As winter approach's many face tough decisions on fuel bills

As we approach winter with the dark nights drawing in and the first frosts of the autumn arriving. People right across the country will be pressured more than ever to try and find ways of reducing their energy bills and to heat and keep their homes going.

Winter time can be particularly challenging for the elderly and the poor and this year as we face another hard winter of austerity and cut backs. The energy companies have felt the need to squeeze even more out of us and decided a few months back to put up their charges by eye watering figures.

Gas bills will rise by an average of 18% and electricity bills by an average of 16%.

The change will affect nine million households with the average dual fuel customer paying an extra £190 a year.

British Gas customers will have seen their bills shoot up by £258 or 25% within a year”
End Quote
Uswitch
In May, the company said its customers were not paying enough to reflect the increased cost of gas on the wholesale markets, and that this would depress its profits for the first half of the year.

But this argument was rejected by Mike O'Connor, the chief executive of Consumer Focus.

"Wholesale costs have gone up but they are still around a third lower than their 2008 peak," he said.

"Yet in this time British Gas' prices alone have risen by around 44% on gas and 21% on electricity and suppliers have made healthy profits."

Last year, British Gas' residential business made £740m.

Spending squeeze

In June, Scottish Power became the first of the big-six energy suppliers to announce another set of price increases.

It said it would raise the cost of gas by 19% and the cost of electricity by 10% at the start of August.

Energy price rises
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar... ...Aug
*G= Gas E=Electricity

Scottish Power
G: 2% E: 8.9%
G: 19% E: 10%

Scottish & Southern
G: 9.4%

British Gas
G&E: 7%
G: 18% E: 16%

Npower
G&E: 5.1%

E.On
G: 3% E: 9%

EDF
G: 6.5% E: 7.5%

The latest increase in energy bills, which is likely to be followed by other big energy suppliers, comes after a round of increases last winter which saw British Gas put its charges up by 7% in December.

"Average household bill for a dual fuel British Gas customer will now go up from £1,096 to £1,288," said the price comparison service Uswitch.

"In total, British Gas customers will have seen their bills shoot up by £258 or 25% within a year, taking them from £1,030 a year to £1,288," Uswitch added.

Richard Lloyd, of the consumers' association Which?, said the energy firm's announcement was an unwelcome


He can say that again, it is very much unwelcome for many working class families across the land who are finding making ends meet a increasing struggle as this economic crisis of capitalism deepens. I am sure we will see many trying to go without heating this winter with the rise in costs trying to save money wherever they can to get by. After this con-dem government cut teh winter fuel allowance for elderly people i am fearful of this winter where if it reach's really cold temperatures over a consistent period we may risk loosing some of our elderly friends and family if we are not careful. Elderly people who by definition do noth ave bags of money would have been relying on teh winter fuel allowance to get them through the winter. Now it is gone i fer for many who are on the cusp of povety and those in what they call "fuel povety" those who cannot afford to have energy in their homes for long if at all.

This is something we must bear in mind over the winter and lend solidarity to the elderly and the poor if they are in need not to abandon them but offer them shelter in the warmth and not let them suffer. If the government of millionaires dont care the organised working class has got to. The trade unions and labour movement must step in to offer support and help wherever we can. We are all facing hard times but lets not let this actually claim lives we must fight for us all and this winter will be no different.

It is ok for the likes of Ed Miliband to announce to his middle class friends in the labour party that he'll take on the vested interests of the big energy companies its good he recognises thre is a issue here that huge profits are made and te service is poor and unfair to those at the bottom. But what Mr Miliband should be saying he'll do is nationalise all of the utilities and energy companies and bring them under democratic workers control. To be run for peoples need and boy we need energy today and not for the need to make a profit. Need first everytime for me and that way we will have a better all round social society .

The criminalisation of the disabled

Something which angers me every day is the way this tory government gives the impression it is a crime to be disabled and we must pay for the mistakes of the bankers. Why should we feel like we have always done something wrong and made to feel we shouldnt be supported financially if we struggle for support.


