The Liz Truss team have said they want to ease the energy squeeze. They like the ideas of lower taxes and the removal of needless or excessively costly regulation. Energy would be a good place to start.
Let us consider first of all the ÂŁ16bn or more cost of fitting a smart meter in every home for electricity. Indeed total roll out may well cost more, given the reluctance of almost half the population to have one and the troubles with how the early ones worked. The idea is to charge the mounting costs to all bill payers.
Whilst electricity is this dear why not pause the programme? By all means fit one where the householder is keen and applies willingly for one, but save all the promotional money and conversion costs where people need to be talked into it.
Then there are the green levies. It is a good idea to cease charging these direct to bill payers for a bit. More importantly going forward the grid controllers should only sign contracts for renewables that can deliver affordable energy without subsidy. This should be easy at current gas prices.
Large scale energy  intensive industry has to buy carbon permits over an initial and reducing free allowance. Designed to cut fossil fuel use by industry, it can end up closing plants in the U.K. only to import more from abroad. The imports will often generate more CO2 than relying on domestic production given transport costs and more reliance on coal in China and Germany. So why not suspend this scheme whilst  U.K. energy prices remain so elevated? How many high energy using businesses will we lose if we carry on with dear gas and carbon penalties?
August 30, 2022
Good morning.
I have to say, Sir John, this is one of your better posts on this subject. All suggestions are perfectly doable and can be done in a reasonable timescale with some tangable impact on costs.
For a bit ? Iâd say not at all ! Stop rigging the market, it only benefits rich land owners at the expense of those on lower incomes.
It is not and never was about CO2 and saving the planet, but societal manipulation, wealth transfer and handing the keys to world governance to China.
As you pointed out before, Sir John the UK has lost most of its industrialised capacity and will continue to do so whilst we pursue current enviroMENTAL policies. Whoever becomes the next PM has a very short window of opportunity to do a handbrake turn and avoid the cliff drop facing us.
We the passengers can see the road ahead, and either want the drivers to turnaround or change drivers at the next stop (GE).
August 30, 2022
Spot on comment, Mark B.
If nothing like this gets done, then at the very least it should be mandated that energy bills have an enormous, unmissable warning on them that the green energy levy “unnecessarily made you pay ÂŁx more than you needed to. If you want to opt out of paying the levy please tick the box on our website”.
August 30, 2022
@ Wanderer – your box ticking for opt out idea is truly excellent and highly appropriate. To make it even more so, have a second box for those who agree “I am a deluded eco-loon and wish to voluntarily pay a double green levy in the fond and naive belief that I am doing some good somehow”. There could then be a notice to the effect that “Generation Z-ers without a doctor’s certificate and all Guardian readers are required to tick box 2”.
August 30, 2022
Great idea. Let those who believe these environmentally green ideas work pay for them. Do the same with foreign aid. It will be interesting to see how many politicians tick the box to voluntarily give away their own money.
August 30, 2022
The ‘green levies’ that Truss and Sir John talk about are in reality the ‘Environmental and Social Obligations’, and only relate to 8% of the energy bill. Although cutting this is obviously right, it will barely be noticed. The same goes for VAT on fuel bills. This is 5%. Yes, it must go, but it won’t solve the problem. What Truss needs to do – but seemingly either doesn’t understand or is not willing to do – is abolish the entire green policy of the Emissions Trading Scheme, the Climate Change Levy and the Carbon Price Support. Sir John has finally touched on this by suggesting suspending carbon permits. The whole system needs to be permanently scrapped, but let’s start with a suspension. Will Liz Truss adopt this policy?
August 30, 2022
X Tory. Fully agree. The cuts they are talking about won’t really help. We need to stop talking about more useless renewables and get back to real life. Stop every let and subsidy and forget carbon points etc. Our politicians are living with their heads where the sun doesn’t shine if they think the majority of voters believe all this crap. We are living in the 21st century and we don’t need a green revolution. We need something that’s reliable and cheap. Oh I forgot. We used to have it. I wonder what went wrong? When are they going to pass the coal mine, start fracking and talk to RR about nuclear? When are they going to stop penalising businesses and the poorer in society? Your government will be responsible for many bankruptcies, unemployment and deaths this winter John. Start listening to the people who put you in power. Enough is enough.
August 30, 2022
Stop every levy and subsidy
August 30, 2022
I agree with you Mark B that this has never been about CO2 and saving the planet. The intention is to crash the economy. The possible collapse of sterling has already been suggested by a guest on GB News last night.
Things are not looking good.
August 30, 2022
Excellent comment Mark B
August 30, 2022
In absolute agreement with you.
I do think many more people are coming out of the state induced trance they’ve been in and thinking ‘what the hell’
The state parties are going to need a lot more bread and bigger circuses to subdue by the end of this winter.
August 30, 2022
+1
August 30, 2022
Mark B
All the government has to do is quite simple.
When and where ever the turbines are installed the land is automatically rated as a commercial power generation site and taxed accordingly. The land owner has the choice to decide before signing any “lucrative” contract. At present farmers can get funding for turbines and solar panels but still receive farming grants and subsidies.
August 30, 2022
Too right Turbo. Many farmers have become rich overnight. They are content to farm subsidies
August 30, 2022
There won’t be a handbrake turn if reports are true that Kwarteng is to be appointed Chancellor. Kwarteng!!!
– Responsible for the failed energy policy.
– Net zero acolyte.
– No prior knowledge of either energy or economics.
A PhD in “the history of economics” doesn’t really count given that his background is in history his focus was on the economists, not the discipline.
We’re doomed.
Also, Truss is not said to be “leaning towards targeted measures rather than across the board measures”. So “the poor” and indolent get off again, those who tried to accumulate something see it trashed. Do they think people will continue to vote for them forever, no matter how far left they move?
August 30, 2022
OMG not Kwarteng! If that’s true, it will show Truss isn’t really in charge.
August 30, 2022
Kwarteng has certainly shown himself to be a bit of an ignorant, unscientific dope with a broken compass on energy endlessly muttering about the Saudi Arabia of Wind or other such drivel – he really should not have accepted the position given the net zero insanity being pushed by Boris/Carrie/May and most potty MPs and his history background. He should have said I am not going to wreck the economy with that expensive intermittent energy insanity based on a bonkers religious war on plant & tree food.
But he is generally fairly sound and reasonably sensible – but not sure I would make him Chancellor – perhaps he will cope if he has JR as a working compass.
August 30, 2022
The passengers clearly don’t trust the driver and will jump off before it is too late.
August 30, 2022
Mary M
I’ll post again just in case you did not see my last. I have answered your question about Rwanda from a few days ago.
August 30, 2022
When are the RNLI going to be awarded the George Cross ? They are rescuing 1500 people a day sometimes.
In 2018 Savid Javid declared a major incident when 250 people (blokes) crossed the channel Jan to Nov. Now the figure is at least 100x that. A crisis surely ???
If the RNLI don’t get the George Cross then it can only mean that the Tories are lying to us.
They are on the side of the boat blokes and not their voters.
They only know how to tax and tell the workers off and that they will cause a “Wage inflation spiral… blah blah…”
So.
When does the RNLI get its George Cross seeing as this is the biggest crisis in our maritime history and all souls have been saved ?
I’m actually quite glad it’s happening whilst the Tories pretend it isn’t.
August 30, 2022
Thank you very much, Mark B. I will look back.
Mary M.
August 30, 2022
Not suspension but abolition of all taxes and charges that relate to what some call ‘green issues’ including the abolition of the Orwellian Smart Meter rollout and all State backed payments and schemes relating to carbon output imposed on the private sector
Stop pandering to the Socialist environmental lobby. Indeed tax and then punish the environmental lobby rather than British industry.
August 30, 2022
We are being taxed into submission as mandated by the Un nd WEF.
The only winners are the BRIC countries.
Smart meters are to allow dynamic pricing and are of no benefit to the consumer.
Get rid of all these useless taxes and levies or watch a UKIP type party rise from the ashes before the next election.
It’s all your doing after 12 years in power.
