observer Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 With gas and electric prices set to rise; a rise in all food prices on the cards, will you manage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 With gas and electric prices set to rise; a rise in all food prices on the cards, will you manage? Might sound selfish obs, we shall be OK, but I'm sure there will be many who will not!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 i was wondering that im doin my best already cutting down on unneeded punctuation capitals and colour last week after we even ate the cat for sunday dinner bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 The government will need to do something to stop the ever increasing price hikes otherwise you will be back to the dark ages. Flaming torches for illumination. Cooking roadkill in a pot over a fire of twigs on the floor in the kitchen. No tv. No radio. No CD player. No computer. No electrical gadgets of any descript. Dish washing by hand in cold water. Same with laundry. Nothing to do so to bed early every night. Cuddle up to keep warm because there is no central heating. All adds up to population explosion! They used to call it progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 As i see it there are 2 unfortunates in this saga... firstly, it was very unfortunate for the British people that the government of the day gave up price control over these utilities for the sake of a large cash injection into its coffers & secondly ,it is unfortunate but the government of today are not really bothered because every time the prices go up they make a fortune from vat & other taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 So perhaps the Gov could subsidise energy prices? But that's not the full story, they claim they have massive investment commitments in new energy sources and infrastructure; so I guess the choice is to pay through our bills or through taxation, the latter being more affordable to most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 What are you talking about "Perhaps the government could subsidise energy prices"? Are you insane? The government doesn't have any money of it's own, only what it takes from us under duress. <_< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Evidently the Gov are benefiting from these price hikes via VAT etc. As I said (if you read it again), we can either pay as customers or as tax-payers; the former being the less affordable option for the poorest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 So perhaps the Gov could subsidise energy prices? This is what you actually said. And any investment they have is not with their money because it is our money, taken from us in ever increasing amounts and under duress. Don't try and tell us that the government is on our side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2012 Errm, of course "it's OUR money"; either as customers or as tax-payers, WE pay. The difference is, the latter form of payment allows financial protection of the worst off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted October 13, 2012 Report Share Posted October 13, 2012 The way to help people pay for their energy is to stop subsidising loony "green renewables" like windmills. These subsidies, if you don't realise it, are paid for by taxing the energy companies (renewable energy obligation) who pass on the increased cost to the customer. This is the reason why energy costs are rising, not profiteering by the energy companies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2012 I won't argue with that one, they've also closed a number of coal fired power stations (at the behest of the EU), which risks us NOT having sufficient energy capacity in a few years time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Gas prices are going up because the Russians put their prices up, our coal fired power stations are shutting because they have reached the end of their like cycle, The power station in Warrington should have shut many years ago, yet it is still open. The failure on power stations is all down to the government, we should have been building new power stations 20 years ago to replace our ageing coal and Nuclear power stations. All of our current nuclear power station are all running beyond what they were designed to run for. It's very easy to pass the blame, but it is our government who sat on the fence and did not invest who are to blame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Not quite: it's our Government's fault for entering fancifull "green energy" agreements within the EU, without ensuring we have the resource capacity to comply and still meet our energy consumption needs. There is a built in incapacity for our political parties to see or plan beyond the next 5 yearly elections. In the meantime, the existing coal fired power stations could be kept operating to get us over the hump. But there doesn't appear to be any grandiose plan to build a self sufficient energy production capability, nor a programme of demand reduction through home insulation or simply switching highway lights off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Our government has known for over 20 years about our ageing coal and nuclear power stations Obs, All of our Nuclear and coal powered stations have been run for a lot longer than they were designed to do,. Yet they did nothing. Easy to blame the EU, but our coal powered stations have run for slot longer than they were designed to do, and yet were not replaced. They are very old and if we had a proper energy policy would have shut years ago. Fiddlers Ferry when built had a life cycle of 25 years as most of our coal fired power stations had. Because the government dithered it is still open now. If the government had done what it should have done and built new stations when are old ones reached their sell by date we would not be having this conversation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Like all previous governments this one has to produce the best economy it can when approaching elections to try & hang on to power & that means having enough money in the bank to satisfy as much of the population as possible & it will be a very unlucky lot which has to pick up the tab for power station replacement on its own watch so i suppose it is understandable that the problem gets pushed further & further under the carpet.What i do expect as a consequence of this is more price rises on the power front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 To be fair on our present administration at least they have had the bottle on the nuclear front and we are now building new ones. But we still need a lot more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 As I said, none of them can see beyond the next election. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Most coal fired power stations are being closed early because of EU directives, not because they are past their sell by date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 They are not being closed early, you could say earlier than the government wanted, and any lull in power due to lack of power stations is due to the government in action on power stations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Our government has known for over 20 years about our ageing coal and nuclear power stations Obs, All of our Nuclear powered stations have been run for a lot longer than they were designed to do. IMO you are over reacting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 All of are Nuclear power stations were originally designed to operate for 25 years, all now are well over their sell by date, all will start to shut as the new one start to come on line, Hinkley B only runs at 70% due to concerns, Heysham suffers from cracks in the coolant system, Hartlepool only came back on line after a shut down when it's outflow pipe colapsed all due to wear. They were never designed to run for so long, All the nuclear power stations are re licenced every 5 years now, and all have problems. Dungeness will be the first to go as they have lots of problems and is very expensive to keep running. I think Dungeness was off line for more time last year than it was on. In the case of are nuclear power stations it is hard to change parts as you can not get to them, and to a lesser degree it is true of the coal fired station. It becomes uneconomic as the repair cost becomes high. They were not designed to operate for so long. Warrington has just had millions spent on it to try to clean up emissions. Which should see it though to about 2020 unless something major happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 I think Wolfie was being humerous (over-reacting :grin: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 ... and knowing all this Kije, do you think any sensible Government would have signed up to a green limitation agenda until they were assured they could maintain energy capacity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted October 15, 2012 Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 Obs, A sensible government would have planned for are ageing power stations, sensible does not come into it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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