All we hear in the media and the papers is that we are a country who are work shy and rely too heavily on benifits. We are a country of people who feel it is better to live a life on benifits rather than working. This is so wrong. I really dont think the tories get it at all. Many i know who are disabled would love to work and pay their way if they could. Fact is many of them cant due to severe disabilities and struggles to work. The second fact is that even once these disabled people are passed somehow for work the jobs are frankly not there for them. There is still much discrimination out theer when it comes to employing disabled people. I am blind myself and have found it very hard to come by a job that are willing to support your every need. It is far worse in the private sector where money is everything and any cost they dont have to pay for they wont. This goes for any nessesary adjustments that are needed to adapt the working environment for a disabled people to carry out the work as to the best of their ability.

If we were all garunteed a job and paid a fair wage as i'd love to see happen the disabled would be able to work and not feel victimised for their struggle into work.

I think the drive by the right wing media in this country to alienate the disabled and the people who find it hard to get into work by claiming they are all hooked on benifits and wont attempt to work at all is a false assumtion. What angers me most about this is that our benifit payment as part of our annual public payout is minimal not even 1 % of our national outgoings. What is wrong is how the media fail to see that we loose far more money in tax evasion to the tune of 120 billion pounds plus. This leaves a greater hole in the public purse so why not focus on the bigger picture rather than a group of vunrable people who are only trying to make the best of a life for themselves.

How ridiculous is it that we can afford illegal wars in Iraq and western interventions in Libya now yet we say we cant afford to properly look after our disabled and the elderly too. It is a disgrace in my opinion. What kind of society do we live in really ?

How local council cuts will hurt local bus services in rural areas

I've just seen a feature on the BBC's countryfile programme this sunday night and it struck me what a silly idea cutting bus services actually is. As someone said on the show why is it always local bus services that are usually the first things to get cut during a recession ? i dont know that answer but i can have a pretty good guess.

Most councils will look at their local bus routes and think hardly anybody use's these bus's so why are we wasting our money on them. This is a typical line from many right wing councils across the land now. Even john Mcdonald said recently those who are probably the most right wing in labour are probably the councillors as they are there trying to squeeze more and more money out of less and less funds.

So a local bus service you may think is not that important to you or anyone you know. Wrong, a bus service is vital for a local rural economy i would suggest many of its young and old passengers who cannot drive for whatever reason rely on the bus to get to the larger towns to do their weekly shopping. Certainly for al ot of elderly people the use of a bus pass to get to a local town is vital to allow them to keep their independance and freedom. They see it as their chace to get out of the house and go with a few friends shopping for the afternoon.

Many councillors who live in the bigger towns and cities frankly do not understand the need for bus's i feel. It is ok for rich tories who have gas guzzling cars or get driven around from opening ceremony to the next they will say oh well we dont need a bus so why should we pay for it.

Such selfish attitudes are common across local councils i think and as the cuts start to bite we will see a lot of bus journey's cu and often scrapped.
This was what was in our local paper in East Hertfordshire recently it sums up local councillors attitude to bus's and bus services wherever they can get rid of a service to anotehr private/voluntary provider they will just to save costs or cutback in everyone elses language.

New Bus timetables are to be introduced around the County at the end of the month.

The new arrangements will come into effect from 27 March and Herts County Council are advising local residents to check the times for services they normally take in order to discover if any alterations affect their travel times as in some places the changes are significant.

‘In these tough financial times, at Hertfordshire County Council we’re doing all we can to protect the vast majority of our bus network,’ explained Cllr Stuart Pile, Executive Member for Highways and Transport, ‘As we announced after the Highways and Transport Panel last November, following a decrease in funding there are going to be some service reductions, but we have concentrated these on those services that are not used very much or, where possible, can be covered by other buses.

‘However, I'm pleased to announce that some services that the county or districts no longer have the resources to support are being taken over by operators without the need for any funding from councils. In some cases there are increases to the frequency and extended hours of operation for well-used services.

‘In addition to these changes, many of the contracts relating to county council funded services were due for renewal so there are going to be a large number of timetable changes. If you regularly use one of our bus services, we strongly encourage you to check the new timetable details on our website, by phone or at bus stops.’


This blogpost is just a series of blogposts i will be doing over the next few months and years as the cuts begin to bite locally. As well as my union news updates i will also like to produce posts highlighting how cuts are affecting residents local to me. This may not interest all of you but i will be giving broader general points alongside these posts. Do stay tuned for them.