August 30, 2022
Not just pandering – Theresa May, Lord Debden, Boris Johnson, Carrie and all the many MPs who nodded net zero through – let the charge on this energy, economic and deluded climate alarmist insanity. Not a sensible science or engineering degree between them unless you count Geography!
August 30, 2022
“led” the charge I meant.
August 30, 2022
Life logic, you have been too polite. The phrase is ‘technologically illiterate’ Let’s not mention PPE, media studies for poshoes.
JF
August 30, 2022
ÂŁ720 per home for the smart meters what a waste of money I am sure most people have far more important priorities for ÂŁ720 than a meter that can cut off their electricity at times. They are only really need to cope with the intermittency of wind and solar and the net zero lunacy. How much CO2 is created manufacturing and fitting these 22,000,000 “smart” meters? Which fool set this vast waste rolling was it under Cameron/Osborne or earlier? What drove it vested interests as usual perhaps?
ÂŁ16 billion is enough to build 200,000 new flats and small houses.
August 30, 2022
Right as usual LL
August 30, 2022
The list of stupidities, incompetencies and malevolencies deliberately promoted and carried forward by this government, supported and tolerated by its MPs is endless. They ought to be prosecuted for treason given their work with foreign interests.
Raising a few objections doesn’t get anyone off the hook.
August 30, 2022
Our smart meter was fitted for free?
August 30, 2022
Well we all paid in higher energy bills. Smart meters even use more electricity to drive the meter, transmit and power the microprocessor & displays!
August 30, 2022
a-tracy
I assume this is sarcastic remark !
They are not free, the cost has already been charged to every customer/user even those who do not have or want them, It’s been added and included in the bill for years , but never highlighted or itemised, Probably the reason for constantly rising Standing charge !
August 30, 2022
Bang On – Agree with every word
August 30, 2022
Are you sure it is socialist and not fascist?Being driven by Big Business,Big Media and Big Finance suggests the latter to me.The socialists going along with it may well be just the useful idiots
August 31, 2022
Mitchel, Dom refers to what he believes is a socialist environmental lobby. You ask not fascist? Do you believe Greenpeace, Greta, Attenborough, Prince Charles are driven by Big business, media and finance? What makes you think that?
August 31, 2022
Any fule no that the national Socialists were fascists.
August 30, 2022
Perhaps you could begin by explaining why none of this has been done in the 12 (TWELVE) years the Conservatives have been in power? Then move on to the disastrous state of public transport, the NHS, education, cost of living, etc etc. TWELVE years, and your party has done nothing
Reply For most of the time our energy system was controlled by strict EU rules
August 30, 2022
What are you complaining about?! All these policies were heavily promoted by the left, the green establishment – and of course the EU.
August 30, 2022
Not âdone nothingâ but created the problem with the Climate Change Act, Net zero, the Climate Change Committee, and the idiotic war on harmless plant food. Thanks to Ed Miliband, Clegg, Ed Davey, Boris, Carrie, Theresa May and all the other many scientific and energy illiterate MPs who voted this lunacy through.
Also causing housing provision issues:-
Clogged-up planning and green regulation âwill cause housebuilding slumpâ
TOM REES today in the Telegraph.
THE glacial pace of the planning system will trigger a slump in housebuilding, experts have warned, as approvals for construction almost halve in the worst-affected areas.
August 30, 2022
Reply to reply – strict EU rules which your party supported. Cameron’s government supported staying in the EU! May’s also! You just can’t clamber out of this. It’s a 12 year history of do-little or nothing on each of these issues.
August 30, 2022
I think we are still controlled by strict rules from the EU AND from globalist projects.
And we WERE NEVER ASKED!
August 30, 2022
Gary, the government is pumping money into public transport; just google search subsidies to public transport or see https://www.gov.uk/government/news/over-150-million-provided-to-safeguard-local-transport-services-as-the-country-emerges-from-the-pandemic.
Over ÂŁ150m for the next six months alone after unprecedented gov. spending during covid. ÂŁ2bn here, ÂŁ3bn there.
Then the bus companies can fail on energy saving by running old, dirt-spewing buses around rural areas all day long with less than five passengers per bus. This government preaches to us to cut our energy, wear more jumpers, and only heat your water boiler for the 50 mins it takes to heat up unless it has a thermostat cut off. I’d say it’s more that Shapps doles money out without checking and looking into the waste in the services it supports because contracts are awarded by local councils and their choice of suppliers doesn’t always suit if the supplier usually provides services in large cities. My town has a once-per-hour train, the bus regularly leaves the station five minutes before the train arrives, train passengers have been caught out by this many times.
A blogger on here told me that full trains ran, full manned from covid lockdown in March 2020 to July 2020, with hardly any passengers; that is unbelievable that trains were run without hardly any passengers.
August 30, 2022
Green loon PM like Cameron/Clegg then Cameron, May and now Boris/Carrie. Not one with any real training or understanding of science, energy or engineering (PPE, Social Anthropology, PPE, Geography, Classics and Theatre Studies – unless you count May’s Geography which I do not!
August 30, 2022
To be followed by another PPE person Truss or very unlikely than goodness Sunak.
August 30, 2022
I agree Gary, you would think that the current Conservative government have not been in power for well over a decade and in control of energy policy.
August 30, 2022
Locked into EU rules until very recently Lee.
August 30, 2022
Reply to reply. So another case of ‘couldn’t do anything, had to do as we were told, nothing to do with us’.
No wonder we are in a disasterous situation. We have had cowardly and gutless leaders and MPs but in May someone who liked to have us ruled by rivals and competitors, and would lke it to resume full time until we are full slaves. And just look at how many MPs support her. I suspect Boris only pretends to like Brexit.
August 30, 2022
You cannot remember Labour and the Greens pushing for more of this crap? If Labour get in again you ain’t seen nothing yet.
August 30, 2022
If we wanted green policies I’m sure we would have voted for the green party
If we wanted socialist policies I’m sure we would have voted for the labour party
August 30, 2022
reply to reply ….are you saying our running down of nuclear power, closing coal and oil burning power stations, assisting closure of coal mines that were not exhausted, refusing fracking progress, approving power lines between us and Europe to help them, was controlled by EU?
August 30, 2022
Having left the E U why are we still following their rules?
August 30, 2022
+1
I have just been looking at the National Grid website for the first time.
Now I see why we have no power. Why the winter will be cold.
National Grid ( which I had assumed to be sane) is TOTALLY on board with every crazy, woke scheme.
Very much involved with globalism and thus the EU.
It is astounding.
August 30, 2022
It’s a private company. Why expect a private company to operate in the interests of consumers or the country?
August 30, 2022
Yes. It was privatised but I did think that considering what it does it just MIGHT have remained sane!
But it did borrow ÂŁ1.5 million from the EIB in 2014.
Wonder if itâs wokeness has anything to do with that?
I bet that amount buys a great deal of policy influence!!
August 30, 2022
Goggle ‘gridwatch templar’, a single glance shows you what’s going on.
JF
August 30, 2022
BD. Because the UK signed up to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (Title VIII) on Energy. Northern Ireland retains the advantages of the EU Internal Energy Market (IEM), as one grid system with the Republic. The energy, along with fishing parts of the TCP finish in 2026.
August 30, 2022
I don’t think Northern Ireland gets much benefit from having to depend on the South for most of its reliable power when the wind doesn’t blow. The Moyle interconnector to Scotland has been very unreliable with frequent outages and capacity reductions lasting many months. Gas imports from Moffat are rather more dependable, but Belfast failed to build the planned 400MW CCGT plant in the Harbour to take advantage. The closure of dispatchable generation in the North without replacement has been a gross error.
August 31, 2022
Nobody’s risking Northern Ireland investment until the politics is fixed but the 700 MW interconnector has got planning now.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/economy/arid-40879226html
August 31, 2022
sorry should be https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/economy/arid-40879226.html
August 30, 2022
No, we are not following their rules. The thing is that an awful lot of EU rules have purely and simply been transformed in UK rules. Check on gov.uk. A bit like the wonderful Liz rolling out 60+ trade deals carbon copies of what we had with the EU. It has the wonderful advantage for dishonest politicians to be able to continue saying that EU rules impediment us when in fact they could have taken decisions to change those rules. You have to realise there is no depth a politician (especially those who pretend to be whiter than white) will not abase themselves to be kept near the feeding trough (plus second jobs).
