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The start of the week saw Scottish Power announce that it was raising it’s gas prices by a staggering 19% and electricity by a further 10% by August this year. It begs the question; why are we paying so much for gas when there is so much of it around? It’s not in the same position as oil where supply will outstrip demand in a few years time.
With Scottish Power raising their prices, other power companies are expected to do the same soon. What this means is yet more pressure on households to make ends meet in a time when wages have stopped rising and high living costs are crippling family budgets. This is going further suppress people’s spending power, which is the last thing businesses need.
People tell me that I’m always banging the downbeat drum, and I’m afraid I’m going to bang that same drum now.
While wages are stagnant, and living costs are sky rocketing, people simply are not going to spend. And with gas and electricity prices also shooting up, this is making the current situation ever more difficult to turn around.
I also think that the government should be looking into how these power companies come up with their prices, because from here it looks to me like they’re all in a cartel and profiteering from the current hardships.
With Scottish Power raising their prices, other power companies are expected to do the same soon. What this means is yet more pressure on households to make ends meet in a time when wages have stopped rising and high living costs are crippling family budgets. This is going further suppress people’s spending power, which is the last thing businesses need.
People tell me that I’m always banging the downbeat drum, and I’m afraid I’m going to bang that same drum now.
While wages are stagnant, and living costs are sky rocketing, people simply are not going to spend. And with gas and electricity prices also shooting up, this is making the current situation ever more difficult to turn around.
I also think that the government should be looking into how these power companies come up with their prices, because from here it looks to me like they’re all in a cartel and profiteering from the current hardships.
>One reason why gas prices are going up so much is that we no longer get all our gas from the North Sea, where reserves are running out.
Now an ever-increasing proportion of our domestic gas gets brought in, condensed, on ships that come in from South America (and offloaded in Wales). That in itself is expensive, and with the cost of oil rising, the cost of fuelling the ships is rising too.
So, yet more reason for people to cut their energy use as much as they comfortably can.