British Gas Announce 7% Hike

[libspero]

Another scam Joe Public bends over for :angry: What can we do?

Put on a thicker jumper?

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

This morning I picked up my pint of milk and chocolate croissant from the CO-OP. Yesterday the milk cost me 45p and the croissant 72p today the cost was 51p and 83p respectively so thats a 13% and 15% hike!!! Makes the 7% seem deflationary.

I see a Zimbabwee style run on the pound coming soon. We won't see protests, riots on our streets or strikes as David Cameron will tell us off for being un-english (sigh!) as we are in it together.

Nice to see the students out fighting their corner.

you can rest assured we are in this together comrade, its killing us over here too

Edited November 12, 2010 by Tamara De Lempicka

[leafygardens]

Anyone heard anything about Ovo?

http://www.ovoenergy.com/our-energy/

Fixed rate plan

Guarantees your bill won’t skyrocket even if energy prices do. Helps you manage your bills because the price per unit of your energy will not change during your fixed contract

If your account is in credit, you’ll earn 3% interest equivalent on what’s in there. We think it’s only fair that if your money’s with us you should be getting something out of it.

Heard about 'ebico' they say they are a not for profit company. Same prices whether you are on a meter or pay by direct debit, from memory. Easy to change suppliers nowadays.

[Realistbear]

No comment from Ofgem the regulator. So the winter increase must be fair

I wouldn't be surprised if they are not on the "payroll" to keep schtum.

[16bit]

This morning I picked up my pint of milk and chocolate croissant from the CO-OP. Yesterday the milk cost me 45p and the croissant 72p today the cost was 51p and 83p respectively so thats a 13% and 15% hike!!! Makes the 7% seem deflationary.

I see a Zimbabwee style run on the pound coming soon. We won't see protests, riots on our streets or strikes as David Cameron will tell us off for being un-english (sigh!) as we are in it together.

Nice to see the students out fighting their corner.

A 6p hike on the milk and 11p hike on the croissant is quite insignificant really. This would only be a cause for concern if it was happening every day, but then if that was the case, people would just stop buying there.

I don't see any Zimbabwee style run on the pound coming at all. All countries (western) are secretly working in concert behind the scenes to ensure the currencies are where they want them to be. Zimbabwee didn't have that luxury as they're an outsider who the rest of the world doesn't get along with.

Edited November 12, 2010 by 16bit

[longtomsilver]

Haven't you got anywhere else near?

Pack of 10 individually sealed Pan Au Chocolat at Lidl for £1.29

Thanks for the pointer - i'm not a savvy supermarket shopper and usually end up hemorrhaging cash there (Tescopoly!). All this 'deflation' has had me worrying over my house fund and i'll need to save much more just to keep up with 'deflation'. i'll do a recce of my nearest Lidl (6.2miles) over the w/end - i'm not paying 83p again

[longtomsilver]

A 6p hike on the milk and 11p hike on the croissant is quite insignificant really. This would only be a cause for concern if it was happening every day, but then if that was the case, people would just stop buying there.

I don't see any Zimbabwee style run on the pound coming at all. All countries (western) are secretly working in concert behind the scenes to ensure the currencies are where they want them to be. Zimbabwee didn't have that luxury as they're an outsider who the rest of the world doesn't get along with.

A few months earlier the same Pan Au Choclat was 69pence... it's only going one way.

Zimbabwee was once the 'food basket of africa' and holds a huge amount of mineral reserves. They will get back on their feet again.

[Jason]

Hmmm... I'll try plan B.

Plan B: Tell BG a false meter reading which is quite a bit higher ... they never read it anyway, as I'm never in when they visit!

[tricksters]

This really annoys me how these energy companies ALWAYS increase prices before winter and then do us a big favour and drop them before summer. But summer prices never fall below the previous years price. Another scam Joe Public bends over for :angry: What can we do?

Ditch British Gas for a start. No scruples equals record profits.

Do a bit of research. Make the phone call. Choose another provider.

[Number79]

Zimbabwee was once the 'food basket of africa' and holds a huge amount of mineral reserves. They will get back on their feet again.

Do you know why Rhodesia used to be the bread basket of Africa?

They will never get that back, it will remain a poor, violent and corrupt country.

[Protect Rural England]

Do you know why Rhodesia used to be the bread basket of Africa?

They will never get that back, it will remain a poor, violent and corrupt country.

Actually Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) will likely get back on their feet again. It will be run by the Chinese, for the Chinese. The indigenous will be slaves to the Chinese.

Nothing really changes other than the Master.

[Pauly_Boy]

Do you know what really pissed me off, it was the BBCs reporting of this.

A 7% rise in gas is seen as bad news, yet if house prices rose it would be seen as good news.

When the gas prices go up, they have some old coffin dodger saying how it's going to hit them hard, but what about the young who can't even get an income or job to even pay for a house, let alone a gas bill.

My father said it's because rising house prices make people feel richer and shows the economy is improving, I said well it's good that gas prices are going up because that must also show the economy is improving, he wasn't impressed.

I wonder what the Daily Express headlines would be if it's owner had a load of centrica shares!

[catsick]

The problem is that the UK has almost used up all the bountiful free gas it was given in the north sea and is now left with no storage as was never needed but a decent distribution network it will need to plug in to somebody else's resource. That in the shorter term is likely to be Gazprom who will want their pound of flesh and in the slightly longer term it will probably be shale gas from Poland, where there are mind boggling amounts being discovered at the moment.

The uk basically kept the deficit down to reasonable limits by having the free supply of oil and gas, as this goes there will be real hardship, I would imagine within 10 years we will be watching a new auf widersehen pet on tv with a bunch of English blokes living in a shed in Poland doing some sort of menial labour for the super rich local poles, all long back from their stints in the UK ....