August 30, 2022
I appreciate that but if the rules originated in the EU and we are complying with/adopting them then we are following EU rules.
Smart meters are a means of having a smart Europe-wide electricity grid.
Presumably that is why they were so keen on defacing Europe with windmills.
From National Grid website under the heading of ..
âWhy electricity interconnection between Europe and the UK mattersâ
8th September 2021 – Engineering innovation
âTo achieve a cleaner energy future, the EU and the UK need to work closely together on the energy transition. We share similar strategic climate targets, including a legally binding approach to net zero by 2050, and our markets have been built together for decades as part of the Internal Energy Marketâ.
August 31, 2022
First you say we are not following EU rules then you say we are continuing to follow EU rules heffy
Do you read through your posts before posting them?
September 1, 2022
I said âwe are not following their rulesâ because all of them have been put (âautomatically rolled overâ) into UK rules from 31 December 2020. Check it. It should be common knowledge (www.legislation.gov.uk, âEU legislation and UK lawâ in âEuropean Union (Withdrawal Agreement) 2020â). The initial lines are:
âThe UK is no longer a member of the European Union. EU legislation as it applied to the UK on 31 December 2020 is now a part of domestic legislation, under the control of the UKâs Parliaments and Assemblies, and is published on legislation.gov.ukâ.
So as far as laws are applied in the UK these are now our own rules. We were originally told by people like Mr Rees-Mogg and Sir John that all these rules would be modified if not adequate. This has been a major point discussed by the two Conservative candidates, Mr Sunak wanting to do this clearing job originally by end of this Parliament then after the 18/07/2022 husting within 100 days, Ms Truss by the end of 2023.
Didnât you follow the Leadership Elections hustings?
Or are you commenting after me just to show how uninformed you are? In this particular you got it in one. Well done.
August 31, 2022
When did NI leave the EU?
August 30, 2022
I do wish politicians wound stop tip toeing around the eco lunatics who want to reverse civilisation and send us back the stone age. l
August 30, 2022
Javelin, perhaps because it garnered them votes? After all, if you promise an enticing fantasy world to the voters then don’t be surprised if enogh folk will not stop to think about it – until it is too late.
Sir John’s suggestions are all ones I go along with. I would consign doctrinaire ‘Net Zero’ to the dustbin at the first opportunity.
August 30, 2022
They are not just tip toeing they are actually charging ahead with this lunacy directed by the totally misguided Committee of Climate Change, the BBC and St. Greta. What is driving this insanity? It must surely be corruption or vested interests? Must surely be the same for the Vaccine effectiveness con trick and HS2 why else!
August 30, 2022
Last week Sylvia Tranganida (@ICIS_Sylvia),senior editor at ICIS covering the global fertiliser market,tweeted out a map of Europe showing all the locations where fertiliser plants have been shut down or production significantly reduced :”Soaring gas prices hit European fertilisers,updated 25/8″.
It’s a long list.We’ll all be going organic whether we like it or not (leaving aside Russia and Belarus).Sri Lanka here we come!
August 30, 2022
It will be a ginormous disaster. Can politicians find anything else to interfere with and ruin our lives?
August 30, 2022
Javelin, the reason for the “tip toeing”, as you put it, is both very simple and very obvious: our politicians are THEMSELVES “eco lunatics”. Just look at Boris’s latest intervention, desperately trying to preserve his Net Zero madness. He clearly understands NOTHING. His environmental extremism can only be explained by either complete stupidity or, quite literally, insanity. I leave you to decide which it is. In either case he is not fit to be PM, or even an MP.
August 30, 2022
You’re talking about someone more fascinated by classical irregular verbs than the scientific discoveries that have shaped the modern world.
August 30, 2022
‘Let us consider first of all the ÂŁ16bn or more cost of fitting a smart meter in every home for electricity.’ You’re right – but a little late to this party, Sir John. The money – enough to buy ten or so SMRs – has now been wasted! But let’s stop any more being spaffed. Remove all pressures on energy suppliers to fit the things and make any eco-loons wanting them pick up the whole cost on their bills. This is an easy action for Truss to take in her first few weeks, setting her apart from the eco-lunacy that has brought us to this wholly avoidable crisis. Then she needs to take more zero-cost actions to set her apart from the smouldering wreckage of Johnson’s premiership. Sorting out the RAF recruitment scandal – for that is what is is – should be another thing on her ‘to do’ list.
August 30, 2022
Smart meters are not about cost, but control. When installed they can cut the service any time they like, can introduce rationing pricing (they’ve already started by trying to bribe people into not using energy during peak times, but of course you need a smart meter to do this). Truss won’t deviate from this and will prove a huge disappointment. I had high hopes, but her performances in the husting have shown her to be not up to the job. The next GE will be a wipeout like 1997, then we really will be in trouble.
August 30, 2022
Why just the RAF?
The whole country is now run along these lines if you are talking of what I think you are.
I read over the weekend where dozens of hospital trusts are looking to adopt new software developed at University hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire Trust and said soft ware can ‘put a different weighting on different factors’.
According to the article local health bosses were told in February that they should analyse waiting list data by various factors, one being by ethnicity!!
It’s perfectly clear what’s going to happen here and not by accident either.
August 30, 2022
Every couple of weeks I still get a phone call or text telling me âweâre in your area to fit a energy meterâ â for over 6+ years Iâve been telling them âNOâ
I blame this government
August 30, 2022
The smart meter programme has been and continues to be enormously wasteful. The original design of meter could only be read by the company that installed it: anyone changing supplier had to supply their meter readings and have the meter read in person by a meter reader periodically.
The government and UK mobile network operators have agreed to phase out 2G and 3G mobile networks by 2033 in order to free up bandwidth for 5G and future 6G services. That means that all existing meters that use 2G will have to be replaced.
Current ideas for enabling smart networks for net zero involve much more sophisticated demand management than is possible with current meters, providing another excuse for wholesale replacement. There really ought to be proper public debate about this before it is imposed. In any event, it seems rather pointless to go around installing meters and ripping them out for replacement.
Last time I saw the figures the total waste so far is over ÂŁ12bn. For the winter ahead those meters that can still be addressed remotely do give suppliers options to convert them to prepayment or disconnect altogether, either for rotating power cuts, or more permanently. Rotating power cuts could be shared out to every other house rather than blacking out whole districts, although that implementation would be tricky as they would need to ensure it was balanced across supply phases.
August 30, 2022
A large number of consumers don’t want a smart meter because they know they are just part of the CONTROL system the Government is building. The Energy Companies (ie Government) will have control of your energy consumption and it will lead to power-surge pricing and power cuts if they deem it “necessary.” The coercion programme shouldn’t be paused, it should be scrapped.
The same applies to the “green” levies on our bills. Scrap them – completely. If windmills and solar aren’t viable without massive subsidy, then they aren’t viable.
And issue fracking permits – on condition that the gas is sold in the UK at a fixed price which will not be subject to the OFGEM price “cap” changes every three months.
August 30, 2022
Made my reply above before reading your entry. Would have saved myself a job ad I had read it first. Anyway, we are in agreement
August 30, 2022
Donna
Well said.
August 30, 2022
Exactly right on smart meters, the reason for installing them was not so the consumer would magically save money (how could they ?) but that they would in the future provide a mean to implement dynamic pricing of power to force users through penal surcharges to use less and to manage demand to avoid power cuts and so help to meet the Net Zero law. For that reason there is no way at all any Con/Lab/Lib government will halt the programme – just wait and see.
August 30, 2022
I’m sure some day anyone without a smart arsed meter will have to pay a premium tarrif for their energy. You will have expensive energy and be happy.
August 30, 2022
Yes Donna, I have been saying for some time that ALL drilling licences, whether for onshore fracking or for North Sea oil and gas, should stipulate that the product must be sold to UK customers at a fixed price: production cost + 7% profit margin. And this should be applied retrospectivaly, by law, to existing licences.
