We find cheaper business electricity Rates for your business premises. Business owners do not have the time to try and negotiate and search the market to get the prices and rates lower. Today with business electricity prices you can get online quotes from all the main suppliers. If you are in a position to except a contract on the day, business electricity prices can secure specialist rates from suppliers which in most cases are 15% cheaper than all broker and comparison sites. We have some of the cheapest rates due to the fact we switch hundreds of businesses a week.

Commercial Electricity Prices and Tariffs

Commercial and industrial properties no matter what size your business is, they all have1, 2, 3 and in some cases 5 year fixed price contracts. If you forget to renegotiate your contract at the end of it term, then you will be placed on what is known as a roll over contract which means your rates will be renewed for one or two more years automatically and in most cases at much higher prices and unfortunately there's nothing you can do about it.

Switching to a new business electricity supplier you need to be able to terminate your contract three months before the termination clause sets in. This means you need to look carefully at the terms and conditions to see when you can change supplier to reduce your costs.

Major energy suppliers want you to switch to them and will offer new customers great deals but the strange thing is most do not want to look after their current customers unless you cancel your current contract and then try to negotiate cheap business electricity. To get the cheapest business electricity rates all you need to do is fill in our simple online form and we will do all the work for you we will search all the UK supplier and present you with the cheapest prices available.

Business Electricity Suppliers

There are six main suppliers that supply gas and electricity to businesses in the UK. The companies you can choose from include all the main household names and some new up and coming companies that include British Gas, Npower, Eon energy, EDF energy, Scottish and Southern (including Scottish Power and Southern Electric), SWALEC if you are based in Wales UK and Opus Energy.

• British Gas Business Tariffs
• EDF Business Electricity
• Eon Business Electricity Tariffs
• Npower Business Electricity Rates
• Scottish Power Electricity Rates
•  Scottish and Southern Energy

Business Electricity Suppliers

Apart from simply buying energy for the cheapest price you can also buy pure green electricity from renewable sources. Certainly for domestic customers the prices these days are very reasonable and are no more expensive than standard tariffs so if your business follows green credentials then see what these tariffs can offer you and save CO2 emissions in the process. Many of these green tariffs also allow you to opt out of the new carbon reduction commitment programme as your carbon footprint is zero. Tariffs and rates will differ around the different regions in the country so you may not get the same prices as someone you know out of your area.

Due to the increase of energy prices in today's economic state, households are struggling to keep up with their energy bills. Figures and percentages have revealed bills to have soared in recent years, with on average a fifty percent difference between 2009 and 2004/5 as figures show income spent on gas and electricity was 14%, than in 2004/2005 where only 8% was spent. Increases on prices are described as ‘scandalous' putting more strain on family budget , and is a cry for help to the UK government , who need to do more with their power to aid those in energy poverty.

Mr Hepburn from Citizens Advice Scotland said: "These hikes are hitting already under pressure households, many people paying bills have already reached the maximum value of what they can afford." the pressure from power companies and price rises is already being felt by households."The UK Government needs to re-evaluate the energy market and start helping those in fuel poverty."
Figures have oscillated between 4% and 7% since 1999 for gas and electricity with 7% of earnings was used up on gas and 7% on electricity, showing a stable rise earlier. The quantity of income spent on fuel had earlier mounted from 11% in 1996 to 13% in 2003-4, and then decreased again to a low 8%.

Lucy McTernan, chief executive said: "we see the real human misery that exists behind these statistics."Indeed we feel the problem is, statistics revealed today if anything are under-estimated by the."Gas and electricity bills have risen significantly since 2009 yet substantially higher in the last few months; people who are struggling financially face a difficult choice when faced with these high fuel bills."They either skip meals in order to pay the fuel bill instead. "The government had cut the fuel poverty budget by a third last year and urged the calls to reinstate it. Shadow Finance Secretary Richard Baker said: "Soaring fuel prices effect every household, but they have an inconsistent effect on those who are on the lowest incomes."It is our sense of duty to assist the poorest and the majority of vulnerable people, who will be hit hardest by price boost, in these tough times."The real scandal that seems to have conveniently forgotten is that it was the government that reduced the fuel poverty budget by a third."

Watchdog reporters claim that Cardiff homes have the highest energy bills, with Leeds and Manchester have the cheapest bills as Cardiff customers are paying £1,073 on direct debit and £1,175 on prepayment meters. Reports by Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) explained that the cost of gas and electricity show a discrepancy due to differing network costs.

Customers have questioned if prices were reasonable, which discovered by DECC's quarterly energy prices report showed Cardiff households pay an average of £428 a year on electricity and £645 for gas with on average, £459 on electricity and £716 on gas on prepayment meters, on the other hand Leeds has the lowest energy bills collectively in the UK, whereas bills in other areas are up to £71 higher per year.
The statistics are based on an annual gas consumption of 18,000 kWh and electricity consumption of 3,300 kWh. Liz Withers, head of policy at Consumer Focus Wales, said: "These findings are of a major concern for thousands of vulnerable people across Wales."Currently, there are 61,000 homes in Wales living in severe fuel poverty, spending £1 in every £5 on keeping their home warm.

"In recent years the cost of heating homes during the winter months has seen extensive increases, and the devastating shock that can have on household budgets. People shouldn't have to choose between whether to eat or heat but many do, with all but one of the big six suppliers so far raising their energy prices between 10 and 20%, an extra 90,000 households in Wales will find themselves in fuel poverty this winter. Therefore consumers simply don't trust that energy companies have customers' interests at heart as wholesale costs have gone up yet are still a third lower than their 2008 peak.

Energy firms are accused of being guilty of greedy and lazy behaviour, Ofgem stated that they are perplexing customers and exploiting structural weaknesses in the market, however A DECC spokesman said: "Energy prices do vary regionally: network costs, which account for 24% of the average gas bill and 21% of the average business electricity bill, include the cost of building, maintaining and functioning the local gas pipes and electricity wires and the high pressure gas and high voltage transmission networks which deliver energy directly to your home.

"Suppliers are charged for this service and convey costs to the consumer which varies according to region, therefore the costs to the consumer will depend upon the area in which they live with Ofgem setting price boundaries which limit the total amount of revenue that distribution and transmission companies can earn meaning the best value for customers, potentially saving consumers £1billion over the next ten years,"

British Gas launches Green Deal offer

19th July 2011

British Gas,  announced massive hikes in both its electricity and gas prices, has today become the first energy supplier to launch a Green Deal-style offering, promising to slash householders' electricity bills.
British Gas is calling its proposal the Home Energy Plan and said it would work like the Government's upcoming Green Deal but would be "more flexible". It said the proposal would help customers save £321 on average per annum.

"Britain's housing stock is some of the most inefficient in the developed world with £1 in every £4 spent on heating our homes wasted because of poor insulation. Under our offer, customers can improve their homes and save money by cutting bills – all at no upfront cost," said Jon Kimber, managing director of British Gas New Energy.

The Government's Green Deal, which launches next year, will provide loans to households and businesses wanting to improve the energy efficiency of their properties through measures such as insulation, heating and lighting, with no upfront cost. Under the 'Golden Rule', loan repayments are guaranteed not to exceed the cost savings brought about by the energy efficiency improvements throughout the financing period.

Home Energy Plan
A spokesperson for British Gas said the Home Energy Plan, which is effective immediately, will work like the Green Deal and enable customers to invest in green measures with no upfront costs and benefit from the 'Golden Rule'. But he said there would be other payment options also on the table.

"It's more flexible than the Green Deal […] Some customers will want to invest in bigger projects and pay a deposit and pay it over a five year period, for example," he said.

Measures available
Households will be able to take advantage of range of measures from cavity wall and loft insulation and energy-saving voltage optimisation units through to renewable technologies such as solar panels and air source heat pumps. A new generation of boiler that also generates electricity for use in the home, will be another measure available under the plan.

Energy experts
The spokesperson confirmed British Gas business tariffs has so far trained up 50 energy experts to provide free, no-obligation surveys for business and households through its Home Energy Plan. The experts will show customers, room by room, the tailored measures homes can take advantage of and the annual savings they could make as a result.

Price hikes
The launch of the Home Energy Plan follows the announcement earlier this month by British Gas that it was raising its electricity and gas prices by between 16 per cent and 18 per cent. The spokesperson for British Gas, however, denied that the price hikes were subsidising the Home Energy Plan.

He said the company had no immediate plans to launch a Green Deal offer for business customers.

The gas and electricity firm said the increase, which would affect 2.4 million households in the UK, would come into effect from 1 August.

Affected customers will see an average daily increase to a dual fuel energy bill of 48p per day.

The company said the move reflected sustained increases in the wholesale energy market.

However, it said about 700,000 households would be protected by capped or fixed priced deals.

Watchdog Consumer Focus described the price rise as a "body blow for customers".

Scottish Power, which is part of Spanish company Iberdrola, last put its prices up in November, when gas prices rose 2% and electricity bills went up by 8.9%. business electricity will no doubt follow soon!

Energy efficiency
 
Other suppliers are widely expected to follow Scottish Power's lead over the coming weeks.

Raymond Jack, Scottish Power's UK retail director, said: "Wholesale prices for gas and electricity have increased significantly since the end of last year and continuing unrest in global energy markets means future prices are volatile.

Every household in the country will now be bracing themselves for impact" 
Audrey Gallacher Consumer Focus
 "We understand times are difficult for many people, and we have done what we can to absorb these additional costs for as long as possible to minimise the impact on our customers."

The energy company has also launched an new online product with a long fixed-price offer that it claims is one of the cheapest in the market.

Scottish Power said it could also help its customers to reduce their fuel bills by making energy efficiency savings in their homes.

