Causes of Privatisation

Why Utility Bills and Rail Fares are High in Britain ...

 

Most of our energy companies are now in foreign hands and its the same story with Transport, even Thames Water, Britain's largest water company, is owned by an Australian bank ..

 

There are six big energy suppliers in the UK - Scottish Power, SSE (Scottish and Southern), British Gas, EDF Energy, NPower and E.On.

 

Four of the six are owned by foreign groups. Scottish Power was bought by the Spanish firm Iberdrola in 2007, NPower and E.On are owned by the German utilities RWE and E.On respectively; while EDF Energy, formerly London Electricity, is owned by the French state-owned power company Électricité de France (EDF), which is the biggest supplier of electricity by volume in Great Britain..

 

On Transport .. Twenty of the UK’s twenty seven private rail contracts, the equivalent of 74%, are now owned by foreign state owned/backed railways with the vast majority being from France, Germany and the Netherlands. The UK’s privatised railway has the highest rail fares in Europe..

 

Thatcher the Snatcher privatised the energy companies and sold them off to her mates, her mates, mates still own them and that is why our utility bills are sky high today. David Cameron promised in 2012 that he would put every customer on the lowest tariff, were still waiting but not only that, bills have risen regardless with the introduction of the standing charge a year later where customers have to pay an extra 50p a day on average on both electric and gas and Gideon in the budget before the last one even had the nerve to say that bills had gone down.. NO !! .. What he did was raise the prices through the standing charge then he lowered them but their still higher than they were before so what he said was misleading yet no one mentioned it .. My last electric bill came in at £81.60 (1 bed flat) but £25.76 of it was in standing charges so basically my electric bill under the Tories has nearly enough risen by 50 %..

 

In a nut shell these leeches are charging whatever they want because they know that they can get away with it because they don't live in this country, they don't live here but they take our money, not to mention the £££'s in profit that is leaving the country also..

 

so is Neoliberalism a good idea ?? .. No it's down right stupid but to continue it they need useful idiots like the average citizen to help keep their Thatcherism ideology nonsense rolling. The average politician doesn't actually work for us, they work for their donors..

 

We live in a world of Capitalism where it's all profit over people...

 

 

If anyone reading this claims ESA or you claim State Pension then you may be entitled to this years home warmth grant which credits your electric £140 .. for BG customers you can apply online here .. For others you will have to contact your supplier .. http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/gas-and-electricity/the-warm-home-discount.html

It's a very well oiled machine...all you can do is what you have done.

The telephone service improved dramatically when it was privatised.

The expensive part of the rail system is the track operation and maintenance which is run by the state.

Energy is expensive because of government mandated renewables and the regulatory prevention of shale gas extraction.

 

Four of the six are owned by foreign groups.

 

Companies want to make a profit, them being foreign makes no difference to that. They are meant to be regulated, Milliband would have given them more teeth, but the people did not like him.

Altho they may have want a regulator with more power.

 

---------- Post added 29-07-2015 at 08:34 ----------

 

The telephone service improved dramatically when it was privatised.

The expensive part of the rail system is the track operation and maintenance which is run by the state.

Energy is expensive because of government mandated renewables and the regulatory prevention of shale gas extraction.

 

How is that performing?

 

Energy bills have less than 7% included due to climate change measures; if you were to factor in how much money is saved due to insulation and efficiency measures it would be much lower.

With oil prices at historically high prices, its not really a surprise that energy prices are high too. Whether public or private ownership would make much difference to prices, I doubt it.

Ibeco don't do any standing charge and are cheaper than most of them, there isn't any difference if you pay by direct debit or pre pay card either.

 

But how many of you will change supplier for the sake of an email ?

It seems not many.

Ebeco don't do any standing charge and are cheaper than most of them, there isn't any difference if you pay by direct debit or pre pay card either.

 

There are a few non-profit making energy companies, I was with one, but I moved house and just did go back to them.

 

All landlords such be with a company such as Ebico, no standing charge when the house is empty. That is causing a friend of mine a lot of grief.

 

https://www.ebico.org.uk/

Companies want to make a profit, them being foreign makes no difference to that. They are meant to be regulated, Milliband would have given them more teeth, but the people did not like him.

Altho they may have want a regulator with more power.

 

---------- Post added 29-07-2015 at 08:34 ----------

 

 

How is that performing?

 

Energy bills have less than 7% included due to climate change measures; if you were to factor in how much money is saved due to insulation and efficiency measures it would be much lower.

With oil prices at historically high prices, its not really a surprise that energy prices are high too. Whether public or private ownership would make much difference to prices, I doubt it.

 

What on earth has oil price got to do with domestic gas and electricity costs?

 

You're quote wrong on the cost of green energy.

In the US, electricity is half the price of the UK.

What on earth has oil price got to do with domestic gas and electricity costs?

 

You're quote wrong on the cost of green energy.

In the US, electricity is half the price of the UK.

 

Sorry, why dont you like it?

Sorry, why dont you like it?

 

If we were generating our electricity by the cheapest means available, why would it be twice as than in places like the US and China who are less keen on climate change measures?

 

There are a wide range of ways climate change measures impact energy costs.

Carbon floor pricing.

Feed-in tariffs.

Subsidies for construction.

Payments to shut down when there is low demand.

Back-up for when it's not sunny/windy.

 

To name a few.

The easiest way to work out the cost is to compare our electricity cost with countries that don't have the above measure.

 

If it were down to privatisation, you'd expect energy costs to be lower elsewhere in the EU where socialism is more popular. In fact they're higher.

 

The cheapest electricity in the developed world is in the US, which is probably also the most capitalist country.

To get cheaper electricity you need less government involvement, not more.

The evidence for that is quite plain.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_pricing#Global_electricity_price_comparison

Edited July 29, 2015 by unbeliever

Other countries have allowed private sector to invest in power stations, fracking, wind farms, etc. The UK has avoided allowing them to invest for 40 years so the successful foreign companies are now investing in the UK but still they find that the UK doesn't want them to invest.

 

Vote for nuclear power and fracking.

 

 

UK rail fares aren't the most expensive in Europe.

http://www.seat61.com/uk-europe-train-fares-comparison.html#.VbiJovlVhBc

Energy is expensive because of government mandated renewables and the regulatory prevention of shale gas extraction.

Electric energy is expensive because successive British governments sat on their thumb for decades about renewing and extending the park of nuclear power stations. Considering the energetic dependence of the UK, that was procrastination bordering on criminal.

 

Earlier privatisation will have 'helped' such procrastination immeasurably, since the decision would have to be jointly taken with the private sector and, as that's an investment the size of a small moon, guess how likely the private energy sector investors were to embark on it? E.ON UK and RWE npower announced in March 2012 that they would be pulling out of developing new nuclear power plants altogether, and the Scots have ruled out any new nuclear power plant indefinitely.

 

They've finally decided on building a few new ones, but that may be too little, too late: rolling black-outs may not be avoided by the time the first one is commissioned.

If we were generating our electricity by the cheapest means available, why would it be twice as than in places like the US and China who are less keen on climate change measures?

 

 

According to figures from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), the UK is the fifth cheapest market of 15 major European nations, excluding Spain, in terms of electricity prices. In terms of gas prices, Britain is the second cheapest market in Europe after Finland.

 

The International Energy Agency – regarded as the gold standard for energy data – warned that Europe, Japan and other nations were being outpaced by the US in competitive terms, because of the very low price of energy in America resulting from the shale gas boom there.