Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

got it in one Ber, who sold all the utilities off? were certainly paying the price fer it.:(

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Oops ... thought this was about gasoline:eek:

By the way, what are you guys paying for gas (petrol) these days?

Isn't natural gas a public utility over there? I get my natural gas from Ontario Hydro, and my electricity comes from them too ... It only makes sense that utilities should be publically owned, or at least Crown Corporations.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

We only have ourselves to blame really. All that energy saving lightbulbs stuff, the not leaving TVs on standby, washing your clothes at 30 degrees, etc, has all had an impact on the energy companies' profits, so the prices have gone up!

Sod the environment! I'm burning energy for all I'm worth from now on!! :D

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Luckily, for the last 25 years we have not had gas.
The property in Darwen was all electric as was the property before that.
The only dealings with British Gas was getting a bill, which I contested, for use of their equipment. They attempted to charge me for a gas pipe which they said was connected to deliver gas and for a meter which we did not have.
The gas supply had been capped and the meter removed over 25 years before.
The Jobsworth who came to investigate the nonpayment of the bill threatened to take me to court....and get this.....he threatened to my cut gas off.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Saw this on the news very frightening for old people and people on low incomes

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

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Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

EDF put their gas prices up by 22% and electricity by 17% earlier this week........all the major companies will go similar routes....there is no real competition these days......and it is time that the price of gas was divorced from the price of oil.

There will no doubt be genuine fuel poverty this coming winter and not just for pensioners....there will be working low paid families who will just be above the level where they would qualify for help.....and remember these prices will have a knock on effect on the food that is produced....staples like Bread are bound to go up.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

I am a regular checker and switcher.
I did a search for a fixed rate tariff a few days ago, and the best price cap rate was from the company I am with at present and it would be 150% more than I am paying now:eek:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

I think originally it was so that there was parity in the prices of both commodities.
So that one couldn't steal a march on the other....but if anyone knows any different then i am happy to be corrected.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Would it not be because they're found in the same place, therefore supply is linked?

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Explain......................:confused:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

The household fuel prices have got out of control...just a thought..if the Electricity and gas were still public companies..would this, or any Goverment, risk losing votes by allowing such price increases while making huge profits?.. I think not... thanks alot Maggie Thatch!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

exacty the point i was making early in the thread, certain people aint commented on that though, maybe cos its indefensible.:rolleyes:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

yep...missed it but spot on Cashy!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

not sure even that would work now, everything public that was sold fer 30pcs of silver is well knackered now, cos profit always beats the consumer. it wasn't perfect before, but compared to now it was.:rolleyes:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

The Divies in power can't buy them back............they have no money.
This shower of turkey's have been in power for eleven years and still they harp on about the past.
Eleven years to get thing right is a hell of a long time.
OK, we have slated Maggie.....Throw her into the Thames you say.
What about throwing GB off the Forth Bridge for good measure?
Harold Wilson made a complete balls of the countries finances.....Gordon Brown is doing exactly the same.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

oh its good to see ya imply your lot cocked it up in the first place.:D

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

I think you should abstain at the next General Election Pal.
I know your views and respect them.
I don't think the New Labour stand one chance in hell of getting re-elected. :)

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Be under no illusion. A nationalised company still has to produce things at cost to the taxpayer. The huge rises in wholesale energy pricing would still affect it.

Now which do I want; A company that has no competition and no incentive to do better or produce cheaper products, or a company that has to compete for its customers, driving the prices down.

Monopolies are terrible for the consumer, whether it be public or private. It is only through competition that we can ensure our providers do not get complacent.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Would say our suppliers are being very complacent and they don't give a toss about the poor beggars who need what they are selling!!!!!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

You lucky beggars with chimneys -you can burn your furniture ;)

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

That calls for legislatiion...........are our governers prepared to act to curb the profit makers?........I don't think so.
A lot of them are shareholders or advisers and would loose out.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

yeh but when they did cyfr, services were a damn site better as i'm sure anyone who has lived through both options will verify if they are honest.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Oh dear..here we go again... "the spirit of free enterprise" ...it's all the same stuff from the 80's.. next we will hear about the "trickle down effect"..big business makes massive profits on the back of public services and we..the public..will benifit as those profits "trickle" down to us... nowt's changed much in the New Conservatives eh?

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

There is call for a “Windfall Tax” to be introduced…will see what happens.

