Current Affairs

[Onelife]

It seems quite bizarre but I think that I’ll be better off with the spike in energy prices.
I’m with Shell Energy and was paying £120 a month on standard tariff. I had about £250 in credit.
My new direct debit after October has been put up to £167 a month.
It then says that I get £66 discount subsidy so I guess they will actually take £101 a month.
Weird ?

Sounds like you’re onto a good thing Barney…have you checked your premium bonds?

[Manoverboard]

I suspect that you will continue to pay £167 and that the subsidy will offset additional cost going into the winter months.

[david63]

I suspect that you will continue to pay £167 and that the subsidy will offset additional cost going into the winter months.

That's not the way it works. The energy companies will reduce you DD for four months and then reassess after that. I decided to increase my DD to the amount before the subsidy so that I am building up a "pot" so that the increase will not be quite as bad.

[Jan Rosser]

British Gas have informed me they will still take my usual DD and as that goes in they will then credit me with the £66 subsidy. Is this the easiest way to do it - who knows - there are other suppliers out there

[towny44]

I suspect that you will continue to pay £167 and that the subsidy will offset additional cost going into the winter months.

Unless you're with Octopus, who so far are not showing any credit for the govt support so only showing the reduced payment from us. I will be very interested to read their reply to me e-mail.

[anniec]

I suspect that you will continue to pay £167 and that the subsidy will offset additional cost going into the winter months.

Unless you're with Octopus, who so far are not showing any credit for the govt support so only showing the reduced payment from us. I will be very interested to read their reply to me e-mail.

I'm with Octopus. Not sure I understand your post, but if you pay by direct debit then Octopus are reducing the monthly payments for the next six months by £66 for the next 3 months and £67 for the following 3 months (from memory), thus giving us all our £400 government subsidy.

[david63]

According to the latest news they are planning for power cuts this winter despite Liz Truss saying that there would not be any.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63155827

Anyone know where I can get some "fork handles"?

[Mervyn and Trish]

I'm going to frack Stephen's garden

[towny44]

I suspect that you will continue to pay £167 and that the subsidy will offset additional cost going into the winter months.

Unless you're with Octopus, who so far are not showing any credit for the govt support so only showing the reduced payment from us. I will be very interested to read their reply to me e-mail.

I'm with Octopus. Not sure I understand your post, but if you pay by direct debit then Octopus are reducing the monthly payments for the next six months by £66 for the next 3 months and £67 for the following 3 months (from memory), thus giving us all our £400 government subsidy.

Yes that was also my understanding, however only after my e-mail have Ocropus credited my balance history with the govt support of £66, although they have been showing my pending payment for the last 2 days. Funnily enough their beta testing forward balance estimating, also only showed my reduced future payments and no govt support money either, leading to a proposed massive increase in my future payments.

[Onelife]

According to the latest news they are planning for power cuts this winter despite Liz Truss saying that there would not be any.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63155827

Anyone know where I can get some "fork handles"?

You’ve got to look on the bright side David, there are reports that consumers could be offered £10 a day to reduce gas consumption which incidentally is good news for my new line in winter jumpers.

True to her word, Liz is creating new job opportunities

[Ray Scully]

Power cuts They will only apply to electrical supplies. Cutting the gas supply is fraught with difficulties and would only happen in the most serious of emergencies. Ergo any shortage of gas will directly effect gas generated electricity.

[Onelife]

I wish they could cut power to the BBC who keep putting out this hype.

[oldbluefox]

The media getting everybody excited again with tales of doom and gloom based on worst case scenario. Don't they love to wind everybody up?
Even worst case scenario isn't so dreadful. Living in Ukraine under the fear of bombardment or having lost home and family is.

[Onelife]

The BBC has long lost its impartiality when it comes to unbiased reporting, in fact, I would take it one step further and say, at times they could easily be mistaken for the opposition party.

[Ray Scully]

The BBC has long lost its impartiality when it comes to unbiased reporting, in fact, I would take it one step further and say, at times they could easily be mistaken for the opposition party.

The BBC has long lost its impartiality when it comes to unbiased reporting, in fact, I would take it one step further and say, at times they could easily be mistaken for the governing party.

[Onelife]

The BBC has long lost its impartiality when it comes to unbiased reporting, in fact, I would take it one step further and say, at times they could easily be mistaken for the opposition party.

The BBC has long lost its impartiality when it comes to unbiased reporting, in fact, I would take it one step further and say, at times they could easily be mistaken for the governing party.

Precisely!!

[Manoverboard]

It seems quite bizarre but I think that I’ll be better off with the spike in energy prices.
I’m with Shell Energy and was paying £120 a month on standard tariff. I had about £250 in credit.
My new direct debit after October has been put up to £167 a month.
It then says that I get £66 discount subsidy so I guess they will actually take £101 a month.
Weird ?

I responded to this earlier but got shot down by just about everybody.

Have just received a letter from OVO Energy, they advise that my payments will NOT be reduced.

The Government subsidy of £66/£67 per month will be applied from October '22 to March '23. OVO get my money from the Government and upon receipt they will ship the same amount to the Bank Account that I use to pay their Direct Debits.

Other suppliers may of course be different.

[Mervyn and Trish]

And that (a post or two back)is the heart of the matter. Every detailed independent analysis shows that overall the BBC is unbiased. That doesn't mean it doesn't report controversial views from either side of the fence on occasions.

Perceptions of bias generally come from those.who have strongly held views of their own and see the BBC's failure to constantly promote their views as bias the other way.

[Ray B]

Maybe the same views about how the P M has set out the future.

[Onelife]

And that (a post or two back)is the heart of the matter. Every detailed independent analysis shows that overall the BBC is unbiased. That doesn't mean it doesn't report controversial views from either side of the fence on occasions.

Perceptions of bias generally come from those.who have strongly held views of their own and see the BBC's failure to constantly promote their views as bias the other way.

The media watchdog’s annual report on the broadcaster said that audiences “consistently rate the BBC less favourably” for impartiality, adding that complaints about BBC content have more than trebled since 2017-2018, jumping from 1,673 four years ago to 5,429 this year.

It's clearly got a lot worse since this report.

Damming Links available on request.

[Bensham33]

I think the BBC do a great job. They ask difficult question to all sides and quite rightly hold the government to account.

[Kendhni]

If I can make one thing clear… I don’t really care who is leading the conservative party what I want is someone who has the foresight for change, change that will stop us going around in circles…. Liz Truss to date is the only one who sees the necessity for change in my opinion.

I agree with you, about the need for change but I think Truss is well out of her depth .... I am not even sure this ripple down will work.

[Kendhni]

I was walking down the street yesterday and saw a beggar ... I was about to give him £1 when I had a better idea ... I drove to the poshest part of town and put £10 through the letter box of the 5 biggest houses .... I then went back to the beggar and told him to wait for the money to trickle down to him.

And that sums up how it works.

[Onelife]

One can only hope that the person in charge (presently Liz Truss) knows how trickle-down effect has worked in the past and is willing to improve it for the future.
Trickle-down is how our economic system works…If we stick with this system then what needs to happen is a realisation that distribution will need to be done much fairer …I think/hope she gets it.

[Kendhni]

It is currently estimated that Kwarteng has left a hole of about £60-70bn in his estimates. The most likely plan to fill this will be to cut back on the size of the public sector long overdue ... the number 200,000 jobs has been mentioned. Sadly I suspect many of those will be useful front line workers instead of the worthless overpaid back end paper pushers in the civil service.