Energy prices set to rise, again!

The whole shambles is due to the privatisation of the public utilities, Thatcher’s chickens coming home to roost.

Yes, and chronic under investment in infrastructure and plant–the real British disease.

I’m amazed some tw*t or other hasn’t jumped in yet to inform us all that Lady Margaret was the best person ever, the second coming, the best prime minister etc etc (delete where you feel applicable).

A bit like the rail network, myself I would renationalise the lot.

And so would I. There are some areas that private companies should never, ever have been allowed access to. The present state of what were the public utilities, IMO, vividly illustrate what happens when you do.

🙂 the problem with foreign countries holding your assets is as with the Dollar, the USA you will find is worried about China buying up and holding trillions in Dollars in cash and that if they dump it all on the market you could quite easily devalue the currency so much so it would bankrupt the country or collapse the infrastructure.

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Tony, We could always move to Poland, Ukrain, Lithuania, I hear there are a lot of houses up for sale at dirt cheap prices, seems the occupants have moved elsewhere.;) where the pavements are lined with Gold.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Yep, and with the majority of our Energy and Water supply companies now foreign owned, if the world ever turns sour again we will be up a dry cold sh*tcreek without a lightbulb. Something that should never have been sold to foreign countries.

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Half of the farce is simply down to not building replacements, it’s alright selling off the Gas, and what was the Electricity Board, but private enterprise will milk the assets without building new, then expect the taxpayer to pick up the bill. A bit like the rail network, myself I would renationalise the lot.

Gas is expensive because the UK does not have the storage capacity so in summer wen demand is low it gets pumped a Ross the channel where they have the capacity at low prices, then is pumped back at high prices during the winter.

http://www.engineerlive.com/Oil-and-Gas-Engineer/Interview_Opinon/More_UK_gas_storage_needed_to_ensure_integrity_of_supply/21941/

The whole shambles is due to the privatisation of the public utilities, Thatcher’s chickens coming home to roost.

The private companies were quite happy to use the existing facilities, but no chance of them renewing or new build without subsidies or price guarantees, plus of course right now we have the gross waste of money being pumped into the useless damn windmills, which are about as effective as a chocolate teapot when it comes to reliable energy production.

Half of the farce is simply down to not building replacements, it’s alright selling off the Gas, and what was the Electricity Board, but private enterprise will milk the assets without building new, then expect the taxpayer to pick up the bill. A bit like the rail network, myself I would renationalise the lot.

Gas is expensive because the UK does not have the storage capacity so in summer wen demand is low it gets pumped a Ross the channel where they have the capacity at low prices, then is pumped back at high prices during the winter.

Currently Britain has just 15 days of gas storage against 99 days in France and 122 days in Germany, leaving it far more exposed to disruptions. Being the largest gas producer in the world, Russia holds a mighty power over Europe. Indeed, just turning the valves off on three pipelines could virtually switch off the European economy. Fig.1 highlights the extent to which the UK is lagging behind its neighbours in Europe in terms of both current and planned facilities. France, Germany, Spain and Italy all have higher current capacity than the UK’s total projected capacity

http://www.engineerlive.com/Oil-and-Gas-Engineer/Interview_Opinon/More_UK_gas_storage_needed_to_ensure_integrity_of_supply/21941/

The Government’s energy policy is a shambles and a scandal.

I.M.H.O. Charlie, I think this Government as a whole is a shambles, one could write a book on all their “U” turns, and failed promises.

I am absolutely dreading the next Gas bill coming through the door.
Whilst these M.Ps. have cosey offices the heating paid for by us, pensioners who feel the cold, HAVE to stay at home in the warmth, eg. They(M.Ps) no doubt only have their home heating on for a few hrs per day, but the elderly need theirs on from when they get up, until they go to bed.
But as Blair said, “Things can only get better” he forgot to say, “For me”.

Jim.
Lincoln .7

Think about it.

When the government privatised the Elect industry they probably new that emmisions would be tightened up in the near future and now most of those big coal fired power plants have had to retrofit flue gas cleaning at great expense and so up goes the price per KWH.I started in one of those large coal fired plants in 1968 after I left the RAF.During the training we did I recall that some critical part of the boiler would probably last a good 40 years and thats about now so should any safety issue aride the private company will not hesitate to shut it down.Now most of the remaining big coal fireds are all about that age so watch this space as they say!!
For those interested the bit of the boiler I was refering to was the boiler drum,a storage for water and steam seperation ,usually about 4 inchs thick and vulnerable to metal creep and stress due to daily temperature swings!!!

What of course the BBC omitted to explain and failed to even raise questions about was WHY – and the reason is simple. The UK has committed to the most stringent emmission reduction levels and so conventional power stations some of which could be running for another 10 years are to be closed. Windmills produce next to nothing and so we have a shortfall, which some of us have been writing about for a considerable time.

The Government’s energy policy is a shambles and a scandal.