I’m sure there’s some unique circumstance that applies to Britain because we are special which makes this entirely logical and fair.
Expect it to keep going up as we push to net zero on the backs of the working class
Yes, we know.
We are being fleeced and our government (also previous one!) is complicit.
I’m sure water will follow since the companies have given up on even trying.
We can’t expect energy company execs and major shareholders to cope with only 3 yachts each.
Pretty inhumane of you.
Let the Brits complain about immigration, they’ve being getting swindled since the millennium
Ed Miliband will sort its out with some… erm… windmills or something. Or Great British Energy. No north sea oil drilling though. Forget nuclear we want more windmills. Prices will go up probably but Ed Miliband knows best.
We just get crap government after crap government in this country.
Set aside the “but steel” thrust of that article and consider this:
The government keeps announcing plans to “make us a world leader in AI” and the like – but “AI” and the algorithms behind it consume absolutely insane amounts of electricity – if the cost of the electricity is 4x as much as the US, you aren’t even founding or bringing your AI company to the UK.
and even though its business energy, the profits these generators are making is truly shocking, and yes we’re paying more than anyone else in the world to enrich these companies. Why doesn’t the government do something? back to enrich these companies who lobby and donate, and support. Bloody Brilliant that!
They should be turning up at the commons with pitchforks but that’s never going to happen. A truly apathetic nation. I guess the conspiracy theory could be true about fluoride.
Thankyou nimbys and boomers, and 15 years of “Ditch the green crap” government. Wankers.
All the turbines that we were told would make us self sufficient. LMAO.
Britain is corrupt…and they’ve all got their fingers in the pies…
We have thousands of wind turbines on land and off shore……and yet our energy prices are the highest in the world. Broken Britain again. Is anything in this fucking country run properly?
So you appreciate the need for cheaper electricity to charge electric cars, renewable energy is cheaper, but the push for net zero will increase energy costs? That doesn’t make sense
We have the tories – specifically the witch Thatcher to thank for this.
They sold the family silver in the 80’s and have been renting it back to us (with interest for their cronies) for decades.
Are people with links to energy companies making donations to politicians?
I emigrated to Canada. I pay 6.7c per kwh (which is about 3.7p) for the first 40kwh used per day. Also, houses are much better insulated because of the cold winters. I’d dread to think how the UK would cope with winter at -20°.
which most major, developed nations are part of):
– We have the highest industrial energy prices in the IEA. FOUR times, yes FOUR, as expensive as the USA. 46% above the IEA median. – We have the highest domestic energy prices in the IEA. 2.8 times that of the USA. 80% above the IEA median. – Between 2004 and 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the industrial price of energy tripled in nominal terms, or doubled relative to consumer prices.
Yet another blessing of neoliberalism and privatisation. The market will provide. Water, energy, rail and housing are so much better because of it.
Remember it’s only a cost of living crisis for the poor. For shareholders it’s a bonanza. And they pay politicians to keep that way.
>Energy profits hit £420bn in recent years as standing charges rise
This is what happens when you flog off critical national infrastructure so it’s owned by shareholders, investors and hedge funds. Asset stripping, profiteering and aggressive cost shaving, to the detriment of price and service.
After all, who’s going to put their hand up and say actually, fuck you, I’ll manage without electricity?
Do other countries it to the price of oil as I understand uk does?
>Scotland paying the highest electricity prices in the UK, and therefore the world, despite generating enough electricity to power all of Scotland’s homes.
Our aversion to new nuclear over the decades hasn’t helped.
Instead of sharing semi-informed opinions on Reddit, why don’t we ask some experts?
>*Nuclear won’t come on stream until 2021-22 so that’s not an answer -* ***Nick Clegg 2010***
We could have been building the next generation of nuclear power plants during a historically low period of interest rates, that would have come online in time to help mitigate the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine’s effect on energy prices. if it weren’t for short sighted thinking like this
Because of the Tories and probably the previous Labour government and probably the current one, we live in a land of soaring capitalism (profiteering and exploitation) and the slow eradication of human rights and welfare.
The summer before energy prices shot up Germany spent months retro-insulating properties. The UK was like stuff that, well just borrow some money and give people a short term subsidy. Mustn’t do anything to hit corporate profits.
For the life of me i don’t know why this country can’t provide government backed loans to fit solar, wind, heat pumps and the finance is secured on the property so that when you sell it is recovered then or passed onto the new owner.