August 30, 2022
I don’t know if you are aware that the US operated a system of controlled oil prices. Production gradually eroded, and they became increasingly dependent on imports. When OPEC squeezed oil prices they were left with a sharply rising import bill. Meanwhile it was much more profitable for oil companies to develop resources elsewhere, not subject to price controls, so the US import reliance continued. It was only when prices were decontrolled by President Reagan that there was more substantial investment in the US itself.
August 30, 2022
Mark, the price formula I proposed would give the oil and gas companies a *guaranteed profit*! If that is still not enough for them to apply for the drilling licences that the government offers (an unbelievable situation) then we could simply set up a nationalised company to do the work. Given the guaranteed profits this would deliver a net SURPLUS to the exchequer.
August 30, 2022
Oil companies had a guaranteed profit in the US. That was not the problem. Sharing out the cost of imported oil created incentives to import more oil and earn a greater share of entitlement to controlled price oil. Various schemes were devised to arbitrage between the markets. Basically, it produced a whole lot of unintended consequences, which is why it got cancelled, even as oil prices surged at the start of the Iran-Iraq War.
August 31, 2022
Oil workers are mobile. If another country offers a better rate of pay they won’t work for your government corporation. Same with drilling rigs. Maggie knew: you can’t buck the market.
August 30, 2022
Headlines this morning. HMG paying private contractors to pick up migrants, the RN refuses. Err. Isnât the RN paid for by us to do our bidding?
Super fast broadband roll out is being hampered by lack of workers. Companies looking to fast track large numbers of workers from abroad to fill gap. HMG policy exactly the same as Smart Meters. Not needed in most areas. In residential areas there is existing supply plus competition to provide if required but no evidence that domestic households (apart from gamers) need such high speeds. Hard to reach should have been the focus. Cheap fibre companies with poor standards spring up like the energy companies of some years ago purely to get HMG contracts. Their offer cannot compete with the quad plays of the mature companies so they will wither away/consolidate.
This country has the most open immigration system in the world, legal and illegal. Here HMG has been lying to us for years.
Make energy cheaper. Try reducing the numbers and hence demand and on all the other services your deceit is costing us.
Frankly over many decades I cannot recall a government that has proved so ineffective or so lacking in leadership.
August 30, 2022
The wheel’s finally come off.
August 30, 2022
I would disagree with you Nigl. They have been very successful in bringing the country down by following orders from various cabals.
August 30, 2022
Nigl
The question should being asked what the hell are we doing picking them up for in the first place?
They are given coastguard numbers and the make the call and ditch their phones they are only at some risk getting outside French waters, after that it is a taxi ride no risk at all.
The drones can identify where they are and the patrol boats could then shepherd them back into French waters. They only have limited fuel and when that goes the tides will take them back to shore. Just start to make it difficult and pass a law tomorrow that any dingy invaders will not under any circumstances qualify for the immigration process. So when parliament gets its A into G and throws out the ECHR and other laws taking away the rights to the indigenous people of these islands they can be transported back out from whence they came.
August 30, 2022
Nigl
One could argue. Are not the RNLI and their crews guilty of aiding and abetting illegal people traffickers? Might make the station figures look good for the history books but totally detrimental for this country.
August 31, 2022
I’m amazed these brave volunteer lifeboat men continue to assist this unjustified trip on the sea.
August 30, 2022
>This country has the most open immigration system in the world, legal and illegal. Here HMG has been lying to us for years.
We may be discussing energy, but at the root of it this is about resources – and sustainability. Other countries treasure their own land; their own people; their own culture and traditions – why can’t our ‘rulers’ be the same? Some countries don’t allow westerners to acquire citizenship, or to own land, or to set up businesses unless they employ 5 natives minimum. When our infrastructure and energy, food and water supplies as well as NHS provision is in peril as they are, we should be reversing the destructive negligence of the last 25 years.
August 30, 2022
Nigl, the question of who is the worst prime minister of all time is an interesting one. Lord North, who lost us the North American colonies, must be up there. But if we look at modern times then I would say it is a three way contest between Tony Blair, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. All three have sought to destroy the Union: Blair through devolution, May through surrendering the whole of the UK to the EU and Johnson through splitting Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. And all three have encouraged mass, uncontrolled immigration that has destroyed social cohesion and the quality of life of the native British population. But in terms of actual parliamentary performance there is no doubt that Boris Johnson takes the prize. He has done NOTHING, nothing at all, despite his huge majority and the wave of popular support which he rode in with. Why some Conservatives claim to have ‘seller’s remorse’ over his leaving baffles me completely.
August 30, 2022
Did you consider Gordon Brown and John Major? Google will tell you all you might want to know !
August 30, 2022
Could you cite a government who you think were less than ineffectual ,then perhaps we could take a leaf out of their book.
August 30, 2022
Still time to scrap HS2!
August 30, 2022
It should not havve started …..it was suggested prior to last general election 2019 that a full review would take place – the day after the election it was given the go ahead
August 30, 2022
I live around four miles from a large HS2 development. The pace of progress is glacial. I visited Thailand in 2017 and again in 2019, in that time they had built most of a 300 mile elevated flyover motorway from Bangkok to the North East second city.
Much will be made of health and safety and build quality but only ten people died during this speedy construction.
Why is it taking so long and so much money to build HS2? Who is in the trough?
August 31, 2022
It is better-and certainly more profitable-to travel than arrive,if you are on the gravy train!
August 30, 2022
Excellent ideas Sir John. Subsidies are one of the greatest competition killers ever devised.
Green levies. Where we pay for technology that that clearly does not work.
Happy to say that we are one of the 50% that will not countenance a smart meter.
August 30, 2022
Why not dump net zero altogether. By all means move away from fossil fuels, as and when possible, but forcing your citizens onto expensive, intermittent and unviable alternatives will never work.
Add in the fact that your government hammers the workers and businesses financially in every way possible so making everyone poorer and likely leading to unemployment, but if the population gets poorer who pays the taxes to pay the benefits?
August 30, 2022
Why move away from fossil fuels…..the oceans aren’t rising, the sun still comes up and according to government data our air and ebvironment has never been cleaner
You only need to remove fossil fuels if you believe in the climate crusade scam
August 30, 2022
Following the law of unintended consequences on most political actions would bringing energy intensive industry back to the UK not increase demand and thereby increase prices?
Better to do without at this time
August 30, 2022
There is a very interesting article at The Daily Sceptic on the subject of renewable energy, if Sir John will permit the link. (If not, you’ll find it very easily – entitled The Fantasy World of Renewable Energy.)
https://dailysceptic.org/2022/08/29/the-fantasy-world-of-renewable-energy/
Basically, the Government has entered into entirely one-sided “Contracts for Difference” with Renewable Energy Generators which don’t guarantee that energy will even be provided to the grid, let alone the terms of supply.
“Obviously, the âContracts for Differenceâ are not contracts in any sense that a layman would recognise as a commitment to meet our future need for power. In any other business, professionals would see them as ludicrously one-sided and open-ended.”
But in order to make the POSSIBLE SUPPLY of renewable energy viable in the event these wind-farms are even built, we will have to pay for expensive back-up supply for when the wind doesn’t blow or blows too hard.
In other words, taxpayers/consumers will be shafted – again – by the Eco Zealots.
August 30, 2022
Liz Truss is obviously going to be a spendthrift PM looking at the commitments she has made. How about cancelling HS2 and use the savings to offset our energy costs?
And on a savings related theme and a topic that generated a lot of heat yesterday, MPs expenses, JRM is looking to sell off part of the HMG London estate because you canât get civil servants to work as you want.
Why not convert into a series of managed hotel type rooms that the MPs can book when they need to be in London low cost/free no claimable expenses. Obviously if they buy as you did that is a commercial decision with a financial benefit so again, no claimable expenses.
I recall back in the day organisations like the Cavalry Club, maybe the Army and Navy provided low cost rooms for its members who wish to come up to London.
August 30, 2022
Well said.
I still say HMG could solve our lack of energy if they had the political will to do so.
Net zero is all about politics. Closing energy producing plants and not making use of the resources we have in the ground is tantamount to betrayal of responsibility – especially as people are expected to die as a result.