Mr Jack added: "Some of our customers could save an average of £459 per year by making simple changes to the way they pay for their energy, switching to paper-free online billing and selecting one of our new or existing energy products."

Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: "This huge increase will be a body blow for consumers and we fear other firms will follow Scottish Power's lead.

"Companies have been softening customers up for price rises for months but customers will be shocked at the scale of this rise. Every household in the country will now be bracing themselves for impact.

"When this affects the cost of keeping warm and well, it is not an acceptable state of affairs."

Energy regulator Ofgem recently called for the industry to be overhauled after it found that the "big six" companies had put up prices more quickly than they reduced them when costs fell.

A separate inquiry has been launched into Scottish Power's pricing plans.

Scottish Power's latest rise will mean that customers who take gas and electricity from the company but pay quarterly by cash will see their annual bills rise by an average of £180 to £1,391.

That message, in its latest interim management statement, was echoed by RWE Npower chief operating officer Kevin McCulloch,who told Utility Week the other big six energy companies in the UK were likely to take their cue from British Gas, Centrica's retail arm.

Centrica's statement said that forward wholesale gas and power prices for the coming winter were 25 per cent higher than last winter. Pointedly, the statement warned that "end-user prices [have] yet to reflect this higher wholesale market price environment". However, Consumer Focus dismissed that as a reason for British Gas to raise prices because Centrica will "benefit hugely at the production end from higher wholesale gas and business electricity prices".

Centrica also said it had decided to partially "mothball" four of its fleet of combined cycle gas turbine plants, which represent 20 per cent of its generation capacity, because spark spreads remained too low, below £5 per MWh for much of the year to date.

If market conditions improve, the plant could return to service within two to three days.

Scottish Power owner Iberdrola posted profit of more than £900 million for the first time for any three-month period. But the firm said the contribution from its UK subsidiary was down compared with the first quarter of 2010. Its generating capacity in the UK has now climbed to more than 7GW, 2 per cent up year on year.

If you think you are paying too much for your business Gas and Electricity Prices get a quote now, the only thing you could loose is higher energy prices.

• Ofgem confirms household energy suppliers must give customers at least 30 days notification of price increases

• New rule also means that consumers must have 30 days advance notice of any change in their contract which leaves them significantly worse off

• Advance notification of price increases builds on Ofgem’s proposed reforms which aim to sweep away complexity in energy pricing

Ofgem has today confirmed new rules that mean energy suppliers must give consumers at least 30 days advance notice before putting up their prices. The changes come into effect on 28 April 2011. This means that suppliers have 30 days in which to put these changes into practice.

Andrew Wright, Ofgem’s Senior Partner for Markets, said: “Today’s changes will again show that we are serious about making sure suppliers play it straight with consumers. We believe that 30 days advance notification of price increases, coupled with our new proposals for more transparency and an end to complex tariffs, will give consumers more power to make informed switching choices.”

Currently energy suppliers have up three months in which to notify consumers after putting up their prices. Ofgem’s changes mean that suppliers will have to give 30 days advance notice of any price increases. This new rule also applies to any changes to a contract which will leave the customer significantly worse off. Ofgem also recently reminded suppliers that when they write to each individual customer to inform them of such changes they must be able to explain how it will affect them specifically.

This reform builds on Ofgem’s proposals published last week following its review into the retail energy market. Ofgem is overhauling the market to tackle poor supplier behaviour, sweep away confusing tariffs and break the stranglehold of the Big Six on the energy market.

A newly created company, to be known as TC Robin Rigg OFTO Ltd, will now hold the Offshore Transmission Owner (OFTO) Licence. It will operate the £65 million link transporting renewable business electricity from the 180 MW Robin Rigg wind farm to the onshore grid for a period of 20 years. As part of the licence grant, the transmission link has transferred from the wind farm owner (E.on) to the OFTO.

The acquisition of the transmission assets is a result of competitive tendering for offshore links under the OFTO regime. It represents the first injection of the projected billions of pounds of new capital into the offshore wind industry arising from the new regime. Ofgem views this as being critical in ensuring sufficient investment is forthcoming to deliver the UK's energy infrastructure needs.

Alistair Buchanan, Ofgem's Chief Executive, said: "This milestone highlights how the offshore transmission regulatory regime has successfully attracted new entrants and fresh sources of investment in the GB transmission sector. This will go towards delivering some of the £200 billion worth of investment in energy infrastructure that Britain needs.

"Overall, the regime is expected to deliver investment of a total value of around £20 billion, while ensuring these links are built on time and provide good value for consumers' money."

Charles Hendry, Minister for Energy, said: "We must do all we can to ensure a safe, secure, low carbon and affordable energy mix for the future. Getting the infrastructure in place to support the move to low carbon is crucial. As we can see from the award of this landmark first licence, it is a real investment opportunity."

The offshore transmission regulatory regime has been developed by Government and Ofgem and was launched in 2009 to deliver high voltage links to offshore wind farms as cost effectively as possible. Licences for these regulated assets are granted through a competitive tendering process managed by Ofgem.

* a consortium comprising International Public Partnerships Ltd, Amber Infrastructure Group and Transmission Capital Ltd.

Today's news marks the success of the regime's first tender round for £1.1 billion of offshore transmission links to nine offshore wind farms. The tender attracted almost £4 billion of investment appetite and is expected to deliver savings of around £350 million. Ofgem expects to grant licences for the other eight links in the first round over the next year.

The second transitional round already has eight bidders competing for the first three projects to link over 1.4 GW of offshore wind, with the winners to be announced this summer. These projects are worth a further £1billion with billions more of investment opportunities to be tendered over the coming years.

Npower became the latest of the "big six" energy providers to hike its prices last week – taking electricity and gas tariffs up by an average of 5 per cent in the new year – following similar increases from British Gas, Scottish Power, and Scottish and Southern Energy in recent weeks.

One factor common to both the fuel industry and the household gas and electricity sector is the oil price. The global oil market has been rising consistently from the crisis-hit low of around $40 (£25) per barrel at the end of 2008 and is now around the $87 mark, pushing up both pump prices and wholesale gas costs.

And with investors already speculating about a return to $100 oil, and the 12-strong Opec producers' cartel last weekend voting to keep in place production restrictions originally designed to put a floor under there cessionary price collapse, there is no let-up in pressure in sight.

But the underlying oil price is just one issue affecting Britain's petrol prices. A whole host of short-term factors also played a part in the recent spike, including Europe's cold snap, President Obama's decision to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, and the weakening pound in the aftermath of the Irish bank bailout.

"It really is a bleak midwinter for Britain's motorists," Luke Bosdet, the public affairs spokesman at the AA, said. "And the key medium-term question will be whether drops in wholesale prices expected early next year are actually passed on in lower pump prices."

The Government must also bear some of the responsibility for the current spike. Since April alone, petrol duty has gone up by 2.76p, adding 3.24p per litre once VAT is included. It is set to rise by another 0.76p per litre from 1 January.

Once VAT is added, and the extra from the 2.5 per cent hike in VAT itself, drivers are looking at another 3.5p per litre rise from the New Year. The fuel tax escalator is then schedule to send it up by another 1p plus inflation in April.

Motorists are already reacting to the extra expense. Consumption dropped by 6 per cent from 2008 to 2009, and has fallen further this year, according to AA estimates. But much will depend on the performance of the economy, and the effect on exchange rates.

"It looks like things could get worse," Mr Bosdet said. "But if the austerity programme works, and the pound rises and absorbs some of the extra wholesale prices, then there's a chance it could be a different story."

Household energy bills also see a hike from rising oil prices. But gas and electricity costs are much more sensitive to the weather – this month's freezing temperatures have sent European wholesale gas prices 50 per cent higher compared with last spring.

And the slew of extra costs that UK energy suppliers face in both their retail and generation businesses is setting a longer-term trend of rising business gas and business electricity prices.

Britain's generating capacity needs an eye-watering £200bn over the next decade, for everything from new nuclear power stations to expanded gas storage capacity, to help meet carbon reduction targets. The Government's proposed energy-market reforms – designed to encourage the necessary private sector investment – are due this week. Whatever the details of the proposals, the measures will feed through on to customers' bills, with some estimates as high as an extra £500 per household per year by 2020.

Meanwhile, energy company's retail divisions are also seeing costs ratcheted up by the carbon emissions reduction targets. The home insulation programme alone is expected to cost the industry up to £1.5bn next year.

All in, the regulator, Ofgem has said bills could rise by up to 25 per cent within 10 years, an estimate echoed by energy company bosses last week.

Regardless of the long-term pressures, the recent round of price hikes has raised howls of protest from consumer groups outraged at supplier profits. Just days after British Gas's 7 per cent price rise, for example, its parent company Centrica upped its full-year profit forecasts to slightly more than £2.2bn, helped by the retail arm's record £585m profits in the first six months. The company played down the upgrade – citing interest and tax charges not reflected in the predictions, and pointing out that British Gas has been selling gas at a loss in recent months. But Ofgem estimates profit margins across the industry have shot up by nearly 40 per cent since September, and it has launched an inquiry into whether energy companies are "lining their own pockets", in the words of the chief executive, Alistair Buchanan. Even in the short term, prices are unlikely to fall back from the current weather-related spike. "When the weather gets warmer again, wholesale prices will fall," Joe Malinowski, founder of TheEnergyShop.com, said. "But that's not to say we'll see a comparative fall in retail prices, because suppliers tend to hedge forward on a 12 to 24 month basis."

