was expected wasn't it?
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Something has happened this morning. The price of British wholesale gas, already about 4 times what it was has jumped 20% in an hour. European gas by the same amount.
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/uk-natural-gas
was expected wasn't it?
This is the wholesale price - makes no difference who leads any of the countries impacted - they can decide how to try and cushion the blow but thats it.
Putin did have Europe (as a continent) over a barrel all along. Short of the war ending I'm not sure what the solution is here.
I fully expect to lose my job when the energy price hike kicks in. My personal bills are already up 60%, no idea how much my boss’ business costs will go up by.
These bill increases will kill off more small businesses than Covid. I can’t see how independent cafes, bars, pubs, restaurants, shops, etc can survive.
I don't understand why we've been so reliant on foreign energy sources, how no government has tackled this over the past 30 years I'll never know.
Well, even though we are a gas producer of some significance, we use far more than we produce. So we import a huge amount, hence being impacted.
Even if theoretically we decided to keep all our own gas ourselves and there was no cost impact to that (there would be) we would still be importing.
The mood music over the last 30 years has all been about making energy production greener - see the Shale gas debate from the last decade.
Most of europe is worse hit than us, but cos the price is set globally, we are all impacted.
No way can governments absorb all the cost.
It won't. The prices now, and more pertinently those in the spring, are not blips but unpleasant consequences of idiotic inaction and actions by politicians - especially here in the UK. I suspect the 'govt'. is stalling from action on this because it could mean having to support families and small businesses for years to come..
Manager at a bar/restaurant. We’ve got 17 members of staff so we’re only a small business.
The frustrating thing is it’s absolutely no one’s fault. I’ve worked at and know of businesses that have ceased to exist in the past and it’s always been due to poor management, bad owners, non viable business plan, etc. But even if we do everything by the book to the best we can, it’s out of our hands.
Another concern is that for places like us, this isn’t just a winter issue. Our energy usage is pretty consistent throughout the year so we can’t just “get through the winter” and enjoy lower expenses in spring/summer.
Need a time machine to either not become so dependent on gas or make sure that the UK state owns the supply and method of extraction.
This governments current obsession with 'encouraging investment in the north sea' as a means of short to medium term energy security is practically criminal as they know increasing activity in no way benefits the UK while everything pulled out is sold on the open market.
It's only really dawned on me recently how doubly ****ed hospitality is going to be, significantly lower average household disposable income (if not minus) coupled with absolutely massive energy bills and no way to lower them.
Feel for you and anybody else in this situation.
Yes it's going to be really difficult in the coming year or two, although it still seems pretty busy at the moment, and the rises don't seem to have filtered through to lower priced second hands cars, ebikes, mountain bikes, I thought people would have started selling items they can do without or that bought during the lockdown but are no longer using?
Maybe that will be during the Winter and the next year or two?
I have heard there are lots of dogs going into pounds as people are finding feeding and vet bills are too expensive, so unfortunately a lot are in need of vet treatments.
Cheers.
The issue is we can't scrimp and save and use out appliances efficiently or only when needed. On shift our ovens, heat lamps, glass wash, washing machines, extractor fans, etc need to be on for the whole time. Likewise chillers, fridges, freezers and CCTV are all on 24/7. We can't intermittently turn off our kit as and when it's needed, so a lot of these money saving tips and tricks that apply to homes don't apply to us.
Now this is only anecdotal so may not be completely accurate but one of our drinks suppliers was saying that a cafe he also supplies is expecting their utilities to jump from £6k to over £20k a year....
Maybe it's time I should be retraining for a career in cyber
The reason why much of the UK's electricity is generated using gas-fired power stations is because coal-fired stations became much more expensive.
Nuclear plants in the UK closed because they reached the end of their economic life.
If the UK had invested more in its own renewables, it would be much closer to the energy security it now desires.
The position the UK is in with regard to mitigating energy costs lies squarely with its government which has completely failed to plan and investment in a coherent energy strategy.
We are building more nuclear power plants. The only reason any are closing is it would cost too much to bring them up to standard. Sizewell B is going through a lifetime extension as we speak. What green levies affect nuclear power?
Closing coal mines and not allowing fracking seems sensible.
Do makes you think it’s an agenda? Rather than sensible long term thinking ?
I think you are letting the conclusion you desire cloud your judgement.
UK has a greater range of energy mix than many, use more renewables than most and we pretty much lead the world in off-shore wind (I think China just overtook us).
The issue is almost wholly the rise in global gas prices (and most covid bounceback in demand); As of today, wholesale prices 400% higher than a year ago in Britain, what Europe generally buys is 550% (!!) higher than a year ago.
Unfortunately gas still provides 40% of our electricity generation, so there is little we can do in terms of the cost.
https://grid.iamkate.com/
Governments can of course offer varying degrees of support to mitigate the cost but thats a different question I think.