So personally, I don’t think net zero is entirely to blame.
BUT
Theoretically, if it was to blame, would people be willing to reverse it, or would they argue it we should stick with net zero with on principle.
What is the cause of this? Higher dependence on natural gas?
I’ve seen people reference corporate price gouging, but why would this be more of a problem in the UK than say Germany or France, perhaps its to do with regulatory structure?
Only about 35% of the cost of the bill is the wholesale cost of the electricity.
Network/distribution costs (26%), social and other environmental commitments (15%), VAT 5%, operating costs 19%.
We have a lot more added costs compared to other countries.
I don’t actually think it’s the wholesale cost which is a concern here although it’s a factor. We just have an overly complex energy system which needs simplifying
Since the “green, cheap energy” started being pushed, the bills skyrocket
Build nuke plants. Where do you expect the energy to come from as you electrify everything?
Its because our standard of living is so high compared to say most of the western world.
The commitment to net zero is a huge driver behind this. It’s not free, the cost is factored into the standing charge.
What’s even more outrageous is that we subsidise private companies to build the infrastructure and then they own it when it’s commissioned, with guaranteed minimum pricing for x number of years.
The new nuclear power stations at Hinkley and Sizewell are owned by EDF/China. Our government don’t even have a percentage in ownership.
So, reading the article, it’s because electricity prices are tracked to the gas price despite around 50% of the generation coming from renewables and nuclear. The answer is to decouple them from the gas prices.
Paying 400pm for a 2 bed flat in Essex through winter – just using 3 hours of heating a day. I don’t get it.
Admittedly, it’s only 80pm through summer (well – mid May to September so far), but that’s still absurd.
I haven’t been at this flat long (11 months), so I’m going to request the key system be replaced with a meter on a tariff.
Which is truly ridiculous considering we have excellent wind energy potential (literally the best in Europe and among the best int he world), nuclear power (unlike eg Germany), plenty of offshore gas (even if we want to reduce reliance on it, we have it…), and enough wealth that we could and should have been building all new homes with solar panels for 20 years by now
There’s really no good reason we should be struggling so much with energy prices, it’s a total scam
Our country has been run on short sighted profit-making for too long
This is completely not true. ‘Expensive’ or actual ‘cost’ of electricity should be calculated as a percentage of income using average salaries, GDP and other stats that I’m not quite big brain enough to figure out. What I do know is that electricity prices in the Philippines for example are almost as high as the UK (once all the connection charges and various other fee’s are included) yet the minimum wage is almost 10 times lower. Prices of electricity are relevant to income levels.
Where I am in the US residential customers are paying 35p/kWh vs the 25p/kWh from this article, and yes it’s obscene.
Sold off out national infrastructure so boomers could have a cushy low tax life for a few years, and now we suffer the consequences of market greed and can’t afford to buy it back. Thatcher broke Britain.
People here are saying “we know,” but I don’t believe that. My bills are 5 and 9 times higher, respectively than they were when I lived in two different European countries. I haven’t turned the heating on once in the UK and rarely cook because I the costs are exorbitant.
One of the first things I noticed when I returned to the UK was how horribly most people eat and little they do in their free time and it’s because no one has money to spare after paying ridiculous housing, transportation, and energy prices. Yet no one seems to care. It’s bizarre that this is the first article I’ve seen where people are being told how much more they’re paying than everyone else.
This is happening for a reason. A lack of investment in infrastructure over the past few decades (thanks Boomers!). I’m a scientist/engineer who worked in energy resource development in Europe and there’s no money for it here so I do fun things instead. As early as 2008, I lived in an apartment building in one country that had its own mini geothermal system. In the UK, that kind of solution is demonized by the papers as “green” and the thick are told to vote against it. It boggles the mind.
And due to high energy costs for manufacturing, everything made in the UK is costs more than would it would do abroad. So expect a lot of british manufacturing to go bust as people buy stuff from overseas, then employment rises, increased benefits and more pain on the taxpayer.
We have too many middlemen suppliers all making a profit. In the good old days there was one suppler and everyone paid the same price. I think it was Thatcher who privatised it all and it was supposed to increase competition and reduce prices but it did the opposite.
44 comments
I’m sure there’s some unique circumstance that applies to Britain because we are special which makes this entirely logical and fair.
Expect it to keep going up as we push to net zero on the backs of the working class
Yes, we know.