Altogether, consumers face a tricky start to 2011. Rising energy prices helped boost consumer price inflation (CPI) to 3.2 per cent in October, way above the Bank of England's 2 per cent target. Not only are the November figures published today not expected to show any improvement. Analysts at Capital Economics are predicting CPI will go up as high as 3.5 per cent in the first couple of months of next year, boosted by the New Year VAT rises and fiscal changes such as the increase in National Insurance contributions.

Samuel Tombs, a UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "Wage growth has been negative in real terms over the last two or three years, and if you add the fiscal squeeze, consumers will be hard hit, particularly in the early part of next year."

Customers of energy company Npower will see their gas and electricity bills rise by 5.1% from 4 January.

The change will mean the typical dual-fuel customer with Npower will see their annual bill rise by £54, Npower has said.

The announcement comes on the day that British Gas customers started paying more for their gas and electricity.

Meanwhile, E.On said it was still monitoring the market but would not raise prices before January.

Wholesale costs

Npower, which said it would leave its social tariff for vulnerable customers unchanged until April 2011, blamed a 50% rise in wholesale prices in the past 12 months for the increase - its first for domestic customers in two years.

"When wholesale costs are driving business gas and business electricity prices up it is a good time to review the way you manage your energy," said Kevin Miles, chief executive of Npower retail.

The move is the latest in a string of price rise announcements made by the major energy suppliers in the UK.

In the last week of November, Scottish Power increased electricity bills by an average of 8.9% and prices for gas customers increased by an average of 2%.

Winter price changes

• Scottish Power: gas up 2%; electricity up 8.9%
• Scottish and Southern Energy: gas up 9.4%
• British Gas: gas and electricity up 7%
• EDF Energy: no change before March 2011
• Npower: gas and electricity up 5.1% in January
• E.On: monitoring situation but no change before January 2011

Scottish and Southern Energy followed by putting up its domestic gas tariffs by 9.4% at the start of December. The 7% rise in gas and electricity bills for British Gas customers has now also kicked in.

EDF Energy said that it was keeping its prices on hold during the winter, with no change before March 2011.

E.On said it was monitoring the wholesale markets before making any decision, but would not raise prices before January.

Future

Earlier this week, the bosses of five of the big six energy companies told a committee of MPs that bills were likely to rise in years to come.

They told the Energy Committee that the "inevitable direction of wholesale prices" meant domestic bills would get more expensive over the next decade.

Prices quoted when bills are changed are an average for customers across the UK. However, issues such as transportation costs mean a different amount can be charged depending on where customers live.

Figures from watchdog Consumer Focus show that people in different parts of the UK - with the same energy supplier - have bills that vary by up to £59 a year.

Reacting to the latest price rises, Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: "Npower customers will have been bracing themselves for this bad news after the increases from other firms, but that will not make them any less worried about affording their bills this winter.

"With four of the big six suppliers having now announced price rises averaging 6%, the focus on [regulator] Ofgem's review of whether energy prices are justified will be even sharper."

In November, Ofgem announced that it would conduct a review into the domestic energy market after figures showed a sharp rise in suppliers' profit margins to £90 per typical customer.

Consumer Focus said, Terms and conditions of energy tariffs need to be more transparent to prevent people from getting a shocking surprise when their bills arrive, The consumer watchdog has written to the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), requesting an enquiry into the way energy suppliers market and sell energy tariffs.

"We believe that energy tariffs are often structured in ways that are overly complex and can seem designed to confuse the average consumer," Head of energy at Consumer Focus said in a letter to Ofgem.

"There are problems with dubious discounts that are hard to achieve. There are issues with the transparency of price rise notifications, business electricity and gas termination charges and rollover contracts."

Ms Gallacher said the requested investigation would need to examine whether the average consumer was capable of understanding key terms and conditions of energy tariffs.

Quantitative research by Consumer Focus in March found more than one third of consumers were baffled by their energy bills.

"Nearly 60% of gas and electricity consumers did not know what tariff they were on or how much they paid per unit,"

"When a company chooses the wrong business gas tariffs it can result in significantly increased annual bills."

In our competitive energy market customers can choose from a wide range of different energy tariffs to suit their needs, and that is a good thing. Energy companies are constantly innovating to offer their customers a range of deals and a variety of payment methods.

"If people are unsure of being on the right deal they can call their energy company direct, who will be able to talk them through the best tariff available for them."

Consumer groups are in revolt over steep price hikes that will see households face near-record gas and electricity bills this winter, despite the fact that wholesale prices are only half the level of 2008.

Last week, British Gas surprised the energy sector when it announced it will increase its gas and electricity prices by an average of 7% – although many customers will see bills rise by as much as 10%. Earlier, Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), the company traditionally last to raise prices, had already announced an unwelcome 9.4% addition to bills.

If past experience is anything to go by, consumers can expect further increases from E.ON, Scottish Power, and npower. Only one of the major power firms, EDF, has ruled out increasing prices this winter. British Gas says it has been forced to hike prices because "the wholesale cost of gas for 2011 is 25% higher than for 2010".

Yet wholesale gas prices collapsed in 2009 and have not risen to anywhere near their previous levels. Profits at the utility companies have, in the meantime, surged. Centrica, which operates British Gas, told City analysts this week that its profits were likely to be above expectations, hitting £2.2bn. Shareholders have enjoyed an 18% gain in the value of their holdings this year alone, with dividends on top.

Consumer Focus seized on the figures as proof customers are being treated unfairly. It pointed out that in July, Nick Luff, group finance director, said of British Gas's high half-year profit figures: "Commodity costs were lower, despite the higher volumes and that reflected the low wholesale prices and led to the unusually high margins we had in the first half … The UK downstream was the main driver [for high profits], helped by the cold weather and the low wholesale price."

Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: "Customers will be baffled as to why they are being told to pay more when British Gas is on track for huge profits. British Gas admits that high margins due to low wholesale costs have given a major boost to its balance sheet. So why, yet again, have customers seen only tiny price cuts when wholesale costs have been so low for so long, yet suppliers hike prices as soon as wholesale costs start to edge up."

Gallacher says that research by Consumer Focus shows customers have little trust in what energy providers tell them. "Unless there is a major injection of transparency, it will remain impossible to tell whether bills are fair and the market is working properly.'

A spokeswoman for British Gas said that the price increases were justified given that wholesale costs have risen by 25% in recent months.

"They are just part of the picture: in every other part of our business costs have been rising. Our transmission and distribution costs have risen and have to be reflected in the prices we charge. Our profits are always higher in the first half of the year, and this will not be carried through to the second six months."

Meanwhile, Consumer Focus has called on the government to embrace new EU legislation that would give the regulator, Ofgem, the ability to force the big six energy providers to disclose the price they pay for energy. It also says the power companies should be required to produce accounts that credibly break down their profits and margin, rather than hiding the true costs through complex accounting procedures.

Earlier this month SSE said it had lost £60m on its gas supply business. However, when TheEnergyShop.com analysed the figures it found they included an estimated cost of acquiring gas based on "an assumed 24 hedging strategy" rather than the actual cost of gas purchased. At the same time, SSE reported a profit of £127m for "portfolio optimisation", which it says represents profits that "are not directly attributable to generation or supply".

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British Gas customers will face a 7% rise in gas and electricity bills this winter, the company has announced.

The increase, which comes into effect on 10 December, was the result of rising wholesale prices, it said.

The rise affects eight million customers, but the company added that its 300,000 most vulnerable customers would initially not be charged more for their gas and electricity.

British Gas has become the second major UK energy supplier to announce gas and electricity price increases for the winter months.

It said that wholesale gas prices had risen by 25% since the spring.

"We know that rising energy prices come at a difficult time for many," said British Gas managing director Phil Bentley.

The company said prices for those on a typical dual-fuel deal would go up by £1.50 a week.

Vulnerable customers on the "Essentials" package with British Gas will have prices held until 1 April 2011.

Other suppliers
 
The announcement comes shortly after Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) said it was to put up its domestic gas tariffs by 9.4% at the start of December.

SSE blamed wholesale prices for the increase in customer bills this winter, but apologised for the timing.

The announcement, on 29 October, came just before SSE reported a 6.1% fall in pre-tax profits to £386m in the first half of the company's financial year.

It was the first time for two years that standard prices among the "big six" energy suppliers have risen, and follows some price falls during last year.

Earlier this week, EDF issued a challenge to the other main energy providers by announcing it would freeze gas and electricity prices for residential customers over the winter, with standard tariffs fixed until at least March 2011.

Wholesale costs
 
Adam Scorer, Consumer Focus: "The reaction is one of dismay"

"After a two year lull, household energy prices are about to resume their steady climb upwards again," 

"Unfortunately for consumers, the 8% or £99 reduction seen over the last two years failed miserably to reverse the impact of the 42% or £381 increase seen in 2008. And now, whatever small benefit was seen is about to be wiped back out again."

The average household bill for a dual-fuel British Gas customer would now go up from £1,157 to £1,239

BG Group will spend £9.3bn on the world's first project to liquify and ship business gas produced from coal deposits, the natural gas company's biggest ever investment, it was announced today .

The 20-year Queensland Curtis scheme is the first of a clutch of "coal seam methane" projects in eastern Australia to get the go-ahead, and will underline Australia's growing importance as a supplier of natural resources to South East Asia. It will involve building a 540km underground pipeline in Queensland which will link the gas producing coal deposits to a new terminal near Gladstone, on the east coast, which will liquify the gas for export by tanker.

BG will give more details when it reports third quarter results tomorrow. An 11% year on year increase in net income to $866m is forecast. BP is also reporting its delayed third quarter results tomorrow. Analysts expect that the ongoing costs of the Deepwater Horizon disaster will result in a slight fall in profits, compared to an 88% rise reported by Shell last week.

