Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Anyone else worried about the poor response by govt to energy prices hike?

64 replies

Graphista · 03/02/2022 18:29

Awful response!

Very weird to link it to council tax. Very vague regarding the help for the poorest and most vulnerable

I've been trying to get through to various agencies and my council today with no luck presumably as everyone else doing the same!

Struggling to find clear info online. Especially as I'm in Scotland.

Would love to hear from anyone concerned but particularly would be good if experts in areas of budget and welfare advice could maybe provide some reassurance if they're willing and able.

Frankly I think some kind of helpline should have been setup ready to go to answer peoples queries.

This is huge and yet the govt don't really appear to be taking it that seriously imo.

OP posts:
A580Hojas · 05/02/2022 18:03

Me. I am totally disgusted by it. Why the fuck are they raising NI at this awful time?

Dreamstate · 05/02/2022 18:43

@A580Hojas

Me. I am totally disgusted by it. Why the fuck are they raising NI at this awful time?
To pay back all the money spent for covid stuff, furlough etc. This was said so many times when lockdowns happen that we would have to pay it back.

What do you expect when you virtually shutdown the economy for 2 yrs.

What do you expect when people protest against nuclear power and fracking so we cant be more self sufficient and stuck relying on countries like Russia for energy

jgw1 · 05/02/2022 18:48

To pay back all the money spent for covid stuff, furlough etc. This was said so many times when lockdowns happen that we would have to pay it back.

I'm sure you meant to say to pay for all the fraud, consultants, jobs for mates, massive increases in profits for companies that didn't know they supplied PPE until they entered the VIP fast rip off lane.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

EngTech · 05/02/2022 18:58

JG

The people will vote accordingly in 2 years time 😳

Suzi888 · 05/02/2022 19:20

I agree with @Dreamstate we are paying for covid. You can’t expect £750 to be dished out six times to one person earning £26 a week - yes this happened. They lost £156 and received £4500. I shit you not. Welcome to self isolation payments in Wales….

So- we will all pay for covid for years to come.

Kazzyhoward · 05/02/2022 19:49

@Suzi888

I agree with *@Dreamstate* we are paying for covid. You can’t expect £750 to be dished out six times to one person earning £26 a week - yes this happened. They lost £156 and received £4500. I shit you not. Welcome to self isolation payments in Wales….

So- we will all pay for covid for years to come.

And people with holiday lets getting up to £28k in local council support grants when their total income from letting their flat was less than that, i.e. the grants were far more than they lost, especially as many could open in the months between the lockdowns, and some opened during lockdowns providing accommodation to workers etc so didn't lose out at all, but were quids in with the grants they didn't need.

One of my clients has 4 one bed holiday lets, being separate flats in the same building and got over £100k of local council grants. There was no checking as to how much he actually "lost" due to lockdowns, he simply "ticked the boxes" and got huge grants every few months.

Suzi888 · 05/02/2022 20:02

“One of my clients has 4 one bed holiday lets, being separate flats in the same building and got over £100k of local council grants. There was no checking as to how much he actually "lost" due to lockdowns, he simply "ticked the boxes" and got huge grants every few months.”
@Kazzyhoward
* faints* we didn’t have quite the likes of that around here! To my knowledge…. Well definitely no holiday lets. But we did have a millionaire claim £30k - who I know personally. Angry

Graphista · 05/02/2022 21:10

@akire I may have misunderstood your post but I think most families on low wages WILL get UC and that possibly includes help with council tax? I'm still on legacy benefits - having been repeatedly advised to stay off uc as long as possible! So I'm not entirely sure how it works

To be honest no one is coming out of this well! I think the majority will be affected.

I agree which is why it would have been much better if they'd told the energy companies to sod off!

@Dreamstate but none of the (all Tory in action if not name) govts we've had since thatcher have done anything to mitigate the harm she did! On those matters at least hence we're still suffering the effects and then some!

Absolutely importing and not creating our own energy is a HUGE part of the problem. As someone who lives on the west Coast of Scotland and has lived in other coastal areas in uk it's beyond me WHY we aren't investing in tidal energy for example! We've a fucking ton of it! And more investment in wind energy too - again plenty of that! Aesthetic objections simply aren't good enough. I dgaf if wind farms are "ugly" it's a damn sight better than being in this situation and that objection mainly seems to come from well off nimby types!

