Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#21
Mr. Keeling is certainly on the right path with the points he made. I was more than a little astonished to hear him speak this way. Again we have the; "Q-When is a tax not a tax? A-When it is a levy." conundrum.
On top of this is are the recent fines imposed on energy companies who had done nothing, and next to nothing, as far as spending this 'indirect' tax.
P.S.
I have had 'energy-saving' light bulbs through the post, gratis, from my supplier. There was me thinking that this was an example of corporate largesse, encouraged by a thoughtful Government, but no. I bought the bulbs, I paid for the postage, and I paid the wages of all those involved in the process...good old me?
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#22
The extra 10% tax to the government works out at about £200 a year for me on my dual fuel bill, as a tax payer it would make little difference how I pay it. I just wish I did not have to pay it at all, in no way would I say I am "better-off" than the average low earner who still falls into the basic rate tax group.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
#23
Green taxes. So We here in the UK contribute, at most, 2% of the total carbon dioxide emissions put out by man-made processes including transportation, energy production, the manufacture of cement etc. etc.
Remember that's a mere 2%.
In terms of the total amount of carbon dioxide in the world's atmosphere the contribution made up by man-made emissions accounts for approximately 3% of the total the rest from natural source.
Remember that too - All of mankind puts only 3% of total carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
So 2% (our contributions here in the UK) of 3% (the rest of the world including ourselves) is so small a figure it's barely measurable.
Ever feel like you've been had?
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#24
#18
P.S.
This is the rest of the repost I pasted...
"The levies pay towards cutting the cost of energy waste and encouraging low-carbon investment as well as helping vulnerable households pay for their supply.
SSE claims transferring the costs of these "environmental and social policies" to the taxpayer would slash up to £4bn from UK energy bills, saving families around £110 each.
It accused policymakers over many years of failing "to highlight adequately the cost to consumers of the policies they have pursued."
But Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "Half of an average energy bill is made up of the wholesale cost of energy.
"This far outweighs the proportion of a bill that goes to help vulnerable households with their bills and to cut energy waste, and to encourage investment in the new low-carbon energy generation we need to keep the lights on.
"SSE's own figures show that wholesale price rises have contributed more than policy costs to this price increase, as a share of the bill...
[The remainder (below) is just more guff, as you can see.]
...The row comes after Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged to freeze energy prices for 20 months if he wins power in 2015.
The Tories continue to dismiss the vow as a "gimmick" and insist it is not possible, given international fluctuations in wholesale prices.
Coalition ministers also stress that they have already taken action to simplify the system with fewer tariffs and make it easier to switch supplier.
But Mr Miliband used the SSE hike to justify his position, saying: "New electricity and gas price rises announced today show the need to freeze bills.
"We need an energy market which works for ordinary families and businesses."
Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint added: "Hard-pressed consumers are now paying the price for David Cameron's failure to stand up to the energy companies."
Labour has been forced to reframe its economic attacks around the cost-of-living as Britain's recovery continues to gather pace.
Energy prices have become the centre of the argument in recent weeks following Mr Miliband's surprise freeze pledge at his party conference.
Mr Cameron accused the party leader of wanting to live in a "Marxist universe" when the pair clashed about the move at PMQs on Wednesday.
Mr Miliband claimed the Prime Minister was ignoring a cost-of-living "crisis" and had chosen to back energy companies instead of consumers.
In an attempt to regain the initiative, the Government has announced action to stop large rail ticket price hikes.
It is expected to announce further measures to help families in the coming weeks.
:: A special edition of Jeff Randall Live on Sky News at 7pm tonight will be largely devoted to energy pricing."
N.B.
It would be wrong, in my view, to swallow all that is said about wholesale prices. Many, if not all, energy supply companies have employed the neat trick of separating themselves from their, 'wholly-owned' subsidiary, wholesale suppliers.
[It may be that it is the supply companies that are the 'wholly-owned' subsidiaries of their parent wholesale companies, not that this helps 'us' either way.]
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
#25
That video highlighted how useless Eamonn Holmes and his ilk are at their job. A golden opportunity was lost there to ask real questions. Instead we ended up with a "scoop" where Fallon was caught telling porkies. Nothing new there.