The BG project is scheduled to begin operation in 2014, producing 8.5m tonnes of liquified natural gas (LNG) each year initially, equivalent to one 10th of the gas consumed in the UK.

State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has signed the biggest supply contract with BG, and will buy 3.6m tonnes of LNG each year for 20 years. CNOOC will also take a 10% stake in the first phase of the project and invest with BG to build two new LNG cargo ships in China to be used in the project.

The Australian government finally sanctioned the Queensland Curtis project last month, along with a rival project near Gladstone put forward by a joint venture between Santos, Petronas, and Total.

BG chief executive Frank Chapman said: "The decision represents the realisation of a pivotal strategic objective for BG Group – to further the globalisation of our LNG business by establishing a new and material source of equity LNG in the Asia-Pacific arena. Today's sanction is also a significant milestone on the road to delivery of the group's growth agenda over the decade ahead."

The process of producing gas from underground coal seams has attracted opposition from some environmentalists and farmers in Australia over concerns that it will pollute the water table in a country already facing severe water shortages. Vast amounts of trapped salty water are released along with the gas when the coal seams are drilled into. At the peak of production in 2014, BG estimates that 190m litres of water will be released each day.

BG will build two large desalination plants to treat the water. It has also promised to monitor groundwater and compensate owners of bore pipes if the volume or quality deteriorates. Some 300 conditions have been set by the federal government for both projects, mostly concerning the protection of groundwater.

Technology improvements allowing coal seam gas to be converted into LNG, and a burgeoning market for LNG gas, particularly in Asia, has made such projects more attractive. In July, Australia's coal seam gas company Arrow Energy agreed to a £2bn takeover by Shell and PetroChina. Analysts at Merrill Lynch said they expected the market for LNG will become tighter after 2012 as demand rises, which could justify BG's latest move.

Gas bosses have given 380,000 Scottish customers a pre-Christmas kicking with a "scandalous" 9.4 per cent price rise.

Scottish and Southern Energy, who made profits of £1.29billion in the year to March, will add £67 to the average bill.

And watchdogs warned that the rest of the "Big Six" energy firms were likely to pile on the agony with rises of their own.

Audrey Gallacher of Consumer Focus said: "They adopt a pack mentality on pricing."#

Consumer groups were horrified by the inflation busting SSE increase, announced as the nation faces an icy winter, tiny pay rises and the grim fallout from the Con-Dem cuts.

It will come into force on December 1, just in time for winter to bite.

Most households use around 40 per cent of their annual energy between November and January and forecasters fear this winter will be particularly harsh.

SSE, Britain's second-biggest energy Supplier, blamed the wholesale cost of gas, which has gone up by 25 per cent since March.

But since 2008, when a frenzy of huge Gas and electricity prices hike saw household energy prices soar by almost half, wholesale gas prices have FALLEN by 40 per cent.

In 2009 and 2010, the Big Six cut bills by an average of eight per cent.

Consumer focus chief executive Mike O'Connor said he couldn't understand why bills went "up like a rocket and down like a feather". He branded the SSE move scandalous.

Customers should think about switching suppliers, saying: "People don't have to sit and take this."

The average SSE gas bill will rise to £782, according to regulators Ofgem. Dual fuel customers will see bills go up to £1226.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, energy supply director at SSE, said: "The last few months have been marked by rising wholesale prices.

"Having absorbed losses in our gas supply business for some time, we cannot delay an increase in retail prices any longer. I am sorry it will take effect during the winter period."

Sse claim they have been making losses for years on supplying gas to homes.
Ofgem said recently that on average, firms made an annual profit on gas of £50 per household, up from £20 the year before.

The Con-Dems said there was a market for energy and it was up to customers to find the best deals.

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Hot on the heels of first:utility's price change yesterday we have seen SSE Group announce price increases across its entire range of non fixed gas prices taking effect on the 1st November 2010.

Followed less than 2 hours later with a notification of a price change by LoCo2.

We wonder who is next?

Earlier this year we reported how at the time of the supposed decreases in energy prices in March that there appeared to be a large take-up in what appeared to be a move to reflect European pricing models.

This meant that whilst headline figures appeared to suggest price reductions in fact the consumer would be paying substantially more during the summer period.

We warned that this would create a need to increase energy prices by around 10% by the end of the year.

It would appear that this may be the start.

Over the next couple of weeks we could see some radical changes in the gas and electricity market.

Customers must start looking now and ensure that they do indeed have a competitive rate from their gas and electricity supplier. If not, the message is clear - switch now.

There are some really good offers available at the moment, ranging from cashbacks, welcome offers and some long term fixed deals.

It might well be time to take one of these offers before they are gone.

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EDF Energy Networks has agreed to pay additional compensation to customers following a major power cut in July 2009 in the area around Dartford, Kent. The power cuts were caused by a fire at an electricity cable bridge, and resulted in 94,000 customers losing supply, with almost 20,000 customers being without electricity for more than 24 hours.

The network operator has now offered to add £700,000 to the £1.1 million compensation already paid to eligible customers. This means that 12,000 customers, some of whom may not have previously entered a claim, will have the opportunity to receive a payment.

In addition, the company will donate a further £750,000 to the local community.

Energy regulator Ofgem said the extent of the incident had "caused significant local concern which Ofgem shares". It added "Ofgem welcomes the fact that EDF Energy Networks has responded to these concerns by making further payments in line with the regulatory requirements".

The regulator also said, "Ofgem has regarded the event as exceptional and has concluded that there is no evidence that any actions (or lack of actions) by EDF Energy Networks caused the event to happen. The company took appropriate steps following the event to limit the number of customers that had their electricity supplies interrupted, and to restore supplies quickly and efficiently. However, the incident has highlighted aspects of EDF Energy Networks' performance which appear to fall short of best practice".

The government today quietly imposed a £1B-per-year carbon tax on around 4,000 of the largest businesses and public sector bodies in the UK as part of its spending review.

The move was not announced as part of chancellor George Osborne's speech to parliament. Instead, it was left to a statement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in which it detailed its spending review settlement and confirmed the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) would be reformed so that the Treasury keeps revenue raised through the carbon pricing scheme.

"Revenue raised from the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme will be used to support the public finances (including spending on the environment), rather than recycled to participants," the statement said.

The spending review document confirmed that the move would raise £1bn by 2014/15 to help tackle the deficit.

Under the CRC, companies and public sector bodies that use over 6,000 MWh of electricity a year have to participate in the scheme and purchase carbon allowances in line with the amount of energy they use each year.

During the initial phase of the scheme carbon allowances will be priced at £13 for each tonne of carbon that the company is calculated to be responsible for.

The government had intended to "recycle" the revenue raised from the sale of allowances to those organisations participating in the scheme. The level of recycled payments would be determined by the organisation's performance in an energy efficiency league table, with the best performers receiving all the money they spent on allowances plus a bonus and the worst performers receiving only some of the money back.

However, the government has now effectively turned the sale of allowances into a carbon tax, forcing all participants to purchase carbon allowances based on how much energy they use.

The move is likely to be welcomed by environmental groups and some green businesses that have long maintained that the CRC would not have a big enough impact on organisations' energy costs to drive significant improvements in energy efficiency.

It is also in line with the coalition's commitment to increase green taxes.

However, it is bound to be fiercely opposed by some business groups who have already argued that the CRC is too costly and burdensome and will now find them faced with a major hike in energy bills.

Business electricity prices

Npower says it will write to all those affected over the next two months, even if they are no longer customers. In 2007, the company started charging households a fixed monthly number of more expensive initial gas units - known as primary block units. Previously the amount of primary units charged varied according to the time of year. At the same time, Npower lowered prices and introduced some discounts. As a result, some low-use customers were billed for more than the usual number of primary units, leaving them out of pocket.

The company has always insisted most households benefited from the changes, but following an investigation by the industry regulator Ofgem, Npower initially agreed to repay 200,000 customers an average of £6 each. In a statement, Npower said "Although the vast majority of our customers benefited from the combined effect of the changes, some, who were low users of gas, did not" Watchdog Consumer Focus continued to campaign and some customers started legal action.

Npower conducted a review of everyone who was a gas customer at the time and it has now agreed to make a much bigger payment to 1.8 million people. The refunds will range from £1 to £100, with an average refund of £35. In a statement, Npower said "We're sorry that the complexity of the changes we made caused confusion. We're now doing all we can to improve our communication with customers." Npower, which has 6.5 million customers in the UK, will be writing to those affected and offering payments that can be cashed at the Post Office.

Head of Consumer Focus Mike O'Connor said it was an "excellent outcome" and showed a "major commitment from Npower to its customers". "Consumer Focus has worked closely with Npower to ensure that refunds are made fairly and that no customer loses out," he said. "A huge amount of work and collaboration has resulted in the right thing being done by Npower for its customers and we welcome this."It has been a great example of how consumer organisations can work with industry to deliver a fair deal for consumers."

Scottish Power has today launched Online Energy Saver v11 and this is available immediately on switchit4u.co.uk.

Similar to Online Energy Saver v11 is an online product available to gas and electricity and electricity only customers.

Prices are gauaranteed to be at least 2% below ScottishPower standard prices until 31st October 2011.

Early termination fees of £30 per fuel apply to customers joining the tariff then leaving before 31st October 2010.

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ScottishPower Seeks Information from the Public in Hunt for Dangerous Copper Thieves

Wrexham Industrial Estate has been targeted by copper thieves whose senseless crimes are increasingly dangerous to the electricity supply in the area and to public health. ScottishPower has now taken the extraordinary step of offering cash rewards for information about the crimes. Evidence suggests that the raids are the work of a gang rather than a lone crook, and that they have little knowledge of the equipment they are targeting or the danger it presents for themselves and others.

