Why the UK Needs Lower Energy Prices

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In this video, we’re going to have a look at the UK’s energy prices, why they’re so high, and ultimately, what needs to happen in order to bring them down.
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[@potatonator343]

Why is no one commenting on how crazy marginal cost pricing is? Use 99% wind, 1% gas and you end up paying the same as using 100% gas?!? Who the hell came up with that?

[@Talisguy]

It's what happens when energy companies own the grid and can cut off the country's power if they don't agree to price increases. Which is an even bigger "who the hell came up with that?!?" (Thatcher. Of course.)

[@David_Box]

Nobody "came up" with that. This is the natural result of any market with a single price. Suppliers will all sell where supply and demand meet, regardless of how much it personally costs them. Perhaps some could argue there are better ways of doing it, but as it is, this is not unique to electricity.

[@Talisguy]

​@David_Box We know who came up with that. It was introduced as the energy market was privatised under Thatcher. So, yes, someone did "come up with it."

[@MarkHewitt1978]

Nobody? When it is what this video is about.

[@David_Box]

@@Talisguy What Thatcher did wasn't change it from a free market where the grid bought from suppliers at different prices to the marginal cost system. The way it was before was that it was nationalised, so if you're arguing for that sure, but there is no way to have a free market system without marginal cost pricing.

[@Bowerhill]

This system is bloody mad. I can now see why we have the most expensive electricity in the world.

[@TryingThink]

They actually did not explain at all why prices are higher. They explained the result, not the cause which is the UK ETS cap - and since then (2021) the prices went up as said in this misleading video. But you are right, the system is broken.

[@Burty117]

@@TryingThink Why is the whole of Europe paying less than us? Why would the EU ETS cap affect us? We're no longer a part of Europe? How is this video misleading? It expains the current system, it doesn't point any fingers, it doesn't explain how we got here, it just explains how the system currently works, please explain what's misleading about that.

[@TryingThink]

@ you are right with the EU ETS, I will edit that. However, UK has its own ETS which is I believe similar to the EU ones. In my opinion this video misleading the public that the problem is ‘only’ the Marginal cost where all prices for electricity generated from renewable sources end up close to the electricity produced from GAS. Marginal cost is a problem, but there is also the ETS that put additional costs on generating energy. They even tighten it up recently in November. So if generators must pay more for making energy, they put high price on electricity, then the rest of prices adjust to electricity prices produced from gas. I don’t like that they completely omit the regulatory fact that impacts non renewable electricity prices. This makes an illusion that it can’t be fix quickly, but imagine reducing the ETS. This would most likely reduce cost for generating electricity therefore customers electricity prices. This could be a middle ground between transition from non-renewable sources to green energy so that people don’t have to struggle so much.

[@AppleAirsoft]

Every single UK problem: Oligarchs or Oligarch media.

[@lokensicarius9347]

Aka Thatcher

[@gyutae31]

That video is ridiculous propaganda. It’s not gas companies that are profiting, but rather wind energy scammers who are siphoning off hundreds of billions of dollars. Wind energy is not free-it requires astronomical maintenance costs. When wind turbines generate power, they all run at the same time, overwhelming the grid and crashing electricity prices. But when power is actually needed, the wind doesn’t blow, all the turbines stop, and expensive gas has to be burned instead. Since all power plants suddenly shut down, gas prices spike to over 100 times their usual levels. This means that less gas is bought at much higher prices, while billions of dollars are wasted on wind farm maintenance. On top of that, wind power cannot generate its own revenue because, as explained earlier, it can’t sell electricity at stable prices. The British taxpayer has to keep funding this Ponzi scheme. That’s why wind power plants receive the same high prices as gas during energy crises. British citizens are paying the same high gas prices while also covering the useless construction costs of wind farms, leading to skyrocketing energy prices.😅

[@Zenkrypt]

​@@gyutae31Octopus energy has asked to get rid of marginal pricing before. It benefits both gas and green, because without it, gas wouldn't make much profit.

[@trickslies844]

@@gyutae31 This is just nonsense. The maintenance costs are covered by its revenue, pretending they can't sell there power while they are making record profits is just dumb. Production costs are not the same as price. The UK provides far more financial support to the fossil fuel industry. UK gas power prices have also not risen as a result of renewable energy, if anything its helped keep the total cost down by reducing consumption. Gas prices are set at the global level, Uk consumption makes no real difference to it. And it was the conservatives that decided to get rid of the UK's gas reserves, that has nothing to. Switching away from renewables would not lower the overall gas price it would just lower the profit margin for energy companies. Constructing windfarms and solarpanels has a far lower ROI then Gas, Coal or Nuclear power even without subsidies.

[@RODRIGOSOTOALVAREZ]

Oligarch that descend of the concentration of markets in big players (goverment, corporations able to survive the regulation climate) thanks to attlee regulations that destroy competitiveness between companies and regions; and then this oligarch were stablish by tatcher by his extreme privatizations and bad guided deregulations.

[@Talisguy]

There is one other major factor - the energy sector is so privatised that the _grid_ is also in private hands, meaning energy companies are free to fleece the country. Not even the US did that - most of its distribution infrastructure is government-owned.

