EDF Energy Price Rises

[garybUK]

Working in the energy industry this is good news that EDF were the first of the 'Big Six' to announce but with others likely to follow, have you changed your habits yet to reduce energy bills?

Has anyone seen the investment into Smart Meters that will automatically control thermostats and electricity systems to reduce consumption ?

Is anyone sick of the fact they correlate Gas prices with the price of Oil for no real reason?

And should the UK/Europe invest more in Nuclear to offset the ever increasing price of Electricity Generation?

EDF Energy has announced it is putting up gas prices by 22% and electricity prices by 17% for domestic customers.

The firm has blamed the increase, which comes into effect on 25 July, on record wholesale energy costs.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7525105.stm

 

[BoyBach]

It's yesterdays news concerning EDF that I find more vexing. They are buying a large chunk of British Energy, which effectively means that the French government will be in control of our future nuclear energy output.

At the risk of sounding a protectionist, I believe that a country should be able to produce it's own food, steel and energy with minimal outside intervention.

 

[arkitect]

have you changed your habits yet to reduce energy bills?

Well changing our habits at home has not helped us much… We end up using less electricity/gas and we still pay more every month.

Is anyone sick of the fact they correlate Gas prices with the price of Oil for no real reason?

Right now the price of oil is a convenient scapegoat (Not saying it isn't a factor…).
Just wait until the quarterly results come out again:
They'll be declaring huge profts (as per usual)… Huge bonuses for the top (probably a few thousand lay-offs to keep the City happy)

The government will trot out the sound bites how energy companies must do more to help…

Repeat cycle ad nauseum.
Cynical? Yes, I am.

 

[Carrot007]

Working in the energy industry this is good news that EDF were the first of the 'Big Six' to announce but with others likely to follow, have you changed your habits yet to reduce energy bills?

I find your use of likely quite disturbing? They are all going to do it, probably much quicker now someone else has taken the first step.

To be honest unless you are trying to confuse companies into not billing you due to admin chaos then changing supplier is pretty pointless.

Yes you can save X. But only if all suppliers never chaneg their prices again. It's all much of a muchness.

I'll stay with npower since I work there and they make it worthwhile, fwiw I would not recomend them, nor any supplier to be honest!

Actually I have tried to reduce my electic usage and have been turning things off when possible. To be honest it really seems to make little differnce. I have my usage going back to 2002 and I generally use about 19 units a day.

Gas on the other hand is problematic, Since I have an inside meter it never gets read. They then estimate I have used 20 units in the quarter! This is all fine and well but then the 2 yearsly mandatory check happens and they have read my meter. They will probably disgard the actual read because they have been estimating it for so long. Not that this is good as it will have to be paid for at some time and gas it just getting more and more expensive, put it off and pay more! Ahh well, I have given them actual reads but they still come back every quarter and estimate a ridiculous low ammount.

Maybe I can enslave some hasmters to power my mac ;-)

 

[BoyBach]

British Gas owner Centrica has announced it is to raise gas prices by 35% and electricity prices by 9%.

The UK's biggest domestic energy supplier said that the price hikes would take place with immediate effect.

It blamed "soaring wholesale energy prices", but added that standard tariff prices would not rise again in 2008.

The move comes just a few days after rival EDF Energy put up gas prices by 22% and electricity prices by 17%, with other firms expected to follow suit.

Watchdog Energywatch said it believed the 35% gas bill rise was the biggest single increase in the price of a utility seen to date.

Dual fuel

Centrica said the average dual fuel bill for a British Gas customer would go up by 25% - putting the average household bill at about £1,250. This is the second increase this year, after a 15% rise in bills in January.

"We very much regret that we have had to make this decision at a time when many household budgets are already under pressure," said British Gas managing director Phil Bentley.

"The simple fact though is that we have entered an era of unprecedented high world energy prices."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7533389.stm

 

[theBB]

Is anyone sick of the fact they correlate Gas prices with the price of Oil for no real reason?

And should the UK/Europe invest more in Nuclear to offset the ever increasing price of Electricity Generation?

A lot of long term wholesale natural gas contracts have a formula that ties the price to oil.

Nuclear energy plants are very expensive to build, so it takes a very long time to amortize. The government would have to guarantee a high price for electricity for decades to entice companies to build more of them. I don't know if the current prices are high enough, but assuming it is, are you willing to be locked into these prices forever even if the oil and gas prices go down sometime in the future?

 

[arkitect]

Boy… I can't wait for winter.

 

[G4DP]

There claim that prices are at a record high are actual BS. prices have only gone up 40% not the 70% that they claim. Also the price per therm is only 215 cents compared to 300 cents in November 2006. All it is is to make more money, I don't mind paying a fair price as everyone should, the recent price increase is a step to far.

In total with the two companies recent rises, we have seen our next bills be 35% and 9% more respectively. Thankfully we live on the top floor of a block of flats so we get all the rising air.

 

[garybUK]

There claim that prices are at a record high are actual BS. prices have only gone up 40% not the 70% that they claim. Also the price per therm is only 215 cents compared to 300 cents in November 2006. All it is is to make more money, I don't mind paying a fair price as everyone should, the recent price increase is a step to far.

In total with the two companies recent rises, we have seen our next bills be 35% and 9% more respectively. Thankfully we live on the top floor of a block of flats so we get all the rising air.

Purchase price of Gas from interconnectors from Russia / Norway = ~£1 per therm, BG have been selling it at around 60p a therm, now like any other business they can't sell energy at a loss. It's a lot to do with demand from emerging markets, we don't have cheap fuel from Morecombe gas fields anymore.

 

[BoyBach]

Centrica has reported just under £1 billion in profits for the first half of 2008, so no wonder the poor lambs had to put up prices by 35% with immediate effect. "Reasonable profitability", my arse!

 

[garybUK]

Centrica has reported just under £1 billion in profits for the first half of 2008, so no wonder the poor lambs had to put up prices by 35% with immediate effect. "Reasonable profitability", my arse!

Well if you knew anything before you comment, Centrica's profits are largely coming from their storage and generation. Tax from Storage and Generation is around 40% so around £400m of that profit will be filling out the Exchequers pockets!!