B.G. Capitalising

[Biguns]

Here we go again, Winter is starting and BG are determined to capitalise on it. by jacking prices up by 7%, and predictions that the rest will follow suit shortly ( What competition) It looks like it is BGs turn to go first this time.
BG claim Wholesale price increase and that that they have not increased prices for 2 years, when they reduced prices by 10% Fact :- since 2008 wholesale gas prices have dropped 40%, they have now started to edge up. Just recently Bg announced a profit increase of 98% . So prices of wholesale reduce 40% and they reduce to us by 10%. Now wholesale is starting to rise, so does retail.
This industry is so vital to the nation it should not be owned by around a group of 12 companies who are a cartele. It should be nationalised for the good of the nation

 

[kevindgas]

sadly you're wrong they were not the first!! SSE have already put theirs up
but yes its winter lets hike the price despite massive profits!!
until we get a government with real balls they will continue to make the elderly & poor suffer!

 

[wreckedit]

Kevindgas

don't buy an ideal as they won't honour the guarantee!!

What's going on?
Is this posted in a forum somewhere?

 

[JohnD]

...Just recently Bg announced a profit increase of 98% ...

Where did you hear that?

I looked up some revenue and profit figures for Centrica (who own the British Gas brand in the UK only - "BG" is an international oil company, not connected with the British Gas company)

Year..........Revenue (£m)...Pre-tax profit (£m)
Ending
31-Dec-05....13,448.00.....1,812.00
31-Dec-06....16,403.00......(11.00) loss
31-Dec-07....16,272.00....2,111.00
31-Dec-08....20,872.00......659.00
31-Dec-09....21,963.00......996.00

they have not yet issued revenue and profit figures for year-ending 31 Dec 2010, obviously.

 

[Biguns]

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24232.html

 

[JohnD]

Nope, can't follow that. Do you have reason to believe it is true?

I have found Centrica's half-year revenue (=turnover) for Jan/June 2009 £11,657m and Jan/June 2010 £11,707m. This is not just gas. Their profit before tax appears to be usually in the range of 3% to 10% of sales, or thereabouts, with big swings..

If the figures on your website source are true, then in Jan/June 2009 they must have made approximately no profit on gas, in order to make a 98% increase in 2010. Your source has a "source" reference which just leads round in circles

 

[Nige F]

Here we go again, This industry is so vital to the nation it should not be owned by around a group of 12 companies who are a cartele. It should be nationalised for the good of the nation

Tell Sid . He`s the only one who will listen

 

[joinerjohn]

You have to realise that when the retail cost of gas went down, we had a Labour Govt who did nothing at all (even though several campaign groups told them), to stop the rise in consumer gas prices.
I reckon they thought that ,more profit= more money to the government, in taxation. I'm just glad I'm not with BG, although it seems, it ain't gonna matter who your with.
We are effectively being held ransom by other interests, who can cut the gas off anytime they want.

 

[nickso]

problem with all suppliers, beside greed, is they buy wholesale months before an actual event. if prices go up or down they have to guess the actual consumer price and buy accordingly. besides greed this can explain fluctuations not being passed on.

according to propaganda released today the average profit from each BG customer is £4. the average increase per customer is £18. the average customer was paying £108 more for gas last winter. Facts are gas in britain is a ******* expensive endeavor no matter what supplier you use.

BG have frozen prices for "vunerable" customers until april. EDF (iirc) have decide to freeze prices altogether (iirc, can't remember the exact details)

 

[Mickymoody]

As I understand it, British Gas, has just installed some new storage tanks, and a new dock down south, so need to recoup their investment in that quickly.

Do they freeze/chill the gas, which compresses it, so they can fit more onboard a ship, and hence increase their profits long term.

You know when you see an oil refinery or oil rig, and they are burning stuff off? That's LPG, which is an alternative fuel source, and many cars have been converted to run on it, basically half the petrol/diesel cost, as something like 75% of the cost is tax. The industry deems LPG as waste.

But if you convert your car to run on LPG, the cost of the installation means that you won't recoup your initial cost, same as solar panels. If the car manufacturers installed this, and there were fuelling station, then surely problem solved? Don't need petrol and diesel, lower prices. Lower unrefined oil is used as oil, the waste product LPG, used as fuel, no need to refine to petrol and diesel, so low cost fuel for all.

And we in the UK get short shrift anyway, Euro fuel costs less, but has a higher octane content. We get 99, or 95, in Europe it is 101, so better performance, more refined fuel over there as standard, cheaper.

 

[snico]

You know when you see an oil refinery or oil rig, and they are burning stuff off? That's LPG, which is an alternative fuel source, and many cars have been converted to run on it, basically half the petrol/diesel cost, as something like 75% of the cost is tax. The industry deems LPG as waste

LPG is burnt of for many reasons, the amount of LPG produced exceeds demand by a long way. They also burn it off for safety reasons, it is used for pressure relief in process plants which is needed.

It costs a lot of money and uses lots of energy to keep the gas cooled and liquified, so they dont mind flaring it off as it vapourises. Lots of refineries are now storing more LPG as consumer demand rises, but there is still far too much as a by product than what is needed.

 

[RedHerring2]

But if you convert your car to run on LPG, the cost of the installation means that you won't recoup your initial cost, .............

Not at all accurate Micky.
A couple of years ago I converted a V8 to run on LPG (on two different vehicles, sequentially, not concurrently) and recouped the cost of conversion within 12 months. I was doing an average mileage, about 10,000 miles per year. Also towing a trailer many times.
There are plenty of fuelling stations, just look for the Autogas sign! You can also search on the web for maps showing fuelling stations.

Euro fuel costs less,.....

Petrol in France costs about the same as here, Diesel is cheaper and LPG is slightly more expensive.

 

[nickso]

But if you convert your car to run on LPG, the cost of the installation means that you won't recoup your initial cost, .............

Not at all accurate Micky.
A couple of years ago I converted a V8 to run on LPG (on two different vehicles, sequentially, not concurrently) and recouped the cost of conversion within 12 months. I was doing an average mileage, about 10,000 miles per year. Also towing a trailer many times.
There are plenty of fuelling stations, just look for the Autogas sign! You can also search on the web for maps showing fuelling stations.

to keep costs down you can install LPG into a car yourself if you are reasonably handy. the only slight issue is with the misinformed insurance companies in this country.

re-couping the cost is also down to how long you keep the car but you need to be aware the government could increase the duty on LPG to normal levels at any time and screw you over the same as they do for petrol/diesel. most LPG systems can be transferred easily enough to another vehicle of similar power and number of cylinders so if you sell the car you can remove the LPG and put the whole system back into your new car.

 

[HOGGY952]

I personally think all the important industries should be nationalised.

Water
Power
Fuel
Rail Network

These are the lifeblood of this country and should not be in the hands of shareholders/foreign countries.

 

[libby lou lou]

Having thanked you, i made some money out of the railway.