Politics Show – East Midlands

Posted on May 4, 2008 by rogeroffice

I was interviewed today (4th May) on the East Midlands part of The Politics Show.

You can access the video of the show here. My bit is 53 minutes 50 seconds in.

However you can access a podcast of what I had to say by clicking this link

This entry was posted in Constitution, Referendum and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Politics Show – East Midlands

  1. GregB says:
    May 20, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    Thanks for the short podcast – that makes listening much easier.

    Reply
  2. Lazarus says:
    October 17, 2011 at 9:17 am

    Roger I saw you appearance on ‘The Politics Show East Midlands’ where you continued soundly blaming rising energy prices on “our obsession with wind power”. However you never actually stated a figure that you can prove is the true cost per consumer of installing increased wind generating capacity.

    While the small percentage of electricity produced by wind currently costs more than that from fossil based sources and will in theory end up being paid for by consumers it isn’t the reason for increasing energy prices and only those completely out of touch and concerned in pushing their own agenda would claim such a thing.

    You never though to mention the “rigged” market in Britain that has seen a rise in firms’ profit margins from £15 to £125 per customer, a rise of over 700%. This is increasing profit, NOT increasing costs due to the changing way we generate power. I’m sure deep down you know this even if you can’t bring yourself to be honest enough to admit it.

    So how much of the £110 increase we consumers are paying is down to buying power from the few GWs of installed wind generation the country currently has?

    Reply
    • Roger Helmer MEP says:
      October 17, 2011 at 2:19 pm

      I intend to blog about this. But taking a notional and disputed “per home” profit figure, in an industry where raw material costs change substantially, and with a pipeline that separates purchase from sale, is meaningless. You need to look at ROCE over a year and compare with other industries.

      I’m cghecking my facts, but I believe you will find that the energy companies are broadly comparable with other large industrial organisations. Let’s not forget that we need them to make a profit, as we want them to invest in massive new infrastructure and capacity. Dion’t buy the government’s malicious spin, which seeks to blame the suppliers for the failure of government policy.

      Reply
    • Roger Helmer MEP says:
      October 17, 2011 at 2:46 pm

      For your information, Lazarus, I offer a web-site showing evidence that the costs of renewables subsidies will be £100 bn over 2002/2002. That’s about £200 per year per household. But of course it is escalating — it will be small in 2002, but perjhaps £400 per year in 2020. http://www.ref.org.uk/publications/238-the-probable-cost-of-uk-renewable-electricity-subsidies-2002-2030

      Reply
      • Lazarus says:
        October 18, 2011 at 11:42 am

        “I’m cghecking my facts,”

        So you should because this is as good as an admission that what you where claiming cannot be supported. But not being sure of the facts did not stop you from still spreading your mis-information.

        And don’t keep blaming ‘the government’s malicious spin’ because these figures are not from the Government. The information of over 700% increase in margins is from Ofgem. So unless you have evidence of Government involvement in undermining their independence I suggest you also drop that mis-information too.

        And how credulous do you think you constituents are? You offer up Noel Edmonds anti wind farm organisation as a credible source to predict future subsidies.

        The REF “is now regarded by those working within the renewable energy industry as the dominant voice in the UK campaigning against wind farms and some other forms of low carbon energy.”;
        http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/feature/2025862/renewable-energy-foundation

        “the REF together with Civitas claimed that 10,000 jobs would be lost in Britain as a direct result of the government’s green policies, with this expanding to 30,000 jobs if the government’s policies are accelerated. In fact 2010 figures from RenewablesUK show that there are currently 10,800 full time employees in the wind and marine sector alone and has more than doubled in the last three years.”
        http://www.windenergyplanning.com/who-is-behind-the-renewable-energy-foundation/

        “The Renewable Energy Foundation sounds like a nice green charity that serves the cause of green energy. But it is in fact a front for the interests of biofuels companies, energy-intensive industries and even oil and gas companies.”
        http://www.eaem.co.uk/news/renewable-energy-foundation-front-biofuel-and-energy-intensive-industries-and-anti-wind-campaig

        Without knowing what political party(s) will be in government over the next generation how do the REF work their figures out? A crystal ball? If you accept their opinion perhaps it is you that is credulous and lack critical thinking. This organisation is no more credible than Greenpeace and I can’t see you accepting their figures any time soon.

        According to Ofgem, “while the environmental and network costs are increasing it is wholesale energy costs, which can fluctuate widely and are dependent on global prices, that are having the greatest impact on energy bills”. It stated that “higher gas prices have been the main driver of increasing energy bills over the last eight years”.
        “This is the year that Britain first imported more gas than it produced itself. Becoming more reliant on imported gas has meant that British gas prices have become increasingly influenced by global events, especially those that affect the oil prices as often European gas prices are linked to the oil price.”

        Click to access Why%20are%20energy%20prices%20rising_factsheet_108.pdf

        These are the facts you need to check.

        So how much does green taxes affect consumer bills? ‘According to Ofgem, the correct figure for environmental costs in domestic bills is currently no more than 9 per cent.’
        http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=NzQwMg==

        That is ALL so called green taxes not just subsidies for wind farms. These are the published facts.

        So how much does non-greentaxes (ie fossil fuel subsidies) all to our bills?

        “Governments and taxpayers spent about half a trillion dollars last year supporting the production and consumption of fossil fuels,”,
        http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/04/us-iea-idUSTRE7931CF20111004

        Perhaps in your fact checking you can find out how much of this half a trillion dollars was the UKs portion and how much it added to our electricity on top of the higher gas prices and ballooning energy company profits?

        I will be very surprised if your culprit, those nasty windmills, account for any more than a small fraction of all that.

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