Metal theft is on the rise throughout Britain, and energy companies are working with the police to track down the gangs and individuals responsible. Thieves typically force their way into the electricity network to plunder small amounts of copper, which is then sold. These desperate actions not only jeopardise the reliability of electricity supplies for local homes and businesses, but increasingly put lives at risk.

Frank Mitchell, director of ScottishPower Energy Networks, said: "These criminals clearly have no idea what they are doing or how dangerous this equipment is. They are showing flagrant disregard for their own safety, the safety of the public, and that of our employees.

"It is important all our equipment is in service to ensure we can maintain a good quality of electricity supply to all of our customers who depend on our service. These dangerous acts not only have the potential to cause serious injury but could also result in widespread loss of electricity supply to homes and businesses in the Wrexham area. Wrexham Industrial Estate is one the largest industrial estates in Europe being home to over 300 businesses, whose trade could be seriously affected as a result of these thefts.

"It quite simply beggars belief that anyone would put their own life at risk by interfering with thousands of volts of electricity in order to steal small amounts of copper that have minimal scrap value. It is lucky that so far no lives have been lost, but if the thieves persist with this reckless behaviour it is only a matter of time before someone is fatally injured.

"We are working with the police in Wrexham who are already following strong leads, but we urgently request any member of the public with information to contact us immediately. ScottishPower is willing to pay a reward to anyone who provides credible information to help us bring charges against those involved with the thefts at Wrexham Industrial Estate. Call our confidential hotline on 0800 027 1950."

Small businesses operating in the UK have been urged to examine their pay structures in order to ensure equality.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have called on firms to make sure they are complying with equal pay laws.

It comes after figures showed that despite the Equal Pay Act being in force for forty years, women are still paid on average 16.4 per cent per hour less than men.

The gap is wider in the private sector, where pay differs by 21.6 per cent, compared to the public sector, where women are still paid 14.6 per cent less.

David Frost, director-general of the BCC, said: "Businesses want to pay people fairly for the job that they do.

"Taking action now to make pay systems transparent and fair should help businesses recruit the best talent to enable the private sector to drive economic recovery."

If you run a small business, then energy bills are almost certainly one of the highest expenses you face. Business electricity and gas prices have been increasing over the last few years, but it’s not all bad news. As a result of increased competition between energy suppliers, you could be making huge savings on your business electricity and gas simply by switching to a different supplier.

Business electricity and gas usage is usually much higher than domestic usage, putting you in the perfect position to negotiate a better contract for your business.

Getting a better contract on your business electricity and gas takes time and expertise, time you could be spending on running your business. But don’t fall into the trap of sticking with your energy supplier – let us do the hard work for you.

We provide independent advice and help  you get the best business electricity and gas agreement for your company – and we’ll even handle the paperwork for you.

OVO Energy has today launched updated prices for their gas and electricity tariffs, New Energy and Green Energy.

With OVO Energy prices are fixed for a period of 12 months from the date the customer joins them.

There is unfortunately early termination fees payable should the customer leave within the first 12 months.

OVO Energy follows EDF Energy and British Gas who have both announced increases across their most competitive online tariffs within the last week.

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Hot on the heels of the recent tariff launches by EDF Energy and npower British Gas has today launched Web Saver 9.

Similar to its predecessor Web Saver 8 this is British Gas’ most competitive online tariff available as a dual fuel, electricity only or gas only product.

Customers do need to have access to the internet to obtain this tariff as it comes with online account management.

Across the UK on average the increase from WebSaver8 to WebSaver 9 is 8.93%.

Customers living in London, Norweb and Seeboard areas see the highest increases of 11.3%, 10.17% and 10.24% respectively.

The rules surrounding the tariff are straightforward in that customers:

1. Need to pay by Monthly Direct Debit

2. New customers need to take gas and electricity

3. Existing customers can select gas and electricity or electricity only

In terms of benefits to the consumer,  a guaranteed discount period is offered, with a minimum 6% discount against British Gas standard tariff prices until 1st November 2011

Customers are encouraged to compare their current energy tariffs against the entire market regularly over the next few months as we start to see the predicted increases taking effect.

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ScottishPower Renewables (SPR), a major shareholder in Hammerfest Strøm for the last 5 years, has already submitted a planning application to install ten HS1000 machines at a tidal-power array in the Sound of Islay on the west coast of Scotland. Beyond this, SPR is developing a 95 turbine project at Ness of Duncansbay in the Pentland Firth as part of The Crown Estate's first marine energy leasing round. The company also confirmed that it will be entering the Ness of Duncansbay project into the Scottish Government's £10 million Saltire Prize for marine energy innovation.

Welcoming Hammerfest's announcement, Keith Anderson said: "ScottishPower Renewables is committed to leading the development of new renewable energy technologies in the UK, and we already have major projects planned utilising wave and tidal power. Following the deployment of the initial HS1000 machine in Orkney, SPR is planning to install ten of the machines in the Sound of Islay, which will be the first tidal power array of its kind in the world. Following on from this, we are also planning to install up to 95 tidal turbines in the Pentland Firth.

"We are delighted that Hammerfest Strøm has announced that it will be constructing the first HS1000 turbine in Scotland.  We know that the company looked internationally to find the right levels of expertise to deliver this contract, so it is a major boost to Scotland's renewable energy industry and to the wider economy to see this new technology going in to construction in Stornoway. With our projects in Islay and the Pentland Firth also being developed, we hope that the announcement today is just the beginning of what could be a major stream of new opportunities for the renewables and manufacturing industries in Scotland."

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, said: "I am delighted that Scottish businesses will benefit from the next stage of the development of one of the world's most advanced tidal turbines.

"With unrivalled energy resources off our coast and a range of wave, tidal and offshore wind development already underway, Scotland leads the way in generating power offshore.

"We have an estimated 25 percent of Europe's offshore wind and tidal resource and 10 percent of its wave potential, a renewable energy resource which is unrivalled in Europe.

"Awarding £4 million of contracts to Scotland is a massive vote of confidence in the talent, expertise and infrastructure we have to support the development of a clean, green renewables future.

"This is another example of how the European Marine Energy Centre, our wave and tidal technical test centre in Orkney, is continuing to pay dividends through further overseas investment in Scotland.

"ScottishPower Renewables continues to lead the way in the development of offshore energy generation. The company's entry to the £10 million Saltire Prize demonstrates that one of the largest innovation prizes of its kind continues to generate global interest in the marine energy potential around our coast."

Fraser McCreadie, Managing Director of Hammerfest Strøm UK, said "We sought bids on an international basis for the substructure fabrication works and are delighted that Burntisland Fabrication Ltd submitted the best value for money offer. We look forward to working closely with BiFab as a key industrial partner to deliver a successful demonstrator Project and to the future in supporting our further commercial tidal array projects."

John Robertson, Bifab's Managing Director commented: "We are delighted to be selected by Hammerfest Strom UK Ltd for the manufacture of the substructure for the new 1 MW tidal device. We are very impressed with the proactive approach of their management and engineering team.  This is a very exciting product with great potential and we are pleased that the next phase of development will be manufactured here in Scotland at the BiFab Arnish facility Stornoway."

The Council of the European Union (EU) recently announced the official adoption of a new invoicing directive.

It means all EU member states, including the UK, must accept electronic invoicing in the same way that paper documentation is handled.

The rules will be implemented over the next few years and must be in effect no later than 2013.

Marc Hoessels, indirect tax partner and head of the Deloitte e-invoicing group in Europe, explained: "All financial systems can already store invoice documents in a secure way, so why not acknowledge this new technology is also secure for tax audits?

"In the UK and the Netherlands, for example, companies can already make arrangements with the tax authorities in order to ensure that they used all necessary procedures to ensure a correct tax return."

That is according to the Institute of Employment Studies (IES), which said the private sector is unlikely to see a recovery that will allow it to absorb the number of workers set to be laid off amid the cuts.

Dr Paul Sisson, research fellow at the IES, said: "More people in the public sector will find that they are made redundant and it won't just be a case of vacancies declining.

"If that is done quickly it seems quite unlikely that private sector growth would be sufficient to compensate for that."

The comments follow the latest report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which revealed that many private sector employers expect to increase their hiring activity over the next three months, while public sector organisation can see appointments falling over the quarter.

The CBI today called on the Government to deliver key energy and planning reforms within six months, or risk undermining emissions targets and energy security.

Launching a new report; No time to lose: Deciding Britain’s energy future,the UK’s leading business group warned that without clarity on Government policy, £150bn of private sector investment in low-carbon infrastructure would fail to materialise. This investment is essential for the UK to achieve a secure, sustainable and cost-effective energy mix that includes renewable sources, nuclear power and fossil fuels.

The CBI said that uncertainty about the planning regime in particular is making investors wary of committing to new energy projects. The Government has announced it will abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) and replace it with a Major Infrastructure Unit with decision-making powers returned to Ministers.

Among measures the CBI is calling for from the Government by the end of February 2011 are tackling delays in the planning system, speeding up the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, and providing more detail on electricity market reform, its renewable energy policy, and the implications of the Emissions Performance Standard.

John Cridland, CBI Deputy Director-General, said:

“The Government’s first few months in office have been rightly dominated by sorting out the fiscal deficit, but it must not let the timetable for energy and planning reform slip any further.

“Energy companies are unable to get the ball rolling on new infrastructure projects when it is unclear how the future planning regime will work.

“Uncertainty on plans for electricity market reform, slow progress on clean coal and nuclear power, as well as the cost of renewable energy are adding to the mood of caution among investors. We need investment from companies, not delays from government.”