Windfall tax call after BP makes £1.5m every hour

Windfall tax call over BP
Call for windfall tax on BP's 'obscene' £37 million a day profits

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

ya mean ****all tax dont ya bonnyboy?:D

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

You may have a point there Royboy...you mean like selling off British Steel and the minister in charge of the sell off (George Younger) becomes head of the new company...selling off London Transport and the minister in charge (Norris) becomes the head of the new company.. thieving Tories!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

:D Probably turn out to be just that :rolleyes:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

thats load of bollocks even if it was true i would rather see the money go back into the country than the chosen few. tories say they are for competition how come its the same people who always profit ie thatchers mates.we dont need to pay for them just compulsery re-posses them if they can nationalse a bank and bal them out they can nationalise and r-create the infrastructure of this country and bail out the backbone of this country and not just the chosen few .the more think of the selling off of assets the more it stinks.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Yes I do mean that.......Are you happy with your lot?

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[quote=Royboy39;612952]Yes I do mean that.......Are you happy with your lot?[/quote
This Government are not "my lot"...I just know from my guts that the Tories mean more and more agony.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

[quote=Mancie;612953]Then who are?..........Not the BNP or is that an awkward question?

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

[quote=Royboy39;612957]I would rather cut my hand off than vote BNP or Tory.. I will vote for almost any other that may keep the Tories out... there you go

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

[quote=Mancie;612958]Raving Loonies............Ye that fits :p

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

[quote=Royboy39;612959]Si Senor

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Can't see a problem,Gordon assures us inflation is only 3.8%.Although by my calculation my personal inflation rate is 25%.But of course I took into Account Food-Gas-water-petrol-electric-beer and fags-bus and rail charges,in fact everything MP's claim as expenses.Sorry I missed out Their holiday homes in Cornwall and their second homes in London(Sorry Jack could not resist):hidewall::hidewall:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

[quote=Royboy39;612959]Don't bring "my lot" into this! :D The REAL Loonies are the Thatcherites who sold off our public utilities, effectively putting us all at the mercy of out-and-out profiteers, and the Nu Laborites who have done not one thing to reverse this process over the last 11 years. What is the point, Mancie, of keep ranting on about what the Tories did in the 80's? In my view, it was appalling, but it's history now - you can't change it. Why the hell aren't the present government doing something about it NOW?

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

[QUOTE=Wynonie Harris;613019]the problem i see with anyone trying to reverse the damage is the SOCIETY CREATED BY IT. imho.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

[quote=Wynonie Harris;613019]OK Wynonie and the rest of the "quick fix" brigade on here.. are you prepared to pay higher taxes to buy back the utilities the Tories gave away?... and do you really belive the next Tory Goverment will eradicate all..or any..of the present enconomic deep kak we are ending up in?.. I winge about the last Government because we have had a relitivley good 11 years..when the Tories get back in it will be at least another 4yrs of kak!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

The problem I see with reversing it is people don't want higher taxes. They're hurting enough. A big bureaucratic, inefficient, state monopoly with no competition, no reason to improve prices, no reason to improve services is not something I want.

80% tax on petrol, pensions wrecked, alcohol tax, cigarette tax, increased car tax, abolition of 10p rate, doubling low income workers tax, more car tax, a retrospective one hitting those who can't afford to pay for a new car the hardest. Yes, people are going to struggle to pay gas prices.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

yep..takes me back to the good old day's...we had 18yrs of it under "your lot" ;)
Plus almost 4 million unemployed
riots at the drop of a hat
poll tax
a strike that killed off whole towns and communities
V.A.T increases

loved it!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

got a summer job fer ya - selling rose tinted spectacles.:D

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

I'll have to decline, I'd ruin your business. :D I can't see nothing pleasant about Gordon Brown. Nothing, absolutely nothing is being done to help the lowest income workers in this country, quite the opposite, they're being punished. Labour have failed :mad:. Its time for a change.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

This offer might run out soon so have a look while its still available.

The prices are fixed until September 2009 which should save you money due to the current round of rises and additional predicted rises in January. Go compare with what you're paying now!

Fixed Price Energy 2009

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

aint been my business fer many years cyfr, i'm more consistent- i hate em all.:D

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

This has to be one of the most depressing threads ever...I mean no one can win.. it's all gone tits up and looks like it will last along time..oh woe am I !

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

the thing that really worries me is who will speak on behalf of the poorest in society, they have no one to be there advocate, the more well off can speak for themselves. apart from "the postman" i dont think there is anyone in the cabinet who has had a real job, they have never had to worry about paying a gas bill, (we pay their constituancy bills) our own MP is conspicuous by his silence, NEW LABOUR has got into bed with the money mad big business class. they have been mesmerised by wealth and now supp with the devil. we need a party that can speak for the many not the few, labour is a busted flush, forever trying to out tory the tories. quite frankly they make me want to vomit.:mad::mad::mad:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

fair play to den..thumbs up mate!

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would love to see Good old Gordy try and live off the dole lol

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Hit the nail right on the head, Den. And before you start, Mancie, I think the Tories are just bad. That's why I vote Loony these days. We're doomed I tell you, doomed!!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Is it any surprise? How else were they ever going to get elected and re-elected two more times?

