BBC Bang The Drum For DECC & The EU
By Paul Homewood
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30518649
Let’s leave aside the fact that the BBC say the economy is now growing (they usually try to deny it)! It can be no coincidence that the BBC have chosen to make a splash of this story, just days after DECC were forced to reveal how electricity prices would be 40% higher because of climate policies.
According to their story, we are now using less electricity, because of EU regulations making sure products are more energy efficient.
According to their figures, average electricity consumption has fallen by 9.5% since 2008. DECC figures show a slightly lower drop for domestic users of 5.3%, although this does not take allow for increasing population. There are many things I could say, such as:
1) Last winter was mild.
2) Many of the energy efficiencies would have been delivered by a free market, without any govt intervention, just as they always have in the past. People expect to benefit from things like this as technological advances occur.
3) To put savings into perspective, you need to take account of the price of goods. It is no use saving a few pence of electricity for a twisty light bulb, if the darned thing costs a tenner in the first place.
4) A large part of energy savings is simply because people cannot afford to use as much, as prices soar.
5) Many elderly people will see no benefit at all from all these appliances, as they either have no need of them, or cannot afford them.
Nevertheless, let us take these figures at face value.
According to DECC, electricity prices are now £24/MWh more than they would have been without climate policies, in other words, 17.1% more.
Doing the sums:
Cost with no energy efficiencies/no climate policies
1951 KWh x £0.14 = £273
Cost with energy efficiencies/climate policies
1766 KWh x £0.164 = £290
So, whichever way we look at it, we are still all worse off.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
I watched this story on the BBC news at lunchtime today. It really got my goat. There was English graduate Roger Harrabin – a campaigner, more than a reporter. And there too was Ed Davey. The view was: “UK using less energy – thank you EU”. From the BBC, as is now customary, there was not a whiff of holding these claims to account. e.g. Economics lesson no.1: Supply & demand – price goes up, demand goes down. When I think I’m forced to pay my licence fee to sponser Mr Harrabin, it makes my blood boil.
The BBC should hold compulsory induction courses in Popperian epistemology for science reporters. From that they will learn that it’s what’s still standing after robust, honest attempted refutation (especially critical tests) that we obtain what it is *rational* to believe. It’s not the consensus stupid; it’s in the the informed challenging of the consensus that Science thrives.
Well I guess most folk will look at their bills and say – Yeah right!
Apart from the absolute brazen-faced attitude in the presentation this is of no real surprise:-
and now the rest!
The millions in EU funding the BBC tried to hide
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/culturehousedaily/2014/02/the-millions-in-eu-funding-the-bbc-tried-to-hide/
No wonder the BBC are pro the EU!
‘A large part of energy savings is simply because people cannot afford to use as much, as prices soar.’
This is key. Nothing is a bigger driver
We need to find out the real reasons why; not a self justification exercise for DECC
The poor,the old,and the cold,cannot afford to keep themselves warm as they should be able to do in the wintertime,due to the insane Green energy policies of the govt. and the out of control DECC.As a consequence,thousands of our people perish unnecessarily as a result of the govt. support of the false Green ideology.
Those people who supported,and voted for the Climate Change Bill should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
I feel that I have to speak up in support of flourescent light bulbs. We use incandescent bulbs in places where we need better quality light, they are cheap but need replacing quite regularly. The flourescent bulbs that we have elsewhere were installed twenty years ago and are still working.
Not all new tech are efficient. The new DAB radios use several times the amount of power than the old analogue
Is domestic solar PV and wind taken into account in these figures?
I suppose in theory that those with their own panels are using slightly less power, though I suspect it would not add up to much
Yet again, another regressive tax from the Green lobby. Those who can afford the outlay on modern appliances get the benefit, while the poor and those who won’t live to see the payback lose out. I bet if the chancellor put up vat on energy to 50% we’d see another drop in consumption.