Showing posts with label Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. Show all posts

Friday, 26 February 2010

Same old stories from our energy suppliers.

Nishidaira Dam.Image via Wikipedia

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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Friday, 18 September 2009

OFGEM, how useless can a company get?

Petroleum field at Moreni in the 1920sImage via Wikipedia

If the government is playing games with where to make the best cuts in order to gain votes to try and dig them out of the hole they have buried themselves in over their dying months, then they need look no further than the regulator "OFGEM" as their lack of authority in "regulating" the "big six" power companies makes them even more useless than the government.
They can point out to the main energy suppliers that they are fleecing the public, but can do nothing about it.

As the price of energy is supposed to be regulated by the price of oil, and as the price of oil has fallen, the rip off merchants are still telling us that prices will go up rather than down, giving us the excuse that the energy we are buying now was purchased at the higher rate. The regulator accepts these lies without question, and never asks for an explanation on how the bills never come down when the energy bought at the cheaper rate comes into the equation.

We do not need to waste money on OFGEM if that is the only control they have over the "big six", as the general public are a lot quicker off the mark in noticing these rip offs given the fact that it us that has to worry about meeting the extortionate bills.

If the government are looking to make cuts, then this is one company that won't be missed, unless they give them the power to do something about the "regulating" in their job title, otherwise why spend the money on them.

It might not be much of a saving, but as the saying goes, "look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves."
Their are enough people getting paid for doing nothing in this country without this farcical company, who are as much use to the public as an ash tray on a motorbike.

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