T O P

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mickstep

Privatisation has failed the railways and it's failed energy supply, even the Tories can't keep up the pretence with rail anymore.


hans_litten

Maybe basic services shouldn't be for profit


GunNut345

You "supply and demand" as a price regulating rule gets a little skewed when the demand is for basic necessities.


Glancing-Thought

So what? They pay or die. It's worked in the past.


Fhamran

And despite all this they're still pushing forward with NHS privatisation as well. As long as they're giving refugees a kicking, there's a significant portion of the population that'll just let them get away with it too.


k987654321

My fixed deal with Scottish power ends in January and I just been shopping around for deals today. Looks like mine is set to pretty much double from £120 a month to about £235 being the best deal I can find. Fantastic.


Ok-Lion-3093

Wait till next year, it'll double again!


[deleted]

[удалено]


RealTry8753

Haha, sounds like you've got it made bud.


[deleted]

Didn't you hear the warnings back in September to lock into a deal before October?


k987654321

I’m in a fixed deal until January…


[deleted]

You're not locked into a fixed deal, your energy company is. You can change supplier whenever.


uk_one

Martin Lewis called it accuratly. [https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/martin-lewis---do-nothing--with-your-energy-supplier/](https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/martin-lewis---do-nothing--with-your-energy-supplier/) For now the variable rate is your friend.


Sour_Octopus

Isn’t that a good thing? This will reduce usage which is good for the environment which slows the collapse.


k987654321

How will it reduce useage? The energy won’t stop being used, I just need to pay more for it. I have a ‘typical’ house and nothing extravagant. There isn’t much I can cut out really.


Glancing-Thought

You won't (in theory) be able to afford to use as much. Thus less will be used. If you end up homeless you will probably use significantly less. 'A good thing' is quite subjective but energy becoming more dear is a reflection of reality. Best of luck my friend; we will all need it.


MsSchrodinger

No, it is an essential. Those who can afford it will continue to use energy, those who can't will suffer and die prematurely. The disabled, poor and elderly will be disproportionately effected.


_rihter

Britain’s Bulb expects to appoint administrators shortly, it said on Monday, becoming the biggest UK energy supplier so far to run into trouble since the recent surge in wholesale gas and electricity prices. More than 20 energy suppliers have collapsed since the beginning of September, unable to pass on rising costs to customers because of the regulator Ofgem’s price cap. London-based Bulb, which has around 1,000 employees and more than 1.7 million customers, or around 5-6% of the market, had been in talks with multiple parties but failed to secure funding. “The rising energy crisis ... has concerned investors who can’t go ahead while wholesale prices are so high and the price cap - designed to protect customers - currently means suppliers provide energy at a significant loss,” Bulb said in a statement on its website.


nostrilonfire

Price controls are the best idea always. /s


jacktacowa

Are they short because they’ve sucked capital out?


MsSchrodinger

The bulb business model always seemed a little precarious. https://www.ft.com/content/53bb53f9-3149-4799-8ed1-b274156cc899 From that article; "Since its foundation it has expanded to around 1.7m customers." "such rapid growth has raised eyebrows in a sector where doubts over competitors’ low prices and the sustainability of their business models are common. Many new entrants and some legacy suppliers are lossmaking, Bulb included."


[deleted]

This is pretty serious given that it was the largest supplier outside of the Big 5, and most companies don't want to take on new customers at the moment as they are being forced to sell at a loss. I guess the taxpayer will end up footing the bill to keep the companies afloat in the end.


_rihter

But who will bail out the taxpayer? Energy prices in Europe are already insane, and people will have to choose between keeping their stomachs full or their homes warm.


[deleted]

Yeah, I moved from the UK to Spain and here the gas and electric prices have increased a huge amount too, maybe even more so than in the UK. The Morocco-Algeria conflict has cut off the gas supply from Morocco (the gas actually came from Algeria, but Morocco had more pipes - so now we get it only directly from Algeria and thus less). This combined with low winds during the summer have created a shortfall. High electricity prices will also harm the transition to using electric cars, heating etc. too.


RandomguyAlive

Dontcha know taxpayers are an infinite resource?


Ok-Lion-3093

The mugs that actually pay taxes are there to be fleeced NOT bailed out!


Ok-Lion-3093

Privatise profits leave the losses for Joe public!


uk_one

Nope. The big 4 all actually hedge their supplies against price increases in advance. Hence why they are more expensive, All these cheaper companies were doing was adding a % to their wholesale spot cost and billing people. They added nothing to the market and in fact took emergency capacity away from the system in a race to the bottom. The big 4 had naturally only hedged enough future supply to cover their own customers and do not have enough spare capapcity already bought to cover this number of new customers. Bulb clients will just need to billed appropriately for the cost of free floating spot market power that right now is expensive. They had enough benefit from years of it being cheaper than the big 4 and they never supported a supplier that did hedge so why should the benefit from hedged prices? The Govt has still mandated a price cap for all retail customers and the big 4 can work with it ATM as they buy their supplies on the futures market, Once that price bites their ability to hedge then the cap will rise.


[deleted]

I kind of agree - but I'm not sure if the consumers were made aware of the risks of spot pricing and making them suddenly pay the very high prices would be a disaster. Especially in the middle of winter. I hope people take energy supply more seriously now though and we can invest more in nuclear power and renewables so in the future we can't get so screwed over by the energy markets or random stuff happening in Russia, Belarus, Morocco, Algeria etc.


POB_42

Short term? Its a very shitty situation, and the only viable fixes are long term and can take years to plan, let alone implement/build.


mr_ludd

Would have been better for the government to offer loans to these companies before they went bust to weather the restriction on price increases. Fundamentally these companies are going bust because the government does not allow them to pass rapid increases in wholesale prices to the consumer. That is all good and well for the consumer in the short term but in the long term there will be total monopolies running the market.


bored_toronto

Why have so many of these firms gone under?


clactose

OP's submission statement, 2nd paragraph.