Which energy companies is our government giving £12,700,000,000 of our money to every year?

[garlicfucker]

And why do we still have the worst fuel poverty in Western Europe?

Why is the government offering to buy nuclear energy AND green energy at double the market rate? Doesn't that mean we'll have to pay double for it?

I'm pretty sure £12.7bn a year would cover most of the nation's fuel bills at market prices.

Can anybody make sense of this for me?

Scary facts here.

I remember my wealthy but 'leftie' grandfather wringing his hands over privatisation of British Gas and other previously nationally owned companies in the 70s and 80s. He feared vulnerable people would be at risk of money hungry capitalist business owners and governments in the future...seems he was right.

He was! I refused to buy British Gas or BT shares on principle ... shame I couldn't put my ethics in the bank, eh.

Do you know Neil Kinnock's "Warning" speech? "I warn you that you will be cold - when fuel charges are used as a tax system that the rich don't notice and the poor can't afford." He was right in every detail :(

Your grandfather and I were probably both feeling goose-bumps that day, knowing Kinnock was right and the electorate wouldn't see it. Let's hope more people listen to Owen Jones and Russell Brand than did to him!

Anyhoo - accustomed though I am to our beloved government doing things with our money that make fuck all sense, I truly am bewildered by this fuel thing. Unless Dave and his boyfriends actually own the energy companies, so are giving themselves the money? That subsidy amounts to around £500 per household. It could halve our fuel bills! Or buy the bloody companies back, at least, so we got the benefits of our own investment. I am puzzled.

That link lost me at the first word, "profiteering", given I know the context was energy prices. As far as I know, the energy companies get to keep only about 5% of what they charge.

I may be missing something. I'm aware that some people can't afford energy prices, which are going up a lot. And that there is a collective tabloid mentality across the country that wants to shoot the messenger (the company sending the bills.)

Am I missing something?

I've no idea what the thread title refers to, had a quick scan of the article and didn't see anything.

OK, seen it now.

There is a lot of talk surrounding this and very little meaningful action. People who have keycards in particular are paying extremely high prices for electric. Our local shops machine is broke so it means a bus trip into town otherwise no electric. That is how people are living. Disgraceful.

fact.org/fact checks/energygeneration profits_29248

Here's that fullfact link :)
fullfact.org/factchecks/energy_generation_profits-29248

I have more data on this (and am still !) but have got to go out in a minute.