Cost of Living crisis

Average annual energy bill to rise by 10% to £1,717 in Great Britain from October

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https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/aug/23/average-annual-energy-bill-rise-great-britain-october-ofgem

Campaigners fear increase by £149 in energy price cap by Ofgem will put more pressure on household

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Households in Great Britain will begin the run-up to winter with a 10% increase in their energy bills after the industry regulator increased its cap on gas and electricity prices from October.

Under the new price cap, the average annual dual-fuel energy bill will rise to £1,717 a year, up £149 from its current level of £1,568, which has been in place since July.

The price cap is set every quarter by Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, and imposes a maximum on how much suppliers can charge their 28 million household customers per unit of gas and electricity.

It is expressed in terms of how much the average home would pay at this rate for their typical annual energy use, which means a cold autumn and winter could push bills even higher if households need to keep the heating on for longer.

Households in Great Britain will begin the run-up to winter with a 10% increase in their energy bills after the industry regulator increased its cap on gas and electricity prices from October.

Under the new price cap, the average annual dual-fuel energy bill will rise to £1,717 a year, up £149 from its current level of £1,568, which has been in place since July.

The price cap is set every quarter by Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, and imposes a maximum on how much suppliers can charge their 28 million household customers per unit of gas and electricity.

It is expressed in terms of how much the average home would pay at this rate for their typical annual energy use, which means a cold autumn and winter could push bills even higher if households need to keep the heating on for longer.

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Energy bills set to rise by 10 per cent while greedy energy companies rake in obscene profits

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Labour and Tories blame each other for energy bill rise

Continue ReadingAverage annual energy bill to rise by 10% to £1,717 in Great Britain from October

Morning Star Editorial: It’s not difficult – the way to cut energy prices is public ownership

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/its-not-difficult-way-cut-energy-prices-public-ownership

THE bad news is that the typical yearly household energy bill in Britain will rise by about £150 from this autumn.

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Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who should know better, put a superficial gloss on the situation by arguing: “The rise in the price cap is a direct result of the failed energy policy we inherited, which has left our country at the mercy of international gas markets controlled by dictators.”

The first part of that statement is spot on in as far as Labour has made a few steps to reverse the Tory barriers to a more sustainable energy policy — although not as many as Miliband would like. And Russian President Vladimir Putin is an unsavoury character but actually he wanted to keep on selling his cheap gas to the Germans and us.

Western oil and energy monopolies have long been in partnership with dictatorial regimes in the Middle East who lack even Putin’s pretensions to democratic accountability.

Labour could tighten up the regulatory regime to control consumer prices, could tax energy profits more, could use the sovereign powers that leaving the EU confers by asserting domestic controls over wholesale energy prices.

But the quickest and best way to put the energy industry at the service of the people is to take it into public ownership, use the profits to retrofit our housing stock to save energy, invest in renewables and keep consumption and prices down.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/its-not-difficult-way-cut-energy-prices-public-ownership

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: It’s not difficult – the way to cut energy prices is public ownership

Reeves plans new austerity as government debt rises

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/reeves-plans-new-austerity-as-government-debt-rises

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves during a press conference following her statement to the House of Commons on the findings of the Treasury audit into the state of the public finances, July 29, 2024

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham calls for wealth tax

MORE austerity is on the agenda as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares a new clampdown on public spending in her autumn Budget.

In a move that risks sparking new divisions and struggle within the labour movement, Ms Reeves is set to prioritise reassuring global money markets over repairing the damage done by the Tories.

She is reported to have been spooked by figures showing public sector borrowing at £3.1 billion in July, £1.8bn more than a year previously and above most expectations.

However, borrowing has fallen over a longer time-frame, but Ms Reeves will pay more attention to the short-term figures and use them as a reason to impose more austerity.

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Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has called for a shift in priorities, saying: “We are the sixth-richest economy in the world, where the 50 richest families are worth £500bn.

“It is clear, irrespective of ‘black holes,’ that we need to consider a wealth tax.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/reeves-plans-new-austerity-as-government-debt-rises

Continue ReadingReeves plans new austerity as government debt rises

Labour urged to act over 9% rise to energy bills

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/splash-288

ENERGY prices are set to rise by 9 per cent in October, experts revealed today — with the “alarming” increase accompanying winter fuel payment cuts.

A typical household’s energy bills are expected to rise to £1,714 a year, up from £1,568, according to energy consultancy Cornwall Insight.

The group said that while the figure is less than the cap previously predicted, there are also likely to be further “modest increases” in January and more rises early in the year due to “recent tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war.”

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End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said that instead of offering help, the government has axed winter fuel payments to millions and refuses to confirm if the Household Support Fund will be extended.

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“The reality is that bills will go up compared to today and will be around 65 per cent higher than they were before the energy bills crisis started.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/splash-288

Continue ReadingLabour urged to act over 9% rise to energy bills

Ditching two-child benefit cap would cut deaths and A&E admissions, study says

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/07/ditching-two-child-benefit-cap-would-cut-deaths-and-ae-admissions-study-says

A poverty reduction of 35% on 2023 levels could avoid 293 infant deaths, 458 childhood admissions with nutritional anaemias and 32,650 childhood emergency admissions. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

England research shows huge benefits with resulting savings for NHS and councils

Curbing child poverty by scrapping the two-child benefit cap would save hundreds of lives a year and avoid thousands of admissions to hospital, the largest study of its kind suggests.

Keir Starmer has faced repeated demands from within Labour ranks and opposition leaders to abolish the policy, which was announced in 2015 by George Osborne, then chancellor. Almost half of all children in some towns and cities now live below the breadline.

Now researchers from the universities of Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle have shown for the first time the extraordinary impact that reducing child poverty with measures such as ditching the two-child benefit cap could have in England.

Tackling it would substantially cut the number of infant deaths and children in care, as well as rates of childhood nutritional anaemia and emergency admissions, with the most deprived regions, especially in north-east England, likely to benefit the most, the projections indicate.

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/07/ditching-two-child-benefit-cap-would-cut-deaths-and-ae-admissions-study-says

Image of Keir Starmer and a poor child.
Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.
Continue ReadingDitching two-child benefit cap would cut deaths and A&E admissions, study says