Energy Crisis

[ladymuck]

Renationalise them all! It's the only way.

[xoggoth]

Renationalise them all! It's the only way

Had contracts at the CEGB. People were rather overpaid but it was an efficient organisation. Wish Thatcher had never denationalised it. We could have built our own power stations.

[ladymuck]

I do believe there are some fundamental services that should be under public sector control. Sadly, looking at the current lot who would be running them, I actually think it's a bad idea... (the opposition don't fill me with confidence either)

[OwlHoot]

I do believe there are some fundamental services that should be under public sector control. ..

It's one of those ideas like communism that may sound good in theory but doesn't take account of human nature.

Establish a monopoly and, as sure as God made little fishes, bolshy bastards in it will start throwing their weight around and striking!

Not only that, but the management will become lazy and complacent, and subject to all kinds of perverse political motives that have nothing to do with efficiency and in fact generally undermine it.

[ladymuck]

It's one of those ideas like communism that may sound good in theory but doesn't take account of human nature.

Establish a monopoly and, as sure as God made little fishes, bolshy bastards in it will start throwing their weight around and striking!

Not only that, but the management will become lazy and complacent, and subject to all kinds of perverse political motives that have nothing to do with efficiency and in fact generally undermine it.

Yeah mebbe.

[OwlHoot]

Blimey, the Brexit fallout is worse than I thought:

2021-10-02 Dutch Greenhouses Go Dark As Energy Crisis Worsens; Food Inflation Fears Mount For Europe

And it's obviously all the fault of those damned Brexiters!

[d000hg]

It's one of those ideas like communism that may sound good in theory but doesn't take account of human nature.

Establish a monopoly and, as sure as God made little fishes, bolshy bastards in it will start throwing their weight around and striking!

Not only that, but the management will become lazy and complacent, and subject to all kinds of perverse political motives that have nothing to do with efficiency and in fact generally undermine it.

I'm not sure we've really seen rail and utility companies demonstrate this. On the other hand things like roads and the infrastructure behind utilities ARE effectively nationalised and/or sole supplier monoploy (highways agency, northern powergrid, OpenReach, etc) and seem to do no worse a job. I've found dealing with openreach and power-grid companies quite good.

[SueEllen]

And another one going-
https://www.theguardian.com/business...der-to-go-bust
The UK household electricity company Omni Energy has said it expects to become the 13th energy supplier to go bust this year, unless the gas price crisis eases before winter.

In an email to about 10,000 customers the company said: “The cost of wholesale energy is continuing to rise and without significant change in the wholesale cost of energy, or a government intervention, it is highly likely Omni Energy will cease trading before the end of November.” The company told customers that it would switch them to a new supplier unless they objected.

[SueEllen]

If gas prices don't reduce bills will be 30-50% higher next year.

All thanks to this: https://www.theguardian.com/business...ts-record-high
UK wholesale gas prices have hit fresh record highs, amid further warnings about the future of British energy-intensive industries and firms that supply households.

The wholesale gas price for day-ahead delivery rose above the £3 per therm level for the first time on Wednesday morning, hitting 355p at one point, even higher than the spike in demand for gas during February 2018’s “beast from the east” cold snap.

[vetran]

Yeah mebbe.

sadly true, I currently work in a quango and the level of waste & stupidity is offensive.