[singlemalt]

I'm torn on this one. Clearly there comes a point when increasing the price of anything essential starts to become damaging especially to those on low fixed incomes, however they're a private company there to make money and pay taxes not a charity.

If people complain that they always do this in winter surely it wasn't unexpected then?

[dubsie]

Suppliers of essential domestic services are largely recession-proof.

2011 is going to be tough. Inflation, interest rate increases, fuel prices soaring, higher taxes, rising unemployment and public sector cuts.

How are we going to avoid a double dip.

[Number79]

We are being farmed, get used to it people.

Moaning helps nothing. Make an alternative choice or vote with your feet but there is no point in moaning, it just numbs us all to it.

[OnlyMe]

The problem is that the UK has almost used up all the bountiful free gas it was given in the north sea and is now left with no storage as was never needed but a decent distribution network it will need to plug in to somebody else's resource. That in the shorter term is likely to be Gazprom who will want their pound of flesh and in the slightly longer term it will probably be shale gas from Poland, where there are mind boggling amounts being discovered at the moment.

The uk basically kept the deficit down to reasonable limits by having the free supply of oil and gas, as this goes there will be real hardship, I would imagine within 10 years we will be watching a new auf widersehen pet on tv with a bunch of English blokes living in a shed in Poland doing some sort of menial labour for the super rich local poles, all long back from their stints in the UK ....

In comparison, the UK has plenty of land, there is absolutely no shortage to allow a market to provide housing, space for industry and manufacturing, which unlike increasingly restricted energy supplies (and having to import them with intentionally devalued currency) is a situation which is entirely self-imposed.

[winkie]

Haven't you got anywhere else near?

Pack of 10 individually sealed Pan Au Chocolat at Lidl for £1.29

When I got mine home I counted there are now only 8 in the pack.

[profitofdoom]

The problem is that the UK has almost used up all the bountiful free gas it was given in the north sea

That isn't strictly true.There is a lot left but it isn't as easy to get out as that which we have used.With rising prices though it becomes more viable there should be enough for 30 years.

[Milton]

How do British Gas factor deaths into their corporate profits? Deaths, as a direct result of their price increases this winter?

Who holds them accountable?

British Gas made £585m in the first half of 2010, some 98% more than the same six-month period in 2009.

Yet just the year before, in 2009 Operating profits at British Gas jumped by 58% to set another record high.

This was a jump from £376 million the year before which in turn beat the previous record of £573m set in 2007

The Government have allowed this to continue for way too long.

Profits for murder, should be British Gas's Motto

Freeze Profits, not Pensioners.

Edited November 13, 2010 by Dan1

[Ah-so]

I have no idea what is happening to wholesale gas prices, so it is tricky to say whether a price is "fair" or not. However, there is competition between suppliers, so if you do not like British Gas, switch.

A scam that does annoy me is NPower, who I use, set me a monthly direct debit, but for some reason I am always about £100 pounds in credit (although this does reduce slightly after the winter, but never to anything close to zero). As a result, I am always funding NPower's working capital interest free. If I am doing it, so is everyone else. The regulator must crack down on this.

[tricksters]

I have no idea what is happening to wholesale gas prices, so it is tricky to say whether a price is "fair" or not. However, there is competition between suppliers, so if you do not like British Gas, switch.

A scam that does annoy me is NPower, who I use, set me a monthly direct debit, but for some reason I am always about £100 pounds in credit (although this does reduce slightly after the winter, but never to anything close to zero). As a result, I am always funding NPower's working capital interest free. If I am doing it, so is everyone else. The regulator must crack down on this.

Well don't do it then.

[HeathMan]

I have no idea what is happening to wholesale gas prices, so it is tricky to say whether a price is "fair" or not. However, there is competition between suppliers, so if you do not like British Gas, switch.

A scam that does annoy me is NPower, who I use, set me a monthly direct debit, but for some reason I am always about £100 pounds in credit (although this does reduce slightly after the winter, but never to anything close to zero). As a result, I am always funding NPower's working capital interest free. If I am doing it, so is everyone else. The regulator must crack down on this.

The Boss of British Gas has been on the TV endlessly repeating "wholesale prices up by 25%". This was contradicted by an energy analyst interviewed on BBC News 24. They said the wholesale price increases range from 3-25%, not 25% only. When asked if he Mr Brit Gas was a liar she politely said that what he said should be disregarded completely!

[The Pale Rider]

Just enquired about getting a wood burning stove installed, going back to the old days when I went up the glen looking for kindlers with my granny!

[tricksters]

The Boss of British Gas has been on the TV endlessly repeating "wholesale prices up by 25%". This was contradicted by an energy analyst interviewed on BBC News 24. They said the wholesale price increases range from 3-25%, not 25% only. When asked if he Mr Brit Gas was a liar she politely said that what he said should be disregarded completely!

My experience of BG is that they are institutionally corrupt or incompetent or both. I won't touch them. I had a year and a half of bills for three different meters, none of which related to me. I wrote to them many times, made endless telephone calls, but nothing made any difference. They just kept sending bills and threats of court action. I eventually realised that the threats were intended to intimidate and make me pay up, so I stashed them away for future reference and ignored them whilst my small claims court case was building against them. Come small claims court day, the stupid fools sent a solicitor to defend their stupid case, which they lost, plus they had to pay expenses incurred by me. I could not believe the stupidity I encountered along the way. The strategy seemed to be, just keep sending the bills. Whatever happens, just keep 'em coming. How many people in that situation would eventually crack under the intimidation and just pay up. I went on a British Gas complaints forum at that time and there were endless similar cases of stupidity, incompetence or downright criminality - take your pick. A dastardly company you shouldn't touch with a bargepole.

I feel better now. Will get the beers in ready for Eng / Aus.