Power to the People

Power to the People

It’s Modern History time. Back in the Conservative days of Rule Brittania, in the gloomy 80’s and 90’s, the Tory Government decided they could not afford to run industry anymore, forget nationalisation, lets privatise everything. So Margaret Thatcher and John Major, sold off our public transport and the fares went up, the service got worse and a few lucky bosses in the right place at the right time became fat cats, whilst the rest of us suffered.


And so it was, not only with Public Transport the buses and railways, you know the sort of thing the people depend on to go to work etc. No they privatised the H2O, that falls from the sky and collects in holes in the ground, they privatised all the public utilities, you know the sort of thing people rely on to turn a tap and drink, switch a kettle on and cook a meal, heat a house, light up the dark. Yes the Tories thought it a good idea to lose control of basic essentials and let fat cats profit and the population suffer.

Now one of the new breed of power companies is N Power. They provide my gas and electricity. They can’t read meters, so they estimate bills, that go up and up all the time, and are not so quick to come down when international wholesale prices fall through basic economics supply and demand.

Just recently they have sent me enough bills for me to wallpaper a wall in one of my rooms. On line I can see the reverse of my bill but not the front!! I read the meter and send them the figures, they send me another bill. But, it has no readings. So they send me another copy which is the same as before, no readings. Finally the penny drops and they send me a bill justifying their exorbitant rates. Then they send me an amended bill, which is less. So I pay their last bill the amended bill. Then they send me a letter stating I owe them more money.

So…………….. I telephoned them yesterday, and the poor girl at the end of the phone got a dreadful ear bashing from me, as she tried to explain. But, as I said to her, if you ate at a restaurant and got 6 bills, which one would you pay.

I don’t know if it’s my age, but I am sure incompetency is getting more and more contagious, and spreading. The symptoms are you don’t know your left hand from your right hand, and you just make things up as you go along and hope no one notices.

I do think N Power staff are suffering from this disease. Me, I shall be changing my supplier. After all in a free market, competition drives down prices and improves efficiency, doesn’t it…………………………………..doesn’t it.

Luckily enough I passed A level Economics.