[@serebii666]

"Not even the US did that" Avert your eyes from Texas, because their grid is indeed privatized

[@Talisguy]

​@@serebii666 I did say "most of."

[@inbb510]

It wouldn't make hell of a difference if it is nationalised or not.

[@Talisguy]

​@@inbb510 Making it less easy for energy companies to basically hold the country's power hostage if it doesn't accept a massive price rise sounds like a good idea to me.

[@username-s2q7x]

I do not trust the government for them to own it 😂

[@Bagpipebrad]

7:05 oh no, we could never do something like that. Annoy a large group of colluding companies who are rinsing the public!

[@SaintGerbilUK]

What evidence do you have that they collude? All of the evidence in the video shows the opposite.

[@JJN15]

My thoughts exactly! F**k em! Most aren’t real businesses anyway. They are government-backed regional monopolies

[@Angela-n7x2x]

Its not just consumers, businesses are impacted too. We need to stop the price gouging

[@Lyonide]

Had a monthly energy bill of £250 this month. That's with me keeping the house at 18c only at night/in the morning.

[@smellypunks]

I would suggest checking how much loft insulation you have. If not much go to B&Q and get some loft roles (200mm is good). Then roll it out. I did this and it cost about £130(ish). I think the house is warmer now. Also consider a thick curtain over front door. We did this it cost £40 and our hall is much warmer now.

[@Lyonide]

@smellypunks unfortunately the house has a loft conversion and there's around 40mm EPS and that's about all the room there is.

[@smellypunks]

@@Lyonide Well the cheap option is out the window then! But that 40mm EPS could be replace with phenolic foam which more performant. If there is only space for 40mm between the rafters you could overboard with another 25mm of phenolic followed by plasterboard. 65mm of phenolic would be MUCH better but it is going to a cost bit. Anther thing to look at is the walls as if they are solid they will loose a lot of heat. But it can be expensive to insulate the walls but it makes a BIG difference. Another cheapish option is updating the double glazing panels. If the double glazing is say 20 to 30 years old then the frame might be ok and you can just change the glass which costs about £40 per panel. If your windows are older than 30 years you might want new frames and all which is expensive. You might be best borrowing a thermal imaging camera (ideally with someone who knows how to use it). Those images will help you decide where best to spend your money.

[@aliensliveinme]

Yep, similar here only scottish power in their infinite wisdom decided I should be billed on the 15th of December, 9th of January and then again on the 30th of January... Apparently they think "tough" is an acceptable response to me questioning why they've done that when I'm supposed to be on a 28 day billing cycle and exactly how they think I'm going to find money to pay 3 £150-£175 bills out of only 2 paydays.

[@seanthe100]

Wild! More than my electric bill in the US with the AC on blast

[@Clone683]

Pre 2021 I was paying £60/month for my energy bills. Dont think we're ever gonna see bills go that low again now companies have seen how much they can charge

[@julianshepherd2038]

Publicly owned corporations are legally obliged to maximise sending profits to their shareholders. They all charge as much as they can. Small businesses are expected to be reasonable.

[@SnorriTheLlama]

As they mention, it should be in theory kind of circular because of the contracts for difference mechanism. I don’t know what is missing here though in the equation. Maybe you should be able to claim the CFD rebate from the government. As currently they are benefiting at the expense of the consumer if they are regularly being paid by the energy companies due to the higher price. But they probably want to keep that going into our budget, around of which 50% goes on health, social care and pensions.

[@Waterhouse1666]

Yup we do nothing. A nation of peasants but even peasants would occasionally revolt. We are so pathetic

[@MrL702]

Maybe sanctioning one of the words biggest natural gas exporters wasn't well thought out 🤔

[@Samtreee]

Same, now me and misses pay nearly double for the same house, same usage.

[@jeroenimus7528]

One of the worst things about the current system is that we regularly need to pay for wind turbines in Scotland to be shut down even though there's wind while simultaneously paying through the nose for gas fired top up generation in the Southwest. And instead of incentivising energy intensive commercial use to locate close to where there's an abundance in cheap energy we're doing the exact opposite, exacerbating the problem.

[@placeholdername0000]

This is why the UK should split up their electricity price zone into multiple zones. If Scotland had a different price than England, then Scotland would get cheaper prices if they're generating enough for themselves.

[@alphamikeomega5728]

As I recall, part of Labour's manifesto was to change electricity pricing so that it would consider where the electricity was generated, giving providers an incentive to place power stations nearer where demand is.

[@distinctdipole]

End the greedflation. Bills go up very quickly; bills rarely come down and only slowly. Outright ban on profit from publicly essential services: water, sewage, gas, electricity, public transport. Profit has ruined these services, fragmented provision, introduced costs including profits between elements of the whole network.

[@lukecollins4130]

misinfomation

[@SaintGerbilUK]

If they cannot profit from the business what incentivises reducing costs, investment in infrastructure, etc. They can just charge what they want because there is no driver to curb costs.

