Petrol prices

With fuel prices rising alarmingly, thanks to the extra duty that nice Mr Darling has made us pay, it's worth checking this site (petrolprices.com) to find the cheapest fuel in your area.

We Rigbys have been registered with the site for a couple of years. We haven't ended up with loads of spam messages, but it has meant we can search up to 20 areas in 24 hours, which can be handy if travelling to a different part of the country.

Mrs R has noticed that some people on that site think fuel prices should be an election issue.

Mrs Rigby thinks they're right, because increased transport costs mean that every single thing we buy will cost more - no business can absorb this sort of increase without passing it on.

So next time you go to the supermarket your food will cost more, when you go to buy clothes or shoes they will cost more, and if you want to buy a service, such as a plumber or electrician, they will also charge more because it'll cost them more to get to your home - and almost all of these price increases will generate more VAT for the government to squander on trivia, whilst us poor mugs at the bottom of the feeding chain end up with less in our pockets, again.

Maybe that is why are none of the three main parties making fuel taxation an election issue.

Perhaps they should - the one that does might get Mrs R's vote.

P.S.
Just found this on NotASheep. Says it all really.

'Just imagine a dual till system on the forecourt, where the driver goes to the first till and pays £28 for the cost of the fuel and the retailer’s profit margin, and is then channelled to the second till, coming face to face with a bureaucrat who tells him:
“Because you have spent money filling your car up, you must now give more money to the government.”
“How much?”
“£52.”
“But that’s almost twice as much as what I’ve just paid the garage!”
“Tough. Pay up and shut up.”'

....

Power cuts and costs

Mrs Rigby was wandering through the Guardian today, and noticed a couple of interesting articles.

Apparently UK only has storage for a few hours worth of gas,

The UK could run out of gas within six hours this winter, the Observer has learned. The revelation has sparked a row between the Conservatives and Labour over who is doing more to keep the heating on. Last winter, the UK was left with only three days of reserves when foreign energy companies started exporting gas to supply their European customers after Russia cut supplies that used a pipeline through Ukraine.

A spokeswoman for Ed Miliband's energy and climate change department said that under a civil contingency act he had the power to halt exports from the UK if the Queen had signed the order.

So it's the Tories fault - but Mrs Rigby would be interested to know who has been responsible for demolishing all the gasometers. She'd heard they were got rid of because they were a health hazard and a possible target for terrorists.

She's a little bemused by mention of the Civil Contingency Act though, and wonders if not enough gas coming through the pipeline from Russia is really enough to declare a state of emergency.

The Guardian has uncovered 'secret' plans to make those of us who have fuel bills pay an additional tariff tax to fund construction of nuclear power plants. Not very secret now, is it?

The government believes that only by artificially increasing the cost of electricity generated by coal and gas stations through an additional carbon levy on household bills can nuclear become more competitive and encourage new reactors to be built.

One European utility executive told the Guardian: "New nuclear will not happen without sorting out the carbon price." The Guardian understands that the Office of Nuclear Development (OND), set up by Lord Mandelson's business department, has promised nuclear companies that the price of carbon under the EU emissions trading scheme – now about €13 per tonne – will not be allowed to fall below €30 per tonne, and ideally €40. According to the energy consultancy firm EIC, the new carbon levy would add £44 to the £500 annual electricity bill paid by an average household.

Mrs R notices the dreaded C-for-Carbon word again. This Carbon is obviously terribly expensive stuff. She wonders if she can buy some in a shop, or if it's only big governments who can buy and sell it whilst the rest of us pay the bills, with new taxes piled on top of old taxes until we haven't a clue what's going on.