Is there much point to all this ?

[bazwillrun]

http://www.telegraph....irms-says-Labour.html

this is just the regulator trying to be seen to be doing something, they must realise that the problem isnt the tariffs so much as the actual costs.

and they also must be aware that they dont have a hope in hells chance of bringing the power utility companies to heel in any significant way,

They are PLC's their job is to make money for their shareholders, they are not in business to save the customers money, far from it, their main aim is to get as much money out of customers pockets as is possible.

If they really wanted to save us money they would absorb wholesale price increases and return lower profits and dividends......yeah right, theres more chance of hell freezing over before that ever happens.

[LazyGun]

I would agree with all your points re privatised industries and utility supply - so whats the answer baz?

I do think we urgently need to look at how utilities are provided to domestic and commercial customers. Living with the status quo should not be an option. Greater regulatory powers, more competition might be one way to do it. Renationalisation might be another.I read somewhere that in victorian times, only a certain type of company was allowed to run utlities -they was a legally enforceable cap on what proportion of profits could be paid to shareholders as dividends or bonuses - the rest had to be reinvested into the business.

[bazwillrun]

The other side of the coin is to cast your mind back to when most of these utilities were nationalised....inept , innefficient etc dont even begin to cover them.

Competition is where you have a choice of products and prices from different producers/maufactures, cars for instance. if I switch my gas supplier tomorrow, its only really the metering that they are in competition for, hardly what I'd call a competetive market, still the same old gas or leccy coming into the building, no difference in performance or etc

[LazyGun]

I would agree Baz - competition, choice, all that whole markets thing works well where you have genuinely different products and features and quality and all that, but none of that really applies when supplying utilities.

We seem to be lacking in choice when it comes to determining the delivery system - nationalisation or market forces - and both seem to have serious problems associated with them.

I really do wish some bright spark could come up with a different solution..

[modeller]

I remember living in a New Town many years ago and everything was owned by the trust. They ran all the utilites and fixed the prices and only allowed one of everything . One butcher, one baker , one grocer , one barber etc. no variety , no competition. and all their prices were far higher than the nearest town . In fact some prices were double. The town had no atmosphere it felt sterile.
The only time I experienced anything like it was in Russia.
That's what happens when the state is in control , as we should remember when we tried to run all our heavy industries after the last war.

[LazyGun]

@Modeller. Choice, free market etc all have their place - I am not sure they are the best vehicle for delivering utility services though.

And your comments about the new town - which new town was it that only allowed one of a kind? What evidence do you have that all prices were uniformly higher?

[emmie]

I don't think Cameron understands the nature of business, not at least in respect of Utility companies. They are there to make money, for their shareholders, themselves, why should they be forced to give out the info. I am all for lower utility bills but you cannot force their hand to do it.

[solvitquick]

At present there is no will by politicians to do anything about this disgrace.
Ignore what they say: it's all smoke and mirrors to pretend they even care! I refer not only to electricity and gas but also water and telephone suppliers and MORE later. These suppliers of our essentials of life APPEAR (note that lawyers!) to be acting as cartels (price-fixing rings). Cartels are jumped on in the USA and are apparently illegal here - but no UK action. Quite the opposite as we are assured they are "competitive" and we would only be told that there is no evidence of collusion.
Baloney govt advice is given below:
(a) Switch supplier. B*ll*cks. Switching is deliberately made complicated and in time the new company will get back into pricing line with their cohorts.
(b) Turn your thermostat down a degree or so; install solar panels (in rainy UK..lol); use less water or install a water-meter; use special offers for how you use your telephone etc. More rubbish because our usage is only a tiny fraction of the total bill! The bill is mainly made up of cost of supply, other gobbledeegook (covering share-holders profits) and tax!
(c) Change from 4" roof insulation to 7", not for free but for a mere £200. But how long does it take to get the money back? In addition it will probably make your attic useless, preventing chip-board flooring short of raising the joists by 3". Why not just floor-over 4" insulation with chipboard, surely an excellent insulator and stops you falling thro' the ceiling below?
(d) The govt themselves are at it! This by taxing the air we breath! The frst trick is via road-tax according to emissions. So you should buy a
low-emission new Audi (e,g.only) and travel thousands of miles in order to replace your "old" Fiesta (e.g. only) which you merely use to go to the local shops: you know you can afford it to "save the planet"
Trick two is to tax us in order to subsidise "green" energy private companies like wind farms. We all know: that they don't work, that the companies will rake-off all the money for a few years and then go bankrupt, leaving us with more taxes to clear up the mess!
Short answer to your question "Is There Much Point To All This?": "Yes - let us, the rich, get our snouts in the trough - the "plebs" will pay-up or we will kill them by freezing, starving or reducing their health-care etc. After all THEY are all in this together" This was NOT said by Cameron or Osborne!