Why is nobody talking about energy prices???

[Emma S]

I run a small independent cafe with my husband and business partner. Our energy bills are 4x what they were when we opened 3 years ago. That's shocking, but what I don't understand is why the fall in wholesale prices as evidenced by the approx 20% decrease in domestic energy tariffs, are not also being passed onto businesses? And why is there not more noise about it in the media etc? Surely energy companies are busy profiteering on the back of our suffering?

 

[Drax35]

I run a small independent cafe with my husband and business partner. Our energy bills are 4x what they were when we opened 3 years ago. That's shocking, but what I don't understand is why the fall in wholesale prices as evidenced by the approx 20% decrease in domestic energy tariffs, are not also being passed onto businesses? And why is there not more noise about it in the media etc? Surely energy companies are busy profiteering on the back of our suffering?

I feel for you. I had a business spending £1k+ per month at each site on electricity until a few years ago and that was bad enough!

It's like the petrol prices, we were fine paying 110p a litre, outraged when it went to 180p then when it dropped to 140p we all breathed a sigh of relief and and things felt "normal" again.

Our government has sorely let us down over energy prices, but most of us are just too placid to actually do anything about it.

 

[Emma S]

I feel for you. I had a business spending £1k+ per month at each site on electricity until a few years ago and that was bad enough!

It's like the petrol prices, we were fine paying 110p a litre, outraged when it went to 180p then when it dropped to 140p we all breathed a sigh of relief and and things felt "normal" again.

Our government has sorely let us down over energy prices, but most of us are just too placid to actually do anything about it.

I completely agree! This is exactly how I feel too but I can't understand why nobody else seems to think it is unacceptable! Or if they do, they are keeping it to themselves....

 

[NickGrogan]

At the peak, business energy contracts were at £1.15 per KWh, they've now dropped to mid 20's so the drop in business prices have been much more than the drop in domestic, mainly because they went much higher than domestic rates.

Your rates didn't rise when markets peaked and they don't fall when the market drops because you're on a fixed price contract.

 

[MRQ]

I can't understand why nobody else seems to think it is unacceptable! Or if they do, they are keeping it to themselves....

...the serenity to accept the things they cannot change, the courage to change the things they can,
and the wisdom to know the difference?

Of course people are outraged and upset... but what exactly are they supposed to do about it? Build their own nuclear power station in their shed?

allthatsinteresting.com/david-hahn

We're all held to ransom. ...You can try voting next time there's an election; but seeing as you cannot get a fag paper between one parcel of rogues and another, well...

 

[alamest]

I think there might be inflation going on in UK, this will come up very soon in the news..

 

[SillyBill]

I run a small independent cafe with my husband and business partner. Our energy bills are 4x what they were when we opened 3 years ago. That's shocking, but what I don't understand is why the fall in wholesale prices as evidenced by the approx 20% decrease in domestic energy tariffs, are not also being passed onto businesses? And why is there not more noise about it in the media etc? Surely energy companies are busy profiteering on the back of our suffering?

I sympathise, we're also paying 4.5x what we were. I'm paying up to £16K a month inc. VAT now, up from about £3.5-4k. The government's "support" lasted one month for us, we got about £4k in March off our bill then it was left to our own devices of facing six figure increases. The most annoying thing for me is the standing charge going up 1000%, so I'm now paying almost £10k a year in standing charges. And I've been quoted standing charges of £18k a year from next year on a new contract...up 2200% from what I was paying in Feb of this year. Would have been nice if the VAT was reduced down to help with cashflow but alas I've long since thought the government exists to put every obstacle in our path to run a profitable business so shouldn't be surprised. But I am quite shocked there isn't more news about this generally, I've been questionning whether we're just very unlucky as heard very little else from industry save the odd isolated story of a chippie having to close down.