So many people crow about fairness and equality for all, with consideration for the poorest sections of society, but nobody is willing to make sacrifices for such a place. In 1992 Kinnock was odds-on to become the next PM and people said that they didn't mind a higher rate of income tax if that extra money would was spent on the NHS, etc. Everyone said it before the election, but the same people all voted for the 'tax cutting' Tories when it came down to the wire.

This is the kind of society and political system that has been created for us, and we've all played our part in feeding this beast!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Yes Tin Monkey..and we have a government that has lost it's soul over the last 4-5 years..we have to accept another 2 years of it..no scope.no ideas..and then we will be slam dunked with David Cameron.the new Etonion's answer to Jimmy krankie ..god help us!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

like ive said countless times, WHY have we got to this? never any response from certain sections is there?:rolleyes:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

"There is no such thing as society."...remember? :rolleyes:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

You will not get a response... the tories only come out when the going is good for them..they are creepy crawly types ..

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

now thats being very unkind to Slugs.:D;)

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

.........anyway, these price rises, i got the martin Lewis emergency email on friday about this so i swapped to a capped tarrif from e-on immediately,they have`nt gone up yet but will any day so i got in there just in time, at least i escaped rip off British gas.......:rolleyes:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

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Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

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Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Mmm, just a thought Cashman and teh other Cyfr bashers,

This is the longest Labour goverment for a seriously long time, why haven't they reveresed it by now if privatisation was so bad for the country? You support this shower out of a similar blind loyalty that Cyfr supports his lot. There seems to be many policies that you like to blame on Maggie but Tony and Gordon have done nothing to reverse.

I'd agree that we currently don't seem to have a particularly 'good' choice of opposition but looking around the world I don't think we are alone in that.

So, what do we do, reduce our consumption of gas? difficult for some and I can see an issue of people doing exactly what margaret has alluded to i.e. burning stuff, waste, etc. this will make a mockery of the clean smokeless environment that we have known this last 30 years or so.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

as fer why they aint reversed it, i have given my opinion numerous times in threads, obviously ya aint seen em, cos i reckon it would have registered with you ian.;)

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

so for my benefit and that of the context of this discussion would you care to repeat them?

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

The answer is quite simple. We have 'middle of the road' politics today, which is something we've been fed for a long time. Extreme ideologies (meaning left and right) are massively unpopular today and the big parties know that. The result is that we are served two (possibly three) options every 4 or 5 years which basically taste the same, but are labelled differently on the political menu.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

no cos i have already said it in this thread, see post 44.:rolleyes: i was obviously wrong, ya aint read this thread.:D

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

No society will ever stand still, even language evolves, to say we are where we are purely because of whatever political persuasions have come and gone is like saying I can steer my car by blowing on the wheel.

If we had nationalised teh industries soon after teh labou victory we would be in a different position to where we are now, whether that would be better or worse is open to discussion but will never be known for sure. who knows, if maggie hadn't got there first Tony might have done it himself to raise the funds to implement his dreams for the labour future.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

im sure some of you will remember Sid, you know, that half baked twonk in the BG privatisation adverts. well , here we are, now importing the stuff from europe. so much for Mrs T and her share owning society. id burn the bitch at the stake, (with coal imported from east europe). or alternetivly kick her down a mineshaft, along with all her other cronies, such as the repugnant peter lilley, tebbit, parkinson, gorman, archer et al.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

What we need is a good old fashioned dictatorship, they would just take them back then :D:D

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

I am late joining this thread and must say I think you have all diversified too far from the main point. Politicians love it when we do this cos it means the real topic never gets throughly discussed.
So back to topic: British Gas made a profit of 571 million pounds last year(Source todays Times). Why cant they re invest some of this considerable amount of money to keep their customers costs down. If they will not do it voluntarily they should be made to do so.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

If they reduced the payout to their shareholders, those shareholders would sell the shares and buy some others, and that could lead to company collapse.
I believe thats how it works and I dont like it either

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Do we as consumers care if the company collapses? The government will have to step in and 'save' the company (which by the way was our company before the government of the day sold it off). They have already set a precedent with Northern Rock

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

I can't see any company that will voluntarily bring about its own downfall.
Northern Rock had lending practices which were overdependant on influences outside their control.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Then they have to be compelled to re invest. It is not inour interest to worry about British Gas share holders, when they invested they took a gamble - not all gambles pay off and they have no moral right to profit from peoples misery

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

that i can go with investment IS a gamble- end of,its no differant than having a bet, if ya lose ya pay the piper- i did no complaints, gas shareholders should be treated different? not in my book.:rolleyes:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

On the news tonight they said british gas had posted a billion pound in profits for their first quarter sadly for them its 20% down on last year.

something else to think about ...did you know the bank of england is also privatly owned...I always thought we the people of england owned it sorry not so.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

British Gas is owned by CENTRICA it is they who made just short of a billion pounds in the first 6months of the year not the first quarter.

