英伦广角 2013-11-02 英国能源巨头大幅提高天然气价格和电价

 It may proved to be a moment of revelation. These Big Six power companies have been called before Parliament to shed some light on rising customer bills. The regulator Offgem says gas may not be rising as fast as they claim.

 

-They do have to pay these green levies¹ for government policy reasons, they are going up dramatically. And also the transmission and distribution costs are going up dramatically. Wholesale² cost, no. But other cost, yes. Unfortunately the main reasons is that because we are in a free market, because they all report to stock market, they must make more profit year on year to keep the bosses in the jobs.

 

British Gas, SSE, Scottish Power and En Power have raised household bills by an average of 9.1% for this winter. They all say mounting wholesale costs are to blame. But Offgem data show these prices have only gone up by 1.7% over the past year. And that should only add 10 pounds to each bill.

 

-MPs want energy bosses to justify³ these recent winter price hikes but also to detail the difference in their pricing plans and to explain how profits can be made more transparent⁴ in the future. Executives have been called to appear before a committee here tomorrow.

 

-It's a global market at the end of the day and something as far removed(?) as the Fukushima disaster has had a big impact on UK gas prices. Japan has shut down nuclear reactors⁵. They are more dependent on gas than ever. They are more willing to pay for it. So in the global market, the UK needs to compete. And those prices have reflected that.

 

Yet here at home, smaller firms like the Co-op have kept hikes in check. Unlike the Big Six, they are absorbing the cost of wholesale market moves themselves.

 

-Their duty is to their shareholders⁶ first and foremost and to return profits to their shareholders. Our duty in running this business is to our customers because they are the people who own our business. And that's the fundamental difference.

 

But one after the other, the big power firms all listed the same reasons for hiking rates: green levies, infrastructure⁷ investment and the cost of wholesale fuel. Now increaslingly, that equation doesn't seem to add up. What's clear is a lack of transparency on how energy firms make all their money has left customers in the dark for too long.

1 levies   

（部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队

参考例句：

• At that time, taxes and levies were as many as the hairs on an ox. 那时，苛捐杂税多如牛毛。
• Variable levies can insulate farmers and consumers from world markets. 差价进口税可以把农民和消费者与世界市场隔离开来。

2 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

3 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

4 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

5 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

6 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。