August 30, 2022
None of this will make much difference.
https://euobserver.com/tickers/155903
“EU gas demand to rise, Australian company predicts”
“The surging price of gas triggered a six-fold increase in profit at Woodside, Australia’s largest producer of liquified natural gas, and chief executive Meg O’Neill predicted demand from Europe will continue to grow as the continent struggles to quit Russian gas. “What we’ve seen is unprecedented,” O’Neill told the Financial Times. “Prices at this level are not sustainable in the long run,” he added.”
This may make more of a difference, but not for us:
https://euobserver.com/green-economy/155900
“EU plans ’emergency intervention’ on electricity price”
August 30, 2022
Whatever the reason TTF gas prices fell very sharply yesterday. The EU has apparently failed to notice that power prices are already decoupled from gas prices, reflecting impending generating capacity shortages over the winter. Since the EU is essentially entirely dependent on imports of gas, it has no scope to cut what it must pay for it, other than through promoting more and competing supply from elsewhere.
The EU needs to understand that markets have been trying to work out what prices are needed to reduce demand to the level of available supply. There are two ways of lowering those prices. Impose quotas and blackouts, or work out how to increase supply.
The quotas and blackouts option comes with risk of riots and attacks on green elites. See Sri Lanka
The increase supply option requires ditching anti fossil fuel and anti nuclear policies and supporting the development of more production in friendly countries around the world. Having messed up it will take time to work. But starting down that road will give markets confidence that things will get better. Fail, and they will continue to price in rationing by price and blackout and economic collapse.
August 31, 2022
“markets have been trying to work out what prices are needed to reduce demand to the level of available supply”
Meanwhile large parts of the economy will shut down, people will freeze and potentially society will break down.
August 30, 2022
13m ago
08.03
Pound hits lowest since March 2020
The pound has dropped to its lowest level in almost two and a half years, hit by recession worries and fears of more large US interest rate rises.
Sterling slipped below $1.1700 for the first time since March 2020 on Monday, as concerns over the UKâs economic outlook mounted. It has now lost over 13% of its value against the dollar since the start of this year.
Soaring energy costs are putting more pressure on Britainâs economy, hammering growth and consumer confidence and pushing businesses closer to collapse.
Of course energy is traded in USD’s and as the pound falls up goes the price for the UK consumer domestic, industrial and commercial. Putin has declared war on the West and his weapon is energy. The UK must respond in kind and defend ourselves by taking our vital strategic industries back under national control and away from the war profiteers. In 1916 the MP for Dundee called for the full socialisation of British Industry, his name Winston Spencer Churchill: Action This Day!!
August 30, 2022
Central Banks are raising interest rates because it’s the only thing they know how to do; and, what they are expected to do by clueless politicians. Their kamikaze moves will do nothing for supply side shocks in energy markets, except pile monetary derived misery on top of fiscal incompetence derived misery. Rate rises will support the Pound for a while; but it is somewhat overvalued on current economy metrics.
The 2021/22 Consolidated Fund Annual Accounts, (the government’s current account) will be published this month. You will see how much the National Loans Fund (magic money tree) subsidised our existence last fiscal year, compared to the ÂŁ372 billion it subsidised us for in 2020/21. Have a read of the last one at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1018479/CCS0921300720-001_HMT_Consolidated_Fund_CF_Web_Accessible.pdf
Notice that there is no mention in that document of the DMO issued Gilts, to match government spending; the “full funding rule” financing this current account at all. Because, the DMO issue of Gilts does not fund government spending. They are just risk free tradeable savings bonds for fund managers. Somebody tell Lizzie and her new Chancellor, how a sovereign fiat currency issuing economy actually works.
August 30, 2022
She has no clue – she is only going along with what she has been told to say by her advisors.
When she gets in she will still be reliant on her advisors – as I say she has no idea about anything
August 30, 2022
Is there any limit to the amount of magic money creation you and acorn would like to create?
At what point are there any consequences as you two carry on “printing”?
September 1, 2022
Gary, if you are correct thank goodness she is relying on advisors; any good leader does and doesn’t think they know everything!
Do you know Liz Truss personally? “She has no idea about anything” rude.
August 30, 2022
There is but one imperative in the present crisis and that is to take every step possible to make the UK fuel independent. We have the coal, the gas, and a considerable amount of oil. Government needs to go flat out to get it online. I do not give a damn if that means that the Boris/ Carrie nett zero goes on a very distant back burner.
Present political drift, and the interminable leadership election is set to cost the population a fortune, and the conservative party oblivion, plus considerably more civil unrest than we have at present. I wish Liz Truss well, but emphasise that almost everything is Action Today.
August 30, 2022
That’s about the size of it – if we are not in a state of emergency right now, we will be very soon. No time to mess about, we might manage to get through this winter but the cost will be huge – debt piled upon debt.
Put net-zero very firmly on the back burner and do everything possible to get fracking, nuclear and gas storage sorted. I know this can’t be instant but we wouldn’t be in this hole if we had woken up to this threat even a year or so ago.
Watched some twerp on TV saying that fracking now wouldn’t solve the problem, so no point in doing it at all? If we had alloweed fracking five years ago, we would be less dependent on the outside now. Are we really going to wait another five years and still have someone on TV saying there’s no point – it takes too much time to come on stream? It will not solve the whole problem but it certainly won’t make it worse either.
Oh – and whilst I’m having a minor rant, all those EVs are going to find that public charging isn’t saving them too much per mile (if anything) come this October either, assuming brown outs still let them fully charge.
August 30, 2022
If nothing is done on this front then say goodbye to the UK as we know it.
August 31, 2022
I think that ship sailed 20 years ago.
August 30, 2022
JR: “Let us consider first of all the ÂŁ16bn or more cost of fitting a smart meter in every home for electricity. ”
A smart meter is nothing less than a device for ‘demand management’, sold under the false colours of ‘convenience’. ‘Look, you can see how much energy you are consuming’.
It’s a device that can remotely and selectively reduce the amount of energy, or interrupt your energy supply. In fact it is one weapon in the arsenal of the WEF and their ‘social credit’ agenda. Do anything the government doesn’t approve of, no energy for you! he agenda that this pseudo Tory party has been prosecuting for the last decade.
JR: “half the population doesn’t want a smart meter” Good, sensible people.
ÂŁ16 billion for the smart meter program! What a waste of money, to be added to the ÂŁ5bn lost to fraud and error of the furlough payment system. Add to that ÂŁ10bn lost due to substandard PPE in wales ALONE. God knows what the similar waste was in England.
Now we’re talking ÂŁ30billion. For that, we could have bought two of the outrageously expensive EDF Hinkley point C nuclear power stations.
Throw in HS2 another vanity project that no one wants. ÂŁ96billion, we won’t be able to run the trains on that track because of lack of electricity ( it’s been discussed in this forum for years ). But at ÂŁ96 bn we could have had our own nuclear power project to design and build our own nuclear fleet.
We could have been energy rich ( and energy independent ) but for the bovine stupidity of our political class.
August 30, 2022
It’s all so ridiculous it almost makes you want to laugh. Instead I think many will be crying. What a shame our political elite cannot muster up the brain cells necessary to make this country what it could be. A fantastic wealthy culturally rich country. We know who to blame and it’s not the hard working British trying to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.
August 30, 2022
I know – let’s import lots of oil and gas from abroad and forbid fracking here! Also, let’s import lots of coal from abroad and forbid the coal mines at Whitby and Blackpool. Another thing, let’s build lots more windmills which will provide electricity for zillions of homes when the wind blows which, as we all know, it always does. And solar panels, too, work even at night and in the winter by ambient ray. Everyone knows this.
Also, let’s pay out hundreds of pounds to each struggling household from borrowed money and we all know, don’t we, that this will have no effect on inflation.
Oh – and let’s reduce taxes too.
You know it makes sense.
August 30, 2022
Nice one Mike
August 30, 2022
Basically the government needs to say “Having been in power for 12 years, 5 of which in coalition with the lib-dems, we have made a complete mess of energy prices by our commitment to the net-zero agenda. We now repent and wish to announce our commitment once again to fossil fuels being an essential ingredient to our energy needs.”
