On Sun, 7 Sep 2003 22:28:23 +0100, "IMM" wrote:


"Peter Parry" wrote in message
news

I repeat: Gas has always been cheaper than electricity; in the past 40 years
anyway.

Repeating something ad nauseum does not make it true. Between 1968
and 1975 Gas was the most expensive fuel followed by coal then off
peak electricity and the cheapest was oil. During this period gas was
twice the price of oil and 50% more than electricity in cost. The
price of electricity rose between 1975 and 1976 and gas and
electricity became more or less equal in price and jointly the most
expensive fuels until 1980/81 when oil prices rose and oil became the
most expensive until 1985. In 1986 oil prices fell and oil became
the cheapest fuel again.

Gas prices fell and gas became the cheapest fuel between 1979 and
1982 when electricity became cheaper. Electricity remained cheaper
than gas between 1982 and 1990. Oil remained the cheapest heating
fuel from 1986 to 2000, Gas was the second cheapest between 1992 and
1999 and, for the first time since 1982, became the cheapest in 2000.

(Source- ONS Fuel Price Indices for the Domestic Sector 1970 - 2000)

--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/