[@TheWebstaff]

@@SaintGerbilUK They have never done this though. They just load up with debt and pay shareholders. Then come begging for public money when it all goes to shit.

[@SaintGerbilUK]

@@TheWebstaff I guess you didn't hear about Virgin trains investing in trains after the failure of British rail. The first pendulino train running in the UK was thanks to private investment. The solution is that the government should stop bailing them out, they should force a sale to cover their debts and then sell it to a better company.

[@chudchadanstud]

*greenflation

[@NexusGamingRadical]

We are through the worst? That is news to me.

[@SkintLivingUK]

Yep, if we are through the worst why are prices still going up - price gouging again?

[@jamiejones7730]

Shhhhh they will hear you 😂

[@Johnjohnson2695]

Because, while things are still going up, they're going up much more slowly than they were during 2021-24

[@SubjectiveFunny]

Dont blame Labour, its not their fault.

[@SaintGerbilUK]

@@SkintLivingUK What evidence do you have that gouging is happening?

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

I mean, any country that wants to progress or develop needs lower utility bills...

[@SkintLivingUK]

We have the highest prices in Europe!!!! Why do we have regional prices in energy? Why does London have the lowest standing charges in the UK? LONDON GETS EVERYTHING! SO SICK OF EVERYTHING BEING ABOUT LONDON!!!! The rest of the country is left to fend for itself, no wonder councils are bankrupt. I got so fed up with high bills I turned my boiler off at the end of October, its still off. I'm hoping to downsize this year the first thing I am going to do is get the gas meter removed - standing charges are a rip off - money for old rope, literally!!!!!

[@davidmcculloch8490]

Apparently they are going, or you will have the option to pay at a different rate with no standing charge.

[@jokersauce5100]

As someone living in London, I wholeheartedly agree with you. It seems counterintuitive, but a more decentralised UK would benefit Londoners as well, at least in some respects.

[@Zenkrypt]

​@@jokersauce5100 it would stop the massive amounts of urban sprawl London has

[@Yabyaba]

They say that Great Britain is a 3rd world country that carried by London.

[@ddunfuh9239]

What do you mean by UK, its just London with a somewhat nice 2nd world country stapled on

[@ronansmith8381]

When you have the CEO of octopus energy calling for the scrapping of marginal pricing and saying cheapest leccy in Europe for Scotland you know it must be bad, a CEO calling for less profits for his sector?

[@Bozebo]

I literally stare at oil&g rigs and windmills from my window but have the highest electricity cost on the planet xD

[@sykessaul123]

Probably because they're one of the better energy suppliers who try to always go for greener sources of energy. If they were able to go fully green, buy their units for less and charge less than the mandated price; they'd likely be able to 'Aldi/Lidl' the market and get much more market share than competitors, resulting in higher profits compared to their peers. Realistically this price cap helps generators of the power, not suppliers.

[@galivantesproductions4048]

I've racked up £350 in 4 months extra and I don't turn my heating on and do everything on economy 7 it's insane. it's the standing charges going up to

[@HeliumFreak]

Apparently we built all these wind farms to get cheaper power. Yet the bills keep going up. Oh and by the way, i have worked in wind for 8 years. A new wind farm will recoup all money used in construction within 5-7years. Wind farms have a minimum life span of 25 years and often get extended in 7 year blocks. Besides maintenance costs that's quite a nice return on investment having decades of profit. We are being ripped off.

[@RootiferasRetroGameplay]

I guess wind farms produce cheaper power, so they can make larger profits. Amazing

[@Destructocorps]

Conspiracy theorists are ironically justifying the prices by going on and on about how wind turbines are actually the most expensive sbd never earn it back

[@alphamikeomega5728]

Is this onshore or offshore? Offshore wind has almost always required subsidies, while onshore wind is extremely cheap but its construction was banned by the Conservatives.

[@SniffleSneeze]

Can you talk about the Water bill that are going up by 48% in some area of UK in 1st of April, I would love to understand how come is that a thing on top of the energy pricing ... some ppl are just gonna start showering with Fiji water soon ....

[@shae1539]

I’m 26 and in 2021 I had my gas on most of the winter. Since then I very rarely put the gas on and I still f get hit with massive fees cos of standing charges. Why is nationalisation not being discussed? How can a company be private when we are compelled to use their services. Profiteering off our suffering is a national disgrace

[@danguee1]

We should nationalise the supermarkets, too. It's scandalous that we're forced to buy food

[@danguee1]

And we should nationalise the rental sector, too. I have to have somewhere to live, right? In fact, let's nationalise everything. It's called socialism.

[@fsblninjx3604]

@@danguee1 yeah because you can buy infrastructure like you can buy peanuts at the shop. imagine comparing providing electricity to selling food. I can grow and make my own food without spending thousands buying solar panels and mini wind turbines. what a moron. also have you heard of council houses? that's basically nationalised rentals. I guess you don't live in the UK, so you are blathering about nonsense. Also whats wrong with socialism? its all about balancing public and private sector contributions. Look at europeans countries that are socialist in nature.

