The Video Ref wrote:
The price of fuel and energy is getting ridiculous. I was back in the UK the other week. It cost me £92 to fill a Vauxhall Insignia. And no, I was not at a motorway petrol station. I understand the 'average' cost of heating a house now exceeds £1000 per annum.
They could start by scrapping ridiculous 'green' taxes, that were simply money-making devices introduced by the previous Labour government, at a time the economy was doing well.
The October issue of
Which? stated that the "average annual electricity and gas bill" is now £1,420 and that there has been a 137% increase in domestic gas prices since 2001.
It notes that the six major energy suppliers made £3.7bn profit last year, and says that it is a "myth" both that "energy companies don't make much money" and that "there is genuine competition in the market".
It points out that, in the case of the big six (British Gas, EDF, Eon, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE), "the retail and wholesale operations are linked by a single parent company. These 'vertically integrated' companies can sell electricity to themselves. However, this is carried out behind closed doors and the price the supply arm of the company pays to the generation arm isn't made public.
"The companies often claim they buy and sell their energy on the wholesale markets, but their own accounts show they sell internally."
On the 'green levy': "About £53 (including VAT) of the average annual energy bill goes towards policies to promote investment in low-carbon energy. This makes up about 4% of an average household bill in 2013. It is predicted to grow to £118 by 2020. However the bulk of our bills will continue to be made up of wholesale costs, network costs and suppliers' costs."
The report also points out that77% of the past 91 prices changes were increases.
Irrespective of whether one believes that climate change is man-made or not, it would seem sensible to try to reduce reliance on energy sources that are limited, and also to to reduce carb emissions IF that can possibly help to mitigate the effects of climate change.