By the end of February 2011, the CBI wants the Government to have:

On planning:

Secured Royal Assent on a Decentralisation and Localism Bill which contains a coherent structure for major energy infrastructure planning, including requiring Ministers to stick to decision making timescales set out in the Planning Act and DECC Ministers having sign off for energy applications.
Completed the second consultation on Energy National Policy Statements on Energy Infrastructure and have the revised Statements ready to be approved by Parliament.
Determined all outstanding Section 36 planning applications left from the pre-IPC system.

On Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS):
Announced the winner of first CCS demonstration competition. Got the competition for the remaining three projects underway, with consideration given to one being a gas-fired power station.

On new nuclear power:
Pressed ahead with preparation for new nuclear, including deciding details of funded decommissioning and waste disposal agreements.

On additional market mechanisms:
Completed consultations on a carbon floor price and on wider market reform.

On North Sea taxation:
Ruled out changes to the tax system that would undermine investment. North Sea fiscal policy must recognise the mature age of most fields and the forthcoming cost of decommissioning.

On gas:
Reconsidered the tax treatment of gas storage in preparation for the 2011 Budget, including the capital allowance tax treatment of onshore salt cavern gas storage.

On energy efficiency:
Proposed ways to make the ‘Green Deal’ financing mechanism work for households and firms, and simplified the Carbon Reduction Commitment to ensure it incentivises energy efficiency.

On energy intensive industries:
Consulted on ways to support the most vulnerable industries from the future costs of climate policy prior to an international agreement.

The Climate Change Levy (CCL) is a tax on the use of energy by business and the public sector.  It was introduced on 1st of April 2001 and is intended to encourage energy efficiency in business, reduce pollution and stimulate investment in new low carbon technology.

The CCL is the direct result of the legally binding commitment made by the UK Government at the 1997 Kyoto Conference to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% below 1990 levels by the period 2008/2012.

The CCL affects most UK businesses, however there are some exceptions, but in the main will be charged to all businesses subject to VAT at 17.5%.  Some businesses may receive discounts on the levy, provided they achieve energy saving targets agreed between the government and their relevant trade unions.

CCL is applied at different rate depending on the energy source.  For Electricity it is applied at 0.470 p/kWh and gas at 0.164 p/kWh. (Figures effective 1st April 2009)

It is intended CCL will rise to 0.485p/kwh and 0.167p/kwh from 1st April 2011.

How is my business charged?

As your energy supplier, ScottishPower is responsible for collecting the CCL from your company and passing it directly on to HM Customs and Excise.  It is shown as a separate sub-total on your bill so that you can see exactly how much you are being charged.

How will the CCL be used?

The levy is intended to be fiscally neutral with all revenues collected recycled to business in two ways:

 Through reduction of 0.3% in Employers’ National Insurance contributions paid on employees’ earning in excess of £84 per week;
 By making £150 million available to provide additional support for energy efficiency initiatives

The Climate Change Levy (CCL) is a tax on the use of energy by business and the public sector.  It was introduced on 1st of April 2001 and is intended to encourage energy efficiency in business, reduce pollution and stimulate investment in new low carbon technology.

The CCL is the direct result of the legally binding commitment made by the UK Government at the 1997 Kyoto Conference to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% below 1990 levels by the period 2008/2012.

The CCL affects most UK businesses, however there are some exceptions, but in the main will be charged to all businesses subject to VAT at 17.5%.  Some businesses may receive discounts on the levy, provided they achieve energy saving targets agreed between the government and their relevant trade unions.

CCL is applied at different rate depending on the energy source.  For Electricity it is applied at 0.470 p/kWh and gas at 0.164 p/kWh. (Figures effective 1st April 2009)

It is intended CCL will rise to 0.485p/kwh and 0.167p/kwh from 1st April 2011.

How is my business charged?

Your energy supplier is responsible for collecting the CCL from your company and passing it directly on to HM Customs and Excise.  It is shown as a separate sub-total on your bill so that you can see exactly how much you are being charged.

How will the CCL be used?

The levy is intended to be fiscally neutral with all revenues collected recycled to business in two ways:

1. Through reduction of 0.3% in Employers’ National Insurance contributions paid on employees’ earning in excess of £84 per week;
2. By making £150 million available to provide additional support for energy efficiency initiatives

More needs to be done to support small businesses at this time, an internet marketing company has said.

Banks' position is that they are giving a lot of funding but many small firms are experiencing problems with cashflow.

The comments come in response to an announcement from business secretary Vince Cable that the government understands the importance of access to finance.

Dr Cable added that the coalition will work with the financial services industry and businesses to ensure organisations' needs are being met.

"What we need is action on the ground, [which] filters down to real small businesses," said Mario Lafond, director of BrightSet Media.

"Legislation or a stronger code of practice about the time larger companies take to save smaller companies [can help businesses continue trading]," he added.

Earlier this week, a survey from the Forum of Private Businesses revealed that small firms are struggling to access finance to fund their operations.

An HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigation has lead to the jailing of a tax fraudster for three and half years.

Ukrainian Dmytro Shepel was handed the sentence for his part in a scam which abused the self-assessment tax system.

According to HMRC, Mr Shepel registered 350 fake names for self-assessment and made claims for 218 of them, it total attempting to steal almost GBP650,000.

The fraudster, who entered the UK under a false Lithuanian identity, used a counterfeit passport to open 74 bank accounts to receive the fraudulent payments.

Simon Grunwell, assistant director of HMRC criminal investigations, said: "This was a criminal plot which deprived the nation's public services of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"HMRC takes fraud extremely seriously. In common with commercial financial organisations, we face attempts by individuals and organised criminals to steal from us and we have processes in place to detect and counter fraudulent repayments claims."

Small business owners around the UK could be among those to be encouraged by recent comments regarding profits at a sate-owned bank.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is largely owned by taxpayers after a government bailout, recently posted pre-tax half-year profits of GBP1.1 billion.

Stephen Williams, co-chair of the Liberal Democrats' Treasury policy Committee, said businesses around the country should be the ones to benefit from the profits.

"RBS is almost entirely owned by the taxpayer, so these huge profits must be used for the national interest and not just to pay massive bonuses to senior staff," he said

"There is no excuse for RBS not to loan to good British companies that are struggling to get credit. We cannot simply allow banks to go back to business as usual while viable British firms are suffering."

Interest rates are likely to remain at the all-time low of 0.5 per cent when the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets later this week, it has been claimed.

Michael Baxter, editor of Investment and Business News, said that despite GDP figures showing economic growth of 1.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2010, the MPC is unlikely to make any changes.

The expert said the committee is likely to tread cautiously as the next three months are set to pose a challenging time for the economy.

"I think the majority are going to vote for it to stay at its current level. The feeling is that the third quarter isn't going to be so good," he said.

The expert also claimed that the threat of a double-dip recession remains while the country waits to see the impact of various government initiatives.

"We are entering slightly unknown territory and it is going to take a while, it is going to take six months to a year, before the full impact of these austerity drives are felt, and there has to be a significant chance that the double-dip recession will be the result," he added.

Small business owners in the UK could be encouraged by the news that small business rate relief is set to increase later this year.

With VAT set to increase in the early stages of 2011 and a number of businesses being exempt from the government's new tax scheme because of where they are based, there has been little to lift the spirits of many small businesses owners of late.

However, one measure announced in the most recent Budget could serve to benefit a number of the UK's smaller firms.

As announced by the previous administration, the government is to increase small business rate relief later this year.

Business Link, the government's enterprise information platform, explained: "Between October 1st 2010 and September 30th 2011 eligible ratepayers will receive small business rate relief at 100 per cent on properties up to £6,000 rather than 50 per cent and a tapering relief from 100 per cent to 0 per cent for properties up to £12,000 in rateable value for that period."

The government stated that there will be no other adjustments to the scheme and confirmed that the eligibility criteria will remain the same.

Businesses have been urged to continue paying their rates in accordance with the latest bill they received and await contact from their local authority with information on how the changes will affect them.

The news comes shortly after small business rate relief thresholds were increased following the most recent revaluation on April 1st.

Since then small business in England have been entitled to rate relief in instances when they occupy just one property and the rateable value of that premises does not exceed £18,000 or £25,500 of those based in London.

Further properties with values lower than £2,600 are disregarded.

These rates for the financial year 2010-11 replace the £15,000, £21,500 and £2,200 figures set between April 2005 and March 2010.

Business link also informed firms that they no longer need to reapply for small business rate relief at the start of a new five-year valuation period, as was previously the case.

The department explained: "If you become ineligible for the relief, you must notify your billing authority.

"If the rateable value of your business premises increased as a result at revaluation, your billing authority will adjust the relief accordingly."

A number of other businesses could be encouraged to seek the advice of a specialist tax accountant after Business Link advised that certain organisations are eligible for further relief.

The information service said that charities and amateur sports clubs can have their business rate bills reduced by 80 per cent or more.

Businesses based in rural areas such as village shops can claim relief if the rateable value of their premises is less than £8,500, while sole pubs and single petrol stations in rural areas can claim relief on properties valued up to £12,500.

British Gas is set to help up to 50,000 of Britain's most hard-pressed households cut their energy bills.

This summer, Britain's largest domestic energy supplier is offering around £10 million-worth of free energy assessments and energy efficiency measures which could cut energy bills by around £250 per year for each home.

British Gas customers who want to request a free home energy assessment should call 0800 980 5 999.

The Clean Energy Ministerial is a new US-led initiative which aims to bring forward transformational activity in clean energy technology.  The Secretary of State will be joined by Mr Horler to discuss the UK's work to encourage CCS developments at a panel meeting that will also include Ministerial representation from nations such as China, Canada and Germany.