[@SlothWindGod]

​@@danguee1Wait til this guy finds out about council housing, and how most people cant afford a house now unlike before

[@shae1539]

@@danguee1 people should have the right to rent out property they own but we should have so much more council houses and shouldn’t have ‘housing associations’

[@Prod_Kaddo]

Privatisation always means that regular people get the short end of the stick, therefore utilities should be publicly owned. We cannot allow a profit motive to exist for something as essential as energy or water.

[@SaintGerbilUK]

Public ownership always means that regular people get the short end of the stick, therefore utilities should be privately owned. We cannot allow lack of government investment to exist for something as essential as energy or water!

[@JackChurchill101]

Very clever, but maybe foreign billionaires shouldn't be profiting off of utilities we all need for basic living. Governments are not always the most efficient, but they do always pump any penny made back into the economy. Not off shoring it to a tax haven to buy another boat.

[@jod125]

Lack of goverment investment can be resolved by pressuring the goverment to increase investment. Private companies arent beholen to the public in the same way, and can easily and legally fleece the entire company like they have with Thames water, while asking for more money. The two are not equal. Government purpose is intended (when functional) to ensure things work, where as private companies sole purpose is to acquire profit by any means

[@SaintGerbilUK]

@ Maybe you should see how many gifts our MP's are getting, and realise that they leave office far wealthier than when they arrived.

[@SaintGerbilUK]

@ I guess you dont know the story of British Rail or the NHS? You also have to explain why government is so disfunctional?

[@Blondul11]

There's also the issue of the UK houses being badly insulated. Insulation is the first thing I did when I bought my house. In January 2025 I paid £78 on gas, with me keeping 21 to 22 degrees in the house. And this is with me working from home, and not going anywhere in January.

[@seth_sesu]

Consuming 1L of gas to heat a home => ~80% efficient incl. losses from transport. Consuming natural gas at a power planet to power heat pumps => ~ 300% efficient. It’s time to use energy resources smart by electrifying buildings.

[@Nachtwandler100]

BS: 220 % are a more real figure.

[@alphamikeomega5728]

Yeah, you're only going to get 60% efficiency at a CCGT power station. If your heat pump has a COP of 4, that gives you about 240% "efficiency" versus the 95% efficiency you get from a modern gas boiler. Still, for most people, insulation is the way to go. A perfectly insulated house (if it were possible) would need essentially no power for heat.

[@Nachtwandler100]

Germany also has high electricity prices. Unlike the UK, many energy companies are quasi-state-owned. But we use the same system to set prices. The German system is not backed by the Conservatives, but by the (more left-wing) Greens. I don't think the privatization of the UK energy sector has anything to do with the high prices.

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

Yes it's a quite common and normal system to set prices. It gives more profit to the cheaper producers so all the investors should scramble to build more because they're so profitable.

[@davidmcculloch8490]

If the regulator models profits at 1.9% and real profits are far above that, time to cap profits or tax the hell out of the providers. The market is broken. We need public ownership of essential services.

[@davidwebb4904]

The Great British Tidal Lagoon power station, would produce 7 times the power of Hinckley C, and the same cost to build. 100% Clean Green energy. Ready to build.

[@normanchristie4524]

Tidal power has been advocated for the last forty years, I remember discussing this at university. Tidal power was a lot more of an engineering conundrum with heavy upfront development risks. They have to be remote. The biggest problem is power transmission to where it is needed, we urgently need a new national grid system.

[@pink0ponk]

...source? Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay: 320 MW (proposed idea) Hinkley Point C: 3,200 MW 320MW < 3200MW

[@davidmcculloch8490]

I keep hearing the excuse that tidal power is too expensive to build. Hardly an excuse when we factor in the environment and the fact that the tide is constantly working.

[@davidwebb4904]

@ Exactly. Which to me, just stinks of political corruption. Decision makers being paid off by Big Oil.

[@davidwebb4904]

@@pink0ponk Swansea is a literal drop in the bucket. I have a very educational graphic I wish I would be able to share on here. The current worlds largest is Sihwa Lake, South Korea at 254 MW/552GWH. The GBTL comes in at 89 times as large as Sihwa Lake, and 22.6 GW/26 TWH. The engineering is big, but simple. And it could turn the UK from being a net importer, to being a huge exporter of electricity. To Germany and Poland who are huge coal burners. Looking for a budget for the seabed surveys….

[@Ikiguyy]

The issue is also that the UK used "marginal pricing" for electricity, which means independent of where your energy is coming from (cheaper renewable alternatives or more expensive gas-fired power plants). The consumer would have to pay the highest rate regardless of where your energy is coming from.

