Hi, Your comments are always most welcome
Sue,
On NPII you have a vast acreage of roof - why not fill it with Photovoltaics - you should get a fair amount of juice from them, even in winter.... It would cost a lot, initially, but would reduce your fuel bill for battery charging to £0 (well not really cos you would have bought £000s of solar panels)in the summer.
>>“Our accountants probably won’t want us to store any more than is necessary because of the high price. We will not be able to make any profit on it, so why store it for anyone other than ourselves?”
What a load of carp.
Especially the "we will not be able to make any profit on it"... what does he think keeps petrol stations in business? Charity?
I bet he makes profit on the red stuff, else he wouldn't sell it.
Effectively, all he has to do is pass on the increased duty and vat to you, he still keeps his profit and you wind up paying the tax man. I think he is part of the 'canals are for tourists only' conspiracy...
Hello Sue
Thought you might like to see a reply I got from Alvechurch's Managing Director about your recent blog. Hopefully if we all moan enough it will give them all something to think about whether they do anything is another matter but no harm in trying, happy boating
Mr Rimmer,
Your email has been passed to me by our Marina at Hilperton. I do not know where this information came from but it can only assume it is an individuals uneducated thoughts and is not company policy. In fact we do not know enough about the governments proposals for the change to make any policy yet.
Of course I can't at this stage guarantee we will be selling White Diesel to the public because there are many implications to this change. However, we are in business and as long at it can be achieved at a small profit, or at least no loss, we will. Unfortunately, we already know that the volumes we sell will not allow us to compete with most garages so the "on the wharf " price will have to be much higher because we will be paying more than most garages sell it for. We also of course have labour costs to add as we can't be self serve for many reasons.
Once we have more information from the government we will start communicating our policy, but this us unlikely to be for many months yet. However, rest assured we are in the boating business and want to make sure private owners can enjoy their boats and hopefully our services.
Hope this helps clarify the current situation.
Edward
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From: MICHAEL RIMMER
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 12:33 PM
To: Alvechurch@Hilpertonmarina.com
Subject: Red Diesel
Hello
Reading a boating blog from a narrow boat No Problem, ( Please see below ) I was somewhat upset to read of Alvechurch's standing on the red diesel situation, I can only hope that not all businesses will be so single minded, take the profit now and be dammed for the boating future. I have wrote to parliment about my concern's, the boating industry can only hope the Government show a little more concern for the future than Alvechurch.
Regards Mick Rimmer
From The Boatng Blog of No Problem
Stopping at the huge hire base Alvechurch at Hilperton for diesel, I nipped in to see what they thought about the loss of the derogation on fuel duty for our diesel, now to be happening in November 2008. What I was told scared me somewhat and it was a view that I thought might be on the cards to be honest.
It was thought, at this hire base, that because of the very much higher price of diesel, maybe 3 times the amount we are paying now, they might only supply their own hire fleet with diesel, and not the general public. "Our accountants probably won't want us to store any more than is necessary because of the high price. We will not be able to make any profit on it, so why store it for anyone other than ourselves?"
He was not being obstructive to us, but they have a business to run, and businesses on the canal system will all have to pay for 'non red' diesel. The only concessions that may happen is working boats that are actually contributing to maintaining the system such as dredges and the like.. I wonder if transportation of goods along the canals might be able to use the red stuff as an incentive to get lorries off the roads..
But for sure, it is a worrying fact. We, like many liveaboards, use our engine more for charging batteries and heating than for cruising along.. we don't need to do a 10 hour day chasing pubs and waterway rings.. being retired gives us an opportunity to slow down in life and enjoy what is around us.. but we will have to pay a high price for doing that soon.. 2/3 of our diesel is for 'heat 'n light' 1/3 for fuel for travel.
I paid for our 74.5 litres today.. £42.47. in 2008 that may cost me £90 in todays money, oh if we can find a boatyard willing to serve us of course!.. You know, that is going to put a lot of boats in severe trouble. I wonder if this one will survive.. 