What it ALL comes down to energy wise is gas and oil companies having - being allowed to have WAY too much power!

I understand the "resigned rather than worried" thing even though I'm not there myself it's just one bloody thing after another!

Unfortunately those fat cats are often linked to our government MPs

Too true! Snouts in the trough which is ALWAYS the issue when tories are in power every time!

Well if the poor weren't idle scroungers forever partying then they would be as rich and successful as Johnson and Sunak.

Sarcasm yes?

If JC had won the election, would we be in a better position?

Yes!

For a thousand reasons! And I'm no huge Corbyn supporter but yes!

Either way, the GE is 2 years away and if people are still hurting, they will vote accordingly

Unless tories do what they usually do and splash the cash in the run up among regular Tory voters and floating voters

This from labour site:

Highlighting how crucial it is to keep energy bills lower in future, Labour have said they would:
• Reduce Britain’s reliance on imported gas by accelerating home-grown renewables and new nuclear
• Make sure 19 million homes are warm and well-insulated, saving households an average of £400 a year on bills
• Regulate the market better, with a pledge to never again let energy companies play fast and loose with the rules

That's just part of what they have said they would do different they've been commenting on this upcoming disaster for some time but the msm don't report the good things about labour.

@Lampshading there shouldn't be ANY VAT on energy VAT is meant to be on luxury/non essential items and services energy is NOT a luxury!

I guess you missed earlier this year when one party introduced a bill to remove VAT on fuel bills and the other opposed it.

Exactly

@Mumoblue I'm in a similar situation

Me. I am totally disgusted by it. Why the fuck are they raising NI at this awful time?

It's all about lining their own and cronies pockets (and the cronies pockets is self serving for future gain)

What do you expect when you virtually shutdown the economy for 2 yrs.

And piss BILLIONS away through corrupt and incompetent decisions!

What do you expect when people protest against nuclear power and fracking so we cant be more self sufficient and stuck relying on countries like Russia for energy

We don't need to use environmentally disastrous energy production like fracking to produce our own energy

And are you really surprised at others following govts lead in enacting their own corrupt practices? I'm not!

OP posts:
Dreamstate · 05/02/2022 23:57

@jgw1

To pay back all the money spent for covid stuff, furlough etc. This was said so many times when lockdowns happen that we would have to pay it back.

I'm sure you meant to say to pay for all the fraud, consultants, jobs for mates, massive increases in profits for companies that didn't know they supplied PPE until they entered the VIP fast rip off lane.

And I'm sure you also meant all the people who set up companies suddenly to fraudulently claimed to. Not just big businesses. Ordinary folk.
Dreamstate · 06/02/2022 00:00

[quote Graphista]@akire I may have misunderstood your post but I think most families on low wages WILL get UC and that possibly includes help with council tax? I'm still on legacy benefits - having been repeatedly advised to stay off uc as long as possible! So I'm not entirely sure how it works

To be honest no one is coming out of this well! I think the majority will be affected.

I agree which is why it would have been much better if they'd told the energy companies to sod off!

@Dreamstate but none of the (all Tory in action if not name) govts we've had since thatcher have done anything to mitigate the harm she did! On those matters at least hence we're still suffering the effects and then some!

Absolutely importing and not creating our own energy is a HUGE part of the problem. As someone who lives on the west Coast of Scotland and has lived in other coastal areas in uk it's beyond me WHY we aren't investing in tidal energy for example! We've a fucking ton of it! And more investment in wind energy too - again plenty of that! Aesthetic objections simply aren't good enough. I dgaf if wind farms are "ugly" it's a damn sight better than being in this situation and that objection mainly seems to come from well off nimby types!

What it ALL comes down to energy wise is gas and oil companies having - being allowed to have WAY too much power!

I understand the "resigned rather than worried" thing even though I'm not there myself it's just one bloody thing after another!

Unfortunately those fat cats are often linked to our government MPs

Too true! Snouts in the trough which is ALWAYS the issue when tories are in power every time!