[@DrBoss873]

Not as big an issue as everyone plays it out to be. Marginal pricing means that plants don't price excessively when they think they can earn more. It basically means you reduce volatility (and actually make it harder to be greedy). There's also a false perception that renewables are "cheaper" than gas. Not actually true when you factor in the amount the taxpayer contributes to their operation, the grid infrastructure upgrades required and the cost needed to cover renewables when they run low. Its all far more grey than its perceived

[@Ikiguyy]

@DrBoss873 Yeah, I agree with your sentiments

[@WhichDoctor1]

@@DrBoss873 "The UK government has given £20bn more in support to fossil fuel producers than those of renewables since 2015, the Guardian can reveal. The research, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, found that while renewable energy was given £60bn in support over that time, fossil fuel companies were given close to £80bn" ~the guardian 2023 It's not a matter of us subsidising green energy so it's cheaper. Fossil fuels are subsidised just as much if not more, and yet green energy is still cheaper. If we cut all subsidies to both then green energy would still outcompete the dirty energy

[@staticgrass]

This is a feature of the European energy market.

[@inbb510]

@@DrBoss873 , I think many people don't really understand this which has caused this false hope that just "nationalising energy companies" would bring prices shooting down.

[@Dan-lk6ou]

Its also mad prices in ireland here, myself and others set up our own solar pannels and batteries. Just enough for water pump, fridge. And you can use the washing machine at the local shop.

[@jameswatt7249]

Hello from Australia. We are a energy super power with extremely high energy prices.

[@SkintLivingUK]

Everyone, Everywhere is being gouged for every penny!

[@MarkHewitt1978]

Your average seems to be 35c which is 17p, which is significantly cheaper than the UK

[@technomad-361]

thats due to the uk flag on your flag ;)

[@chudchadanstud]

you have higher salaries and cheaper energy, don't lie to us

[@technomad-361]

@@chudchadanstud compared to who?

[@jespermadsen8528]

If GB houses wasn't so badly insulated compared to Germany or Scandinavia they would be a lot cheaper to heat.

[@mrw1783]

I've spent a lot of money insulating my house, and it's made a difference to my bills.

[@glyngreen538]

Really need to have regional pricing to bring costs down (as argued for by Octopus Energy CEO and others). Plus separating the cost of cheap renewables from expensive gas, to bring the prices down for everyone. The current system no longer works for the good of the public and unnecessarily high energy costs hurt our economy.

[@PomuLeafEveryday]

Any market that doesn't have real competition (consumers can't easily choose between options) should not exist, especially such a vital utility. Electricity should be nationalised.

[@SkintLivingUK]

Yep, its like the water companies they are monopolies

[@Adam-wf6xz]

Nationalizing also excludes competition and is effectively the same as a monopoly,. Just look at the NHS. There should always be a mechanism in place to incentivize efficiency & lowering prices that is self balancing. And so far only the competition of the free market can ensure this. Not saying there is no place for the government intervention or regulation but anything managed by the government is notoriously inefficient. You may not notice it in the monthly bills, but in the end you'll be paying for it some other way, if not through inflation.

[@PomuLeafEveryday]

@@Adam-wf6xz We say that, but then look at the American healthcare as an example. It is completely unaffordable and insurance is a scam. They do the same as water in splitting up the country into insurance zones to ensure monopoly in those zones. And even without the insurance system, wouldn't you only go to the nearest hospital? It is impractical to go to a hospital further away, so just the location of a hospital creates a monopoly zone. We will never get real competition when companies know that we rely on these things and are unable to leave as customers. A real competitive market requires multiple providers we can easily switch between. The only answer ends up being to heavily regulate as utilities and necessities can be easily abused. We just need more systems that hold our government more accountable for their failures. That or we go back to encouraging small business healthcare in the form of doctors running their own small clinics.

[@SubjectiveFunny]

Oh yes, because our government runs so well, right? How many of our councils are going bankrupt again? The issue is corruption, and the only reason it is allowed is because of the government. And now you want to put the government in charge of all utilities. Seems smart, real smart..

[@Adam-wf6xz]

​@@PomuLeafEveryday I agree that the American healthcare system doesn't work, but this something far more complex situation than just insurance companies being a scam. Its mostly due to corrupt policy making in the US, as big pharma & politicians work hand in hand to line their own pockets. Nationalizing would not fix this, creating more regulation & accountability in government would. But then you have the problem of government & politicians holding themself accountable, which is like having a auditor audit himself...

[@DrThalnos]

Also can somebody explain to me why "green levies" are almost triple on electricity than on gas(16% vs 6% price respectively), we want to be reducing our dependence on gas but we increase the price of electricity to pay for renewables that makes no sense, we should be taxing gas so we do not have stranded assets that are in gas ! "This disparity contributes to electricity being much more expensive than gas, and essentially acts as a tax on low-carbon energy (opposite to a carbon tax) now that the UK has much cleaner electricity (due to the elimination of coal-burning power stations and the continuing increase in renewable energy)."

[@SaintGerbilUK]

I noticed that it was barely explained in the video that "green levies" are a large reason why fossil fuel power plants cost so much.

[@glyngreen538]

It’s a hold over from when electricity was mostly generated by coal and of the two gas seemed better for the environment, so green levies were added to electricity costs to encourage people to use more gas of the two. Since electricity has becomes much greener so the green levies are there wrong way around. There is talk of swapping the levy to the gas costs instead, aiming to keep average overall bill costs the same but to incentivise more transition to electricity and renewables. See what Ed Milliband decides to do in time I guess.