Well they’re not going to say that are they. They have to double down on their record and policy. Has Liz Truss declared her intention to open up coal mines? So we’re in for yet more unaffordable energy and economic ruin.
August 30, 2022
The last paragraph sums up the complete nonsense of the whole situation. All countries and their parliaments have just been paying lip service to all the doom and gloom computer scenario’s that a very few people converted into a religion that has made them millions. Panic set in then it was countries trying to out source their emissions on paper to prove they were acting on the supposed threat. Climate change has been in existance every day of the planetss existance and so it will always be.
August 30, 2022
It seems that the EU is still very keen on European interconnectivity ie a Europe-wide smart grid! And from what I can see we are still in the plans. Hence the frantic pushing of smart metersâŠdespite or maybe because of our present position. (Psst! Get a smart meter and the stuffâll be cheaper).
From The National Grid website
âPrime Minister Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Narendra Modi jointly launched the Green Grids Initiative â One Sun One World One Grid (GGI-OSOWOG), which aims to connect energy grids across borders to facilitate a faster transition to the use of renewable energy. As a Principal Partner for COP26, we are playing a leading role in the initiative and supporting the secretariat alongside the UK Government.â
It is little wonder the country doesnât run. Those in charge are all away in magick land.
As for the National Grid âŠwebsite well worth a visitâŠ.woke beyond woke!
August 30, 2022
And what is the first thing the likes of India does during shortage – stops exporting wheat due to DOMESTIC supply concerns. The World’s second largest wheat producer source foreignpolicy.com
Floods are the most common natural disaster in India. We have to be smart about where we rely on to supply essential produce.
August 30, 2022
+1
August 30, 2022
Energy markets are global. We cannot make energy cheaper for the UK alone, UK demand is relatively small in global terms and so is UK supply. Everything is interconnected. We had a voice at the top table when we were in the EU. Not any more, we will simply have to follow the path set by the big players, the EU and the US
August 30, 2022
The market for natural gas is not global. The Germans want to buy Russian gas but we and the Americans who have their own cheap gas believe we in Western Europe should have expensive gas in order to harm Russia and we have therefore ordered the Germans who are still an occupied nation to desist from buying Russian gas to harm their economy as well.
August 30, 2022
Well, if we’re not a big player Lentona the UN won’t be coming to us with its latest appeal they can go straight to the big players the US and EU can’t they?
Perhaps we should be taking on much less aid as we are so ‘relatively small’.
August 30, 2022
In my view a Conservative government has no right to charge us for crap ideas of smart metres and wind farms. Good ideas in the past have succeeded because they have improved life and made further development and improvement possible and smart metres and windfarms do neither.
In fact the whole idea of ‘Net Zero’ takes us backwards and hasn’t been thought through properly. Take the electric car which takes hours to recharge and has a limited range. Why impose this on us without taking the very obvious step of introducing the hybrid which allows time for both batteries and charging to be developed. It has driven us straight into an energy and cost of living crisis.
We will not get out of this mess until we start thinking and planning sensibly towards the future instead of trying to curtail and control peoples lives.
August 30, 2022
Rather typical of the Diary to suggest stopping a programme just as it starts to work. I was opposed to Smart Meters but now my supplier provides details of usage across the day, I can adjust the times I switch on washing machine, dishwasher etc. Sir John has 20/20 hindsight, blaming the EU for rules when energy policy is in the hands of national governments ( viz. France c/w Germany) and complaining about government policy he has supported for 10 or more years.
August 30, 2022
Are you kidding, five years as Mrs Thatcherâs Director of the Policy Unit, then from May 1987 to May 1997 as Conservative MP more or less supporting John Major, thirteen years as opposition MP, twelve years more recently behind the Coalition, then the Cameron, May and Johnson Governments. And he would want us to believe he is as fresh as the morning dew. What a laugh (or a very lack of self-regard/respect).
August 30, 2022
Why, Paul, what difference does it make to your bills if you adjust the times you switch on appliances? There is no economy seven or lower tariffs any longer with British Gas that I’m aware of. Which supplier charges you less for off-peak hours? is that between 11pm and 7am alone? What is the reduction in price per kW?
But I wouldn’t wash clothes between those hours, or they’d be left wet in the machine for hours on end.
September 1, 2022
Some suppliers (eg Octopus) are offering reduced charges for using power during off-peak periods and the smart meter allows them to log which periods you use the energy and so bill selectively.
I won’t do this because we have switched our activities to match the solar window and also for the reason you describe – little domestic use can be made of the power in the early hours. One exception in the future may be EV charging (and possibly thermal battery charging) – but I, like many, charge mine during the solar window.
But then those periods would no longer be off-peak so the prices would change.
September 2, 2022
Thanks dixie, i had a look at Octopus but their website says they have no tariffs available. They recommend that you go back when the prices have dropped.
September 1, 2022
@Paul – you could do this yourself more cheaply and independently of the power company, I do.
So why should I subsidise you lazyness?
August 30, 2022
All good ideas but I do have trouble convincing myself that we have an effective implementation system in place – politicians need to remember that talking about something does not make it happen
August 30, 2022
Fossil fuel companies are bidding uneconomically low prices for wind CfD contracts to improve their ESG rating (corporate version of the Chinese credit score run by banks and large investment firms) and hence still maintain access to capital. Empirical evidence from company reports shows that real costs are the double or more of the current CfD bids.
The CfD âcontractsâ do not require the owners to either build the wind farms or even sell at the CfD price if they are able to get a higher price from the market, as they are doing now.
CfD contract prices do not take into account all the costs of renewablesâ intermittency which is borne by fossil fuels, nor where the power is generated (North Sea). So the CfD prices are akin to a car owner calculating cost of transport based only on the price of fuel and forgetting road tax, insurance and maintenance. Unless the idea is for us to live with intermittency and hence why we need smart meters and the acceptance of âdemand managementâ?
We will have no energy security as 95% of wind turbine parts and 100% of solar panels are supplied by China, a hostile state. In addition, electrification of heating and transport will make us reliant on China for the raw materials, if not the products themselves, for generators, motors and batteries.
As I write wind is generating 4.93 GW out of an installed capacity of 27GW, the highest itâs been for the last 10 days.
August 30, 2022
Very nice. Thank you, this is lovely.
Meanwhile the Chancellor of bankrupt and insolvent Britain, brought about by your party in government, goes with a massive begging bowl to the US. Here green insane Boris and his globalist friends insist we continue to go for Zero. No fracking and the getting of more oil out of our ground. No coal for steel. More control of personal freedoms.
Just let people starve. Boris is more interested in being famous with his ‘save the planet’ friends – all very rich of course.
No matter how bad the philosophy is, no matter how dangerous the decisions are, support for the party comes first even from MPs who claim to be critical.
August 30, 2022
The single most significant factor in the cost of gas – and thereby electricity – in the UK is Tory deregulation.
This allowed the only-for-profit lads to save money by closing storage and so exposing the UK egregiously to spike prices.
Added to the deliberately-made toothless regulators of the supply companies it is a recipe for exactly what we see.
August 30, 2022
* in the relative cost of gas – clearly Putin’s terrible war is the biggest absolute one.
August 30, 2022
Russia is continuing to supply gas. It’s the EU and other Western powers that have said they don’t want to continue buying it. The ‘single most significant’ factor, it seems to me, was Germany’s catastrophic US-imposed decision last autumn to boycott Nordstream 2, which was supposed to guarantee Europe’s gas supplies at affordable prices. If it was in operation, gas would be plentiful, and Europe wouldn’t need to buy expensive LNG from… the US. It helps to see the big picture, lad, as I thought you knew.
August 30, 2022
Think through your idea of storage solution NHL
If we had a months storage we would empty it in a month and then the refill would be at new higher prices.
It may give us a little buffer against shortages but very little else.
Prices are rising not spiking and then falling.
PS Do you include all the energy companies that have recently gone bust in your “only for profit boys” silly remark?
