Now I remember the days of a nationalised energy industry, and yes, it had many failings. However, now we have had privatised energy industry and the gloss of quick profits which were made predominantly by the average working member of the public, whilst corporations bought up these minimal shares in favour of long term huge profits. So the gold rush is now over! Or at least for the millions who barely afford to heat their homes due to I believe, several military campaigns over the last twenty years or so. This fact is NOT an opinion on those campaigns, but of course one has an impact on the other. Of course one could accuse me in my next observation of being a conspiracy theorist when I suggest that where there is muck and bullets, there is also gold. Meaning that those billionaires around the world make huge profits in times of crisis. So why would the rich ruling classes want a stable financial environment?! This is not the workings of a vivid imagination but more the workings of a logical position. Money does not just disappear into the ether, it gets re-assigned, or should I say re-invested into other aspects of the financial world, so the wealthy not only become rich, but become insanely rich. Take a look at the increasing amount of billionaires in the Russian energy sector. Then look at all the dubious goings on around these people and how they achieved this immense wealth! I know!
Getting back to our own energy sector and with the experience of approximately 30-40 years of seeing how these business' work. There is a very strong case for re-nationalising these sectors.
Radical? Yes! Sensible? Probably yes! When you phone your energy supplier due to a problem, whether it be a practical one of loss of service, or one of sorting out payment methods. How long do you suppose your average time spent on the phone to these people? I would guess at an average of at least twenty minutes! My own experience it would be far more, upto at least an hour for even the most simple of problems. How can this be? In the days of the nationalised industry I remember you would phone the company and speak to someone. Within minutes your problem had been reported and the wheels set in motion for it to be corrected. No I am not viewing this through rose tinted spectacles as there were many things wrong not least the huge workforce employed often unnecessarily to carry out many tasks, but of course the operation is much the same, but now these people are employed in answering phones rather than digging the roads up. I live in rural Wales and gas and fuel oil is charged at a higher unit rate than other areas of the country. It's obvious why, due to being more remote communities. Is it right that it should be this way? Absolutely not. Someone living in the United Kingdom should pay no more or less than anyone else. It is a right not a luxury!
Water, a warm home, lighting. These are essentials to our way of life. Being told in times of cold that our elderly should put another layer of clothing on is positively Stone Age and more to the point obscene. Charging VAT on these energy prices that the companies are increasing without restraint, because they can, shows how the government is skimming off the top of their profits and therefore has no interest in reigning them in. My argument could be construed as being almost communist! No it is not as I have no problem with a free market, if one company produces a computer and another company is in competition making a different computer that is fine. But when it comes down to the essentials of life, food, warmth, clothing, water, to then see our successive governments in cahoots with these companies even if by virtue of charging VAT, then this is absolutely unacceptable.
This particular government is promoting the use of the switching of providers. By switching you are not saving, all you are doing is deferring your payment, as a year or even less in many cases the company will raise its prices, and in a particular case, where a few years ago one company raised its gas prices by 25%! Yes! After a few months had gone by it reduced them by around 11%! Telling the public how good they were at keeping their prices down, whilst at the same time having in real terms raised the prices by 14%! Then as we all know they will ALL blame wholesale prices, even though their profits are soaring through the roof. IF you can get larger discounts by making a bulk purchase, then it couldn't get much better than a whole nation making that purchase! We would have multi-national companies falling over themselves to sell to us in bulk, thereby giving ourselves HUGE leverage in pushing these prices down, and at least creating a form of stability.
We were told in the 60s and 70s, what a wealthy nation we would become with North Sea oil! Where did all this money go? We were also told about 20 years ago that the oil would have run out by now! The oil is still flowing and you won't have even heard an estimate from anyone on when it is likely to run out. This argument is not on green issues but more over on how we the public are being manipulated and ripped off when it comes to the essentials for life!