EvilC wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 6:46 am
Since this crisis is a result basically of issues with and a shortage of gas, I will talk about the gas.......
Thanks for that EC. and others who've responded to my question (point?)
All well above my comprehension though.
I ran a very small business(i.e. worked for myself, shop/ workshop making bespoke furniture etc.) and whereas it bears no comparison to the companies being discussed here there was basic arithmetics in so much as when my expenses(running costs but in particular timber and consumables) went up so did my prices, but they went up to maintain the margin, not to increase it. When expenses reached a point where I could no longer increase my prices, I had to settle for a smaller margin. I realise that the difference is what the customer would like to buy or with the utilities, has to buy. . Therefore I can only assume that the utilities are taking advantage where they can but perhaps don't need to
As I said, I'm a simple lad.
Tenbury wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:47 am
That's true, you'd think after all these generations they'd have got it, but no.
The feckless workshy b*stards.
What's difficult to understand that if you're running at a loss, suggesting that you stick money away for a rainy day in a 'wealth fund' isn't going to happen because there will be call on it because someone needs something?
Never in a million years will any government get away with 'saving' in this country.
FWIW,
I wouldn't presume to comment on the details of power providing companies profits,( if I started researching now I'd be dead before I knew as much as EC has forgotten) but would point out that, especially in the era of social media, (ignoring the poorest in society, as that seems to be the norm) when working people are taking a substantial hit on their living standards, these massive profits suggest a lack of fairness (already well known to those poorest) that people find really hard to take.
AKA Broken Britain.
YorksHammer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:34 am
So it shouldn't struggle to afford, say, a payrise for nurses and other public sector workers worth about £13bn?
Cool.
The difficulty with this is that an unexpected bonus this winter that would go towards a pay rise for nurses or teachers etc, is that the bonus won’t necessarily be there year after year. Whereas a wage bill will be.
Radiators in a central heating system heat rooms by what is known as convection heating, warming up the air in rooms, which then circulates.
This infrared technique warms up solid objects in the room directly, including us humans.
It also means you can easily choose to heat only one room at a time, using an app. Why also heat the bedroom, for example, when you are going to be watching Happy Valley in the sitting room for the next few hours?
Kris, 31, runs a video production company and lives at the property with his wife. He heard about the technology through a colleague, and as a tech enthusiast he decided to become an early adopter.
He ripped out his gas-powered radiators before fitting the wallpaper. At the moment the new method of heating his home isn't any cheaper, but he plans to install solar panels on his roof to power the wallpaper, which he thinks will make his home greener, and save him money, in the long term.
"It makes me happy that I don't rely on gas," says Kris. "It's a new technology that should help us as a country."
Friend or Foé wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 4:30 pm
The difficulty with this is that an unexpected bonus this winter that would go towards a pay rise for nurses or teachers etc, is that the bonus won’t necessarily be there year after year. Whereas a wage bill will be.
Not sure about it being a bonus if the saving is from something that the Government announced only recently to deal with the energy bill rise, though?
They committed to extra spending and now don't have to spend all of that. If it was available for one reason, why not available for another?
That, however, isn't on topic, I guess.
I like the sound of this infrared wallpaper. Radiators always strike me as a fairly inefficient method of actually heating a room.
YorksHammer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 6:13 amThey committed to extra spending and now don't have to spend all of that. If it was available for one reason, why not available for another?
We spent x on COVID support. I cannot imagine anyone suggesting that, should COVID not have existed, we should have spent x on something else.
It's the same here. The energy support scheme was absolutely vital - you can criticise how it was done, but something needed to be done. The national finances were already stretched.
If you adopt this approach you spend absolutely all of your emergency reserves because if it is available for going to war or mitigating the impact of a deadly disease, it should also be available for pay rises for MPs or statues of local mayors, and when the next emergency comes around, the money isn't there.
Wholesale gas prices:
1) have been below €60/MWh consistently for around three weeks due to storage being way more full than you would expect at this time of year - the market/governments made a big push to fill it last summer and this winter has been generally mild. You may well see summer prices move lower as a big chunk of European demand is used to fill storage in the summer. However there are still big constraints around winter, where the outlook is less certain.
2) today are at their lowest since early December 2021, but still around triple what they were six months before that.
Hummer_I_mean_Hammer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 4:01 pm
Sussed it, the energy crisis is being caused in the world wide production costs for mummbles wet wipes.
If only he started using terry towels, we'd all see a massive drop in energy costs. Go on mate, you know it makes sense..
Would have got away with it to if it wasn't for those pesky kids
YorksHammer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 7:15 pm
It's warm out. Like, properly warm. In mid-February. Got to be helping with reducing gas use and central heating, specifically, costs.
Walked out of the gym at 955 last night and it was 13 degrees, mental for mid-late Feb. Was nice this morning as well when I went for a walk (7 degrees or so, almost spring like.
YorksHammer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 7:15 pm
It's warm out. Like, properly warm. In mid-February. Got to be helping with reducing gas use and central heating, specifically, costs.
I sat in the garden last night with a beer watching the sun go down. Lovely.
Agree this milder winter has benefited us from an economic sense....and it is lovely to feel some sun on the face.
But it does also highlight the global warming concern (assuming these are abnormal temps for a typical Feb).... Illustrates the tightrope we walk between here and now economics; and future health of us & planet