Obscene Energy Companies' Profits

Tesla's idea was that electricity could be generated in such a way that it was available to all, hence "free". When hydroelectric power was first introduced in Scotland, the belief was that it would be so cheap to produce that it wouldn't be worth charging people for it. That didn't quite work out.

I'm not going to hold my breath for "suppressed patents". Nor am I going to think that were going to get useful electricity from nothing. As Scotty said, "ye canna change the laws of physics, captain."

effalump

The U.S. Govenment are, hopefully in the very near future, about to release 6000 patents that had been suppressed. Some of these are patents taken out by Nicola Tesla a hundred years ago and one is likely to be his technology for accessing free electricity. Just think, if this is true it would be a complete kick up the 'jacksie' for the energy companies, wouldn't it.

Accessing free electricity is easy, illegal cannabis growers do it all the time, but it is dangerous and they are criminals.

The U.S. Govenment are, hopefully in the very near future, about to release 6000 patents that had been suppressed. Some of these are patents taken out by Nicola Tesla a hundred years ago and one is likely to be his technology for accessing free electricity. Just think, if this is true it would be a complete kick up the 'jacksie' for the energy companies, wouldn't it.

gangy5

It is sickening to see these large profits being made by the privatised utility companies. This is partly causing the gap to widen between the haves and have nots. There is obviously enough profit floating around in these companies to provide for investment without relying on shareholders. This system is tipping me into becoming an ardent socialist.
Smaller fish I know, but Aldi and Lidl, are now giving the larger supermarkets a run for their money. Efficiently run businesses who give value to shoppers and look after their staff. Their prime asset is that they have no shareholders looking for dividends.

Nowadays the shareholders tend to be pension and insurance funds. The greedy so-and-sos milking the system for everything they can grab are the executive directors who are paid obscene basic salaries which are then multiplied by heads I win tails you lose bonus agreements. They have traditionally done this by keeping costs as low as possible through the power of cheap foreign labour, outsourcing manufacturing to Asia, using the power of near monopoly to ratchet down supply prices... The current world situation has rather stymied these tried and tested routes to personal extreme wealth but no doubt they will find others - for example they can push prices up by unjustified percentages when price rises are expected anyway - who's going to check that supply costs really have gone up by 20%?

Energy

There is a movement starting to fight back against enery increases. Details at dontpay.uk

It was so much easier before the utilities were privatised and we didn’t have to line the pockets of the shareholders.

I heard that the profits were those worldwide - not just the UK.

Private firms are there to make money for shareholders

Lilyflower

Most of the shareholders of large companies are investment bodies like pension funds rather than individuals with gold plated Rolls Royces. My DH was a pension trustee and said most people don't know it but the money goes to ordinary individuals in the long run through pension providers paying out to their members.

Additionally, much profit is needed for research, exploration and development. We urgently need power and fuel companies to be exploring new gas fields and technologies to replace power sources coming offline and that is exactly what companies do with much of their money.

Furthermore, wealthy individuals spend their (taxed) income which goes into the economy, funds jobs and is taxed again through VAT.

Do we want to live in Marxist style authoritarian regimes where we are assigned a bleak government flat where it chooses to place us and have to wait ten years for a clapped out car? The price of not living like slaves is that successful companies share their wealth.

Are you for real?! If you think that very wealthy people spend their money and pay taxes in UK you're more ignorant than you even sound ? my BiL a very very wealthy Saudi national, stashes his dosh in Switzerland and has his domicile in Saudi even though he spends most time in UK and USA.only time he spends in UK is to buy furnishings for his homes here and they're also sourced mostly in Europe so not actually made here! He earns A LOT of his dosh in UK but wouldn't pay by our taxes if his life depended on it! You're s naïve.
And your Karl Marx vision of the alternative, ? I can only assume you're poorly educated and never worked with ordinary People who vote labour or lib dem? Shame really, you sound as if your life has been a wasted ticket, brainwashed by trying to climb the 'social ladder ' real people do real jobs and expect to be remunerated accordingly without a fist fight at every anniversary!! I'm assuming you can look up what " remunerated" means?

Margharet Thatcher's key policy of privitisation has done a lot of damage. Just look at the energy companies, the water companies and the sad state of public transport.

Her signature "right to buy" policy , allowing council tenants to buy at a huge discount and forbiding the councils from spending the revenue on building more new homes with the money has contributed to rocketing house prices and homelessness.

And yet we still today have would be Tory leaders boasting of being Thatcherites.

In the same way they still claim to be better brexiters than each other as if that was something to boast about when the damaging effects of brexit are there for all to see.

They seem incapable of being honest about the effect of their policies.

Whitewavemark2

Parody Boris
@Parody_PM
·
1h
Thank goodness Margaret Thatcher privatised our energy companies, otherwise the £1.34billion profit Centrica have just made might have been wasted on ordinary people instead of wealthy shareholders.

??? #meAswell
I woke right up when I heard Liz (gentlemen's appendage grabber) Truss vocalise a revolting wish to return to Thatcherite (read Stalinist) type rule. Where the weak are cast aside, greed is good and lunch is for wimps, basically de-unionising the workforce and reducing working folks rights to a distant memory of being able to stand up to bullying bosses........ Gawd help us all! I fell foul of the 2year dismissal ruling 3times!!! 6 years of my working life wsted on companies who just used me then sacked me- legally a day before my 2year anniversaries at their poxy firms!! And they wonder why workers aren't loyal?!? When are we gonna wakey wakey and realise that conservatives are only interested in.... conservatives. End of

Most of the shareholders of large companies are investment bodies like pension funds rather than individuals with gold plated Rolls Royces. My DH was a pension trustee and said most people don't know it but the money goes to ordinary individuals in the long run through pension providers paying out to their members.