We are being fleeced and our government (also previous one!) is complicit.
I’m sure water will follow since the companies have given up on even trying.
We can’t expect energy company execs and major shareholders to cope with only 3 yachts each.
Pretty inhumane of you.
Let the Brits complain about immigration, they’ve being getting swindled since the millennium
Ed Miliband will sort its out with some… erm… windmills or something. Or Great British Energy. No north sea oil drilling though. Forget nuclear we want more windmills. Prices will go up probably but Ed Miliband knows best.
We just get crap government after crap government in this country.
Set aside the “but steel” thrust of that article and consider this:
The government keeps announcing plans to “make us a world leader in AI” and the like – but “AI” and the algorithms behind it consume absolutely insane amounts of electricity – if the cost of the electricity is 4x as much as the US, you aren’t even founding or bringing your AI company to the UK.
I was reading this article a week ago
[https://www.gen.uk/index.php?page=Home&option=Blog&article=20240904](https://www.gen.uk/index.php?page=Home&option=Blog&article=20240904)
and even though its business energy, the profits these generators are making is truly shocking, and yes we’re paying more than anyone else in the world to enrich these companies. Why doesn’t the government do something? back to enrich these companies who lobby and donate, and support. Bloody Brilliant that!
They should be turning up at the commons with pitchforks but that’s never going to happen. A truly apathetic nation. I guess the conspiracy theory could be true about fluoride.
Thankyou nimbys and boomers, and 15 years of “Ditch the green crap” government. Wankers.
All the turbines that we were told would make us self sufficient. LMAO.
Britain is corrupt…and they’ve all got their fingers in the pies…
We have thousands of wind turbines on land and off shore……and yet our energy prices are the highest in the world. Broken Britain again. Is anything in this fucking country run properly?
So you appreciate the need for cheaper electricity to charge electric cars, renewable energy is cheaper, but the push for net zero will increase energy costs? That doesn’t make sense
We have the tories – specifically the witch Thatcher to thank for this.
They sold the family silver in the 80’s and have been renting it back to us (with interest for their cronies) for decades.
Are people with links to energy companies making donations to politicians?
I emigrated to Canada. I pay 6.7c per kwh (which is about 3.7p) for the first 40kwh used per day. Also, houses are much better insulated because of the cold winters. I’d dread to think how the UK would cope with winter at -20°.
which most major, developed nations are part of):
– We have the highest industrial energy prices in the IEA. FOUR times, yes FOUR, as expensive as the USA. 46% above the IEA median.
– We have the highest domestic energy prices in the IEA. 2.8 times that of the USA. 80% above the IEA median.
– Between 2004 and 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the industrial price of energy tripled in nominal terms, or doubled relative to consumer prices.
Yet another blessing of neoliberalism and privatisation. The market will provide. Water, energy, rail and housing are so much better because of it.
Remember it’s only a cost of living crisis for the poor. For shareholders it’s a bonanza. And they pay politicians to keep that way.
>Energy profits hit £420bn in recent years as standing charges rise
https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/energy-profits-hit-420bn-in-recent-years-as-standing-charges-rise/
This is what happens when you flog off critical national infrastructure so it’s owned by shareholders, investors and hedge funds. Asset stripping, profiteering and aggressive cost shaving, to the detriment of price and service.
After all, who’s going to put their hand up and say actually, fuck you, I’ll manage without electricity?
Do other countries it to the price of oil as I understand uk does?
>Scotland paying the highest electricity prices in the UK, and therefore the world, despite generating enough electricity to power all of Scotland’s homes.
Our aversion to new nuclear over the decades hasn’t helped.
Instead of sharing semi-informed opinions on Reddit, why don’t we ask some experts?
>*Nuclear won’t come on stream until 2021-22 so that’s not an answer -* ***Nick Clegg 2010***
We could have been building the next generation of nuclear power plants during a historically low period of interest rates, that would have come online in time to help mitigate the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine’s effect on energy prices. if it weren’t for short sighted thinking like this
Because of the Tories and probably the previous Labour government and probably the current one, we live in a land of soaring capitalism (profiteering and exploitation) and the slow eradication of human rights and welfare.
The summer before energy prices shot up Germany spent months retro-insulating properties. The UK was like stuff that, well just borrow some money and give people a short term subsidy. Mustn’t do anything to hit corporate profits.