Centrica employ just under 34,000 people in 11 countries.
I'll let you do the maths but to me it's not all that much money for a round the clock company.:jimbo:They have just invested £500 million in a new gas powered generator in this country.
Do you want to buy some shares?:hidewall:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

When all the nationalised industries and the council houses were sold, there were reasons for it, they were so dilapidated that it would have cost billions in taxes to put them right and get them up to scratch, and a vain attempt to get some of the poorer people owning thier own homes and on the shareholders list, it worked for some, (more for the rich than the poor), New labour got back in power and did nothing to change any of the things they were so vehemently against, why? because they would have had to raise taxes to buy everything back, and raise them again to bring all the utilities and houses up to scratch, niether did they give any power back to the unions, there is no way out for any future government than raising taxes, unless they find a way to get some of the billions that the fat cats have made since privatisation. so yes, we are doomed whatever your votes, and that is why many dont bother voting, they know the writing is on the wall whatever we do.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

The government has nearly doubled its estimate of the cost of British military operations in Iraq, according to figures revealed by Gordon Brown yesterday.

The chancellor has now agreed to set aside more than £5.5bn to pay for the operations. At the time of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, ministers allocated £3bn to cover what they called "the full costs of the UK's military obligations" there. Guardian 6/12/05

Now that could be a good subsidy for fuel prices and that is before we start with the cost of Afghanistan, and a a hundred and one other things our government throws our money away on

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

...including the two aircraft carriers that the government have ordered, because we still harbour the myth that we are a "world power" and, of course, our nuclear deterrent which is controlled by the US anyway. It's high time we shed some of our imperial delusions - they are costing us dearly!

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

We will have the money when Labour have sold off what is left of our electricity industry to the Frogs.Already sold the gold reserves so I'm hiding the family silver along with the Rembrandt and the Picasso.:hehetable

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Got our gas bill through the other day and it has tripled!!
We are really going to struggle to pay it like countless others.:mad:
We have turned our water off so we aren't using any gas at the moment.
We are boiling the kettle to wash dishes etc.. and luckily have an electric shower.
It is ridiculous in this day and age that we are going to have to revert to the old ways to keep warm in winter because we can't afford our bills.
We have decided if it carries on like this that we won't put the central heating on,barely use the fire and will invest in warm jumpers and a big thick duvet.
God knows how old people are going to cope:(

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Just switch suppliers if you don't like it.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

I have switched 5 times in 6 years and at present rates I am still on the best deal for my usage.
That doesn't stop ALL of them from raising prices and mean me paying a heck of a lot more to whoever is the 'best deal'

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

This nation! we need to defend ourselves from foes whom are with us now and maybe in the future.. the commision to re-enforce the naval fleet is a brave descion from a Goverment under fire.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

paris heard a report on radio lancs this morning, was a lancs coalman,saying more people are switching back to coal, they still have coal nooks so have a storage place, he also said they were looking at re-opening some pits in lancs, cos theres still plenty of coal in em, will be interesting to see how/if that develops, have me doubts personally, but think it would be great, warmer homes, extra jobs, etc, mind that would never do,would it?:rolleyes:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

extra smog, decent sunsets, etc :D

seriously though, if you have a fireplace, there is loads of places to get free wood, why not go back to burning it?

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

May well become viable with the increasing wholesale cost of energy. However I would rather we invest in cleaner energy sources which don't contribute to global warming. Rising water levels and enlarging deserts could lead to a lot of housing displacement and starvation in the future.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

The coal fired stations being considered have a system to capture their emissions for underground storage - safer than nuclear waste storage

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Its OK mate, Baxenden is pretty high above sea level, we will be OK :D

there are plenty of examples of housing on stilts/pontoons etc around the world, flooding does not necessarily displace the housing, only the way we currently build them.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

That's good then. Coal will still run out though, we need a better alternative. Nuclear is one of them. Nuclear waste amounts are tiny for the amount of energy they generate.

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

I was thinking about people in mudhuts in other countries. :)

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

The more water - the more mud -the more huts - solved.:hehetable

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

What about coke? No ... not the peruvian marching powder, the stuff you get from burning coal in coke ovens? I remember we burnt coke after the clean air acts; worked great.:dancedog:

Re: Ouch ! 35% price hike from British Gas
 

Are there not harmful emissions from burning wood? And there is not much wood in England when you think about it. Is there any geothermal potential? There is probably enough hot air generated in Westminster to heat the whole country:theband: