Monthly Archives: February 2023

Fossil fuel giant Shell reveals highest profits in its history

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/fossil-fuel-giant-shell-reveals-highest-profits-in-its-history

Unions call on government to ‘expand windfall tax on energy producers’ as public face 40% hike in bills from April

Activists gather at Glengad Beach in Co Mayo as the pipe laying vessel the Solitaire makes its way into Broadhaven Bay

THE government must “get real” on profiteering and increase windfall taxes on oil and gas companies, campaigners and unions urged today as Shell revealed its highest profits in its history.

The oil giant said that core profits rocketed to $84.3 billion (£68.1bn) in 2022 in what is one of the highest gains ever recorded by a British company.

The public face a 40 per cent hike in energy bills from April on top of soaring bills and the cost-of-living crisis.

Following pressure, the government launched a windfall tax, called the energy profits levy, on bumper profits made by producers last year.

Shell said it was due to pay $134 million (£109m) through the levy for 2022, representing just a fraction of its mammoth profit.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/fossil-fuel-giant-shell-reveals-highest-profits-in-its-history

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British Gas halts use of warrants to force people on to prepayment meters

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/01/british-gas-halts-use-of-warrants-to-force-people-on-to-prepayment-meters-allegations-vulnerable-customers-break-in

Image of banknotes and prepayment meter key
Banknotes and a prepayment meter key

Move follows allegations that third-party agents ignored vulnerabilities of customers and broke in to install equipment

British Gas has suspended the use of court warrants to force the installation of prepayment meters after evidence that agents working on its behalf ignored customers’ vulnerabilities.

MPs and consumer groups had raised concerns that elderly and disabled people were being forced on to prepayment meters and then routinely cut off from heat and power as they could not afford to top up.

Wednesday’s decision came after an investigation by the Times alleged that Arvato Financial Solutions, a company used by British Gas to pursue debts, had broken into homes to fit meters when there were signs that young children and people with disabilities lived in the property. AFS employees are incentivised with bonuses to fit prepayment meters.

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/01/british-gas-halts-use-of-warrants-to-force-people-on-to-prepayment-meters-allegations-vulnerable-customers-break-in

Ofgem statement on British Gas prepayment meter installations

“These are extremely serious allegations from The Times. We are launching an urgent investigation into British Gas and we won’t hesitate to take firm enforcement action.

“It is unacceptable for any supplier to impose forced installations on vulnerable customers struggling to pay their bills before all other options have been exhausted and without carrying out thorough checks to ensure it is safe and practicable to do so.

“We have launched a major market-wide review investigating the rapid growth in prepayment meter installations and potential breaches of licences driving it.

“We are clear that suppliers must work hard to look after their customers at this time, especially those who are vulnerable. The energy crisis is no excuse for unacceptable behaviour towards any customer, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances.”

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Britain faces biggest day of strike action in over a decade

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/britain-faces-its-biggest-day-strike-action-more-decade

Half a million workers down tools over pay, jobs and working conditions

Protesters outside Downing Street, London, demonstrating against the new law on strikes

BRITAIN faces its biggest day of strike action in more than a decade today as up to half a million workers down tools over pay, jobs and working conditions.

Teachers, lecturers, civil servants and train and bus drivers are set to withdraw their labour simultaneously, as the fightback against more than a decade of Tory austerity gathers pace.

The TUC is holding events nationwide as part of its “protect the right to strike day” after ministers rushed “authoritarian and draconian” anti-worker legislation through the Commons on Monday night.

The union body demanded the government drop the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which is likely to face stiff opposition in the House of Lords, and instead “get round the table to negotiate in good faith on public-sector pay.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/britain-faces-its-biggest-day-strike-action-more-decade

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Oxford council calls for Thames Water to be taken into public ownership

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/oxford-council-calls-for-thames-water-to-be-taken-into-public-ownership

Workers from Thames Water delivering a temporary water supply from a tanker

CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed Oxford City Council’s unanimous vote in favour of calling for Thames Water to be taken into public ownership following a motion to end water privatisation.

The motion, proposed by Green Party councillors Chris Jarvis and Lois Muddiman, will also see the council writing to the firm to request that its chief executive officer Sarah Bentley attend a meeting with them.

Since water was privatised in England in 1989, over £72 billion has been paid in dividends to privateer shareholders, while infrastructure has deteriorated.

According to the GMB union’s research, Thames Water lets 635 million litres of water leak out of its system every day, equivalent to leaving a hosepipe on for 73 years.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/oxford-council-calls-for-thames-water-to-be-taken-into-public-ownership

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AI Predicts Warming Will Surpass 1.5 C in a Decade

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-predicts-warming-will-surpass-1-5-c-in-a-decade/

New research from artificial intelligence projects that global warming will hit the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius somewhere between 2033 and 2035

Scientists have long known the world is running out of time to hit its international climate targets. Now, artificial intelligence has arrived at a similar conclusion.

An innovative new AI study finds that it will take about a decade for humanity to blow past its optimistic goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

That’s the same conclusion scientists have come to when using more conventional climate modeling techniques, but the AI research adds more evidence to the growing conviction among climate scientists and policy experts that the world is all but certain to overshoot the 1.5 C target (Climatewire, Nov. 11, 2022).

Policymakers are still striving to keep global warning well below 2 C, even if they overshoot the 1.5 C target. But even that goal is in danger, according to the AI study. It found that the 2 C threshold could approach even faster than previous research has predicted.

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-predicts-warming-will-surpass-1-5-c-in-a-decade/

Climate crisis: UN finds ‘no credible pathway to 1.5C in place’

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