Just back from an uplifting all staff event in Manchester, I see that a petition has gone up on the No10 Downing Street website asking the PM to get energy companies to cut prices. The deadline for signing is, appropriately enough, Christmas Day.
One energy company chief has just written to me to say “if we do see sustained and significant falls in the wholesale costs of gas and electricity, we will be passing these savings to our customers just as soon as we can.”
Wholesale prices have fallen by at least 22% since July. If this continues and companies choose not to cut prices, then they ought to explain why as their customers will want to know … or want to petition.
If we are to make a positive impact on the ability for the old to have affordable heating, then it should not just be the energy companies that make this happen,the government must also pitch in.
One additional cost is VAT this should be removed for all over 65’s and an additional move that would assist the older person, as we know the older you get the deeper the cold cuts. I suggest government could from the age of 65 reduce the cost of fuel by 10% per year, year on tear and reduce the fuel subsidy by the same 10%, so that by the time a person is 75, they no longer pay for fuel and they no longer receive the fuel allowance. It will only be by some radical change such as this, that the problem of the older person dieing from the cold will be solved. The reason why this works is that people with reduced income will usually choose food over heating so if you give them money for fuel they will spend it on food. Given there is an impending fuel crises looming in the next 20 – 30 years this kind of initiative can be rolled up into the overall UK energy strategy?
Comment by David Taylor — 1 December, 2008 @ 11:09 am |
Your mention of a petition may have some merit, however the petition against road pricing had approx 1.5 million signatories, and I don’t believe that has completely gone away.
Sad though it may be, this government needs to be embarrassed into taking action against the energy companies; Consumer Focus should use the media to highlight the lack of action by the Regulator and the Government to keep them in the spotlight.
There may be six big players in the energy market but it might as well be a monopoly, moving from one company to another is just like moving to a different tariff within the same company, its about time The Competetion Commission was asked to investigate.
Comment by Sid Richardson — 9 December, 2008 @ 10:29 am |
Neat information:) hope to come back.
Comment by MOKLAXATA — 20 May, 2009 @ 5:43 pm |