 

[Emma S]

I sympathise, we're also paying 4.5x what we were. I'm paying up to £16K a month inc. VAT now, up from about £3.5-4k. The government's "support" lasted one month for us, we got about £4k in March off our bill then it was left to our own devices of facing six figure increases. The most annoying thing for me is the standing charge going up 1000%, so I'm now paying almost £10k a year in standing charges. And I've been quoted standing charges of £18k a year from next year on a new contract...up 2200% from what I was paying in Feb of this year. Would have been nice if the VAT was reduced down to help with cashflow but alas I've long since thought the government exists to put every obstacle in our path to run a profitable business so shouldn't be surprised. But I am quite shocked there isn't more news about this generally, I've been questionning whether we're just very unlucky as heard very little else from industry save the odd isolated story of a chippie having to close down.

That's terrible! You have my sympathy and I can only second all of your observations. I definitely don't think we are alone in this; I can only presume everyone has given up complaining seeing as it seems to be a losing battle! At the risk of getting political, the only conclusion I can come to is that current government do not seem all too bothered about supporting SMEs, which is very disappointing. Also makes me wonder what was the point of spending so much money supporting us through covid only to let us flounder a couple of years down the line. Bit of a waste of resources really!

 

[WaveJumper]

Unfortunately and I personally think recklessly this and previous governments have done nothing to ensure we are energy self sufficient and remain at the mercy of foreign owned energy suppliers (my friends in France pay nothing like the cost for electricity that I incur and its the same supplier) and leave us at the mercy of the world market.

The OPEC oil producers are deliberately keeping oil prices high and remember one of the biggest members of this group are the Russians. OPEC could have increased production but in fact have slashed it with the view of pushing prices over $100 a barrel and keeping them there.

Couple of things i have noticed just recently (on the domestic front) yes price has dropped slightly, but the daily standing charges are not coming down and when you look they are almost three times what they were a couple of years ago. Energy companies just lately keep emailing me with their fixed price contracts which they now seem to be pushing, so I assume they now trying to hook people into current prices as they know the costs are coming down - call me cynical.

 

[Emma S]

Unfortunately and I personally think recklessly this and previous governments have done nothing to ensure we are energy self sufficient and remain at the mercy of foreign owned energy suppliers (my friends in France pay nothing like the cost for electricity that I incur and its the same supplier) and leave us at the mercy of the world market.

The OPEC oil producers are deliberately keeping oil prices high and remember one of the biggest members of this group are the Russians. OPEC could have increased production but in fact have slashed it with the view of pushing prices over $100 a barrel and keeping them there.

Couple of things i have noticed just recently (on the domestic front) yes price has dropped slightly, but the daily standing charges are not coming down and when you look they are almost three times what they were a couple of years ago. Energy companies just lately keep emailing me with their fixed price contracts which they now seem to be pushing, so I assume they now trying to hook people into current prices as they know the costs are coming down - call me cynical.

Think we've got good reason to be cynical by now! ?

 

[Paulzx]

Add electricity to all the other scams. We are all scammed every day, one way or another, energy bills was just a recent one, whilst they make record profits we're all paying through the nose.

Unfortunately, like a lot of things that happen in this country, people just bend over and accept it, which of course allows it to continue.

 

[Newchodge]

Unfortunately and I personally think recklessly this and previous governments have done nothing to ensure we are energy self sufficient and remain at the mercy of foreign owned energy suppliers (my friends in France pay nothing like the cost for electricity that I incur and its the same supplier) and leave us at the mercy of the world market.

The OPEC oil producers are deliberately keeping oil prices high and remember one of the biggest members of this group are the Russians. OPEC could have increased production but in fact have slashed it with the view of pushing prices over $100 a barrel and keeping them there.

Couple of things i have noticed just recently (on the domestic front) yes price has dropped slightly, but the daily standing charges are not coming down and when you look they are almost three times what they were a couple of years ago. Energy companies just lately keep emailing me with their fixed price contracts which they now seem to be pushing, so I assume they now trying to hook people into current prices as they know the costs are coming down - call me cynical.

While there is the Regulator's maximum price for domestic fuel it doesn't apply to standing charges, apparently. So, guess hwat? Standing charges have soared. Making the Regulator as useless as the government intended them to be.

 

[IanSuth]

While there is the Regulator's maximum price for domestic fuel it doesn't apply to standing charges, apparently. So, guess hwat? Standing charges have soared. Making the Regulator as useless as the government intended them to be.

