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Thursday, May 22, 2008

The cost of staying warm

A new report by Energywatch confirms what we have long suspected, that consumers of electricity in South Wales are paying more for their power than anybody else in the UK. Their research shows that South Walians pay 5% more for electricity than consumers in north Wales and 10% more than those in England and Scotland, adding an additional £19 million to the profits of these big power companies.

Putting these figures into context, 270,000 Welsh households are now classed as fuel-poor, up from 130,000 in 2004, whilst we still languish at the bottom of the league in terms of GVA. Even with the massive increase in prices in recent years it is difficult to see how any of these companies can justify such regional variations in their pricing structure.
Comments:
According to most politicians the answer is "free" Wind Power powering our homes with all sorts of appliances including cosy electric fires from the free winds. Of course we the public know this is utter nonsense, as this wind power source is so minimal; so erratic and more costly than any other source of energy due to massive public subsidies. How about a real energy policy instead of crazy dreams?
 
With the price of Brent Crude around $131 per barrel; I'm sure this will have a knock-on effect for the price of domestic heating and lighting. Unfortunately, the various agencies put in place to help people insulate their homes and install energy efficient heating and lighting systems are at best pathetic.

And as you pointed out previously, there isn't any accurate data availble to establish which council wards are suffering for Fuel Poverty. I understand that there are OAP who huddle with their hands cupped around a 40 bulb to try and keep warm on the colder winter days that we get.
 
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