Not very hidden agenda to get more and more state bale outs...

[Squaredy]

14 minutes ago, John Skinner said:

Isn't it daft, at a time where elec/gas is unaffordable to most, that the Gov opts at this moment to cancel its grant scheme to help folk put in woodburners/stoves.

Agreed. 

 

And why are the amounts of money being paid for electricity generated by solar panels and fed back into the grid not going up?  Why should that still be 5 pence a unit (or so) when electricity is now at least 28 pence.  Why not pay them 45% of the price cap, then maybe more people would find it is viable to have solar panels

[coppice cutter]

There's a lot of nurses still on band 5, Mrs CC and all she works with amongst them, they don't earn anything like the figures you're quoting. Indeed that sounds more like bank or agency rates of pay.

 

Might be a starting point for the new 'university trained' sorts, I don't know, but they're not the ones keeping the wheels turning, admittedly very slowly, but that's not their fault.

 

To put it in perspective, Mrs CC worked on track and trace at weekends until they closed it, and her basic hourly rate for asking people questions over the phone and ticking the appropriate boxes, was higher than her basic hourly rate for nursing.

 

Furthermore, there was no comparison between the physical and mental demand of the two jobs.

 

If nursing is such a rewarding profession, strange that the health service is having to fly them in from other countries in droves just to meet a bare minimum of demand for their services.

[John Skinner]

2 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

If you look hard enough there is free wood in loads of places.  I recall before I got into the wood business stopping at the side of the road and asking tree workers if I could have some of their waste - I was never refused.  How about the tip site on this very website - I assume many people registered on it do indeed get free wood.  I live by a golf course and a council estate - the course often have a tree or two chopped up - I have politely asked if I can have some fallen wood several times and they are always happy to oblige. 

 

In fact the area I live in is full of people who are struggling, but funnily enough I have yet to see any of them going round collecting free wood.  And there are a lot of unmanaged woods here as well (mainly full of ash) which have loads of fallen trees.  

 

At my work I almost give wood away - one ton bundles of sawmill offcuts - cheap as chips for anyone who can be bothered to cut them up.

 

Tip Sites work for some, but not in this area. I''ve had one listed (free, then paid/beer tokens) for months and not had a thing (which is fine). I've asked local arbs, gardeners, and yes ... even the council folk cutting back trees and got the same answer "Nope". It's either the companies and has to go back to the depot, or they sell it or chip it. Also doing it that way without a van/tow bar and trailer its not easy.

 

I spoke to a neighbour about getting the stack of timber off-cuts he had in his garden. Made my case for getting it from him for my woodburner and helping him clear his garden. Initially it sounded like we had a deal. Just discovered he's now putting in a woodburner and burning it himself. I guess i made a better job of selling the benefits of woodburners than i did getting the wood 😂

[spudulike]

Free wood...... before getting in to the chainsaw business and knowing a few arb types, I would drag fallen boughs out of country lane ditches - my ethic was not to cross the field boundary but take it from road side - this is the sort of stuff that would fall on the road and be dragged to one side, generally in to a ditch.

This was interesting as the farmers would pass and 1) thank me for clearing the ditch and 2) offer me access to a field where they wanted to clear a fallen tree or bough....had a lot of decent Oak that way.

One simple thing to oil the process - a pack of beers for their kindness. Always worked for me. 

The other thing - be neat and never leave a mess after the process.

 

[sime42]

38 minutes ago, John Skinner said:

 

Pensioners, those with disabilities, very low income families and the like will/are struggling this year. I'm sure any donation of logs to those that really need it would be greatly appreciated 👍

 

On another note...  Isn't it daft, at a time where elec/gas is unaffordable to most, that the Gov opts at this moment to cancel its grant scheme to help folk put in woodburners/stoves.

 

 

 

 

 

And that is on top of already cancelling the Green Homes Grant scheme and other such home insulation programs in recent years.

 

 

[GarethM]

Without wearing the tin hat, proclaiming the whole have nothing and be happy WEF stuff.

 

It does feel like there is a socialist agenda aimed at the poor, take home insulation as an example.

 

Your average terrace has say 10 homes, the only way to insulate is remove the whole roof and start again. Which without council or state intervention isn't going to happen.

Edited September 2, 2022 by GarethM

[Muddy42]

Totally agree, you wouldn't expect the state to subsidise bananas if the price went up would you?  Don't get me wrong this is a serious issue but it should be dealt with as a wider issue of POVERTY, that the welfare system has been designed to deal with for 70 years.

 

Its also important to differentiate between energy suppliers (that buy their energy in bulk on the wholesale market and supply it to us) and energy producers (that dig oil and gas out of the ground).  Although some have common ownership, they are NOT the same thing.

 

Don't take out your anger on energy suppliers that buy from the wholesale market, its not their fault prices are so high.  Blame Putin for that.  Ofgem can only set the maximum price that energy suppliers can charge customers.  The price cap already reflects a price that leaves energy suppliers with zero profit and there is a real risk that more energy suppliers will go bust this winter.

 

Taxing energy producers (BP, Shell etc.) is a different topic that can only be addressed by governments.  A windfall tax on UK based energy producers is not something to do lightly.  These companies are globally mobile and they could just move elsewhere unless the action is coordinated with other governments.  Sudden changes in taxation also makes the UK seem an unpredictable place to do business and could affect inward investment in the future. However it is pretty certain that the next prime minister will introduce such a windfall tax, so this debate is a bit late.

[GarethM]

I wouldn't really use Putin as it's more a case of over reliance on gas for power generation.

 

We have hundreds of years of coal unused, a gas storage system only just being put back into use, no nuclear for decades and we couldn't even convince Hinkley to stay open longer.

 

If we're paying for decommissioning, we should own it. Make it like liberty bonds or get the premium bonds people to finance it.

[John Skinner]

14 minutes ago, sime42 said:

And that is on top of already cancelling the Green Homes Grant scheme and other such home insulation programs in recent years.

 

 

 

The home insulation program is still running. or should i say 'running again' in tandem with the new gas boiler / double glazed window program.

[sime42]

19 minutes ago, John Skinner said:

 

The home insulation program is still running. or should i say 'running again' in tandem with the new gas boiler / double glazed window program.

Fair enough. It's very low key in that case. It ought to be prioritised. Insulation has barely been mentioned recently in the context of rising energy costs.

 

This isn't a short term issue, it'll be with us for years yet. It makes far more sense to reduce energy consumption with insulation, (and triple glazing, might as well leap frog double glazing), rather than subsidising households to keeping wasting it in leaky houses. Obviously that's a long term strategy, there's some people that will need support right now.

 

I've no idea of the numbers but I'm guessing it'll be a bell curve type distribution. The vast majority of people will just have to do some belt tightening, a minority will legitimately really struggle to survive, another minority at the top will hardly notice the sharply rising costs, (and will actually profit from the situation in some cases). I believe that there's plenty enough money around to fix most of the mess, the challenge is in its redistribution.