Like an excitable child you could see the glee on his face because some bog standard minister of state was found out diddling the figures.
Well how jolly watergate eh? No wonder they were so proud to feature it on the front page of their website.
Pathetic broadcasting. Nearly as bad as BBC coverage of all this.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#26
Brave fellow you are Philip. I couldn't bring myself to watch it.
Mayhap EH was under the fell influence of the ghost of Marty Hopkirk? [See the bottom line of the quoted text, #24]
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#27
Eamonn Holmes is the worst political interviewer I have seen, he has a habit of asking a question then talking or shouting over the reply.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
#28
Tom, you said earlier "Rather than go off on one (this one time). Let us (the customer/consumer) begin by challenging the Reds, as they are out on the pavement, as outlined by Philip above."
Just to say I already have and was the response was quick and not very encouraging. It's as if they're in denial over green taxes and embarrassed by it all.
Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
#29
Has also to be said that those who bray to the masses that energy companies are profiteering need to bear in mind that energy companies, on average, make around 5% profit. Not that bad when you compare that to other companies.
As regard green taxes I don't want to spoil anyone's afternoon but you ain't seen nothing yet:
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/electricity-prices-to-skyrocket/#more-4924
It's not like I didn't warn you all.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#30
14 October 2011...
Energy firms dispute Ofgem profitability figures
"Ofgem said that the profit margin for energy firms had risen to £125 per customer per year, from £15 in June, but suppliers said that was misleading."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15302723
"In reaction to Ed Miliband's speech at the Labour conference, Angela Knight, Chief Executive of Energy UK, said:
"Freezing the bill may be superficially attractive, but it will also freeze the money to build and renew power stations, freeze the jobs and livelihoods of the 600,000 plus people dependent on the energy industry and make the prospect of energy shortages a reality, pushing up the prices for everyone.
No other industry is facing the investment challenge of the energy sector. Last year alone the energy industry invested £11.6bn - the equivalent of building the Olympic stadium twenty times over. We need to invest £110bn over the next ten years to build and renew the power stations, the wires and the pipes everyone in the country needs to keep the lights on, our homes warm and to supply the power for British business to compete, to recover and to grow.
And as for breaking up the energy companies or banning them both making and selling electricity - that is not the way to bring greater competition into the market or to provide the range of services which domestic and business customers want. What is does is send a clear message to overseas investors that the UK is closed for business when just today the World Energy Council said the UK has one of the world's fairest and most secure systems for supplying energy.
Disbanding Ofgem to create Ofgem II is posturing to no purpose. Energy companies have already simplified the tariffs they offer. The energy companies are already regulated and fully open about what they make, what they pay and the amount they are reinvesting. Today's announcement is not the adult debate the industry has long been calling for and that customers deserve.""
http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/home.html
P.S.
I thought I knew the name...
"Angela Ann Knight (born Angela Ann Cook 31 October 1950) is the Chief Executive of Energy UK, the trade association for the energy industry. She is the former Chief Executive of the British Bankers' Association and the former Conservative Party Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Erewash from 1992-97. She also served as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1995-97."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Knight
Shouldn't that be 'Eye-wash'?
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
#31
Watching the telly over the past few hours and listening to the radio it seems that the line from labour head office is to just keep on churning out the same old rubbish about profiteering by the energy companies.
Not only is deluded but highlights the paucity of rational and critical thinking among labour acolytes.
Simple minded is too dignified a response to these useful idiots.
Of course they're helped in their quest for economic destruction by highly paid broadcasters who inevitably give them free rein to propagate their mad, deluded propaganda.
Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
#32
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#33
But it IS true that we have had at least 8 climate changes; we didn't cause the previous ones, so why are we being blamed for this one ?
Even if we (the U.K.) went completely green, it wouldn't make a blind bit if difference; conserve energy yes, but that's a different argument.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#34
Guest 977- Registered: 27 Jun 2013
- Posts: 1,031
#35
Agreed Roger, conserve energy AND resources as they are limited, but the major climate changes will happen whatever we do.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#36
Madness and disgraceful.
Doesn't this show utter contempt for the British public who are being screwed for green energy with their bills going up through the roof.
Roger