The BBC completely ignored Labour donor John Mills’ claim that Miliband will not actually honour his promise to freeze energy prices….a pretty damning claim as that policy was central to Miliband’s politics….his ‘flagship policy’.
However the BBC have immediately jumped on SSE’s announcement that they are going to freeze prices for a year slamming it on their frontpage as the second most important story and are claiming this as a victory for Miliband.
Evan Davis on Today linking the two and ‘The BBC’s industry correspondent, John Moylan, says the freeze has echoes of Labour’s flagship energy policy, which promises to keep prices at the same level for 20 months after the next election if Labour are elected.’
Not much outrage about the 500 jobs going at SSE as a result:
SSE said it expects lower profits as a result of the freeze, but it would be “streamlining and simplifying” its business to cover the shortfall.
The company announced it would cut 500 jobs and shelve three planned offshore wind farm developments.
Only it doesn’t have anything to do with Miliband…these companies have been offering fixed price tariffs for a long time, well before Miliband piped up.
Every company offers them…npower offers this:
Price Protector March 2018
With Price Protector March 2018, your electricity and gas prices will be fixed at the rates you sign up to, so you’ll not see any price rises before 31st March 2018.
Then there’s so many others……
Fixed 2 year
Fix & Control Aug 2015
Online Fixed Price Energy June 2015
ScottishPower Fixed Price Energy April 2016
Fixed Price September 2015
iSave Fixed v18 May 2015
Prices fixed until 30th June 2015
etc etc etc
Always a puzzle as to what catches the BBC’s imagination when they sit around in their editorial meetings to decide what is ‘News’, and what isn’t.
Sad news about the lost jobs but shelving three windfarms is a positive result. I am sure I heard on yesterday’s news that a new wind turbine factory has/will be opened in Hull. I rather worry about the demand for their output.
Job losses of any kind are never nice to hear about, but the context can often inform the whys and wherefores, and also the triage necessities.
Actually got me to wondering how things in TVL/Capita are morale-wise with the fee decriminalisation.
For sure a move to civil pursuit of debt will still necessitate staff to remind, chase and of course threaten, but I am hard-pressed to recall marauding packs of doorsteppers from any utility, Telco, SKY, etc, should there be issues of non-payment based on proven evidence of requirement to do so.
Speaking of such burden proof, before, it is surely even harder to provide now, which makes the exchanges one sees on YouTube surely a thing of the past soon?
Along with these charmers’ jobs.
They will not need to be doorstepped. Viewers will just find CCJs coming through the letterbox instead. It will be more like Parking Penalty Notices. TVL/Capita will have their own private courts rubber stamping thousands of cases a week.
Those who don’t pay up and get CCJs and still don’t pay up will face a bailiff, and those who know the law and refuse entry to the bailif will then be faced with a court Sherrif who has much more power in law than a bailif, and they will be coming for assets to cover costs.
It will be much worse for those who know the law, but still watch live to air broadcasts, without a licence, than the current system.
Before they can obtain a CCJ they would have to provide evidence a person was actually using a TV to view live programs. If people refuse them entry as they are entitled to do, there is nothing they can do as they will have no evidence to present to the Court and therefore the Court cannot grant judgement.
Tx, General.
That was my presumption… hope (I have poor faith in the establishment on matters legal, though the political cost of trampling over basic tenets of justice to make gouging a commercial fine is sinking in as a poor vote winner).
Seems a very established system is facing a very awkward dilemma.
Of course, one presumes the attempts to gain access to discover (or claim) such ‘proof’ may step up if the staff are still around but with no actual powers or indeed task. This may lead to even worse PR for the BBC than currently, as they will be targeting everyone without a licence legitimately and not just those (currently) without a legal reason.
I’d say that may knock even more folk offside. Sledge & nuts ‘n all.
‘TVL/Capita will have their own private courts rubber stamping thousands of cases a week’
That may actually see the BBC/TVL joint venture even deeper in the doo doo, surely?
Guilty by mass mailing will snag some possibly unbothered currently, but likely to get very vocal if required to prove a negative to be innocent.
I was also pondering less draconian evolutions should the turn-off (and hence de facto subscription) model is seen as the way forward.
It has been floated, but the costs of installation are claimed by such as Purnell as prohibitive.
Not nice to the BBC for sure, but that’s what happens when you get to compete in the real word.
I have a disconnnected SKY dish on the wall and box in the loft. The hounds get called off… I replug it in. Even if I was a new customer they’d hand me those as part of the sub (tied to contract).
What are the BBC’s plans?
Because trying to make me pay for them to have the means to cut me off for still not wanting their ‘service’ will not impress much either.
Yes, but Ed Miliband’s price freeze wouldn’t have cost those 500 jobs because…. well, it just wouldn’t, OK?
In other news, the BBC has announced that from now on, BBC News will be called ‘BBC It is Just Because The BBC And Those It Likes Say So’.
Not to be confused with ‘BBC It Isn’t Or Never Happened Because The BBC And Those It Likes Don’t Want It To Exist’.
Though the two can run concurrently.
“Always a puzzle as to what catches the BBC’s imagination when they sit around in their editorial meetings to decide what is ‘News’, and what isn’t.”
Yes BBC Labour promoting whatever happens to be the Labour Party briefing line that week is always so unexpected. Almost as unexpected as Socialist Venezuela becoming an economic basket case, or NUT teachers going on strike again because they care so much about education.
Because the tax funded BBC is the envy of the world we should forgive them invariably siding with whatever views promote and extend the power and privileges of the Leftist establishment.
Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert always pointed out that at the time Labour started their price fix fixation the suppliers were already offering fixed prices. For some reason on this occasion the BBC weren’t interested in what Martin Lewis was saying. Funny that eh?
Martin Lewis was always on Jeremy Wine show , he has just `disappeared` for over a year now.
Well, BBC, assuming your connection with Miliband’s ‘policy’ is correct, it looks like there’s another 500 for Ed to corral into his ‘guaranteed jobs’ scheme.
Labour economics – the English language’s most powerful oxymoron.