[@matthewsarson6934]

It's way past time for the government to step in and force prices to go down, we have been price gouged to all hell by the energy companies.

[@alexkoppers7882]

The problem is privatization. Tom Nikolas had a great video about this.

[@Megan-ii4gf]

I wouldn't say we're "through the worst of the cost of living crisis", we just bottomed out - things are still more expensive than they've ever been.

[@weeksy79]

Energy prices are only high for low/middle earners. If you’re a high earner with an EV on company lease, and can spend your annual bonus on battery/solar, the rates are fantastic. I’ve just started looking into it after buying our first EV and it’s mind blowing. Remember when pay as you go tariffs cost more than direct debit? It’s like that on steroids.

[@Lawrence4000-s3k]

Very true. I always remember some guy telling me how much he saved with his electric car - he had a driveway and the government subsidised his car purchase, waived road tax, and he avoided fuel duty. The poor mugs in the pavement-fronted terraces worth a fraction had to pay instead! It's greening the country on the backs of the poor.

[@willemvanriet7160]

This is such an obvious scam. It's like a regular grocery store charging the same prices as Harrods! Just becoz....

[@samyoung17a]

While some power markets in the UK clear at the marginal price, the balancing mechanism is actually pay as bid, so thats not why it's expensive. The issue is that NESO is dependent on only a few gas plants when it's not windy so its getting fleeced by the owners of those peakers

[@EthanG298]

They're just never going to go down are they. I'm 26 and since I've been alive prices have always been up up up, you never hear about something that has gotten cheaper. Meanwhile, wages stay the same

[@tkidd250]

I still remember when they announced they were gonna run out of gas at the start of the new year crazy

[@smellypunks]

One thing the gov could do at the stroke of a pen is to reduce VAT on insulation materials in doing so help to modernise the old draft housing stock.

[@EvilPikachu]

I work full time for an energy company and even I'm struggling to afford my electric bill. Which is especially disgusting since I'm an Electric type, I should never have this problem.

[@TyrooShino]

Marginal cost pricing is a scam. Fact. There is 0 circumstance to have this other than yanking money from the common man. Energy should ALWAYS be nationalised. ALWAYS.

[@petteriraty]

It works great here in Finland. We have one of the lowest prices in Europe. The problem is bit marginal cost pricing but heavy reliance on expensive fossil fuels. I Finland our grid is fairly green so we pay the lower marginal cost of other forms of production (like nuclear).

[@pureplay7071]

So you do a video outlining why our Energy prices are so high and yet fail to point out things like the green levy, VAT and Ofcom allowing Energy companies to be paid for taking failed energy companies customers and the fact they put extra on our bills to cover the costs of people that don't pay theirs. Not really a balanced view when you miss half the costings.

[@codeforme8860]

I'm glad to see more coverage of this issue. I wrote to my MP about this two weeks ago. I encourage others to do the same. We could pull millions out of energy poverty

[@miguelbaca8086]

Marginal cost pricing is fantastic for renewable energy companies since they likely bid lower prices and end up selling at above even what they asked for. Marginal cost pricing will stop being a problem when the most expensive energy being contracted ends up being a cheaper source of energy, which just happens when renewable production can supply the full energy the grid needs

[@ilia2178]

US tech companies are planning to build their own reactors in order to keep the costs low. Meanwhile Starmer is planning to build a supercomputer to boost our economy. In the country with highest electricity costs. How is that going to make our super computing and datacentres anywhere near competitive on the global market?

[@adi6293]

I pay £250 a month for electricity but on average i use £180 during summer and £380 during winter so it all evens out through the year, no gas in my flat

[@seanthe100]

More than a four bedroom single family home in the US with the AC on blast year round

[@adi6293]

@seanthe100 I live in a shitty high flat w 2 bedrooms, even rent it getting quite expensive for what it is at £420 a month plus another £100 ish for council tax with rent to go up 8 - 9% in April 😅😅

[@adambartlett6277]

This is such a good video. I wish more people in this country would realise how the energy system works

[@joegaffney8006]

It's essential for business growth. The key points need tackling are energy costs, cost of living and housing costs.

[@Captn_Slow]

Water bill is going up by 50% from this Feb. Energy bill going up. Council tax going up. Train, tube and bus fare going up. Food prices going up. Basically every essentials are becoming much more expensive. Looks like the “leveling up” is true to some extent.

[@oliverqueen5883]

How do we allow them to make dozens of billions in profits when it’s so ridiculously expensive

[@DavidJohnson-dc8lu]

I remember when I was a kid and people struggled to heat their homes, I just think high energy costs are apart of British life, nothing has changed and it will never get any better, you just have to move out of the country or get on with it. 85% of the year it is cold and grey.

[@user-os1in7kt5j]

Price capping is your problem. Price is always supply vs. demand. To decrease prices you need more supply. Whats worse is Any kind of price cap will limit supply/investment. Its that simple

[@ajsuk0]

Even if we get off gas, my concern is what’s stopping the next most dominant source from profiteering same as fossil fuel generators do now? We either need guaranteed affordable rates or publicly owned infrastructure.

