Paying the cost for green energy plans

I NOTE the repeated full page National Grid advertisements setting out their CCS (carbon capture and storage) project, to run from Drax into the North Sea.

Co-financed by the EU’s Energy Recovery Programme – but how much do they put in and who pays for all the rest of it? You can bet that we do.

How much is this going to cost? Will it work – will it be possible to blow out the water and force the gas into the cavities left by oil and gas extraction? If it does work, will the benefits outweigh the cost?

There is a far better use of surplus carbon dioxide in Kent, where a massive greenhouse takes the carbon dioxide emissions from the adjacent power station, in order to produce nearly all of Britain’s tomatoes (which thrive in absorbing this gas because when tomatoes evolved the carbon dioxide in the air was four times the present level). This is a purely commercial operation which runs at a profit, and at no cost to the public purse.

From: JA (Tony) Wilding, Westfield Rise, Hessle.

SO Ed Miliband is going to be our saviour? We will not again suffer the social injustices of being ripped off by our energy suppliers. Well, as a struggling OAP (old and penniless) I’ll drink to that – water only, and believe me I’ve been forced to cut down on that. What Mr Miliband doesn’t tell us is that when he was the Energy Secretary he was promoting green energy, and we are paying for that on our energy bills.

It is not so long ago that a certain man called David Cameron was going to save us from being exploited by the energy suppliers. Actions speak louder than words. Abolish Ofgem and Ofwat, and use the brass that’s pumped into those pathetic regulators and give to some sort of community fund to keep energy prices in control. Out with the thermal underwear.

From: ME Wright, Grove Road, Harrogate.

WITH Coun Nader Fekri (Yorkshire Post, September 20) I suspect many of us miss Screaming Lord Sutch, who made more sense than many!

His spirit lives on at British Gas who, three weeks ago, invited me to ring their 0800 number to arrange a boiler service. I’ve been doing so ever since, risking my mental health by conversing with a rather sexy-sounding gramophone, which repeatedly tells me that it can’t find any free dates. It then transfers me to “customer services” who, at any time, are “experiencing unusually high demand ...” so they subject me to twanging and adverts.

After 30 attempts, I suppose I should’ve given up, but I’m strangely fascinated by where this might lead. So far, I have not been told that “your call is important to us” but should that happen, I shall probably scream far louder than Lord Sutch ever did.... Instead, I’m cancelling my direct debit and making other arrangements.

Once, we rang or visited the local showroom and had a sensible conversation with a fellow human. I don’t ever recall reaching for the bottle when the bill came in. Then, exactly 30 years ago, “Sid & Co” rescued us from those dreadful regional leviathans and yet I see no dancing in the streets in celebration; why ever not?

From: Tom Howley, Marston Way, Wetherby.

THE campaign Staywarm has provided a safeguard against harsh winters for thousands of pensioners for over 20 years.

Now Ofgem has decided that the provision which was advertised on television and in the national Press when introduced, will be closed and have instructed E-on, which administers the scheme, to inform customers that their contracts will not be renewed.

Termination of Staywarm will have a frightening impact on old people, particularly those who live alone in small homes, who pay a lower trariff, and will be obliged to seek other providers of gas and electricity.

Ofgem has been secretive about the closure and has not announced the new policy, aware that a public statement would have resulted in thousands of complaints. The termination of the scheme will be announced at the end of Staywarm contracts which are spread over a period of 12 months. The first indication that users have of the change will be when their arrangement with E-on ends.

Spare thought for the jobless

From: John Bolton, Gregory Springs Mount, Mirfield.

WILL those applauding George Osborne’s welfare war spare a thought that many of those hopeful beneficiaries will include many who were, until recently, previously hailed as heroes as members of the Armed Forces and NHS front-line staff?

A number of the ex-service members will have lost limbs and endured other serious injuries tended by those, now redundant NHS workers with both groups finding themselves fighting another war. The difference being, neither have volunteered for the latter.

I have read elsewhere today someone describing the sudden outpouring of political promises surrounding the party conferences as “a pre- election bribe-athon” but I don’t believe many people will be taken in by any of it again, from whichever party.

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

WORKING for benefit is not a new idea, as that was what happened in the latter stages of New Deal. Trouble is, all such schemes don’t in themselves create a single new job, and there is the danger that the unemployed will be used as a source of cheap labour.

What worries is that our London-based politicians 
don’t seem to realise that high levels of unemployment 
exist in parts of the country because there aren’t the jobs available.

No one would choose to live on £71.70, which is what a single person on Job Seekers’ Allowance receives.

From: Iain Morris, Caroline Street, Saltaire, Bradford.

WHO runs this country? Those that get up and do a day’s work, as it is their taxes that keep us all going.