Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

What took you so long @B3??? We've had a thread on it with reminders for years on GW and, no doubt, there are fans here too. It's amazing how much practical info they can pack into half an hour.

 

To be honest, I couldn't believe that there was a gardening programme that I'd actually want to watch . Can't watch GW for more than 10 minutes
@Obelix-Vendée

 

I agree. I watched a programme a few years back, "Rich house poor house" where the occupants swap homes for a week. In this episode I watched, the owner of the poor house looked at the energy bill of the house she swapped with. She noticed on the energy bill that the owners of the rich house spent more on energy in one month that she did in a year. When your a owner of a 6 bedroom home with an indoor pool, then your energy tariff should be more, not the same or less. In Thailand and other countries they have a tiered system which is based on your monthly usage, the more you use, the more you tariff increases.

 

I think that 5% refers to gas and electricity, I hate to think how much tax is on road fuel here, could be more than 60%

 

I wish it was 60% or more, it would mean we are paying less at the pump. Petrol round here today is 144.9 which relates to 53% tax, yet diesel is cheaper when we are using the key card 135.4 which relates to 56% tax. I wouldn't mind paying 70% tax on fuel, it means fuel would be roughly a £1 a litre at the pump.

 

A bit lower in France but still high:-

The cost of the fuel - whether petrol or diesel - itself only comprises 39% of the price paid at the pump, with an added 11.5% for distribution costs. The other 49.5% are VAT (around 10% of total price), TICPE – a domestic tax on energy consumption (around 32.5%) – and its associated VAT (around 7%).

 

Not forgetting the three separate taxes on energy bills which then have TVA added How do governments get away with it?

 

Yes, and that's why a daily standing charge is such a rubbish way to organise things. It discriminates against low users with small homes, who pay the same as mansion owners.

Much better would be no standing charge and a very low tariff for the first X amount used, increasing rapidly for heavy users. You would need an empty homes charge and to accommodate those with medical conditions using equipment or needing extra hot water.

 

Which is why in Thailand the tariffs are based on average monthly consumption. Basically, they will have 4 to 6 different price tariffs, the first x amount of kWh used is at the lowest rate with the rate increasing with the more you use. If you stay within your monthly average, it resets for the following month. However, if you go over your monthly allowance, your cheapest rate is then the highest rate you had paid previously and so on.

 

If the cheapest rate covered all the energy an elderly person in a cool part of the country needed to heat a 3-bed home, and the next tariff up was only a smallish increase, that might work. Then steeper rises after that, so if you are heating a swimming pool and air conditioning your home cinema, it really costs you.

No system would be perfect, of course, but paying for actual use seems fairer than set standing charges regardless of your house size and consumption.

 

@BB3 @noisette47 @DiggersJo @Obelix-Vendée The Welsh programme is good too, Garddio a Mwy, channel 4 hub

 

I would assume it was a Pay as You Go phone and he was topping up the credit on it.

 

You could just adjust the standing charges similar to how income tax works, set bands and the more you use the higher the daily rate of standing charge. The more you use the system the more you pay.
Would need some working out but it's not impossible.