Powerless to act as energy companies leave us shivering

From: Karl Sheridan, Selby Road, Holme on Spalding Moor, East Yorkshire.

THE recent announcement of a price hike by British Gas, with no doubt the other energy companies following suit, is a bitter pill for us all to swallow, especially as the coalition merely stand by murmuring pathetic platitudes.

The current situation is laid firmly at the door of 10 Downing Street, and was down to Margaret Thatcher’s idea of selling off the silver under the guise of “Privatisation means a better deal for all of us!”

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Those of us at the lower income bracket and those of us who are pensioners know from experience that privatisation is another word for exploitation and normally means the fat cats grow fatter at our benefit.

Nevertheless what irritates me most is the spin that energy companies feed us; they want 
to be our friend; they want to 
help us insulate our homes. 
They want to know how we feel about them via Facebook or Twitter; they want to save us money...

What a load of bunkum! In reality the more we save by insulation and cutting down 
on heating and freezing to 
death the more profit they 
lose, hence the only way of consoling their shareholders 
and increasing their obscene profits is by raising their prices to compensate for the shortfall.

The other plea they make for the increase in energy costs is the so-called green supplement – a large part of the tariff going towards renewable energy such as turbines. Er.... hello? We were promised that these turbines were going to lower our energy costs, but from what I see they are adding even more to the energy bill – the only ones apparently benefiting being greedy land owners, wind farm companies and the foreign manufacturers who make the things.

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Perhaps if the energy companies ceased to spend millions on sponsorship and advertising and concentrated on developing sensible alternative sources of fuel that worked we might get somewhere. It’s a certainty that wind turbines are not the answer. In the meantime more and more of us will suffer the extremes of cold houses because we are frightened of even having the heating on.

From: Malcolm H Peacock, Ash Tree Road, Bedale.

HERE they come again: the power bandits! The usual excuses spill out, wholesale price rises, increasing costs and oh, yes, the “green” factor, to build yet more useless windmills!

Of course, each rise is accompanied by the futile efficiency advice: insulate the walls, double glaze, lag the roof etc. It’s all been done mate, we’ve already used up all these ideas in previous years. The fact is that insulation does not keep you warm; it’s heat that does, and if you can’t afford it you’re going to be cold again. Each bill we get includes VAT – Value Added Tax. What value?

So knuckle down Yorkshire, draw the curtains early, close the door, switch the light off as you leave the room, and rub your hands together if they are cold! Have porridge for breakfast, soup and crusts for lunch and stew and dumplings or shepherd’s pie for dinner. You’ll survive. You may not like it, but you’ll survive!