Posted by everton_de_leon on August 27, 2026, 11:20 am, in reply to "OFGEM"
They've been on strike themselves this week. Some of their staff are in the lowest 20% of wage earners in the whole country.
They, the normal staff I mean, not the bosses, will tell you without hesitation that the system is designed to fail as well. Which is why they've asked for either:
Ofgem to be abolished, the whole system is renationalised and the staff are redeployed to socially useful work; or Ofgem to be given real powers to impose actual price controls - they couldn't impose those now even if the committee of bosses which decides these things wanted to, because of the legal framework it operates in.
The government doesn't seem minded to do either, however.
Re: OFGEM
Posted by fat-freddy's-cat on August 27, 2026, 12:33 pm, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
Thatcher's sop to the consumer
shitting in Fat Freddy's shoes since 1969
Re: OFGEM
Posted by StringerBellend01 on August 27, 2026, 11:52 am, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
Nationalisation is the only thing thay will stop this profiteering. Otherwise, they are a business for their shareholders so what else would they do!
I wanna moonwalk son but life’s a shithouse
Re: OFGEM
Posted by sad ken on August 27, 2026, 11:39 am, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
"impose actual price controls"
We import 70% of our gas in winter.
You can try and force people to sell something below cost, normally they decide not to supply you.
The electricity market is however incredibly complex, only partly as a result of a rush for renewables.
There is a requirement for huge capital spend to upgrade the network - unfortunately we don't like to raise tax and can't stomach to reduce current spending like the pension triple lock.
Re: OFGEM
Posted by everton_de_leon on August 27, 2026, 12:04 pm, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
It's about £500 per household per year we pay towards their profits.
Their profit margin is about 20-25%. Tesco's margin is about 5%, by contrast. In other words they can afford a haircut of about 50% and still have a profit margin more than twice that of the country's biggest supermarket.
There's ample room for price controls and forcing them to pay for infrastructure, rather than letting them pass it on to the people.
Re: OFGEM
Posted by sad ken on August 27, 2026, 12:31 pm, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
The Unite the Union report (which the £500 is based on) claims that there was £11 billion of gas extraction profits.
Their own claim is that £6 billion of this goes to Norway - a significant part of the rest accrues to Qatar and USA.
How do you suggest we force them to lower their price ?
Re: OFGEM
Posted by everton_de_leon on August 27, 2026, 1:00 pm, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
They can either sell for less and still make money, just less of it, or make nothing at all.
The NHS for example, because it's such a large purchaser, pays far, far less, in the market, for products than the various buyers in the US.
Agree you need a back up plan if they do, or a different way to fund price controls - like general taxation - these arrangements are easy to get into but hard to get out of. Doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be done.
Re: OFGEM
Posted by sad ken on August 27, 2026, 1:50 pm, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
Norway's sovereign wealth, funded from gas and oil is worth about £300k per capita and it grows at roughly 7% a year even after drawing some down for government spending.
I reckon they can do with the hardship of not selling any gas to us for a bit longer than we can live in the cold in winter.
I'm not sure USA are doing anyone any favours either.
Re: OFGEM
Posted by Heisenberg Blue on August 27, 2026, 11:44 am, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
Tax on working people is higher in the UK than any other country in the world. There hasn't been a year since the end of WW2 when it hasn't increased.
"When I think of Everton, I think of Howard Kendall"
Re: OFGEM
Posted by Sarflondonblue on August 27, 2026, 10:38 am, in reply to "OFGEM"
this is what happens when you sell off critical infrastructure to private businesses. Same with Water and the railways etc.
Companies don't run them for fun, they do it to extract profit, and they do it to the letter of what they are allowed to get away with, no more. Changes in circumstances that cannot be anticipated a decade in advance, like a global increase in energy due to wars, have no effect on what was signed up for and they get an unfiltered chance to go through the paperwork and find ways to extract more revenue as time goes on.
And short term profitability is put ahead of long term planning because what matters is the share price. They have just built the first new reservoir for 75 years despite the fact that the population has consistently grown and climate change has been known about since I was a kid. We have had to have hosepipe bans and "water shortages" for years until something gets built.
There is a whole industry that was developed from train companies employing teams of people trying to find a way to claim relief from rail track for something, anything really. And right off any fines they get for poor service against.
The future was sold to get short term boots in the economy from the 80's onward and now its coming home to roost, and the people that did it are not around to be held accountable.
Re: OFGEM
Posted by thecadet on August 27, 2026, 10:53 am, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
Shareholders interests will always be put ahead of customers
Re: OFGEM
Posted by Spart on August 27, 2026, 11:08 am, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
To be fair, it does actually state in UK company law that a director's first responsibility is to the shareholders of that company, so you can't really blame them.
It's the law that needs changing and also the circumstances by which the right to run these things is attached.
No point re-nationalising everything because it would be too costly, too unpopular and too open to the next government just selling it all off again.
But what they should do is start marking off bits of infrastructure management as franchises of national importance. So yer regional water providers, energy providers, trains, etc.
Franchises are awarded on a strict set of governing rules whch put the needs of consumers first, state that a certain percentage of profits needs to be spent on contingency planning and infrastructure BEFORE any profits can be drawn down to shareholders.
Fair conditions and wages must be given to employees and no director can earn a total in salaries/bonuses/pensions more than X times the salary of the lowest paid employee.
Franchises have no expiry date so once you've been awarded one you keep it indefinitely, but if you break the rules above you get no longer than six months to sort your shit out or you lose the franchise and the state takes over till it can be awarded to the next private company.
ALL the infrastructure that you build and manage during your time as franchisee is owned by the state indefinitely, so if you lose your franchise, this stuff still belongs to the state.
If you run into money troubles whilst running a franchise then the state will step in with a bail out, but only for a maximum period of 12 months and during which time no money can be paid to shareholders.
Re: OFGEM
Posted by Aberblue1 on August 27, 2026, 11:34 am, in reply to "Re: OFGEM"
on August 27, 2026, 12:15 am