As Britons struggle under ever increasing gas, electricity and utility
bills, it is worthwhile remembering that it was the Tories who were
responsible for privatising these institutions.
They were built with taxpayers=92 money, should have been run on a non-
profit basis for the good of the nation. It was the Tories who sold
off these utilities to their fat-cat pals, who in turn have sold many
on to foreign entities.
French-owned EDF, for example, has announced a 22 per cent rise in gas
bills and 17 per cent on electricity for its 5.5million UK users.
At the same time, it has secretly raised gas prices for some of its
most vulnerable customers by as much as 75 per cent.
The increases are in stark contrast to the situation in France. EDF
has been told by the government there to cap its increases on
electricity to just 2 per cent and gas to 5 per cent.
The company - which, ironically, is part-owned by the French
government, is looking to protect its profits by imposing puni****ng
increases on UK families.
The price cap in France will not stop EDF imposing big rises in the
cost of electricity it sells to Britain via a cable under the Channel.
The increases have been strongly criticised by Ed Mayo, chief of the
National Consumer Council.
=91Closed and protectionist European energy markets end up picking the
pockets of consumers in this country,=92 he said.
=91My concerns are for people on fixed income, such as pensioners, who
will be switching off their electricity and heating this winter. That
will lead to more illness and disease.=92
=91My concerns are for people on fixed income, such as pensioners, who
will be switching off their electricity and heating this winter. That
will lead to more illness and disease.=92
Mayo said foreign owned power companies - such as EDF, RWE Npower and
E.on of Germany, and Iberdrola of Spain, which owns Scottish Power -
must show they are not raising prices in the UK to subsidise customers
in other countries.
Criticism has also been levelled at the German government for failing
to open its energy market to competition.
He suggested Britain should consider introducing French-style price
caps. =91If the French are capping prices, that is something we should
be looking at. We should learn from the French,=92 he said.
EDF, like the other =91big six=92 power suppliers, has a series of tariffs
linked to the amount of gas that customers use. It has increased the
charge for 132,000 low users by up to 75 per cent - taking the charges
up from 3.984p per kilowatt hour to 7p. A low-user customer who
perhaps only has gas for a cooker will see the annual bill rise from
=A3106.77 a year to =A3187.60.
EDF customer Philip Williams, 69, who lives alone in Walton-on-Thames
in Surrey, said: =91I couldn=92t believe it when I got the bill and found
the price had gone up by 75 per cent, not 22 per cent as we were told.
I=92ve had no notice that it would go up this much. During the winter
months my bills will go through the roof.=92
Consumer group Energywatch said: =91The message this sends out is that
people who try to be careful and cut down on their use of gas end up
getting penalised with bigger increases in bills than everyone else.
=91All the evidence is that energy companies are disregarding the needs
of their most vulnerable customers.=92
Thank you, Tories. We have not forgotten this blessing you bestowed
upon us.
http://www.bnp.org.uk/2008/08/thank-the-tories-for-rising-energy-bills-they=
-privatised-the-utilities/
You can also thank New Liebour who changed the law to allow foreigners
to buy our utilities.
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