yes, the situation of some middle-class people who won't be able to afford their ski-holiday to France this year is maybe the focus of some. And yes, we shouldn't be tearing our hair out because they might actually have to turn the Aga off!
Completely agree with all of this, other than handing out billions of pounds just to pay bills. Once you start that it's politically very difficult to stop, as has been shown countless times around the world.
The government should only support bills in winter. Hopefully, one winter of support will be enough, but if a second winter of support turns out to be necessary so be it, hopefully with smaller support. I don't believe the government should print money for this, it should be fully funded by extra taxation. My preference would be through an (improved) windfall tax on oil and gas (and possibly electricity) companies. Of course the government should also take other measures to reduce inflation at the same time
The ineptitude of previous governments to plan for fossil fuel price shocks has made bill support inevitable. I wish it wasn't necessary, and if it wasn't for stupid decision like David Cameron's in 2013 to stop insulating, the delay of the zero carbon homes standard, the closure of the gas storage facilities, insufficiently fast roll-out of renewables, relaxation of rules on landlords regarding minimum energy efficiency standards, it probably wouldn't have been. But all those things did happen, so here we are
It was pretty obvious when the day ahead gas price last July was more expensive than it had been at any point in the previous winter.
My plan would be slightly different - very heavily tax dividends from energy companies, but allow them to offset those taxes (and some corporation tax) by putting money into a protected fund which can only be used to fund energy efficiency or renewables schemes - so if they put 1 pound into the scheme it protects 2 pounds in profit from corporation tax in future years. Spending from the fund would be controlled by a separate body rather than the energy companies themselves, and the tax relief would only apply when the money has actually been spent (to avoid them just banking the money).
As the article refers to small businesses, I thought I'd mention reading on my local news site that a small butchers shop is closing because, they say, the cost of refrigeration is now too high. I imagine there are other factors at play, e.g. reduced sales as customers seek cheaper alternatives, but it does show that the impact is wider than just households.Looks like the government is going to have to dig deep intoourits pockets this winter.
The Resolution Foundation are suggesting that there should be a 1p in the pound increase in all income tax rates to pay for this, and whilst some people might object to this, the cost of a 1p in the pound increase in income tax would in many cases be less than the increase in energy bills if there is no freeze to the energy price cap.
I would expect an emergency budget before the end of September.
Covid-style bailouts for energy bills considered as Government warned of civil unrest
Calls for urgent help to stop the crisis from wiping out swathes of the economy
I like that solution for a windfall tax on the energy companies, but I don't think that would be ideal for oil and gas companies. For them, a permanent new tax on dividends (set at something similar to what is already in existence in many other european countries), might be a better option
Energy companies (the ones that sell gas and electric to housholds) aren't making any profit in the current market. There's nothing to windfall tax there. In fact as demonstrated by the number that have gone bust, they are losing money hand over fist.
That varies massively between companies; my supplier (SSE Airtricity, a separate company from the SSE that supplies households in England, Scotland and Wales), is making massive profits because it has generating capacity far outstripping what it supplies to consumers, selling the excess on the market for large profits. Others, such as Bulb and the others that went bankrupt, are in the opposite position as they had basically no generating capacity themselves and bought everything on the market, where prices exploded
What are the advantages and disadvantages to using an Aga unit for the averaged sized family?
Unless there is a need to keep the room that it is in at permanently higher temperature than the outside ambient, only aesthetics really.
Advantages depend on the type of unit, but the claimed advantages are that they are more versatile than a hob/oven combination as they can be used for anything that requires heat (it's not unknown for people to use them to dry their clothes!)
*Allegedly.