Additionally, much profit is needed for research, exploration and development. We urgently need power and fuel companies to be exploring new gas fields and technologies to replace power sources coming offline and that is exactly what companies do with much of their money.

Furthermore, wealthy individuals spend their (taxed) income which goes into the economy, funds jobs and is taxed again through VAT.

Do we want to live in Marxist style authoritarian regimes where we are assigned a bleak government flat where it chooses to place us and have to wait ten years for a clapped out car? The price of not living like slaves is that successful companies share their wealth.

When all the utilities were being sold off under Thatcher, many were rubbing their hands with glee at the thought that they could buy shares and make a killing! So too the hope that competition in the marketplace would bring and keep prices down! Such innocent hopes for a future that has turned out a lot more complicated than anyone thought! Not looking too good at the moment, I must admit.

Its obscene the large profits the Gas companies are making. For a lot of people the £125 per week in January will take up most of their income. We are heading back to Victorian times when most of people's wages were taken by the Landlord leaving very little to buy food or fuel.

When some of the utility companies were privatised my HD dealt with some of their tax affairs. The managers and directors had their salaries with at least a 0 added.( eg £80 became £800 ) but the workers only had very small pay rises. So what has changed?

It’s not just energy companies raking it in, water companies are being reported as making vast profits for shareholders and paying executives eye watering salaries and bonuses whilst failing to invest in preventing/prompt resolution of water leaks, storage and movement of water around the country. One water boss is critical of domestic paddling pools whilst having a vast swimming pool at his property

Katie59

growstuff

It seems to me that there's some misunderstanding about forward trading. Forwards have their own dynamics and are no guarantee of future prices. They are primarily a hedging tool, which buyers usually use to balance out surges in spot prices. Futures aren't actually delivered. Anybody who doesn't operate in futures trading (and most purchasers don't) is going to be hit by high spot prices.

Or indeed low spot prices because you can buy or sell in advance, also you can buy or sell months or years in advance. Futures are a mixture of hedging and speculating (gambling), speculators are needed but can make a market volatile.

Actual (spot) and futures prices act in parallel. If a purchaser buys futures which then go up in value, they can make a profit, which they can then use to pay more for their actuals and vice versa. It stabilises the price they pay.

And here's a really good article which some of you may be interested in:
think.ing.com/articles/energy-price-caps-could-be-game-changers-for-european-utilities

I think we should not have utilities in private hands at all.
weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/energy

growstuff

It seems to me that there's some misunderstanding about forward trading. Forwards have their own dynamics and are no guarantee of future prices. They are primarily a hedging tool, which buyers usually use to balance out surges in spot prices. Futures aren't actually delivered. Anybody who doesn't operate in futures trading (and most purchasers don't) is going to be hit by high spot prices.

Or indeed low spot prices because you can buy or sell in advance, also you can buy or sell months or years in advance. Futures are a mixture of hedging and speculating (gambling), speculators are needed but can make a market volatile.

twinnytwin

Years and years ago, as an employee of British Gas, I was gifted a few shares, along with all other employees. There weren't many and I've held on to them, always reinvesting the dividends in shares. For 2020 and 2021 there have been no dividends paid. They are now paying a dividend for 2022 of 1p per share, so in November I'll be receiving £11.13. I'll hardly be rubbing my hands together with glee as per the OP's comments.

Surely it's Centrica that's making the profits and not British Gas
(the energy provider) which is a subsidiary of Centrica but I expect you know that.

Years and years ago, as an employee of British Gas, I was gifted a few shares, along with all other employees. There weren't many and I've held on to them, always reinvesting the dividends in shares. For 2020 and 2021 there have been no dividends paid. They are now paying a dividend for 2022 of 1p per share, so in November I'll be receiving £11.13. I'll hardly be rubbing my hands together with glee as per the OP's comments.

I just read the synopsis of "Fossil Future" on Amazon.

Seems I was right about the bull****.

Baggs

So-called green energy (so-called because when you look into it, it isn't "green" at all) cannot be made without it costing a hell of a lot. So anyone who approves of net zero policies is being unrealistic if they object to high energy prices.

I am reading – and highly recommend – the philosopher, Alex Epstein's new book, Fossil Future. Philosophically it is a fantastic and, I think, ground-breaking book. Check it out.

I was admonished yesterday, possibly correctly, for being "pugnacious". But when I see absolute unfounded rubbish being posted, I can't help myself.

I haven't read Epstein's book but I am 99% certain it is bull****. It won't be ground breaking, it will be ... well ... basically ... wrong, I suppose.

Green energy is not inherently more expensive to produce than carbon-rich energy and anybody who tells you otherwise is either deluded, mistaken or taking you for a ride.

Posters can dismiss this as an opinion if they like, but its an opinion based on 40 years of knowledge of alternative energy sources and a realisation that a person who used to be part of the Ayn Rand Institute and thinks that African countries are inferior to the West, probably isn't someone who's got a lot going on upstairs.

It seems to me that there's some misunderstanding about forward trading. Forwards have their own dynamics and are no guarantee of future prices. They are primarily a hedging tool, which buyers usually use to balance out surges in spot prices. Futures aren't actually delivered. Anybody who doesn't operate in futures trading (and most purchasers don't) is going to be hit by high spot prices.