amp99
90125
1121
10
Sauce: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/27/british-gas-record-profit-price-cap-increase
Disgusting price gouging at a time when many people are struggling to survive.
Also, see this related video from Tom Nicholas: 'How Energy Privatization is Bankrupting Britain': https://youtu.be/tVNQElN6VY8
neuronicle
Health, caretaking, safety, water, etc., etc. ... the list is long. Greed is vile.
Trimule
Been watching some reports/news docs about poverty in UK. Given that they will always look for the worst to make the point, UK is in serious deep shit and it's getting worse. Avg. standard of living is now below Mississippi (seriously!) and headed below Eastern Euro countries. Same rich-poor divide as in US with disappearing middle class. "Heat or Eat" is a catch phrase there - choose which to buy- food or energy with the little you have.
relsky
Hey consumers! Have an extra billion dollars lying around we can take? No? Tough shit, we're gonna take it anyway! Mwahaha!
akambe
On a *completely* unrelated note, consumer gas bills are higher than ever.
shamus1991
Highest rail prices in Europe. Highest monthly utility bills in Europe. Companies actively flaunting how they are profiteering from civilian necessities. As an Englishman, we need to be more French
Noodlesocks
What also annoys me is that we produce more than enough energy through renewables for every home in Scotland but because energy prices is still based on gas prices, we still pay through the nose.
Someshithead241
people can barely afford it. Many elderly are Dying because they Can't afford it during the freezing cold periods, but hey guess we should have been thinking more about the Shareholders
Merky600
Oooh. Extra yachts for the upper crust.
xxGreenShirTxx
Then they have the nerve to contact me syaing theyre going to increase my standing payment…fuuuuck off
TogepiSnow
If the UK had a functioning government they could, perhaps force these companies to use that profit to upgrade the infrastructure. LIKE THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE YEARS AGO. If the companies refuse, tax them to high heaven and add a cost cap so they can't fuck the public. Use those taxes to fix infrastructure.
Derigiberbil
Ah, classic "trickle up" (read as up-gush) economics in action... this system is so broken
Imalwaysready
I just wish there was some sort of evidence that the system was corrupt and broken. Anything. Something that screams "you are being taken advantage of to your detriment while the rich get richer at your expense." Anything people could look at and rally behind and go "hey, wait, that's not fair!" Oh well, wishful thinking, I suppose.
wetAnimal
Disgusting!! They should have to give every single cent back to the British people, this corporate greed has gone too far!
holyicon
Raise the Cap and they'll Raise their Profits.
Lower the Cap and they'll Lower Employee Pay.
Because it's not illegal to do so.
wetAnimal
Not yet, but we can change that✊ let's all take our quality of life back from these scummy greedy fucks! Enough is enough!!
EnigmaticEmpress
Off with their heads.
AIisAbutnotI
FIRST HALF! So that's not £1,000,000,000. It's TWO BILLION a year.
JackSmiles2
900%, NINE HUNDRED PERCENT !?!?
BelicoseBravado
Wow, another company raising prices without an adequate reason and suddenly reporting record profits? Crazy! Who could have predicted this outcome.... again.
daguq
Shareholders don't share.
Beelsebooob
They tell us no one can afford to pay wage increases. Halve their profit, that's half a billion pounds, or £20 to every tax payer in the UK. Find 50 companies that have done this (I'm *sure* they exist), and everyone gets a £1000 raise. It's not that they can't afford wage increases, it's that the gready bastards are hogging it all.
wetAnimal
It's absolutely disgusting!!! We need to tax, regulate and renationalize industries untill corporate greed is crushed, workers are paid thriving wages and we can all enjoy a pleasant quality of life!! Fuck the small group of greedy scum bag getting richer while we all suffer, let's take it ALL away from them so that ALL OF US CAN START LIVING PLEASANT LIVES INSTEAD!
Beelsebooob
The problem is that at some point you hit foreign companies. If you start trying to tax oil, the oil cartels just drop production and laugh in your face. Not sure what can be done about it.
TheobromineAddict
Wartime profiteering. That used to be frowned on.
writerbuddy
"Blame it on inflation," they said, "Our costs are rising," they said, "Blame it on Ukraine," they said, "It's the pandemic," they said.
4t0m1c4
We had a problem with our energy company (in the uk) where they increased our direct debit to over £480 per month, when our yearly bill was about £1200 (after the price hikes). When we complained about this to the watchdog, OFGEM, they ignored that part of the complaint completely.. not a single mention in the assessment or the outcome. We still can't pay by direct debit which makes our bill about 10% more expensive. OFGEM, the people who cap payments, don't work for us.
Munchman347
My utility is a 'monopoly', so the Govt limits what they can charge for gas and electric. I pay more for 'Delivery, maintenence fees, cable installation fees and sur-charges' than I do for power...
johnvilnis
And the company will blame inflation.
