Thursday, February 19, 2015

Energy challenges and University of Shed

Yesterday evening I was due to present on behalf of the Hammersmith and Fulham CAB on Energy Best Deal.
Well if it's too cold burn the leaflets 

The effects of dropping energy prices (albeit in nature far slower and less dramatic than their recent rises), increased employment and a slight decrease in overall indebtedness means that there is less of an imperative in addressing the burden of fuel costs, this in turn has meant there's less interest amongst customers to seek out the better deals and reduce energy consumption (but it's still worth researching and perhaps changing supplier).

Today Centrica (the company behind British Gas) announced falling profits and the rest of the big six are probably in a similar positions

But in all likelihood long term energy prices will continue to rise and  sadly those in fuel poverty (often the old and the vulnerable) will suffer increasingly from escalating costs of supply along with likely 'green taxes' - these are the people least well equipped to make a switch and to exploit the best deals .

Labour's leader Ed Miliband has rightly put the energy giants on notice that should he become the UK's Prime-minister he'll be expecting a fairer deal for customers and a greater degree of transparency - The Conservatives would presumably rely on the idea of switching (which tends to create an unnecessary industry of  so-called comparison sites who charge around £64 per transfer of supplier) -Goodness knows what  angle  the wired and wonderful Nigel  Farage's UKIP would take.
  
The advice from the  CAB/OFGEM  Energy Best Deal is to generally reduce (if you can) energy consumption, get help where it's available (in paying bills and in insulation grants for example) and get the best deal you can.

University of Shed


Talking (or writing anyway) of imperatives, when looking for some information around Immanuel Kant's Categorical imperative I came across a rather good video from University of Shed - great name for an institution but one I've not found much out about as yet.
Here's their logo anyway: 
University of shed &  The shed


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