Alternative solutions

Brace yourselves for weeks of political bickering over consumer energy prices. The announcement this morning that SSE aims to increase bills by 8.2% is just the right sort of fuel to keep the political fire burning. They claim to be making a profit of about 5% by doing so and don't see it as being excessive. That is subjective of course. The SSE Chief Executive also points to the unavoidable costs of building new power stations and infrastructure to support an ever growing demand. On a personal note, we still haven't switched our heating on and won't until at least November unless the temperatures go below zero. I fear that might not be the case for the majority and, in some ways, this is part of the problem and the solution. Wholesale prices are rising and we can't really do anything about that. We must concentrate instead on the ways in which we can consume less energy. Aside from the money this will save us, it just makes sense anyway. As I say,the political debate will now go in to overdrive as both sides clamber for the moral high ground. Enforcing a fixed price for a few months really is just a gimmick because it doesn't address any of the real issues in this debate. It doesn't address how much we are using and whether we can consider using less. It doesn't take account of the investment needed to improve the existing infrastructure. It doesn't seek to promote greater competition and easier access to the various tariffs within the sector. In short, it doesn't do much except seek to garner a few desperate votes come 2015. This or any government for that matter should be incentivising people for using less. It should also be promoting the use of solar panels with grants being made available for more efficient boilers. There is no sense in just whinging about the energy prices. They will only rise so we must seek ways around the problem rather than letting the problem overwhelm us. The privatisation of the energy companies probably was a huge mistake but the deed is now done. As I write, the deed is now being done in respect of the post office and the story there will no doubt be similar. For all that though, we can only ever deal with what's in front of us so we need to start concentrating on the solutions rather than the problems. In the political debate so far, the coalition is winning the ideological debate but Milliband is winning the populist debate. If I told you that your food shopping would stay the same for 20 months, you'd be quite happy with that. To make such a promise though is at best shallow and at worst disingenuous. Make your own mind up and keep looking for the alternative because it's usually there if we all look hard enough..