General Chat

With pay rises like this I am not surprised that Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) increased their prices - a report in the Sunday Post today claims that the boss of SSE has seen his basic salary soar by almost 40% in just three months.

Between 2012 and 2013 he also enjoyed a pay increase of 5.6% as his base salary rose from £516,000 to £545,000. But that amount doesn’t take into account the other financial perks Philips-Davies receives. In total last year, while he was still number two, he took home a package worth £1.8 million — double what the average worker earns in a lifetime.

http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/uk/salary-hike-for-energy-boss-while-vulnerable-struggle-with-bills-1.141048

Thought that with all the publicity about the hike in the prices for gas & electricity I would post this as it is the birthday of a woman who was a very outspoken Conservative MP - one of her notable comments relates to old people and their heating bills.

On 23 October 1946 Edwina Currie, former Member of Parliament, was born,. apart from the controversial comment about salmonella in eggs, two other comments attributed to her were, that old people who couldn't afford their heating bills should wrap up warm in winter, and that northerners die of ignorance and chips.

Don't think much has changed ;-).

Please do not start a discussion about Edwina Currie - Thank You

There is no doubt that the 13 smaller companies offer much better value for most of us compared to Big Six. I think there is a significant cost benefit in having less than 1% of the market, but once a company rises above that threshold they have to compete like-for-like with Big Six.

Reason I know that is that my company was the cheapest by far for most of last 2 years. Not Utility Warehouse, by the way, who are one of cheapest. But they were too successful in gaining new customers. As a result they had to pay all the extras (things like renewables and social tariffs) and they had to hike prices by 18.7% this summer :-0 :-0

Still competitive though, and I am a loyal customer who will probably not change :-)

Very tempted to put my central on today, decided instead to dress like an Eskimo, hopefully I can keep it turned off until the beginning of November :-(

mine's not working - waiting for the engineer to call!!!

gorgeous day here though - wall to wall sunshine but bitterly cold

so cold today, despite 3 layers of clothes. Had to put the heating on much to my annoyance

forgot to say - wih Utility Warehouse, all telephone calls in UK to landlines are free

Milliband is not proposing an indefinite freeze on prices which is what the D.M., Cameron & Osbourne pretend he has said.

Milliband's point is that because the same utilities control both upstream power generation and downstream delivery they can (a) manipulate the cost split as they wish and (b) manipulate market rates so as to benefit their bottom line rather than customers. Hence the never ending increases and few drops despite large falls in spot gas during 2013.

He is proposing a temporary freeze only while upstream/downstream are decoupled. The energy companies claimed that this would be the end-of-life-as-we-know it, lights out etc - and then offered fixed deals to 2017 !!!

Millibands proposals would wreck the current cartel and make the retail market brutally compliant. Independents already used to operating like this will have a clear advantage. The current dinosaurs not so much ...

It is true that he will need to pass primary legislation and that the cartels would probably oppose him tooth and nail. I am very dubious that he could get the new scheme up and running in 20 months - 3 years would be more realistic and a price freeze that long is probably not on. Unless of course Labour revenges itself on SE England by fracking Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset. But then the Tories propose just that anyway!

It is also untrue that the changes towards greener energy are the sole or even main factor driving up prices. However with a free market on the supply side the Scots will have their work cut out delivering wind energy 1000 km south of the border.

ssh don't tell everyone, don't want them to get too big :-)

they are Maddie - their monthly bills are so easy to read - they've won prizes for them apparently - they are extremely helpful on the phone

I've been with them for about three years now - thre was no hard sell and they even came to my house to help set up my computer to the new broadband and after about a month the rep called on me to see if I was happy with the way things were going - their call centre is UK based and the staff are all English speaking

Ann
so am I, they are a good company, so far

I'm never changing again - I'm staying with Utility Warehouse - I use them for my gas, electricity, broad band, wi fi and telephone - I find them excellent

grave robbers all of them

now was it a coincidence or something we don't know about that Ed Miliband appears on Watchdog and threatens to freeze prices if he gets into government. Lo and behold we have this announcement


maybe i am to suspicious !!!!!

Anyone with a bit of knowledge will appreciate that if the Forward Market for supplies rises, it needs to be passed on to the end consumers. What irritates is that when it falls, the retail price never drops!

As an aside - if you are on monthly direct debit and your supplier has tried to up your payments, its worth checking with them.
A neighbour had her heating up high last winter for her husband who was terminally ill. Her supplier recently wanted to increase her DDR to £200 pm to cover a debt, then sent her another revised demand for less than that. When she phoned them she actually asked them 'Do you know what you are doing?'.
The reply? 'No' !!
Her DDR is to stay the same as it was the last time it was properly reviewed. :-D

With all the publicity surrounding gas and electricity prices, maybe you are thinking about changing your tariff or your supplier in the light of the announcement below about SSE increasing their prices from 15 November 2013 - maybe today would be a good day to do this.

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) customers will see an average 8.2% rise in gas and electricity prices from 15 November, the company has announced.

The energy firm said the rise reflected higher costs of buying wholesale energy and paying to deliver it to customers' homes, plus government levies.

The price rises will affect about 4.4 million electricity customers and 2.9 million gas customers, not including those on fixed-price tariffs.

SSE's average annual standard dual-fuel energy bill will rise to £1,224.

The company said that 8.2% was an average rise. Customers in the North of England and central Scotland would see the smallest increase, of 7%, in their dual fuel price. Customers in the South East of England would see the biggest, up 9.7%.

SSE last increased its prices a year ago. It has now pledged not to raise them again before autumn 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24465979