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Why would they want to be restricted to the price they can sell at? This is very unconservative. Normally the strike price is set at a high level to encourage investment, and then fixed for a ridiculous number of years to make the ROI guaranteed.

As said above, the only real answer is to increase supply as its really a global market (or reduce demand, which is the better approach)

Have you noticed the casualties of this fuel supply/pricing?

Yep. the smaller companies have gone to the wall, leaving only the big players a.k.a. The Cartel.

The direct result of May decision to introduce a price cap. Explanatory article here:

 
Have you noticed the casualties of this fuel supply/pricing?

Yep. the smaller companies have gone to the wall, leaving only the big players a.k.a. The Cartel.
It’s worse than that. We (the taxpayers) have to pay the remaining suppliers to take on the customers of the failed ones…
 
But the big ones only haven’t gone bust because they are still hedged…
Suppliers buy in the market and sell to consumers. You can’t cap the consumer end if you have no control over the producer end. And all the big producers are multinational AND sell into market makers. It’s all too global. It’s too late to nationalise producers but nationalising suppliers does allow the government to subsidise consumers, but it’s only a sticking plaster.
Once again the government can actually do very little and we have to hope that the market normalises itself in the future. Fracking isn’t going to help this crisis.
 
The direct result of May decision to introduce a price cap. Explanatory article here:


I think there is a strong case to suggest that many of the small energy companies would have gone bust even without the price cap.

Why ? well small companies only existed in the first place because they offered lower tariffs than the big outfits which presumably meant lower profit margins. That wasn't a problem while wholesale prices were reasonably stable or stable enough to see them through typical 12 month fixed price contracts with customers. If the wholesale price went up and they didn't have enough capital in reserve then they would go bust because the 12 month contract stopped then rising prices not the price cap. The price cap only really protected those on variable rate tariffs and without the sense to seek out a competitive tariff at that.

Small companies were going bust even before Putin's war, it happened to me twice and in both cases it had nothing thing to do with the price cap because the fixed rate contacts they had offered were well below the price cap.

The media hysteria about energy in general is factually incorrect and especially on prices. I happen to have my supplier tariffs going back 17 years and if I start back in 2005 then apply CPI inflation to the tariff, current gas prices in 2022 are still marginally below what they were in 2005. Only when the October price cap increase kicks in will they exceed inflation. The reality is we have enjoyed a long period of below inflation energy costs and while that's about to change the media have it completely out of perspective.
 
Fracking isn’t going to help this crisis.
Quite right. But…

The old adage that the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, and the second best time is today shouldn’t be forgotten.

Our governments - for decades - have been asleep at the wheel regarding energy security. They’ve justified their inaction on “green” ideology. Now is the time to take the bull by the horns and address the problem.
 
I have pals in Boston who take pride in barbecuing year round.

Including during their 2-3 months of snow.
Mate of mine does that. I was visiting him from Greece few years ago on November. He showed me the steaks and promptly shot outside and cooked them on his gas fired Outback.
It was bloody freezing out there.
 
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Quite right. But…

The old adage that the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, and the second best time is today shouldn’t be forgotten.

Our governments - for decades - have been asleep at the wheel regarding energy security. They’ve justified their inaction on “green” ideology. Now is the time to take the bull by the horns and address the problem.
I’m not sure this particular tree needs planting at all.
I don’t think there’s much wrong with a green ideology either if it’s done properly.
But government incompetence with regard to energy security is beyond doubt.
 
Thankfully Drax still has 2 (out of 6) set's that can still burn coal instead of that ludicrous wood pellet biomass stuff shipped all the way from the USA and someone has decided to halt the mothballing of them 'just in case' .

They will be burning UK coal soon , just wait and see. Who made that decision ? No idea. But a Knight/Damehood might be in order.
 
I

I’m not sure this particular tree needs planting at all.
I don’t think there’s much wrong with a green ideology either if it’s done properly.
But government incompetence with regard to energy security is beyond doubt.
Was that the government incompetence that let British citizens buy cars after the Second World War when we knew we didn’t have domestic supplies of oil and petrol?

Or the government incompetence that stopped 15 year olds from being sent down the cosl mines in the 50’s & 60’s because we wanted to phase out steam trains, coal fires and death from black lung disease?

Or the government incompetence that let airline fuel remain untaxed even though we could see the expansion of air travel in the 1960’s?

Or the government incompetence across the world that cancelled nuclear fuel generation projects after Chernobyl and Fukashima?

Or the French government incompetence that has closed HALF of France’s nuclear power station for urgent repairs after they discovered dangerous corrosion issues ?

Detail of France nuclear nightmare here: France’s nuclear plants are going down for repairs
 
Didn't the French build most of our Nuclear power stations ? ....with a bit of help from the Chinese :eek:
EDF own 8 nuclear power stations in the U.K. I think they’re planning to build a new one somewhere soon.

Isn’t that what the EU is all about??
 
