Gransnet forums

News & politics

Truss’ Energy Bailout

(69 Posts)
vegansrock Thu 08-Sep-22 14:44:14

So Truss is going to borrow £100bn to bailout energy companies, who make £170bn profit, which the taxpayer will have to pay back to keep the shareholders of said energy companies happy. She then talks about short termism…. I’m guessing speculation about the queen will stifle criticism of this announcement.

Germanshepherdsmum Fri 09-Sep-22 17:14:17

Barmey, Fitriani Hay’s husband was with BP from 1975 to 2000. She has been a Conservative donor for some years. The total donations to Truss’s campaign were about £420k, less than the sum you claim she was given by Shell and BP. Perhaps you can supply a link to support your assertions.

NotSpaghetti Sat 10-Sep-22 08:18:49

GSM - not proof (as such) but quite detailed:
www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/oil-and-gas-firms-have-given-1m-to-boris-johnsons-conservatives/

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 10-Sep-22 08:44:29

Not proof at all.

NotSpaghetti Sat 10-Sep-22 09:12:59

No. I just said that!
But it does detail each gift - and OpenDemocracy is an independent organisations funded by the Mott Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Ford Foundation, Andrew Wainwright Trust etc.

Why would you find their info unacceptable? What do you want as proof GSM? What would constitute proof to you?

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 10-Sep-22 09:32:03

My point is quite simply that the statement that Shell and BP donated £450k to Truss’s campaign was completely wrong. Yes, oil companies along with many others donate to political parties but they did not make the alleged £450k donation.

Jaxjacky Sat 10-Sep-22 10:16:14

I’d like to see pre-payment meters scrapped, they are an abomination.

NotSpaghetti Sat 10-Sep-22 10:26:30

Okay, thanks for explanation GSM

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 10-Sep-22 10:34:52

I agree Jaxjacky. An unnecessary additional burden on the poorest.

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 10-Sep-22 10:35:45

? NotSpaghetti.

DaisyAnne Sat 10-Sep-22 14:56:09

Jaxjacky

I’d like to see pre-payment meters scrapped, they are an abomination.

Indeed, they are.

I would also like to see the standing charge be accompanied by a minimum supply of energy. It is iniquitous that you can turn everything off but still have to pay this.

And ... They need to look at progressive charging. Currently, because of the standing charge, it is regressive.

NotSpaghetti Sat 10-Sep-22 18:35:57

Sorry Germanshepherdsmum I'd gone down the "donations to the Conservative party" rabbit hole - and forgot the Liz Truss bit!

But even so, it IS a lot of money overall.

varian Sat 10-Sep-22 18:47:36

Yet more evidence that the fundamental aim of the conservative party is to conserve the finds of the ultra rich - especially those who donate generously to their party's coffers.

varian Sat 10-Sep-22 18:51:29

Conserve the funds of the ultra rich - and who gives a damn about anyone else?

It is a mystery why even the most brainwashed reader of the Express, Daily Mail, Sun and Torygraph who is not ultra rich should ever vote for such corrupt chancers.

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 10-Sep-22 19:29:52

I’d like to see details of Labour donors, of whom there must be many, apart from the unions, but frankly I cba. No political party survives on thin air but it’s very popular to criticise the Conservatives.

Barmeyoldbat Sat 10-Sep-22 19:42:52

Labour is not in power and are not the ones making the decision to not apply a windfall tax to the big companies

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 10-Sep-22 19:48:30

That’s not the point.

DorothyGlamour Sat 10-Sep-22 19:52:40

I don't think pre payment meters are necessarily wrong. If you use coal, oil or some other fuels you pay for it up front then burn it rather than burn it then pay for it. I do object to them being set at a higher rate though. But they could help a lot of families to budget for fuel, if set fairly.

Barmeyoldbat Sat 10-Sep-22 20:10:21

GSM two days ago it was reported in The Guardian, The Independent, The Mirror The Big Issue and The Herald Scotland. The donor was Fitriani Hay the wife of a former BP executive donated £100,000, the rest was made up by various interested parties. It still seems like a bribe to have a windfall tax

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 10-Sep-22 20:36:48

As I have said BOB, this woman’s husband ceased working for BP in 2000. She is a regular Conservative party donor of this sort of magnitude. How is that a bribe? Her husband has been an entrepreneur and racehorse breeder for almost a quarter of a century!

Barmeyoldbat Sat 10-Sep-22 21:21:46

Well my statement still stands, it stinks that they made the donation just before the energy statement, people don’t make donations of this size without expecting something back.

Germanshepherdsmum Sat 10-Sep-22 21:51:53

Your statement about the £450k is totally incorrect as I have said. The £100k was given by a woman whose husband ceased to work for BP in 2000. She’s a regular Conservative donor. What exactly stinks?

MayBee70 Sat 10-Sep-22 22:01:08

DorothyGlamour

I don't think pre payment meters are necessarily wrong. If you use coal, oil or some other fuels you pay for it up front then burn it rather than burn it then pay for it. I do object to them being set at a higher rate though. But they could help a lot of families to budget for fuel, if set fairly.

But they aren’t set fairly. So the poorest people pay the most.

DorothyGlamour Sun 11-Sep-22 00:28:20

MayBee70, yes, but if they were then they could be quite helpful to a lot of people. As far as I know, they are set higher in a lot of cases to reduce accumulated arrears. If the users don't pay for their arrears then the rest of us will.
Instead of accepting the current situation where they are set to a higher charging tariff, why don't people ( who are not already in arrears) ask for a meter which is set to "normal" rates, whatever normal might be right now?
There is no need for us always to accept what is already on offer just because it has always been like that, surely we could try something different?

Barmeyoldbat Sun 11-Sep-22 07:58:10

It’s the people with the least amount of money and a great many in rented property that have meters. The standard rate, without having arrears is higher than those without a meter and who pay by Dd. many people are now running out of energy before the end of the week and food banks are helping out with energy vouchers, also a weekly standing charge is taken from the amount put in the meter which at the moment is 76p a day, £5.32 a week. So if someone does not use any energy for say a week, receives a voucher from the food bank for £20, then just over half of that will go on paying a standing charge as the charge is payable even if you don’t use any energy. This is a start where companies can help the poorest by dropping the standing charge,

DorothyGlamour Sun 11-Sep-22 15:36:02

Barmeyoldbat, I agree however my point is that instead of allowing meters to always be associated with something bad, lets see if we can put them to better use, and use them, if people want to, as a way of paying for fuel before it is used and avoiding bills.

If there are no arrears, I don't believe ( but may be wrong) that metered energy is increased in cost but rather that if paying by Direct Debit for example it is discounted slightly, so the energy providers should be able to set the rate for meters at a similar rate to dd or even less as it is pre paid, if there are no arrears.