Nick Horler said: “The UK remains at the forefront of encouraging CCS developments and innovation. The Government's commitment to help fund up to 4 demonstration projects is one of the most ambitious in the world. Policymakers in nearly all industrialised nations recognise that CCS will play a hugely important role in meeting the twin challenges of producing secure supplies of electricity whilst reducing harmful carbon emissions.

“ScottishPower has been operating a successful carbon capture test project at Longannet Power Station for over a year, and we have made a number of major breakthroughs that will be of benefit to the worldwide development of this technology. The meeting in Washington will provide an opportunity for the countries with the highest CO2 emissions from across the world to share knowledge and to discuss cohesive strategies to help reduce carbon output.”

ScottishPower has today removed Online Energy Saver 9 from the market and launched Online Energy Saver 10.

With Online Energy Saver 10 prices are guaranteed to remain a minimum of 2% below ScottishPower's standard monthly Direct Debit gas and electricity prices until 31st October 2011.

Early termination fees do apply for anyone joining them leaving before 31st October 2011.

As with all ScottishPower tariffs at the moment on Switchit4u Online Energy Saver comes with £25 cashback per fuel. This is on top of any other offers in the market at this time.

Britain's churches and other religious buildings could raise £34 million a year for their coffers by installing solar panels, according to new figures from the British Gas Green Streets programme, which are unveiled today.

"The Government's Feed-In Tariff scheme is the key to unlocking the potential of solar power in Britain.  As Britain's energy company, we at British Gas are committed to helping households, business and community and faith groups make the most of this opportunity to cut their carbon footprint and earn money for the electricity they generate."

The company will donate and install solar panels - worth between £20,000 and £40,000 per school - in up to 750 schools.  Each school will be able to generate its own free, green electricity, cutting as much as 20% off its annual electricity bill.

The schools receiving solar panels will receive a British Gas smart meter, offering real time information so pupils can see the difference their solar panels are making.  Specially created Generation Green lesson plans will help teachers engage their pupils in learning about renewable energy, and schools will be able to track their performance against others and share tips and advice via a specially designed website.

All schools in the UK can register for an application form at http://www.generationgreen.co.uk/. 

The chancellor George Osborne claimed the "unavoidable" hike will generate £13 billion towards clearing the deficit as he delivered his emergency Budget.

The tax is considered regressive because it impacts on purchases rather than income, and therefore tends to hit the poor harder than it does the rich.

Right-wing group the Taxpayers' Alliance found itself agreeing, perhaps for the first time in its history, with the TUC, which also opposes the move.

In a campaign video posted across the internet, the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "VAT hits the poor twice as hard as the rich. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have no mandate to hike VAT."

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, said: "VAT increases don't just hit the poor more than the rich, they also hit small firms, threaten retail jobs and by boosting inflation could also lead to higher interest rates."

Retailers and economists have voiced concerns over the possibility the move could derail the recovery. The British Retail Consortium said the increase will cut consumer spending by £3.6 billion and cost 163,000 jobs.

The first phase of the London Array wind farm has a capacity of 630MW slated to commence operation in 2012 to be able to provide renewable energy for the London Olympics.

The company claims that once completed, the wind farm will be the world's largest offshore wind farm. Dong Energy owns 50% of the farm with E.ON (30%) and Masdar holding the remaining stake.

Carsten Thomsen, chief financial officer of Dong Energy, said: "Dong Energy's goal is to reach at least 3,000MW of wind turbine capacity by 2020, and London Array is a cornerstone in this transition towards a greener future. The EKF guaranteed EIB funding of the project supports our robustly financed investment program".

Business Electricity Prices

A joint review carried out by energy regulator Ofgem and Consumer Focus has found that suppliers continue to make good progress in the way they deal with customers in debt and have made genuine efforts to help those struggling to manage bills in difficult economic times.

Nevertheless, there is more suppliers can do and although the report particularly highlights progress suppliers are making, it also raises concerns about the way they take into account customers‟ ability to pay when setting debt repayment levels. While it is important that debt is recovered, it must be done in a way which takes account of the individual customer circumstances.

Ofgem has established a set of key principles which suppliers should consider to ensure they are properly and proactively taking account of a customer‟s ability to pay. These include making proactive contact with the customer and ensuring they understand the repayment arrangements. Ofgem and national charity Citizens Advice met with suppliers who gave their support to the key principles and suppliers are due to meet with the Energy Retail Association to discuss implementation.

Sarah Harrison, Ofgem‟s Senior Partner for Sustainable Development, said "While the number of energy customers in debt has remained relatively stable over the past 18 months, the amount that they owe has been increasing. In these difficult economic times it is particularly important that suppliers set debt repayment levels appropriate to individual customers‟ circumstances and ability to pay. We are pleased that the industry supports the key principles we have identified to improve the way suppliers deal with indebted customers."

Audrey Gallacher, Head of Energy Policy, at Consumer Focus said: „We welcome commitments from energy suppliers to improve how they treat consumers in debt. However, there are still problems with suppliers setting unaffordable debt repayment levels.

On a daily basis customers contact both us and Consumer Direct saying they are worried about paying their debts. Given the continued difficult economic situation, it‟s more important than ever that suppliers understand their customers‟ personal circumstances and agree realistic and affordable debt repayment plans.‟

Teresa Perchard, Director of Policy at Citizens Advice, said "It is clear that many people continue to struggle to pay for their gas and electricity bills – our latest statistics reveal that fuel debt problems dealt with by bureaux were up 33 per cent last year. Energy suppliers should do all they can to help people who are in debt. We are pleased to be collaborating with Ofgem and the energy industry to make this a reality, and are particularly keen to ensure that suppliers set repayment rates based on a customer‟s ability to pay, in keeping with Ofgem rules."

Currently a 51% shareholder in SPE-Luminus, the second largest energy company in Belgium, EDF has concluded agreements with the three Belgian shareholders having exercised their sale option, in full or in part. These agreements bear on the purchase amount for their stock in SPE, which has been fixed at 215 million Euros.

Germans pay the second highest rates for electricity in Europe, right behind Denmark, new statistics showed on Friday.

While the average cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity in Europe for the second half of 2008 and the first half of 2009 tallied €0.165, Germans paid €0.229, the European Union statistics office Eurostat reported from its headquarters in Luxembourg.

When adjusted for purchasing power, Germans paid the third-highest prices to power their country, the study added.

The Danes paid the most at €0.255 per kilowatt hour, while Bulgarians paid less than half the price at €0.08 per kilowatt hour, Eurostat reported.

Against the overall European trend, which saw electricity prices go down by 1.5 percent during that time period, German consumers bore a 4.5 percent increase.

The biggest reduction in electricity prices were in Cypress (20 percent) and Italy (10 percent), while the steepest increases were in Poland (18 percent) and Luxembourg (17 percent).

Meanwhile German electricity taxes of 41 percent were also found to be the second highest in the EU. Denmark’s electricity tax of 56 percent was the highest, while the European average was much lower at just 26 percent.

Germans did get a break on gas prices, though, which dropped by 22.8 percent, a bit more than the Europe-wide average decrease of 16 percent.

UTILITY giant Scottish & Southern Energy yesterday pledged to continue pushing through above-inflation dividend increases for the next three years, but said it could not rule out energy price rises.

Ian Marchant: Has pledged to raise dividends until 2013.

Ian Marchant, chief executive of the Scottish Hydro owner, which now boasts more than nine million customers across the UK, said the firm would hike dividends at least two percentage points above inflation in each of the three financial years to March 2013.

That is below the increase of at least 4 per cent above inflation in the period 2007 to 2010. Marchant said the partial reining-in was because SSE was entering a period of greater capital investment that meant "we need a little bit more cash in the business".

However, unveiling a steady rise in annual profits, he said the Perth-based group was one of only seven British companies that had increased dividends above the retail prices index every year in the past decade.

"We are an income stock," Marchant said. "You don't buy us for the ethereal view of superior financial returns. Instead, you get a good dividend yield you can hang your hat on."

He added that the latest divi pledge time frame was "long enough to be worth having" but not so long as to be hedged by uncertainty on the trading climate to fulfil it.

Marchant's comments came as SSE boosted its latest annual dividend to end-March 6 per cent to 70p, via a 49p final payment, on the back of underlying pre-tax profits edging up nearly 3 per cent to £1.29 billion.

Operating profits at SSE's generation and supply business jumped by more than £60m to £896m, accounting for more than half of the group's overall operating profits.

SSE, which has 9.2 million customers, said underlying demand had stopped falling for industrial customers but for domestic customers it was still dropping because of energy efficiency.

On future prices, Marchant said his "best guess" was that there would be no change in this calendar year. He added: "It's not in my gift. It depends on what happens to gas wholesale prices." The SSE boss said in the past six weeks gas prices had gone up quite significantly to 53p a therm "which is in quite difficult territory" from a price "in the low 40ps (per therm] where there might be scope for a price reduction".

SSE, which also owns Southern Electric and Swalec in England and Wales, cut gas bills 4 per cent in March.

Marchant said a drive on safety had cut working days lost from injury from 361 to 73.

Meanwhile, the bad winter meant water held in its hydro-electric reservoirs slumped to 52 per cent of the maximum from 73 per cent in the previous year.

Ofgem makes sure that business Gas and Electricity customers are well protected. Ofgem has conducted a review of business energy practises and implemented a set of new rules and guidelines that will come into effect from 18th January 2010.

However it's important to note that these changes are not taking effect retrospectively; so if you're still in a business gas and electricity contract, the rules do not apply until you renew your existing contract or take out a new one. Your business energy supplier can choose to apply these changes retrospectively, so the safest thing to do is check with them directly.

