Above, clips from the BBC television sitcom “Dad’s Army” of Lance Corporal Jack Jones, Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard and formerly Royal Warwickshire Regiment played by Clive Dunn. His catchphrases were “Don’t panic!”, “Permission to speak, Sir?” and “They [the Germans] don’t like it up ’em!”.
Well, whoever has picked up the Poison Chalice of being Her Majesty’s fifteenth Prime Minister had better panic!
As the excellent Doctor North has alluded to in his blog-post today (https://www.turbulenttimes.co.uk/news/front-page/politics-march-of-the-zombies/) the situation is becoming insane.
Whoever is PM in September they have an extremely urgent problem to ameliorate and relatively little resources with which to do it – that is relative to the gargantuan size of the task!
This task is to make the electricity bills of the UK’s domestic electricity customers affordable for most people.
This is no small task!
It is also an extraordinarily expensive task!
Rather than berate the contestants for the poison chalice I will take a positive constructive line and put forward a suggestion as to how to ameliorate the situation.
NB: I stated “ameliorate” – it is not a solution, but a help!
Amelioration requires the government to offer a choice of a paradigm change to domestic electricity customers in the way they pay their bills. It also means [for the electricity suppliers] to abandon their current tariffs for all their customers using pre-payment meters and adopt a new system.
This, for the electricity suppliers will be VERY expensive.
By a paradigm change I mean that there has to be a fundamental change. I suggest this:
That all domestic UK electricity pre-payment meters be adjusted to take what can become known as “Council Electricity Credit” (CEC). A CEC will be a unit of electricity that can be used by the domestic user. The paradigm change is due to this cost being different for different users! I propose that the cost be related to the council tax band of the property being served by the electricity meter.
It would be called the “Council Electricity Credit” because such credits would be purchased by the person who is listed as the council tax payer from their local authority. Such purchases could be undertaken “online” or in person in post offices.
In England and I Scotland council tax is slit into eight bands: A,B,C,D,E,F,G & H. In Wales there is a ninth, “I”.
I propose that for domestic electricity users across the UK that the eight bands (A-H) be used and that in Wales, “I” band payers will be treated as “H” band payers.
I suggest that the cost of electricity using a pre-payment meter for Band “H” council tax payers be equal to the cheapest standard variable rate tariff of the electricity suppliers LESS a pre-payment discount equivalent to the annualised rate of inflation at the time of payment.
This will mean that those living in band H (and band I) properties will be able to take advantage of a discount in their electricity if they opt for paying “up front”!
For those living in band G, F, E, D, C, B & A properties a series of discounts will apply. The lower the band, the greater the discount!
This will in most cases be roughly proportional to the household incomes of the domestic electricity users. Of course, there will be situations where there is a relatively impecunious householder living in a high band property as well as situations where a wealthy householder for reasons of their own have made the choice to living in a low band property.
The reason why this scheme will be so expensive (for the government) will be that the discounts applied to the lower band properties will have to be massive!
Logistically this will be a very great challenge. This because whilst the scheme will be voluntary (it will be up to the individual householder as to whether or not they apply to have such a meter) the expected uptake will be enormous and that it will be a challenge to acquire all the meters needed and also to hire all the appropriately skilled tradesmen to fit them! There will be many self employed electrical contractors and commercial electrical contractors who presumably would be prepared to offer their services.
My message to Ms Truss (the expected winner) is this:
Forget all about tax cuts luv! (She’s a Leeds lass and I’m a Leeds lad and “luv” is the way we address each other informally) There’s not enough brass [money] for it! This scheme I propose will cost “One ‘eck [the h is silent] of a lot of brass and there’ll be nowt [nothing] left over for tax cuts!”
IF enough money can be found to make the discounts large enough and the situation in Ukraine does not go on too long then we (the UK) may be able to get through this relatively unscathed.