‘Every action becomes a TRANSaction’: the cost of living crisis is putting a price tag on everything
High energy costs have forced 6.7 million homes into fuel poverty – expected to rise to 8.4 million homes in April.
It means increasing numbers of households are checking their smart meters before doing anything that might cost money.
Campaigners are calling for the government to introduce a special “social energy tariff” to make it easier to afford heating:
And there has been a knock-on effect: shop sales over the Christmas period are down – by around 50 per cent in some cases:
It’s only to be expected.
If you starve working people of cash, as the government has by cutting real-terms wages, and then charge them a fortune for the basic necessities of life, then they won’t have any spare readies for non-essential items.
Shops are going to go out of business, worsening the current recession, and overbalancing the economy into collapse.
But the Tory government doesn’t seem to care.
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
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Until we the people of Britain rise up, and fight against the scumbags in Parliament, we will continue to be abused, ripped off, shit on.
While pension funds own alot of these water electric gas hmm thatcher sold you down the river bring it all back under government for the peopibut hay ho while our MPs get backhanders and jobs for the boys on it goes
It is interesting to note that smart meters have enabled energy suppliers to switch customers to a pre-payment meter without their consent.
I have been a long-standing critic of both smart meter technology and the techniques used to get energy customers to agree to having this technology in their homes.
There have been questions raised about the technology since they were first introduced (if you recall, the first generation of smart meters did not allow customers to switch supplier).
Until now I have been mainly concerned by the behaviour modification techniques being used to encourage customers to get a smart meter, and also the fact that customers now have a constant reminder of the amount that they owe to their supplier.
The fact that it is now becoming clear that smart meters have within them the technology to allow energy suppliers to switch customers to pre-payment meters when there is an issue over late payment or non-payment, and without first obtaining their consent, gives further cause for concern.
Were customers made aware of this before agreeing to have a smart meter? Also, were the government aware that the technology allowed the energy suppliers to behave in this manner?
Energy suppliers were meant to provide support for customers in difficulty, but it appears that they are being heavy-handed in their approach and using the law to obtain a court warrant.
If a customer asked for the smart meter to be removed, would the energy supplier comply?
Anyone who has not yet been persuaded to get a smart meter should take heed and refuse to get one.