Will the cost of electricity and gas ever come back down again.

Net zero garbage, what happens when if we get there ?

Petrol prices are a complete con. I’m sure all the suppliers are in it together. We have three petrol stations in our town, same price in all three of them. There’s a petrol station on the A303 that sells its fuel for £1.26 a litre, it’s consistently at least 10p a litre cheaper than anywhere else. If they can do it why are we paying £1.37 at the local Esso and Sainsbury’s garages, and don’t even get me on the cost at service stations!

How many jobs were lost when we closed down the coal power stations, the coal mines, and the accompanying industries such as transport etc.

The UK sacrificing itself won't make a jot of difference until all the other countries take it seriously too, which many don't show any intention of doing. It's not as if by going net zero in the UK, we can insulate ourselves against climate change.

All with indecent haste too. Conspiracy theorists would say that there were "background" forces in action. Just like the way we ripped up a huge amount of our railway infrastructure in the 60s - again with indecent haste for no obvious/good reason as lots of it could have been left in place pending reviews and bringing back into use. Sometimes high level decisions make no sense.

The alternative to net zero in the long run will be the climate catastrophe that could see the UK uninhabitable.

Now I won't be here for that, so don't really care too much. I'll leave it all to your grandkids to work out what to do. Maybe that'll stop them voting Labour ?

As with everything, done right, yes.

3,000 jobs in Wales.

My DD works in renewables and finds the net zero bashing sad as she genuinely wants to bring about the clean energy future of tomorrow

Sorry but all the renewables we have now were built or approved under the previous Govt.
What should they do? stop using them???

We don't have the gas power stations able to produce the power we need, so they would need to be built, as some have been.

We have also, just, started to plan for more Nuclear.

It’s the cost of gas that’s the issue, unless that drops on the wholesale market we won’t see a drop in bills

"Energy bills ‘to rise 20% over the next 5 years’" https://www.lovemoney.com/news/517299/energy-bills-rise-government-tax-policy

Xx

National Grid is having to pay for the connections to all the new Renewables that are starting. That is Policy.
Oil prices are low, about $65 a barrel, it is kept at that price by Saudi and OPEC or it would be even cheaper. It is Policy not to use it. We could get oil and gas from North Sea. It is Policy not to use those sources.
They are decisions by this Labour Government.There are huge reserves of crude oil unused in friendly jurisdictions. Brazil made a huge discovery off shore very recently.

We could have had cheaper nuclear power stations but it was a policy of the previous government to go along with this system.
Growth, GROWTH, GROWTH, the pm said and then added to the costs of industry in several ways.

You cannot tax your way to Growth. We understand that. The Cabinet don't.

UK has had super hi energy prices for many years, long before net zero.

Exxon plant has been losing money for at least 5 years and its closure is part of a larger European cost cutting plan.

Easier to blame someone else.

However, generally speaking Net Zero is bonkers, giving subsidies so we can go out and buy cheap Chinese EVs, whilst UK and European car plants shut down.

COctopus put out a statement recently that energy costs would rise 20% in the next five years.

Creation of Wind farms, nuclear, heat pumps all are being subbed by our existing energy bills. The money has to come from somewhere.

I notice that's been quietly forgotten for the time being - I imagine until after the budget when the media will ramp up their campaign to get rid of Reeves ASAP.

Yes, they’re less than half of non renewables equivalent lifetime costs.

https://www.nationalgrid.com/the-great-grid-upgrade/fact-or-fiction

Are renewables actually cheaper?

The retail energy industry is so broken. Effectively it is price controlled through the price cap, which works in a way that allows suppliers to make a modest profit. If you look at the retail energy part of any supplier you’ll find that they are almost loss making - serving customers within the price cap alongside all the ridiculous expectations of the regulator is really challenging. The regulator is ineffective (we’re paying for that through our bills by the way) and there are so many levies on the bill that we’re paying way over the actual cost of energy. The massive profits that get reported by the vertically integrated suppliers come from generation of energy not selling it to the public. Alongside that, wholesale prices are very high so consumer bills can’t be brought down without govt subsidies - and there is no money available to pay everyone’s energy bills.

We have some of the highest energy costs in the world though are domestic costs aren't as high as some other- and it's likely impacting the economy.

Full Fact:Does the UK have the ‘most expensive’ electricity in the world?

I heard radio 4 have some expert on explaining how the electrical bidding system works - apparently everyone gets the highest rate needed for that 30 minutes - which seems really odd - and we also can't use all the wind generated.

So yes all my family now think twice about heating and energy costs - IL have a wood burning stoves which if new would have to meet stricter requirements - next door now have two huge Chimney- right outside our window and doors - and I'm not sure how regulated the emmisons are.

What possessed the UK to privatise and sell of so much of its national infra-structure is mind boggleing, rail, energy, steel, housing, wtf were they actually thinking?

The Tories under Thatcher were ideologically opposed to nationalised industries which they regarded as tantamount to Marxism, and they thought that if they gave the public a chance to buy shares, we'd all think we were rich and never vote Labour again.

I was working for one of the regional gas boards in the mid-70s, and the government had to approve all price rises. They could be kept low, and subsidised from taxation, or raised and any surplus reinvested in infrastructure or handed over to the government.

Assuming you mean bills and not the wholesale cost of energy production, then no. They won't. Because of net zero and the absolutely insane drive to become carbon neutral.

The energy price cap is going up yet again to pay for the net zero subsidies as well, so everyone's going to be digging deeper (comrades).

The cost of non-renewables is going to continue to skyrocket because they are getting more and more scarce, and harder and harder to get to. There is no getting round the fact that they are not limitless - once they’re gone they’re gone. Some estimates suggest there’s about 30 years worth of oil and 40 years worth of gas left (https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/fossil-fuels-run/). They’re not going to get cheaper, and will likely become too expensive for the domestic consumer. There is a huge imperative to move towards renewables - they’re cheap after the initial outlay, much less damaging to the environment, and most importantly, they won’t run out anytime soon. We shouldn’t be dropping net zero; if anything we need to be speeding it up. Reliance on fossil fuels makes us vulnerable and we can remove that at a stroke by investing in clean (and cheap) energy.

Petrol and diesel do go up and down though. The price at my local filling stations has dropped two or three times in the last month or so.

Only by a few pence a litre, admittedly, but for someone doing a lot of miles every week it's enoough to make a difference.

This is what Tories and their supporters have been voting for for 30 years. These things dont just happen to us. We chose this.