DEAR GOD! ENERGY PRICES! :(

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im sat here with a notification ive just opened from powergen, it says my unit ammounts going up to 19.8 pence per kilowatt hour for the first 900 kw/hours then 9.66 pence per kilowatt hour after that...

now the last time i checked the unit ammount it was december 2004 and there was a pre pay card meter here which always means youl pay a higher unit ammount, it was 6.75 per kw/hour with a 50 pence per week standing charge, i even went and found the old bill to prove it.

the pre payment meter is no longer here so i was hoping that the cheaper unit price for paying a normal bill would absorb a little of the price increases but this is just insane.

now i know energy prices are increasing, im not expecting it to be free but surely this cant be the future for us ? im seriously worried about whether we are going to be able to afford it when the bill comes this winter. im almost too scared to check on what the gas unit price is at. it used to be 2.82 pence per unit.


EDIT:


THIS GETS MY GOAT! :mad:



Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 09:24 GMT 10:24 UK

Rising UK electricity prices have generated bumper profits for Drax Group, the owner of Europe's largest coal-fired power station.

The company reported pre-tax profits of £317m ($593m) for the first half of the year, up from £13m a year ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5337822.stm


as you can see, the price increases are 20% market driven 80% bull **** energy companys.
 
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i still cant believe that in the 21st centuary we still dont have the capabillity to generate power at the local level, otherwise called "micro generation" i think. imagine if every river had water turbines every 5 miles, every house had a solar panel and every area capable had wind turbines. this should be where we are at now! its insane that we are still burning coal for power and relying on russia for gas.
 
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Soldato
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Well I hope mine does not go up again, As in Auguest it went

From:

Gas £25
Power £25

To:

Gas £48
Power: £35

and i just cannot afford it to keep going up....
 
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russia has europe by the balls.... they know that if we do not pay for their gas, the chinese and indians will... so pay up or freeze essentially....

our country is too obsessed with "the enviroment" and forgot about the fact that we all have a basic need for energy... by all means try and protect the enviroment, but the extent to which it has gone will mean all those damn tree huggers will be freezing and living by candlelight very soon....

time to wake up, build more nuclear plants, plant more wind turbines and we can worry about the "asthethics" of the enviroment when we're warm and the lights are on....
 
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According to the news this morning, the cost of gas has gone down over the year.. its just they take ages to pass the savings on
 
Soldato
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Just stay well clear of powergen and british gas and also n power, im with southern electric and have found them quite good as you also get shopping discount vouchers etc.
 
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frosty03 said:
time to wake up, build more nuclear plants, plant more wind turbines and we can worry about the "asthethics" of the enviroment when we're warm and the lights are on....
Nuclear plants cost billions to build and the power they produce is not cheap so it is not a solution to high energy bills... nor is it a long-term solution due to finite supplies of uranium.

FWIW I'm with edf energy and I believe my daytime units are about 15p/kwh. which is over 100% more than it was two years ago...... sadly I haven't had a 100% pay rise in that time.
 
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there was a report on the bbc breakfast business slot this morning where they stated that gas and fuel prices have started falling quite a bit, but guess what, it could take up to 9 month's before they start to drop the prices they charge the consumer :mad:
 
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locutus12 said:
i still cant believe that in the 21st centuary we still dont have the capabillity to generate power at the local level, otherwise called "micro generation" i think. imagine if ever river had water turbines ever 5 miles, ever house had a solar panel and every area capable had wind turbines. this should be where we are at now! its insane that we are still burning coal for power and relying on russia for gas.

Of course we have the capability.

Alas, in the world of €,£ and $, the above statement means nothing. Unless you can convince enough people that they can make such and such an amount of money, which will then continue to grow at such and such a rate, you can't get jack ******* **** done.
 
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sidthesexist said:
there was a report on the bbc breakfast business slot this morning where they stated that gas and fuel prices have started falling quite a bit, but guess what, it could take up to 9 month's before they start to drop the prices they charge the consumer :mad:
The overall trend is only going in one direction - any price falls will only be temporary and short lived.
 
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The true comparisson is between the 9.66 pence and the previous 6.75 pence.

The 19.8 pence figure for the first x number of units is just the power company's way of taking the standing charge. Once upon a time all utility firms charged a fixed fee per month or per day for the standing charge. But now some of them have applied spin to the situation. They like to say "look at us, aren't we good. We don't have a standing charge". Well, they do. They take the standing charge by loading the first x number of units consumed. It also brings into play something called confusion billing. Something that the big utility companies are very good at. Hands up anyone who fully understands all aspects of a BT bill. I handle them every day and I don't. I've given up querying them with BT as their staff don't have all the answers.

Don't be afraid to use a smaller company. Too many people think they are getting 'better' service by sticking with the old state-owned monopoly companies. The smaller companies are usually significantly cheaper and provide a far far better service. Including a UK-based call centre that actually answers calls!! I could tell you who but I would be pimping.
 
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What I found out yesterday to my horror is that wven though the energy prices rise the energy companies only reassess your account annualy.

This resulted in me contacting Scottish Power only to find out that I owed them £400 as they had not increased my direct debit to compensate for the changes.

As I was hacked of with them and also myself for not checking sooner I realised that also I was not able to switch to a cheaper provider (if there was one) because the debt has to be paid and as I am not able to pay it in full I cant change until it is cleared.

One very small positive, you have to look very hard, is that they let you pay off the debt interest free over a max of 16 months.

The final situation is that my energy prices have gone from £50 per month to £117. :eek:
 
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graemer said:
What I found out yesterday to my horror is that wven though the energy prices rise the energy companies only reassess your account annualy.

This resulted in me contacting Scottish Power only to find out that I owed them £400 as they had not increased my direct debit to compensate for the changes.
many people are being caught out by the annual review of budget schemes not really keeping up with the price increases of the last 18 months. If you hang onto your bills and can work a calculator then do your own review and tell your supplier how much you want to pay per month. Or contact them and ask for a review - there's no need to wait for the automatic annual review. This is assuming that they will answer your call ;)
 
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