[@GeekfromYorkshire]

The issue is electrical generation capacity, it has to build to handle the peak and pay for that time when it's not being used in rate charged when used. The way you lower your energy cost is move consumption to off-peak period when prices are between free and a quarter of peak prices. That requires a large home battery. If you also have solar then outside of winter you only buy electricity when it's cheap overnight, and in summer you sell spare excess when prices are highest. Only issue is that costs around £30K which takes ~ 10 years to pay for.

[@SaintGerbilUK]

The problem is that wind and other renewables are not reliable and can produce lots to no electricity, the only reliable green options are nuclear, geothermal and hydrodams with very large bodies of water. The UK doesn't have either of the latter two, and is very bad at making the former. We are good at wasting money on unreliable sources though.

[@jeremymanson1781]

Fortunately, large energy storage is at last beginning to come online in the UK.

[@SaintGerbilUK]

@jeremymanson1781 what energy storage project is happening?

[@inbb510]

@@jeremymanson1781 not really. They are nowhere sufficient to store electricity that lasts on the order of days, let alone weeks.

[@jeremymanson1781]

@inbb510 LDES systems do exist.

[@jeremymanson1781]

@SaintGerbilUK Ramping up storage is part of CPAP (Clean Power 2030 Action Plan). And it does look like it will need to be more ambitious.

[@williamlathan6932]

California did that around 2000. The characters were Enron, Governor Gray Davis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. There were rolling blackouts on national daily, and then the CEO and CFO went to jail. Profiters wrote the rules.😢

[@technomad-361]

prices will never fall with the system as it is

[@kefhomepage]

Every government has failed to make energy security a priority. It’s as simple as that .

[@nickn.332]

Here in Ontario our gridmix has a similar 28% Natural gas burden, with the rest being mainly Nuclear (33%) and Hydro (24%) and wind (13%) in 2024. Our gas is cheaper to be sure, but to put it in perspective, I have personally seen industrial rates as low as $0.09CAD/kWh and domestic range from $0.158c to $0.076c depending on time of day. While I know our energy is cheaper than average - hell the chinese industrial cost is enforced nationwide at $0.07USD/kWh - I see a lot of british DIY youtubers and it always blew my mind when I'd hear Brits online talk about the operating cost with a straight face. My experience industrially is that unless it's a multi-kW motor or thermal elements the cost of power is usually dwarfed by maintenence hours and CapEx, so for better or worse it's generally an afterthought. In essence, my point is, you're getting rinsed, this should change fast if people want to push electrification.

[@drewswallow6043]

Marginal pricing might be the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard in my life

[@nrm224]

Until you’ve had to foot the bill for building, operating and maintaining power generation facilities, maybe.

[@davidpedrotaylor4947]

UK gas fired electricity is expensive because UK gas is expensive because domestic gas production is small. Drill baby drill, and frac baby frac, gets you low gas prices and low electricity prices. The UK made the choice to transition away from cheap gas, high energy cost is the logical result. You should have pointed this out.

[@Pegaroo_]

The trouble with nuclear is that it isn't as responsive as gas. Gas generators can be turned on or off in an instant but nuclear plants need to plan for whatever level of demand they output. We need energy storage like pumped hydro or virtual power plants (colective home users battery systems) to replace the need for gas not base load energy like nuclear

[@j2w1_lub]

why haven't we got a price cap for car insurance

[@chudchadanstud]

Because the rich will benefit.

[@oliverqueen5883]

Surely we just forcibly buy back the grid and then reduce prices massively

[@tassko]

I remember reading about most of the profits being distributed within the energy sector supply chain. Shell, BP and suppliers of LNG. Then the power stations. However we can’t and should not nationalise the non-renewable companies. We just need to eliminate marginal cost pricing and continue to invest in renewables.

[@Stuboi0]

Because 10 years ago we refused to pay a months worth of NHS spending to fund enough Nuclear Power Plants to make the UK energy independent. Instead, we were stuffed with gas...

[@robba1234]

We still after decades are choice less in the UK, a perfect example is calor gas, 15kg bottle £50-60 but a refillable bottle same amount £20. But the cartel (and I include successive governments) of energy suppliers have zero reason to compete

[@DavidJohnson-dc8lu]

The more my energy bill goes up the less I use, EDF does this strange massive spike in price on a Sunday. Currently I no longer use heaters at night, electric blankets only. Heaters can only be on for 1-2 hours in the morning and at night, but if it gets to the point where I can only turn on the hot water for hour per day I will do it. Sometimes if it is cold, and I am in the living room, it will be a furry blanket and a hot water bottle. LOL

[@gbjbaanb]

The problem with the "cost of gas is the problem" is that I can buy gas *at retail* for 6p. It doesn't make sense then that the price of gas means electricity is heading to 30p. Of course, before we went renewables crazy, like for decades up until about 2008, the price of electricity was consistently 5p.

[@-M_M_M-]

The best price control mechanism is competition not price caps

[@DaveParr]

Best explainer you've made in ages. Total fire 🔥

[@PicolloRiccio]

I live allone and I don't struggle with paying my bills however I live in a small town (low rent) and I work 60h every week... I can't imagine how hard it is for families,especially in cities like london or Manchester...