August 30, 2022
To summarise
Scrap energy meters, scrap the green levy, scrap green renewable subsidy and scrape the carbon permitsâŠ..not temperately as suggested but permanently â these policies where imposed by a Tory government and can be removed by a Tory government âŠ.less talk more action
And bring confidence back to the fossil fuel markets by scraping net-zero
August 30, 2022
âHow many high energy using businesses will we lose if we carry on with dear gas and carbon penalties?â
Please ask Mr. Alok Sharma, MP :
Official SSE video of Cop 26 President, Alok Sharma, triggering the explosive demolition of Ferrybridge coal-fired power station last year :
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1429456184902393858/pu/vid/720×720/JwPnpycxEiyBmqVJ.mp4?tag=12
August 30, 2022
The people who believe you can offshore fossil fuel extraction to reduce CO2 are the same people who believe you can offshore animal farming and abattoirs to improve animal welfare.
August 30, 2022
The data below is for the 24-hour period 00:00 to 23:59 29 August 2022.
Number of migrants detected in small boats: 0
Number of boats detected: 0
Maybe the Royal Navy isnât back from leave or theyâre all trying to help return the HMS Prince of Wales back to port
But I donât believe that there hasnât been any boats crossing the channel for two daysâŠsomebody is playing us
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats
August 30, 2022
This is quite amusing in a way:
https://facts4eu.org/news/2022_aug_uk_powering_france
“For months the UK has been powering France via our underwater electricity cables”
“Last year the French were threatening to cut off UK electricity over a few fishing licencesâŠ.”
August 30, 2022
I do hope that Ms Truss is willing to do ‘radical’ things (e.g. ones that we can all see make sense) of the kind you suggest Sir John. She has nothing to lose at this stage of the game and everything to gain.
I’m still not hearing many of the political class willing to come right out and state that the root of the energy problem has been a far too rapid rush to “de-carbonise” our society – without ever thinking about the true cost (or potential problems or threats) of such a strategy. It has led us to this dire place.
Zak Goldsmith got up in July and was spouting about how the Conservatives will lose the next election “if they turn their back on the environemt”. Well in one way he’s right. Everyone cares a great deal about the environment , most especially the one inside their home. If they are all freezing to death in the dark this winter, then I suspect they will not be thinking very fondly of the political follies that got them there (or the people who proposed and supported them)
I don’t regret seeing Boris Johnson consigned to the junk heap of history. He deserves it, if for no other reason than his quite frankly mindless drive to net-zero. I was really quite angry with his recent “it’s all Putins fault”, the solution is “more renewables” and the future is bright. It’s complete nonsense and no amount of boosterism will cahnge the fact that we’ve dug a deep hole and jumped right into it. Stop digging for goodness sake!
Neither Boris (nor Zak Goldsmih) will be turning their thermostats down this Winter but most of us will. Then perhaps our political leaders will start to see which way the wind is really blowing (and I don’t mean more windfarms) and get this mess sorted.
August 30, 2022
Net zero is an aim that Ms Truss needs to scrap as soon as she crosses the threshold of Number 10.
I’m no “climate scientist” but I do recognise a scam when I see it. The “science” behind eliminating CO2 from the Earth’s atmosphere is wrong and suicidal. No CO2=no plants=no life on earth.
The fact that big business sacks a person for saying “Don’t panic” when it comes to climate change is deeply worrying. Burning wood instead of coal is laughable. Coal is compressed wood and its calorific value is far higher than wood, so a ton of coal needs 100 tons of wood to achieve the same energy output. Burning 10,000 gallons of diesel to transport 100 tons of coal 5,000 miles and thinking that is “greener” than burning a ton of coal is beyond ridiculous. “Carbon permits” make no sense if the problem is global. They smack of 16th century “indulgences”.
No-one who believes in “Climate Change” nee “Global Warming” would likely vote Tory anyway.
August 30, 2022
Another really good article from STT. Some ways it is good to know we are not alone and out of step with the rest of the world
Enviro-Fraud: Why Intermittent Wind & Solar Canât Reduce Carbon Dioxide Gas Emissions
August 30, 2022 by stopthesethings
Wind and Solar Fail to Reduce PJMâs CO2 Emissions
CO2 Coalition
Gregory Wrightstone & Gordon Tomb
As the imposition of a tax on the use of fossil fuels is debated in Pennsylvania and Virginia, along comes an analysis showing the failure of such efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide in the name of saving the planet.
cont
August 30, 2022
Another excellent entry on today’s NaLoPKT website where a report total throws open the hypocrisy of the EU regarding fossil fuel as seen through the eyes of India. Not too long and very hard hitting on the numbers.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/08/29/europes-hypocrisy-on-fossil-fuels/
August 30, 2022
+1 shows just how stupid our government is
August 30, 2022
I totally agree. Itâs time to declare an energy emergency and take whatever actions are necessary to secure the countryâs power supply. Without power we have no solution to any of the nationâs problems.
There are a growing number of scientists questioning the climate cult. Most of the man made climate change claims are based on computer modelling not empirical science, just like the Covid cult.
Scrap the smart meter roll out, they donât actually save any energy and are all about control. Scrap the carbon taxes and go back to coal for our base load power supply until there is a genuinely viable alternative.
All the people who were fretting about killing granny with Covid donât seem concerned about her dying from cold or starvation!
August 30, 2022
Obvious I suppose but our present situation (which is REALLY BAD) has been caused, not by Putin but by policies followed over quite a few years.
Not policies adhered to through ignorance or inefficiency but purposely, carried out by useful idiots for the self-seeking motives of the parasite class who have literally sold us off to the rest of the world and allowed profits to flow abroad.
Gathering more goods for themselves? Making more money?Controlling us more closely? Reducing our numbers? I donât know âŠto DESTROY the planet? And move to Mars?
Whatever the reason we are truly screwed.
August 30, 2022
Sir John,
Lower taxes and the removal of needless or excessively costly regulation one would expect to be government policy, and not just ideas.
I have repeatedly refused a smart meter. Sending meter readings once a month is simple enough.
Green levies should be an optional extra on energy bills. Those who want to pay for them can, and those who don’t shouldn’t have to.
The tv tax should also be voluntary. Then the BBC will find out how popular it really is, and how many redundancies it will need to make.
August 30, 2022
Twitter is promoting Smart Meters today. “Because you care about the ones you love, help build a greener future, by getting a smart meter, smart meters are helping update Britain’s energy system, allowing us to integrate more renewable energy sources.”
It claims that smart meters and smart time use of tariffs will reduce our energy at peak periods, when electricity is most expensive.
How will they do this? By rationing it at peak tea time use as we cook dinner and watch tv? It says during these times we can’t rely on renewables, so power stations are used. So what exactly does this mean for the public we’ll be charged a fortune when we most want to cook our evening meal and watch tv? Will all those working from home get another advantage as they can wash their clothes on a cheap tariff and not have to keep wet clothes waiting until they get home from work, but anyone working outside the home will be punished for washing clothes when they get home?
August 30, 2022
Will never have a smart meter. Not because I think it would do me harm etc
but because of the over the top coercion.
Got an email the other day from the council re electoral register .
“You MUST complete this….”
Oh MUST I ?, didn’t.
If some bright spark in gov think they can get insulation grants paid for from house equity
loans people will remain uninsulated. ( Like the May Care Home fees debacle )
I’m still interested to find out the number of unvaxxed MPs.
I would imagine it’s nil.
August 30, 2022
Actually I’m quite concerned that Liz Truss seems to shy away from the heart of any difficult matter, whether it’s the dramatic increase in the cost of energy worldwide or the Northern Ireland protocol. She’s been in charge of our relations with the EU since last December 19 and so she has had plenty of time to set up a system of export controls for goods being carried across the open land border into the Irish Republic as an alternative and better method to protect the EU Single Market, and doing that would not be in any way contrary to the protocol and it would not be easy for the EU or the Irish government or the US government or the fifth columnists in Parliament, especially in the House of Lords, to formulate any reasonable objection to it being put in place, but she has done nothing about it and apparently still has no plans to do anything about it. A year ago the Centre for Brexit Policy published its plan, “Mutual Enforcement â Antidote to the Northern Ireland Protocol”, but as the EU flatly refuses to even discuss that we should have gone ahead and done our half of it unilaterally and then permanently discontinued all of the EU checks and controls on goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain or elsewhere required by the protocol.
