Silly question of the day
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The system is a bit like the paper-boy business model. You pay the paper boy for your daily papers, he pays the supplier and pockets the difference. I got sacked from paper round as I forget the middle step. :laugh:
When I was a paper boy the newsagent paid me so much per round. I then used to spend most of it on his sweet counter! Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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I know I am wrong on this, somewhere.
That's OK. America is soft now. You still get a ribbon for participating. Good job!! :thumbsup:
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
RyanDev wrote:
That's OK. America is soft now. You still get a ribbon for participating.
Awesome! :laugh:
Jeremy Falcon
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Physically nothing changes, you use the same gas, you are just paying someone else for the administration of your account. It's all a load of rubbish designed to make us believe that we have choice in where our fuel comes from.
What he said. I have a friend who brokers utility deals. It is just about pushing the money around. The gas all comes from the same place and is delivered via the same infrastructure (which, ultimately, the tax payer paid for).
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You're all probably going to think I'm stupid for asking this, but as you probably all think that anyway I've nothing to lose. But how does the Gas supply to your house work? Like I mean if I changed from British Gas to EDF today how does that physically work? I'm pretty sure that I haven't got a pipe that is connected direct to a British Gas plant that would be turned off and then EDF connect me up. I'm pretty sure I'd still be getting the Gas from the same facility, just I'd be paying someone else so how does this work?
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You're all probably going to think I'm stupid for asking this, but as you probably all think that anyway I've nothing to lose. But how does the Gas supply to your house work? Like I mean if I changed from British Gas to EDF today how does that physically work? I'm pretty sure that I haven't got a pipe that is connected direct to a British Gas plant that would be turned off and then EDF connect me up. I'm pretty sure I'd still be getting the Gas from the same facility, just I'd be paying someone else so how does this work?
All that happens is that someone else, at an identical desk in an identical office, counts the beans (presumably the beans that produced the gas).
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Physically nothing changes, you use the same gas, you are just paying someone else for the administration of your account. It's all a load of rubbish designed to make us believe that we have choice in where our fuel comes from.
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Quote:
I know I am wrong on this, somewhere.
That's OK. America is soft now. You still get a ribbon for participating. Good job!! :thumbsup:
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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It is all the same gas, it is all the same network. When you are 'switching' all you are doing is changing who is managing your supply/usage account, i.e. who reads your meter, who bills you and who takes the money. Transco/National grid still own the network. Commodity suppliers then sell gas onto the market from the refineries etc. Read this: http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Our-company/Gas/[^]
Dave Find Me On:Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn Folding Stats: Team CodeProject
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You're all probably going to think I'm stupid for asking this, but as you probably all think that anyway I've nothing to lose. But how does the Gas supply to your house work? Like I mean if I changed from British Gas to EDF today how does that physically work? I'm pretty sure that I haven't got a pipe that is connected direct to a British Gas plant that would be turned off and then EDF connect me up. I'm pretty sure I'd still be getting the Gas from the same facility, just I'd be paying someone else so how does this work?
Here in my parts, one's gas bill comes with two sets of figures (both, of course, charges). 1) Gas Delivery Fee - this pays the owner (custodian?) of the gas pipelines. Pays by how much gas you use. You're stuck with this. 2) Gas Fee - cost for the gas used (in Therms, thus normalized for to standard heat value). Item (2) is the one you euphemistically control. All the gas, at one point, is in the national pipelines. Much like the electric grid, all of it is combined and sorted. The suppliers, then, in theory are supplying gas to the pipeline (directly or by proxy) and selling it to you. They're pretty much acting as a broker. (1), of course, explains why one doesn't get a plumbing change - just a different billing envelope.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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Yeah this was what I was driving at as being the case. So what's stopping me from starting a company called PompeyGas and getting a share of the pie? I expect it's because I didn't go to Eton and I'm not a friend of David Cameron.
None, except you'd need to purchase gas forward under contract in order to get a good price from the supplier. These businesses make money on the "spread" between wholesale contract prices and what they can flog it to you for. They are absorbing part of the risk by predicting demand. I'm not saying that there isn't some sort of shell game happening here, but it's how retail open markets for utilities work. Now if you were a friend of David Cameron you'd no doubt say "that's free enterprise; it's good for the economy and jobs". I, like you, am not a friend of David Cameron! :)
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.