Natural gas prices bring a consumer revolt in Germany (0.5M refuse to pay)

[jpak]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/02/business/power.php

Fluent in the opaque jargon of big business, Roswitha Köllner can make a vigorous case for why "synergy effects," "vertical integration" and "network costs" have driven up energy prices around Germany.

But Köllner, a 58-year-old German teacher from the northern town of Paderborn, makes the greatest impression as she explains how the main target of her ire, the German energy giant E.ON, keeps prices high despite efforts by regulators to open the market to greater competition.

"It cannot be that something that everyone needs is in the hands of a provider who then turns around and makes billions with it," said Köllner, a leader in a campaign that has persuaded as many as an estimated 500,000 Germans to refuse to pay the price increases in their monthly natural gas bills.

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[marmar]

1. "an estimated 500,000 Germans to refuse to pay"

Everywhere but here are people willing to walk the walk, not just talk about being pissed. What's wrong with us? :shrug: :cry:

[Missy M]

2. I wish I knew what's wrong with us. It seems we Americans.....

just shrug our shoulders and say "there is nothing we can do". That is what the government and big business counts on.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. Tin foil hat to the max, but...

...could it be the flouride in our water? I've heard it dulls the nerves and the mind and induces passivity. Or do they use it in Europe now, also?

[AlamoDemoc]

3. Hey Gemany...why not agree with George, and attack Iran...

that ought to bring relieve, ya!

[Kellanved]

5. Well, we have the cheap Russian gas

The question is, why the price rises with the oil price, while at the same time e-on is paying less. I.e. they buy cheaper each year and sell higher, which they can do as monopolist.

[rfkrfk]

6. cheap, wrong, Germans are getting screwed on natural gas

unbelievable anybody says cheap

perhaps someone could post some numbers