August 30, 2022
Putin must be laughing his head off.
August 30, 2022
I don’t think he’s laughing. I think Putin is far too concerned at the slow progress Russian and allied forces are making after six months. Ordinary Russians are grumbling that he needs to ‘get it done’, but he isn’t getting it done. Probably because of the skewed media reporting in this country, it’s not sufficiently understood that Putin is not the raving war-monger of tabloid fantasy. He didn’t go for the massive shock-and-awe Iraq-type operation that the ultra-nationalists in Russia had been urging him for years to unleash against Ukraine. He didn’t want to provoke an antiwar reaction at home, so he took Russia into a ‘special military operation’ without committing the resources that would be needed to win it quickly, especially manpower. We see today that the Ukrainians are still able to counter-attack to some extent despite pro-Russian claims their military is finished. The only way I see for Putin to go now would be to put Russia on a war economy footing. That would be very unpopular at home, but at least he could then use much larger forces and gamble on a quick victory that way. That would be grim for everyone, so I think this would be a good moment for Ukraine to consider negotiating peace terms while they still have Mikolayev, Odessa and a foothold on the Black Sea. Let’s face it, wars normally end with some kind of negotiations, and this one will surely also have to.
August 30, 2022
The government has a Quango that operates the renewable generator’s “Contract for Difference” (CfD) payment system. A CfD guarantees a “strike price” for their output. If the market price is less than the strike price they get paid the difference. If the market price is above the strike price, the generator pays back the difference. The recent market prices are above all strike prices as far as I can tell. The current strike price for the future Hinkley C is ÂŁ113 /MWh. The latest offshore wind farms are at ÂŁ50 /MWh. The first dozen or so SMR’s will all be “first-of-a-kind” and more expensive per MW than Hinkley.
August 30, 2022
If you look at the Historical Dashboard at the Low Carbon Contracts Company website
https://www.lowcarboncontracts.uk/dashboards/cfd/actuals-dashboards/historical-dashboard
You will see on page 3 that CFDs account for just 5% of electricity demand this quarter, and even in a windy quarter they do not provide more than about 8%. Moreover, if you download their detailed data you will find that the newest operational wind farms have yet to take up their CFDs, as they make a fortune by selling at market prices instead. The dashboard also shows that any repayments by CFD generators are running at very modest levels compared with the substantial subsidies they were clocking up previously. In fact in some recent months they have been subsidised. In May and June offshore wind was subsidised, while Drax was getting subsidies until the end of March.
August 31, 2022
Who knew that signing up for a CfD would be a bust. It looks like near 20 GW have by 2027, with Hinkley the only nuke.
https://www.lowcarboncontracts.uk/index.php/dashboards/cfd/portfolio-dashboards
August 30, 2022
When all and sundry start crowing for windfall payments from the energy companies they are missing the boat. Not a Lot of People know That have produced the figures on who actually owns the turbines and collects vast sums of subsidised money from them. This seems like a very big loophole that could be easily filled. Subsidies will be paid less tax maybe for consideration?
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
Who Owns Our Offshore Wind Farms?
https://ref.org.uk/generators/search.php
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/08/30/who-owns-our-offshore-wind-farms/
August 30, 2022
Whilst identifying the actual owners of wind farms is one step, I fear it does not identify where profits are made. You can be sure that pension funds and other owners sign up to PPAs that give some sort of guarantee of a return on their investment, but that the real profit is likely made downstream of the PPA, probably in other tax jurisdictions, with rather different beneficiaries.
August 30, 2022
There’s something very underhand about all of this….do people know that offshore turbines are mostly foreign owned but fully subsidised by the taxpayer
August 30, 2022
Well, starting to see shops shutting down, the pub and restaurant’s are going apart from ones PMs and their frends use, might even see supermarket turned into food banks at this rate. If you use a lot of enegry running a small business then you are their target, good luck and all the best. over and out.
August 30, 2022
will we see tumbleweed blowing along our boarded up High streets?
August 30, 2022
Why on earth should the government even recommend, let alone subsidise smart meters?
Who’s sales talk started that idea and who took it up?
I’m confused about the whole ‘green levies’ issue but since the whole ‘Carbon Neutral’ crusade is nothing but an economy wreaking SCAM, scrap the lot of it.
And I mean SCRAP IT. Never mind suspending it, or ‘for a bit’.
I suppose your party has to tread a bit wary. Which big donors might you offend?
I am not ‘getting at’ you Sir John. You talk common sense and this is one of the few places nowadays where free speech and discussion are allowed.
As usual you have suggested some ways energy can be made cheaper, particularly to business.
August 30, 2022
The climate change committee recommended smart meters, endorsed by all parliamentarians and enacted into law with âThe Energy Act 2008â under labour and âSmart Meters Act 2018âunder the toriesâŠprobably lobbied by the green party and the manufactures and the EU
August 30, 2022
The UKA carbon allowance trading arrangements are described here.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/taking-part-in-the-uk-emissions-trading-scheme-markets/taking-part-in-the-uk-emissions-trading-scheme-markets
I note that prices for next year have already touched ÂŁ100/tonne CO2e, and that ICE has just announced plans to offer an options market in allowances – a clear sign that they expect volatile trading.
The tax adds insult to injury for energy intensive industry and domestic aviation, as well as pushing up market prices for almost all electricity by ~ÂŁ35/MWh, adding about ÂŁ9bn to bills, plus VAT. The actual tax raised from electricity generators is much less than this, because it only applies to fas and coal. If the tax was considered necessary to provide incentives to reduce fossil fuel use based on prices in 2020 when the scheme commenced it has surely become redundant now, with high prices providing ample incentive. It is just a tax I posing higher bills.
August 30, 2022
Sir John, weâre nearly there.
A major cost to the Grid is keeping things working in spite of the varying (read âsometimes wildly fluctuatingâ) inputs from the wind and solar providers. Input access to the Grid should be contingent on a high capacity factor. 90% would be reasonable, the sort of level CCGT and nuclear reach, with huge penalties for failure.
At present wind and solar providers freeload on the reliability of conventional generators. At a stroke this measure would improve reliability and reduce prices.
JF
August 30, 2022
A colleague at work misunderstood the price cap and was complaining that it wasnât fair that the price cap was ÂŁ3500 no matter how much fuel you use so rich people would only pay ÂŁ3500 no matter how much fuel they used! I said I thought the cap was per KW and there was no fixed cap amount! He was adamant that the newspapers said the maximum bills would be ÂŁ3500 per year for gas and electricity. I thought that was only based on an average size home.
I think government needs to make sure this is explained clearly.
August 30, 2022
He still hasn’t got it, alright he is going out the door but like his predecessor his hasn’t got a ####ing clue.
Still putting his faith into nuclear and turbines. For crying out loud for over twenty years the warning signs and ultimate results were there to see but sadly for this country nobody in the congregation was listening, too taken up with all the hype and the propaganda and afraid to stop think and question the self appointed hierarchy.
September 1, 2022
And even now the congregation, even on here, merely whine how expensive it all is, who is making the profits, and demanding they get their energy fix cheap … at any cost to everyone else.
August 30, 2022
While we are now in dire need of a fairy godmother ourselves to sprinkle some relief from energy bills how about diverting money from the wasteful gushing foreign aid budget fountain back here?
After all “Charity starts at home” and further you can’t give what you haven’t got especially given the enormous public finance mega debts.
September 1, 2022
Or, instead of importing foreign goods and going on foreign holidays, supporting their economies rather than our own, people could have invested in our industries and improving their own energy profiles – taking some responsibility for themselves rather than expect everyone else to pay for it.
September 1, 2022
So where is the development effort, time and funding necessary to establish a sustainable energy provision going to come from?
Or is the plan to adopt the LifeLogic mentality – sit back and wait for suppliers to beg to offer the “cheapest” solution at the cost of everyone else and until it is neither cheap nor available?
Good luck with that.