Cost of living

[d000hg]

If our friends in power actually cared, then they would set up some kind of energy cap that wouldn't be a multiplier but a limit on how high bills could go based on inflation, etc. Then, if the energy companies were making obscene profits, they would be limited in how much more obscene they would be.
Alternatively, allow the companies to raise their prices as much as they want, then when people struggle, the government can give handouts that basically go straight to the energy companies, to help keep their profits high.

The energy suppliers aren't making obscene profits, the oil/gas producers are (ok sometimes it's the same company or parent company). Oil production is just weird though, the producers don't even set the prices so they are 'forced' to make massive profits as prices soar. The cartel can influence the price by adjusting production rate.

[vetran]

If our friends in power actually cared, then they would set up some kind of energy cap that wouldn't be a multiplier but a limit on how high bills could go based on inflation, etc. Then, if the energy companies were making obscene profits, they would be limited in how much more obscene they would be.
Alternatively, allow the companies to raise their prices as much as they want, then when people struggle, the government can give handouts that basically go straight to the energy companies, to help keep their profits high.

they are probably better to get the big energy firms on a conference call.

Hi sadly we keep hearing demands for us to nationalise or penalise energy firms as you can understand we don't really want to go down that route. It was really nice working with each of you CEOs in the past.

Now on another completely unrelated subject how do we get energy costs down so they are the lowest in Europe and a plan to make them lower?

Caps are great but they fall apart once businesses go to the wall.

[WTFH]

The energy suppliers aren't making obscene profits,

https://www.express.co.uk/finance/ci...as-electricity

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-07-28/...gy-bills-surge

[d000hg]

Tabloid sensationalism.

The German utility company said it booked a quarterly net profit of £1.2 billion. This was down from £1.48billion in the year-earlier period

. Why shouldn't they be making a profit? It seems they are making the same sort of profit, or less, even as prices soar. These corporate structures are complex but EON manages nuclear power and (according to Wikipedia) in the UK they only supply renewable energy (which doesn't seem to make sense as you can buy gas from them).

We didn't have a load of suppliers go bust because profits were big.

[WTFH]

We didn't have a load of suppliers go bust because profits were big.

Oh you mean like Bulb/Simple Energy, which was bailed out by UK tax payers while owners syphoned off investment to set up Virmati/Field.

[WTFH]

How come other countries in the world have governments that can put on energy caps of 4% (France), etc?

[vetran]

How come other countries in the world have governments that can put on energy caps of 4% (France), etc?

not shocked it seems the government are not governing.

[ladymuck]

How are the energy companies regulated / operated in those comparison countries? Here's it's all privatised but if the suppliers are state owned then the state is absorbing the cost of the energy, I guess?

I am suspicious of how selective the data are and there is no context. It's typical click bait based purely on that image.

EDIT: that's not to say I don't think HMG are doing a shockingly bad job of managing it

[d000hg]

How come other countries in the world have governments that can put on energy caps of 4% (France), etc?

Do you know the answer? I can't imagine suppliers are selling at half-price there especially given Germany is far more reliant on Russia than we are. Is the government just providing huge subsidies or something?

[BlueSharp]

not shocked it seems the government are not governing.

There is a difference of approach here. Europe have cut energy rates and subsidized, the UK have offered hand outs. The UK approach is more targeted to those who need it the most and also encourages reduction in consumption.