For the life of me i don’t know why this country can’t provide government backed loans to fit solar, wind, heat pumps and the finance is secured on the property so that when you sell it is recovered then or passed onto the new owner.
So personally, I don’t think net zero is entirely to blame.
BUT
Theoretically, if it was to blame, would people be willing to reverse it, or would they argue it we should stick with net zero with on principle.
What is the cause of this? Higher dependence on natural gas?
I’ve seen people reference corporate price gouging, but why would this be more of a problem in the UK than say Germany or France, perhaps its to do with regulatory structure?
Only about 35% of the cost of the bill is the wholesale cost of the electricity.
Network/distribution costs (26%), social and other environmental commitments (15%), VAT 5%, operating costs 19%.
We have a lot more added costs compared to other countries.
I don’t actually think it’s the wholesale cost which is a concern here although it’s a factor. We just have an overly complex energy system which needs simplifying
Since the “green, cheap energy” started being pushed, the bills skyrocket
[In completely unrelated news. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/1fqgdt8/britains_last_coalfired_power_station_set_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Build nuke plants. Where do you expect the energy to come from as you electrify everything?
Its because our standard of living is so high compared to say most of the western world.
The commitment to net zero is a huge driver behind this. It’s not free, the cost is factored into the standing charge.
What’s even more outrageous is that we subsidise private companies to build the infrastructure and then they own it when it’s commissioned, with guaranteed minimum pricing for x number of years.
The new nuclear power stations at Hinkley and Sizewell are owned by EDF/China. Our government don’t even have a percentage in ownership.
So, reading the article, it’s because electricity prices are tracked to the gas price despite around 50% of the generation coming from renewables and nuclear.
The answer is to decouple them from the gas prices.
Paying 400pm for a 2 bed flat in Essex through winter – just using 3 hours of heating a day. I don’t get it.
Admittedly, it’s only 80pm through summer (well – mid May to September so far), but that’s still absurd.
I haven’t been at this flat long (11 months), so I’m going to request the key system be replaced with a meter on a tariff.
Which is truly ridiculous considering we have excellent wind energy potential (literally the best in Europe and among the best int he world), nuclear power (unlike eg Germany), plenty of offshore gas (even if we want to reduce reliance on it, we have it…), and enough wealth that we could and should have been building all new homes with solar panels for 20 years by now
There’s really no good reason we should be struggling so much with energy prices, it’s a total scam
Our country has been run on short sighted profit-making for too long
This is completely not true. ‘Expensive’ or actual ‘cost’ of electricity should be calculated as a percentage of income using average salaries, GDP and other stats that I’m not quite big brain enough to figure out. What I do know is that electricity prices in the Philippines for example are almost as high as the UK (once all the connection charges and various other fee’s are included) yet the minimum wage is almost 10 times lower. Prices of electricity are relevant to income levels.
Where I am in the US residential customers are paying 35p/kWh vs the 25p/kWh from this article, and yes it’s obscene.
Sold off out national infrastructure so boomers could have a cushy low tax life for a few years, and now we suffer the consequences of market greed and can’t afford to buy it back. Thatcher broke Britain.
People here are saying “we know,” but I don’t believe that. My bills are 5 and 9 times higher, respectively than they were when I lived in two different European countries. I haven’t turned the heating on once in the UK and rarely cook because I the costs are exorbitant.
One of the first things I noticed when I returned to the UK was how horribly most people eat and little they do in their free time and it’s because no one has money to spare after paying ridiculous housing, transportation, and energy prices. Yet no one seems to care. It’s bizarre that this is the first article I’ve seen where people are being told how much more they’re paying than everyone else.
This is happening for a reason. A lack of investment in infrastructure over the past few decades (thanks Boomers!). I’m a scientist/engineer who worked in energy resource development in Europe and there’s no money for it here so I do fun things instead. As early as 2008, I lived in an apartment building in one country that had its own mini geothermal system. In the UK, that kind of solution is demonized by the papers as “green” and the thick are told to vote against it. It boggles the mind.
And due to high energy costs for manufacturing, everything made in the UK is costs more than would it would do abroad. So expect a lot of british manufacturing to go bust as people buy stuff from overseas, then employment rises, increased benefits and more pain on the taxpayer.
We have too many middlemen suppliers all making a profit. In the good old days there was one suppler and everyone paid the same price. I think it was Thatcher who privatised it all and it was supposed to increase competition and reduce prices but it did the opposite.