Same old stories from our energy suppliers.

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British gas has announced profits of well over fifty percent, and are trying to console us with the fact that they have reduced our rates by seven percent, but when asked why they have not been reduced more, considering that the wholesale price of gas has been coming down steadily for the last year and a half, we are told the same pathetic old story.

They buy their gas supplies around two years in advance, trying to make out that when they purchased it, it was bought at a high price.

If this WAS the case, then we should expect our rates to come down steadily over the next two years, but as we all know, when winter comes around next year our rates will be at their highest point to coincide with the time we use the most gas.
So when do we ever benefit from the cheaper wholesale prices?

During the summer when we use the least, will be their war cry, but the problem I find with that is, we will not have used up all of the cheaper gas by the time they hike up the prices for winter.

I can never recall a time when the consumer ever benefited from the cheaper gas, not even when wholesale gas was being given away FREE not so long ago.

The other war cry when all else fails is that they have shareholders to think about, and future investments in green energy, and I do realise these things have to be considered.

That was all taken in to consideration when the government controlled energy companies were privatised, so if they did not think they could make a go of their business, without fleecing the public, then they should never have undertaken the enterprise in the first place.

I have to ask the question again. Where or rather when does "OFGEM" earn their salt as it is they that are supposed to look after the consumers interests, looking at the wholesale prices, when that gas is introduced to the system, regardless of how much they cost the energy companies, and make sure the energy companies are charging us accordingly.

So far "Ofgem" have been getting paid for sitting on their thumbs, it's about time they got off their backsides and stood up for us, and forced the energy companies to charge us according to the price they paid for the gas, WE are buying from them, instead of letting them hike up the price every winter to suit themselves.

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The post office privatisation

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The government has a cheek holding the royal mail pension scheme over the workers to try and get them to accept privatisation as it was Gordon Brown's raids on all pension schemes that put them in the financial mess they are in now and have never recovered from. (My blog 26 January)
The post office could be run as a very efficient business if the government would stop interfering by restricting prices and progressive measures suggested by management to benefit all concerned. It is a public company which should and could stay that way if it was given a freer range by government ministers. This is not the first time that a government has tried to privatise the Royal Mail. The last time it was split into three sections, (Counters, Parcel force And mail.) the idea being to sell it off as three businesses and make more money but that failed because parcel force was loosing a fortune and the mail side of things had to bale it out.
The mail side was contributing one million pounds profit each day to the government then, and although things have progressed in other fields of communication now, it shows the Royal Mail has the potential to be a viable concern if allowed. Lets stop hearing all this nonsense from the government and listen to the workers who are more honest and know more about the running of it. The government has had a lot more out of Royal Mail than the banks it baled out so perhaps they should bear that in mind also.