Well if the poor weren't idle scroungers forever partying then they would be as rich and successful as Johnson and Sunak.

Sarcasm yes?

If JC had won the election, would we be in a better position?

Yes!

For a thousand reasons! And I'm no huge Corbyn supporter but yes!

Either way, the GE is 2 years away and if people are still hurting, they will vote accordingly

Unless tories do what they usually do and splash the cash in the run up among regular Tory voters and floating voters

This from labour site:

Highlighting how crucial it is to keep energy bills lower in future, Labour have said they would:
• Reduce Britain’s reliance on imported gas by accelerating home-grown renewables and new nuclear
• Make sure 19 million homes are warm and well-insulated, saving households an average of £400 a year on bills
• Regulate the market better, with a pledge to never again let energy companies play fast and loose with the rules

That's just part of what they have said they would do different they've been commenting on this upcoming disaster for some time but the msm don't report the good things about labour.

@Lampshading there shouldn't be ANY VAT on energy VAT is meant to be on luxury/non essential items and services energy is NOT a luxury!

I guess you missed earlier this year when one party introduced a bill to remove VAT on fuel bills and the other opposed it.

Exactly

@Mumoblue I'm in a similar situation

Me. I am totally disgusted by it. Why the fuck are they raising NI at this awful time?

It's all about lining their own and cronies pockets (and the cronies pockets is self serving for future gain)

What do you expect when you virtually shutdown the economy for 2 yrs.

And piss BILLIONS away through corrupt and incompetent decisions!

What do you expect when people protest against nuclear power and fracking so we cant be more self sufficient and stuck relying on countries like Russia for energy

We don't need to use environmentally disastrous energy production like fracking to produce our own energy

And are you really surprised at others following govts lead in enacting their own corrupt practices? I'm not!

[/quote]
Yes you just love to blame everything on the Tories meanwhile seemingly ignoring the fact when Labour where in power it was Ed Milliband who started the carbon reduction policies that ultimately led to us not becoming self sufficient

And also ignore people who protest against it for the sake of the environment

So we want to be net zero carbon theb we will pay for it.

Kazzyhoward · 06/02/2022 17:14

@Dreamstate

And I'm sure you also meant all the people who set up companies suddenly to fraudulently claimed to. Not just big businesses. Ordinary folk.

But they're not "normal" ordinary folk, they're criminals. It's fraud, pure and simple, nothing to do with small businesses. Mostly organised crime and others happy to operate in the black economy, the largest component of the "tax gap".

"Off the shelf" and old/dormant limited companies were selling at crazy high prices on ebay and other online platforms in Summer 2020 - anyone with half a brain knows why - yet the Treasury and HMRC etc just ignored it, despite being told by accountants and solicitors and professional bodies what was going on.

JuliaMumsnet · 18/02/2022 11:51

Hello. Popping in to let you know that we're doing a Q&A with fuel poverty charity National Energy Action about these energy price hikes on Wednesday 23rd Feb at 12 noon. The thread is now open for questions here.

wingscrow · 18/02/2022 11:58

We have a Tory Governement. That's why we are seeing these prices....

Energy/Water companies and their shareholders in the UK are making record profits unchecked. Other countries like France are keeping energy providers on a tight leash. Here we have an unregulated free for all...

Any decent government would have looked at either getting utilities back into public ownership or better regulation and windfall tax on excessive profit.

But no, some people chose a government that gives bankers, party donors and similar an easy life while regular people are paying through the nose.

They have been in power for over a decade, they created this mess.

jgw1 · 18/02/2022 12:01

@wingscrow

We have a Tory Governement. That's why we are seeing these prices....

Energy/Water companies and their shareholders in the UK are making record profits unchecked. Other countries like France are keeping energy providers on a tight leash. Here we have an unregulated free for all...

Any decent government would have looked at either getting utilities back into public ownership or better regulation and windfall tax on excessive profit.

But no, some people chose a government that gives bankers, party donors and similar an easy life while regular people are paying through the nose.

They have been in power for over a decade, they created this mess.

Part of the reason that countries like France are able to keep prices in check is because their energy and water companies are taking massive profits in the dysfunctional UK market. Got to love privatisation.
New posts on this thread. Refresh page