Many thanks to Charlie Marks for drawing my attention to this article in today's Daily Telegraph.
Bills reach £42 a day as cost of living soars
By Lewis Carter
Last Updated: 2:45am GMT 03/03/2008
The average British family is having to spend £42 a day on bills, as the cost of living continues to increase.
Household bills have risen to £3,426 a year for the typical family, it is claimed, a figure that will rise again next month when council tax and water bills increase.
Added to the average mortgage, which costs almost £12,000 a year, it brings the annual bill to more than £15,000 - or £42 a day.
Data shows that mortgage costs have increased by an average of £600 from this time last year as a result of Bank of England rate rises and the impact of the credit crunch. BUT IT IS THE RISING COST OF UTILITIES WHICH IS SQUEEZING FINANCES.
As I’ve said on many occasions before, when our utilities were publicly owned, bills were not a major factor. Now they’re a major item of expense in the household budget. It’s no good calling to ‘tighter regulation’ of our privatised utilities- the basic problem is that they are public limited companies and public limited companies overriding aim will always be to maximise profits for their shareholders. And that means ripping off the public, in whatever way they can. Such as charging their customers extra if they pay by cash or cheque.
The privatisation of our utilities, while making a tiny proportion of rich people, even more richer, has been a disaster for the majority of ordinary people in Britain. It's time to end the Great Privatisation Rip-Off and restore the utilities to their rightful owners: the British public.
Hat tip: Charlie Marks.
2 comments:
The reason energy prices are going up is because the utilities are prevented from producing in the cheapeast way (nuclear) & forced to spend a significant amount subsidising the most expensive (windmills).
This is forced on them by government & would be far less open & thus far more extensive if government directly owned them.
Rip Off Britain. In the USA, everything costs less, I get taxed less and I earn more.
Which is a pretty good indication that the capitalist method actually works!
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