Not true

There is a daily cap of 37p for gas 58p for electric (for domestic) I believe part of that goes to pay for the ofgen/govt schemes for supplier of last resort and also to ensure remote areas get provision without paying more.

 

[IanSuth]

read this it covers some of it

Why is our energy standing charge up 192.8% in seven years?

The standing charge for electricity per day will remain at 43.65p and gas at 29.11p, according to latest correspondence from my energy supplier.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

 

[Newchodge]

Not true

There is a daily cap of 37p for gas 58p for electric (for domestic) I believe part of that goes to pay for the ofgen/govt schemes for supplier of last resort and also to ensure remote areas get provision without paying more.

My electricity standing charge is 62.11p per day, gas 37.8p per day.

 

[IanSuth]

My electricity standing charge is 62.11p per day, gas 37.8p per day.

I dont know it toally but i know Ofgen set a national one which the supplies all pay to ofgen, then they have to add their bit (which ofgen have to OK) and it is different in different locations due to local supply conditions.

But there is a cap and it is not just up to the supplies to charge what they can get away with

 

[IanSuth]

i got in just before all fixed rates stopped being offered - so for 5 more weeks i am on 26.12p gas 24.11p electric standing charges

3.96p/kwh gas, 19.62 p/kwh electric

 

[Joe.MossMBC]

Hi All,

The reason for many businesses having inflated energy contracts is due to the addition of illegal commissions, paid to the brokerage without the customers knowledge.

If you think your business may be involved then give me a message as I'd be happy to help.

 

[Emma S]

Add electricity to all the other scams. We are all scammed every day, one way or another, energy bills was just a recent one, whilst they make record profits we're all paying through the nose.

Unfortunately, like a lot of things that happen in this country, people just bend over and accept it, which of course allows it to continue.

Very true!

 

[Emma S]

Hi All,

The reason for many businesses having inflated energy contracts is due to the addition of illegal commissions, paid to the brokerage without the customers knowledge.

If you think your business may be involved then give me a message as I'd be happy to help.

Hi Joe. I've already had a law firm look into this and it wasn't the case for us, but thanks for the heads up!

 

[NickGrogan]

Hi All,

The reason for many businesses having inflated energy contracts is due to the addition of illegal commissions, paid to the brokerage without the customers knowledge.

If you think your business may be involved then give me a message as I'd be happy to help.

There has been one court case about commissions. They lost and had to pay significant fees.

Commission claims: A cautionary tale for claimants - Walker Morris

Nick McQueen explains, the court has recently confirmed that pursuing commission claims can be a costly and risky business.

www.walkermorris.co.uk

There are many reasons why energy costs have gone up, and broker commissions isn't one of them.

 

[Joe.MossMBC]

There has been one court case about commissions. They lost and had to pay significant fees.

There are many reasons why energy costs have gone up, and broker commissions isn't one of them.

Predictable response from the owner of an energy brokerage.

Claiming that these undisclosed commissions claims are entirely without merit is very naive. There are thousands of UK law firms paying, between them, well into the millions for runnable business energy claims.
This simply wouldn't be happening if these claims were without substance.

Your research also leaves a lot to be desired as there are multiple UDC Business Energy claims that have had successful court judgements.

Where do brokers make their money if not commissions added to the bill of the consumer? The fact is there have been commissions taken, often undisclosed and often at an inflated rate. The claim that broker commissions don't drive up energy prices is ludicrous.

 

[NickGrogan]

Claiming that these undisclosed commissions claims are entirely without merit is very naive.

Joe, could you highlight where I said this?

Your research also leaves a lot to be desired as there are multiple UDC Business Energy claims that have had successful court judgements.

Could you provide links to these as they should be in the public record? If you can't post links, just the parties involved will do.

Brokers certainly make money from commissions, no one is denying it and everyone knows it. Which is why the claim that went to court, failed.

Its interesting, many claims companies are owned by the directors of former energy brokers, including some well known names in the industry. A case of the poacher turning gatekeeper.