Rob6
So thise price rises were not for an increase in costs but profits when we were all up shit creak? How nice for you
Grimmrog
Always has been meme here
AZRAELSBLADE
#alwayshasbeen #eattherich
fireclanninja1337
Jacking up prices when there's a major crisis is sometimes called war profiteering and we've hanged motherfuckers for it.
LizzyTheEdgy
If the entirety of the west would just start persecuting profiteers instead of fucking electing them we'd be fairing SO much better
MrCheesebiscuit
That's why the Dutch government decided to put a price ceiling on gas and electricity, to protect the customers... Meanwhile raising taxes on gas and electricity..💀
villlllle
In Finland we just have abundant electricity production and a functioning open market for it. And an almost non-existent consumer gas market.
pixelsnader
Meanwhile the Dutch government is SUBSIDIZING costs over that price ceiling. It's not preventing high prices, it's paying for behalf of poor people. It's still going to the corps, just via government income (i.e. taxes) rather than straight from my bank account.
MrCheesebiscuit
Hence the rice in taxes.
TheStateVsThomasLight
It should be highlighted that this is being windfall taxed. This is no more than a token gesture, but it should be said nonetheless.
wetAnimal
Let's change the laws answer the windfall tax 130% price gouging should be punished not rewarded.
Harryteeters
So the taxes will be use to improve our lives and better our communities, right? Right?
greyhunter
The tax can easily be avoided by investment. Something the companies were already going to do.
TheStateVsThomasLight
This can be a good thing. Post WW2 Eisenhower instigated a 95% tax on corporate profits as a very powerful incentive to make them invest in structure.
Laurowyn
Source? I've seen nothing published anywhere about continuing windfall taxes.
TheStateVsThomasLight
It was on a BBC radio broadcast this morning. But I have just searched and can’t find any evidence bar one saying that this profit is being taxed.
amp99
Although this is true, I appreciate you noting it's a token gesture; the windfall tax isn't substantially going to help those who were overcharged in the first place. Maybe they'll qualify for a benefit in 6 months they wouldn't've needed absent the price gouging.
TheStateVsThomasLight
It was a gesture of necessity from the conservatives. It was such a massive controversy that they ran a genuine risk of losing face immediately. Same with the energy bill subsidy that was only vaguely effective.
WackyTicTacCasualty
Yup - energy, water & comms shouldn't be in the hands of potential scalpers.
Rigenfork
Come to spain, we have yars with them...
Gibleteousjack
Wife works in gas and I work in logistics. They have prices capped in the states while trucking was deregulated in the 80s. Deregulation put most companies out of business in short order and the survivors make record profits almost every quarter.
ProppaGanda
Also: potential enemies of the state. Chinese capital can quite easily find its way into what is security-critical infrastructure.
Serenitis
B..b...but it's working as intended! Transferring money from the public to already wealthy individuals is inherently good for everyone, and furthermore it *wet farting noises*
KingXizor
Unclescam
I was taught that the whole God damn point of letting these essence services be monopolies was the consolidation of infrastructure led to lower prices. This was, like, 7th grade people.
Unclescam
Essential* services....I swear I proofread, I am just very bad at it.
datester35
How is this different from supply and demand?
Voidhawk42
Because the objective of vital services existing, is to provide the service to those who need it. No society needs to tolerate rampant profiteering, why should they? Capitalists have just tricked you into think them being allowed to enslave you is freedom. They got you to fall in love with your chains.
WackyTicTacCasualty
I laugh when UK water companies tell us they need to charge us more to pay for the leaks to be fixed caused by lack of investment due to shareholders being paid dividends instead.
jollyjack
And its water suppliers..... and it's rail network..... f**king Tories sold them all.
BelicoseBravado
Of course they did... Conservatives hate responsibility but love money
Higure
Right wing politicies like privatisation and tax cuts on the rich never seem to actually make the world better.
jinbee
And the electricity companies, and British Telecom, and the post office, and prisons... and they've had their piggy little eyes on the NHS since forever too, hence constantly running it into the ground so they can outsource it to their mates.
brainfreez3
Just take them back.
Higure
That's gonna cost, like, ten times more than they made selling the thing. And it's gonna be in piecemeal.
Voidhawk42
Wrong - The Crown has an army, so they get to set whatever price they like. I nominate £0, with additional penalties for decades of rampant profiteering. [I'd prefer torturous execution and displaying their heads in front of the Bank of England for a century, but am willing to negotiate down to asset confiscation and life in prison.]
Higure
Yeah, you do that, and see how long the country stays stable. That's the fast track to either revolution or dystopian control state. Ownership and the fact that it's protected from government seizure (or at least that it should be) is fundamental to a modern society.
Simonator
I agree. Whilst i don't like the profiteering either, an armed insurrection seems... risky.