Probably , thats why the French citizens energy bills are rising by 4% while ours will rise by 10 x that . They own our power (they being - partially- the French government) and Macron capped any increase on home soil.

Fair play to them . UK was (and still is ) for sale and they bought into it.
 
Probably , thats why the French citizens energy bills are rising by 4% while ours will rise by 10 x that . They own our power (they being - partially- the French government) and Macron capped any increase on home soil.

Fair play to them . UK was (and still is ) for sale and they bought into it.

Free money is a great story, but someone ends up paying.

Mercedes must absolutely help out poor people (VW & SEAT drivers: that kind of thing)

But don't kid yourself that the money just comes out of the air.


EDF sues French government for £7bn after being forced to sell energy at a loss





Screenshot 2022-08-13 at 06.49.38.png
 
8152DA0F-B3D0-46C8-B6A2-EF6B6EB8C3BD.jpeg
 
I’m not sure this particular tree needs planting at all.
I don’t think there’s much wrong with a green ideology either if it’s done properly.
The reality is that however attractive renewables seem to be, they are intermittent. One doesn’t work when it’s dark, the other when the wind doesn’t blow. That means it always needs to be supplemented by another generation source. There's only one such source in that game: gas.

Oh, and on the subject of green ideology being done properly, the next time that happens will be a first. For example, take a look at the volume of concrete (cement production is a huge CO2 emitter) used to provide a base for wind turbines. I learned from someone who was involved in it that a CO2 emissions audit for one of the largest wind farms in this country, taking account of the emissions from the construction process, shows that it becomes “carbon neutral” after 30 years. Trouble is, it has a design life of 25 years…
 
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Back to Brexit.
It has been some time since we left the EU and I was wondering if we have seen any benefits yet? We were promised much but I as one, have not seen any personal benefits as yet. I have seen some negatives though.
Taking our Molly on holiday has risen from £0 to £267.50 in vet charges/trip.
When I am ruler of the world, Boris is at the head of the revenge list.
 
Back to Brexit.
It has been some time since we left the EU and I was wondering if we have seen any benefits yet? We were promised much but I as one, have not seen any personal benefits as yet. I have seen some negatives though.
Taking our Molly on holiday has risen from £0 to £267.50 in vet charges/trip.
When I am ruler of the world, Boris is at the head of the revenge list.
An extra 2.3 million or so in employment (33.9 million compared to 31.6 million in 2016), with school leavers, undergraduates and graduates finding work far more easily than they did previously.

Significant wage and salary increases for young workers, as well as improved benefits and conditions.

We have avoided the Hospitality crisis that left the EU short of hospitality workers this summer. (France struggled with a shortage of 250,000 cafe and restaurant workers)

An extra 11,000 EU nationals working for our NHS (now over 70,000 now, up from 59,000 in 2016

Faster passport queues at the Airports thanks to the new chip based passports.

Eurostar and Eurotunnel charges have dropped significantly - but arguably that's a Covid19 dividend. From memory I think that Eurostar is cheaper now than it was two decades ago - both for business and leisure travel.

An extra £188 billion tax revenue for the UK Government (£720 billion, up from £532 in 2016)

An effective vaccination campaign which helped kickstart the EU and the USA in to following the UK

A 33% increase in international students studying in the UK - up 155,000 from 450,000 in 2016 to 605,000 in 2021, all typically paying 2-3 times the fees of a UK student. That's been a huge increase to university and college funding.

International Tech firms, such as Google and Facebook as well as banks such as Goldman Sachs have moved to London, and a large number of EU businesses, like Guinness, have been forced, by EU regulation, to open up branch offices in the UK. Those firms pay UK taxes in all their forms, rather than taxes to Dublin, Berlin or wherever. And we'll have fresh Guinness brewed in Central London and Cheshire in 2023 !

The UK was able to be more proactive in imposing sanctions on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. Within the confines of EU membership, consensus would have meant that sanctions would have been softer and slower to implement - because of the impact on Germany.

On the other hand, from 2023 I will have to pay €3.50 a year for ETIAS, the European equivalent of the ESTA Visa waiver form to allow me to live in the EU for five months out of twelve.

Annoyingly London is now the most popular holiday destination for Europeans, overtaking even Spain. As outlined in this Bloomberg article: Sorry, Spain, Everyone in Europe Wants to Travel to the UK Now

And net immigration remains at a steady 300,000 a year, which continues to put pressure on housing, particularly in the South East of the UK. A problem that we won't solve until we address regionalisation, or at least get the Scots and Welsh to start employing and welcoming "foreigners."
 
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On the subject of renewables' contribution to our power generation, here's a snapshot from just now:

DPPoGnu.jpg


So on what must rate as one of the sunniest days of the year, solar manages to produce fractionally over half that of gas (23.6% vs 46%), and Biomass (what a joke that is!) is producing nearly twice the amount that wind is.

But apparently we don't need to secure reliable gas supplies from under our own feet?

Power generation data from here.
 

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