Today’s announcement of a two year price cap on energy cost for households at £2500 a year, and similar caps for business energy costs sound helpful.. But the cap is going to be funded by borrowing that we’ll pay back in higher bills for years and years.. and for some, the business owners and those that have bigger homes to heat will benefit far more than everyone else..
Comparing this to a windfall tax on the billions in excess profits energy corporations, and energy providers are raking in through higher prices.. in a nation rich in energy resources and now renewable energy resources does it work for you?
Allowing fracking will be missed by many under the price cap headline, as well as new fossil fuel extraction licenses during a climate emergency.. which won’t do much, if anything to reduce price or increase supply during this short term energy crunch, but will increase energy firm profits and accelerate global warming.. who is going to lose out now and infuture or benefit from this?
[explained well here on twitter](https://twitter.com/NEF/status/1567818672110018561)
30 comments
Quick correction. It’s not a £2,500 cap. They’ve been really sneaky about the announcement.
It’s a unit cost cap so that the average (read: a made up number) household will only spend £2,500.
This means that anyone using more energy than whatever the government have decided is average (which will probably be insultingly low) will have annual bills higher than £2.5k
On one hand happy that people who were genuinely bricking it will have improved mental health and a less stressful Christmas with the freezing on prices. It’s more expensive no doubt but compared to the insane sums of £7k a lot of people will sleep better.
On the other hand raging at typical Tory nonsense by forcing the debt forward to which they’ll no doubt hold against the next Labour government at some point.
The biggest crime here is the missed opportunity to bring the entire countries housing up to scratch on efficiency. The money being borrowed could be spent usefully and reduce the overall energy consumption of the country which would also cause a massive boost in jobs but instead we are going for yet another “lets drain the planet” route. Sad really.
Furious quite frankly. The cap is already unaffordable, they’re borrowing billions we don’t have to put directly into the pockets of billionaires who are actively killing our planet.
It should have been 2500 for essential energy use. With a higher price cap for all use above. No gov borrowing. Let the rich pay for their excessive use of energy.
The windfall tax would not raise enough to keep prices any lower. As for us having to pay it back, do you really expect to get it for free?
What I have been shocked at over the last few months, is just how many people on here still have their heating on during the summer, even though it’s at a lower setting. I have not had my heating on at all since May, when it was on for a couple of hours for 3 days during some very wet and stormy weather.
I’ve said this so many times, in the Autumn/Winter turn your heating down and put a jumper on.
People who are left wing should be really cautious about repeating the fiscal logic of austerity – that we are bankrupting the country and that our children will have to foot the bill etc. In reality allowing the economy to totally crash because of increased fuel bills would have been the truly unaffordable option. That’s not to say there should have been no further windfall tax – there should have been. But as is the policy is an 8% or so increase of Britain’s debt to gdp ratio which is easily affordable in the long run, and we will need much larger debt funded investment to combat and mitigate the climate crisis. Don’t repeat the debt = bad logic of George Osborne!
I feel that this announcement is another little bit of support for my theory that that charlatans are charlatans for a reason: that they are incompetent, and thus unable to advance on their merit.
Specifically, announcing this as “price cap of £2500 for a *typical* household” is a communications disaster – most people will remember the number, and not the caveat attached. i. e. residents of *atypical* households will either have a reaction that this cap is far too high for them, or they will see this as an amazing promise, only to feel betrayed in December when the bills hit.
Would have been so easy to to word this more sensibly (e.g. no one will pay more than they pay in October, for the same usage). But hey, which competent communicator wants to preach on behalf of these kleptocrats?
What about the poor energy companies and their profits though? You want them to go without this winter?
It amazes me, particularly given it’s been such a hot topic for months now, how many people still don’t understand that the figure quoted isn’t a set value but instead merely a representation of a ‘typical household’.
Have seen so many people talking today about how it’s ‘unfair that rich people won’t have to pay any more for their mansions’ and such like.
On that front, the announcement is a bit of a communications disaster.
Beyond that – it just very much reminds me of furlough all over again, a quick fix which will cost us dearly in years to come.
Absolutely ridiculous. But we cant tax Shell and BP because they’re too busy stuffing money into Liz Truss’ back pocket. One day into the job and a corruption scandal already. This country makes me sick.
Shit its just a wealth transfer from future you to today’s energy producers companies
It’s a con. Borrowing from the future just so that we can preserve obscene energy company profits. It’s not a cap on our bills at all, we’re still going to pay the rest, just not until after the next election!
These kinds of near slighted policies are what caused this whole situation, it never needed to happen.
The whole thing is a massive gift to the fossil fuel industry as it leaves their massive windfall profits untouched. Unrelated, Truss worked for Shell at one point, and it seems that BP were a major contributor to her most recent campaign.
Angry about the continued wealth transfer and furious about fracking
It’s a con. Kicking the can down the road for the future generations so that rich energy producers get more rich with their record profits and these high prices. It’s price gauging. And it’s an illusion that this will help us.
We get poorer the rich get more rich. The cycle continues. Anyone relieved by it imo, is short sighted. It’s going to be a problem. And if the Tories lose the next GE, the burden falls on their successors too.
A windfall tax does not even touch the sides for the amount of money needed. If you want immediate and direct action it is deficit funded spending. I do not agree with the cap as proposed by Truss, but the only option if you want to make energy bills affordable for many this winter of for the government to subsides it one way or another. The alternative is allow the free market to take its course and right the imbalance. If people cannot afford energy, demand will fall and so will the cost. Obviously this itself has some pretty dire repercussions for the vulnerable and the elderly…
It’s ridiculous. Energy companies are making record profits, yet we foot the bill. It’s fucking disgusting and proves, once again, that the tories hate the people of this country.
She’s killed the Don’t Pay campaign with the announcement, for better or worse. It’s enough that a lot of people will see it as the government doing something and not take part.
I think it’s a travesty for the average citizen, especially since it won’t be even partially funded by a windfall tax.
Selfishly I appreciate it since I’ll only be living here for another year.
Reddit: Pay for it with windfall tax on the energy producers
Also Reddit: Expect more investment in green energy in the UK by said producers
Am I being facetious or are these demands at odds?
It will likely stop a lot of people dying this winter (perhaps thousands), from not being able to afford to put their heating on. Yes it could be funded better, but I doubt many of us know the full complexities of how to implement a windfall tax (can it be signed, sealed and delivered within the 20 days we have until the October price rise).
I guess I’m just thankful that something was done. It’s not as bad as I had feared.
Absolutely seething.
I go out of my way to ensure I don’t pick up long-running costs wherever possible.
This is going to be a drag on the entire nation.
You mean enslaving future generations to ensure that there billionaire overlords maximise their profits?
They’re not addressing the real issue! The triple priced energy that’s causing triple profits
We need an election this shits gone on long enough
It would have been cheaper bring them back into public ownership, but they would not get the profits from their shares then.
The cloud caused by combined sigh of relief that occurred from action finally being taken will hide the fact that said action is a farce and does not source the money from the right places.
But in reality it’s a stroke of brilliance by Truss. She has no intent of calling a snap election and giving validity to her premiership, instead using this ‘decisive action to save winter bills’ as a ransom to keep her in power until the next election.
Penny’s dropped – Two year cap for two years before the election. They really don’t want to win the next election do they?
Remove planning requirements for solar/wind for householders for a start. I don’t care if its a listed building, if you don’t want solar on a listed building buy it yourself and don’t put them up.
And start on nuclear plants now.