16 September - Sharing the misery
While we are all preoccupied with you know what, life of a sort still goes on.
I wasn’t accused of being a racist
yesterday but of being a Conservative, which in some people’s eyes is just as bad.
That was because I said I am not in favour of windfall taxes or of nationalising energy companies nor am
I worried by unrestricted bankers’ bonuses if there is evidence that it will improve the country’s competitiveness.
In 1987 I inherited half my father’s shares in Shell Oil which he bought circa 1960
- definitely before 1962. Only a few hundred of them but enough for me to be
sent company accounts etc. Those who clamour for windfall taxes didn’t care when
the headlines last year were that oil companies were making big losses. £20 billion for Shell alone.
Thanks to nationalisation I have a choice of tariffs for electricity.
There is even a choice of Economy 7 style tariffs. Do I go for four hours at a
quarter the cost of the standard rate or six hours at nearer half? Now that my
own solar generation is reducing should I switch to one for charging the car? Do
I do sufficient miles to make it worthwhile?
Where I do think Madam Truss has got things wrong is imposing the £2,500 energy
cap. At a time when many people are struggling to make ends meet what credit
will she get for raising the price by more than 25% in October? All that money
for little thanks. Why didn’t she do the job properly?
The subject was
Number 1 for The News Shopper on their emailed news headlines yesterday.
Their tip for saving energy was to not use a tumble dryer and buy intelligent
plugs to make it easier to turn off devices that would otherwise be left on standby.
They advocated buying a wi-fi activated 13 amp plug
so that you can switch off the TV etc. totally and stop it using a dribble of
energy when not in use. So someone who cannot afford five pence a week to run a
TV on standby is asked to spend a tenner on a fancy plug and expected to own an expensive phone!
Sorry to disillusion their wonderfully named reporter but the wi-fi
plug is itself on standby waiting for the radio signal to switch on or off so the
savings will be negligible or worse. Added to which you double the number of
electrical contacts which might possibly get warm and burn your house down.
I bought such a device ten years ago which operated via a traditional radio
signal and therefore required a separate remote control. I did so because the
power socket was otherwise out of reach but after a few years it simply failed
and cost more money to replace.
There are such things as false economies.
An intelligent plug can be very convenient but it is not a money saving device.