Wholesale energy prices are skyrocketing due to supply not keeping up with demand. Gazprom has choked gas supplies to Europe by 80% and that creates even more demand for gas on the wholesale market. It’s a supply and demand issue and it’s not going away anytime soon. In the UK, we have an energy price cap which was meant to protect consumers from price increases, but which is now protecting companies from losing money selling energy at cheaper unit prices than they can purchase it for. It’s a mess, but it’s a consequence of Net Zero policies which have forced fossil fuel energy companies to reduce outputs. The UK has built 11,000 wind turbines, but needs at least eight times that number to have any chance of achieving Net Zero targets in 2050, which is only 10,000 days away.
The energy price cap wil increase by 86% in October from £1,971 to £3,582 which will see a KWh of electricity cost 50p and a KWh of gas cost 12p. That’s a big increase and now a price “freeze” has been proposed by Labour, The Green Party, and the energy suppliers. However, any price freeze will just dump more debt onto the taxpayer and won’t solve the wholesale supply problems. In fact, because wealthy people use more energy (they have bigger homes, own multiple properties, and some, like Rishi Sunak, have swimming pools), it is they who will benefit the most from any plan which freezes the price of energy at current levels. The fact is, 29p per KWh for electricity and 7p per KWh for gas is already too expensive for most people on fixed incomes, so the best solution is to target the poorest via the benefits system, help workers by lowering tax and settling pay rise demands and give the millionaires NOTHING. Why the hell should the taxpayer subsidise them?