[@Stepbystep74]

Would be nice to see a shoutout to Kate Morley for the free website everyone uses to get stats about the grid :)

[@danjoseph9857]

National, Marginal pricing is a large part of the problem, partially could be solved by Regional pricing. The other part is that the cost of winter fuel allowance (mainly paying for gas) is added to our electricity bills

[@brianballard905]

Why not have some government owned and operated (nationalised) gas stations. They could sell electricity at below the price of "private" gas stations making the marginal price lower for more of the time. The high proves would still occur whenever the national gas capacity was maxed out and the last generator became a private station. But those times would be less than the 98% of the time now.

[@stratosphericozone2645]

We could reduce energy bills by further incentivising households to invest in micro energy generation and home batteries set ups. Encouraging more to invest in home generation and storage will reduce peak demand as they will only buy in electricity when it is cheapest. Reducing peak demand will lower the bills for everyone.

[@graham1034]

Meanwhile, here in Canada, I'm paying the equivalent of £0.06/kWh with a daily base charge of £0.13. In the middle of winter, with electric heating, my monthly cost is about £28 (2br apartment)

[@Visbalalam]

Dont expect prices to decrease when you build nuclear as they're incredibly expensive to build, maintain and decommission. Someones got to pay for all of that.

[@LSA-y5n]

makes you wonder how much energy companies would be trying to charge if there wasn't a cap.

[@DavidJohnson-dc8lu]

Why do energy companies do this weird thing, where they tell you how much your bills will go up based on what you are currently using, because based on what they are now asking I will use less! lol

[@Wintersky136]

The UK permanently f‘s itself… Examples: - Starmer - Brexit - Utility Prices Etc. etc…

[@usvalve]

You had me fooled, you smooth operators! At 7:44 out of nine minutes 25, you segued into an advert for your new channel. I usually see you coming and click away, this time it took me a good 15 seconds. Note: if I click away, I don't stop to like.

[@toonarmy_jack]

Through the worst of the cost of living crisis?!?!!!

[@berserkirclaws107]

As an asthmatic who lives in a mouldy and damp house, I know how I will die once I reach retirement age...If I even managed that.

[@PointlessGrape]

This is a really good video here, i thourght i was reletivly clued up on this but im so wrong, really informative and interesting

[@ho860]

Every western economy in Europe has the same marginal pricing market structure, that is not the issue. We've greened our grid fast, and we're currently at the stage where gas sets the marginal price most of the time and we have high green levies. There's 2 options, we need to either push through and make renewables set the marginal price more often, or Great British Energy should buy up the gas plants setting the price most often and run them themselves.

[@fishergabe]

as long as the shareholders are profiting its ok

[@user-sf6vn3nh3h]

I don't think Nuclear is a solution if you consider the lifetime costs of the plant, including decommissioning and nuclear waste safe disposal. It could cost a lot more than 25p/KWh. One better solution is to install an interconnect undersea cable to Iceland and build geothermal plants there

[@Violet_fox88]

Please can you cover the online safety act and thr changes happening in America and how this is likely to affect us in the UK?

[@Balance275]

Overly regulated production & price controls. What could possibly go wrong? It’s not like we know the effects of those exact policies since the times of the Roman Empire

[@jaimeTF]

Spain removed the system and we have now one of the cheapest electricity in Europe

[@TimLongson]

Government regulation to end profiteering is required, AND investment in renewable energy, especially solar panels floated on reservoirs as this is the cheapest (as well as cleanest) method of energy production possible.

[@jagz888]

I still use the heating i just spend less on eating out and other things.

[@smellypunks]

GDP per capita is more important than size of economy. U.K. might be six largest economy but when looking at GDP per capita we are 27th.

[@paulb9453]

None the citations mention that in 2023, wind developers demanded a 70% increase in strike tariffs, why? Because renewables are not cheap, and they force the least efficient gas plants to prevent the grid frequency from collapsing UK electricity. Marginal pricing is not an evil system. It’s a green cliche to keep blaming fossil fuels, as wind operators are paid to curtail output when demand is low. You should question whether the incentives for renewables are driving costs.

[@thisisthecall]

Is it not the case that the gas fired plants are more expensive due to the inconsistencies in the renewable supply? Also, when it's reversed, are we not paying for excess renewable production that cannot be stored.....

[@CommunityofEngineers]

12kg Butane in UK is around 40 Pounds. Same in Spain is 17 Euros.

[@A.D.540]

My water price has increased, my TV fee has increased, gas price has increased. The only thing that hasn't increased is available job and income. UK going to be the USA of west Europe soon if things don't change

[@bwhog]

Price controls always cause shortages. How many times must people learn this lesson? Add to this the fact that the UK is doing things to deliberately limit supply (green policies and so on that have often not been well considered.) Also, the energy market is really complicated.

[@ZachBobBob]

Bruh I'm a single dude living a small 1 bed flat and spent over £400 in water/gas/electric this month. Outrageous shit. Also the US is literally an oligarchy yes.