The review had a number of outcomes that might affect your business. The following list gives an indication of the most significant changes:

Before entering into a new business gas and electricity contract with a supplier, the supplier must give details of the key terms and conditions to the customer and make it clear that the contract is binding.

Within 10 days of the contract being agreed or an existing contract being extended, the customer should receive a written copy of the terms and conditions
Approximately 60 days before the end of a fixed term period, business energy suppliers must send customers a statement of renewal terms.

Upon receipt of the renewal terms, the customer has 30 days to switch or negotiate a new deal.

If customers do nothing within the 30 day notification period, their contract can only be rolled over for a maximum of 12 months.

Customers who don't want to have their contract automatically rolled over at the end of a fixed term period can now stop this from happening by writing to their supplier at any point and requesting to ‘opt out' of the contract.

Will the new rules apply to my business?

The new rules will apply to your business if it fits into any one of the following criteria. Your business must:

Consume less than 200,000 kWh of gas a year, or
Consume less than 55,000 kWh of electricity a year, or

have fewer than ten employees (or full-time equivalent) and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total not exceeding €2m.

Ofgem refers to any business that fit the criteria as micro-businesses. But don't assume that your business energy supplier will know that you're a micro-business; you must make sure you tell them.

Why is the rules good news for my business?

From January 18th 2010, it is the energy supplier's responsibility to make sure that the terms and conditions of your contract are presented to you clearly. Previously, they may have been difficult to find and translate. This means you should always know where you stand with your business energy supplier and your contract terms.

Also, suppliers have been prevented from automatically rolling customers onto contracts any longer than 12 months. This gives your business protection from getting stuck on a long-term contract that might not be the cheapest or the right contract for your business. This puts you in a much better position to negotiate new contracts and better gas and electricity prices on a more regular basis.

What should I do next?

We've put together a few quick tips to make sure you and your business can take full advantage of the new rules:

Make sure you read any paperwork from your energy supplier thoroughly, and make a note of any important dates that are stated.

Make sure your supplier is aware that you are a micro-business customer.

When you renew or take out your next business energy contract, it may be a good idea to opt out of it. This means that when the term of your contract is over, you won't be automatically rolled over onto another long-term contract. Instead, you'll be placed on a 28 day rolling contract (with potentially higher prices) that you can switch away from at any time. This can be an advantage if you accidentally miss your renewal date, so simply write to your supplier and request to opt out if you want to do this.

Switch to get a better deal today.

Use our business energy form to request a quote or simply call 0845 226 0046 One of our experts will be happy to help you find the best business energy deal right then and there – and we'll handle all the paperwork too.

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There are many thrilling aspects to the British election due to be held on May 6th. A hard-fought battle over environmental priorities is not one of them. Climate is the top environmental issue across the board, and the three major parties, Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats, broadly agree on the need for measures to cut carbon dioxide emissions steeply. So, for that matter, do the regional parties and most of the minor parties.

The most notable exception, out towards the fringe, is the UK Independence Party. UKIP speaks for those opposed to membership of the European Union, a group that has a lot of overlap with climate sceptics, and is the political home of Christopher Monckton, the highest-profile climate sceptic of the "it's all an outright fraud" persuasion that Britain can boast. UKIP is proud of its own climate scepticism, and says it would repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act, remove Al Gore DVDs from schools, allow wind turbines only offshore, and so on. (Met Office funding in UKIP-land will be calculated on the basis of the accuracy of the organisation's weather forecasts.)

Even so, the party is firmly, indeed fervently, pro-nuclear, wants more high-speed trains and enthuses over electric vehicles. It would build more coastal and flood defences and invest in clean coal. Leaving aside rhetoric and renewables — both things which British climate discussions might be said to overemphasise — even UKIP isn't that far out of the consensus.

So when the energy, environment and climate spokesmen of the major parties meet to debate in public, as they did on April 21st at the Guardian newspaper, and again on April 26th under the aegis of Ask the Climate Question, an assortment of green charities and pressure groups making common cause, there was more dull worthiness than high drama. The major parties all agree on reductions to Britain's emissions, increases in the deployment of renewables, investments in carbon capture and storage systems for coal-fired power stations, a big nationwide push to increase the energy efficiency of people's homes, new high-speed-train lines and the creation of a Green Investment Bank.

The shared level of commitment and wonkiness is, in its way, inspiring (though it must be a bit dispiriting for the Green party, which to stay distinctively unelectable has had to move towards a thoroughgoing social-justice agenda funded with tax increases no-one else would touch). As George Monbiot, an activist who writes a column for the Guardian, wrote after that paper's event, "They all had the kind of detailed knowledge of green issues that just a few years ago would have been perceived as superfluous to a political career... any one of them could have been fronting a Friends of the Earth campaign from a few years ago. The issues that were once marginal or excluded have gone mainstream." Which may be nice, but hardly produces fireworks, unless you consider the correct way of applying business rates to onshore wind farms an incendiary issue.

Where there are differences, they are sometimes smaller than they seem. Labour is in favour of a third runway at Heathrow, which the other main parties point to as evidence of its poor green credentials. But Labour rules out all other new runways, which the other major parties have not. Which party's position would actually result in the lowest emissions from aircraft is not clear. Nor is it that obvious that runways are the key factor. Arguing for a tighter cap on emissions for the industry is probably more important, not least because it has effects Europe-wide.

The issue where there is the largest substantive issue is on nuclear power. The Liberal Democrats oppose it, and would try to meet the already ambitious carbon reduction targets that the country has subscribed to (a 34% reduction in carbon emissions, measured from a 1990 baseline, by 2020) without it. The Conservatives and Labour are in favour; one of the reasons that the Conservatives are planning to institute a "floor" on carbon prices is presumably that it will make nuclear power look plausible to investors without being seen directly to subsidise it. But both Conservatives and Labour are pro-nuclear with some reluctance, aware both of the technology's costs and its unpopularity. This awareness may be why they do not attack the Liberals on the subject as strongly as they might. Though the Liberals have a point that nuclear is in no way a quick fix, nor is climate change a short-term crisis. To ignore an established, widely used low-carbon technology a priori when committed to massive long-term decarbonisation makes no sense.

There are also areas where the consensus between the parties falls short of what green lobbies and others want. All three main parties have included some sort of Green Investment Bank in their plans. But they are not interested in capitalising it to anything like the extent that the people pushing the idea — notably Climate Change Capital, an investor and advice company — would like. Backers of the bank want to see the £40 billion ($62 billion) that is likely to be raised from the sale of carbon allowances between 2012 and 2020 to go into its coffers to do good infrastructural work. None of the parties likely to have a say in government will commit to that, leaving the prospect, at present, of a small and rather ineffectual organisation.

Amid all this consensus, for good or ill, the biggest difference between the parties lies not in the area of policy, but in the extent of their internal unity on green matters. A significant number of voters are sceptical enough about climate change to doubt the wisdom of any costly action, and they probably vote disproportionately Conservative. The blogs that Conservative activists follow have a strong tendency to scepticism — so do some of the party's incoming MPs, and more of them simply seem to see the environment as a low priority.

The Conservative manifesto looks green in exactly the way that you would expect of a party where the leadership has set out to use environmental issues as a way of "detoxifying" its brand, and the consensus shown at the various events which the environmental spokesmen have graced during the campaign clearly works to the Tories' advantage. It shows that they are quite acceptable to "progressive" voters on a set of issues that the Liberals long owned and that Labour has invested a great deal in. But how much of a green agenda the Conservative leadership would be able to get through if it had only a small majority, and there was genuine dissent within its ranks, is hard to say.

Climate scepticism is hardly likely to be the problem to David Cameron, the Conservative leader, that euro-scepticism was to his predecessor John Major — not least because, as UKIP shows, you can be climate sceptic and still find quite a lot to like in carbon-cutting policies. But there could be resistance to policies which actually cost a lot of money, such as the support of offshore wind on a massive scale. That in turn opens the question of whether, denied support on its own benches, the Conservatives might receive support from other parties on such issues. A consensus before the election is one thing. Afterwards, when there is political damage to be done, it could become harder.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance and EDF confirm an experimental electric vehicle project in Yvelines with the financial support of the demonstration fund managed by ADEME

EDF
To coincide with the presentation of the plan to deploy public charging infrastructure for carbonfree vehicles (announcement made by Jean-Louis Borloo, Minister of State for the Environment, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea), ADEME (the French Environmental and Energy Management Agency) has confirmed that it will support the project with €6.5 million funding.

2010 could be the year of energy bill cuts as pressure mounts on suppliers to pass on lower wholesale costs to customers. The 'big six' suppliers have all taken heed and cut bills.

In February, British Gas cut gas bills by 7%. Just weeks later, Scottish and Southern Energy cut its gas bills by 4%, E.ON announced a 3.3% reduction to gas bills and npower decreased gas prices by 7%.

ScottishPower and EDF Energy have also cut gas bills by 8% and 4% respectively. However, concerns remain about what will happen to energy prices down the line.

Why are bills being cut?

When retail energy prices jumped across the board during 2008, energy suppliers pointed the finger of blame on the huge spike in wholesale costs.

But this situation has now been reversed. Ahead of the most recent cuts, Andrew Wright, senior partner for markets at Ofgem, told suppliers that the regulator would expect them to pass recent falls in wholesale energy costs on to consumers.

While cuts have been forthcoming, the size of these has come as a disappointment. Audrey Gallacher, energy expert at Consumer Focus, says the days of cut-throat price competition are a distant memory.

"All suppliers cut by almost identical margins within days of each other," she says. "There are no sprinters in this race, all we have are long distance trudgers desperate to stay in the safety of the pack."

But Graham Bartlett, managing director of E.ON's retail business, says: "The fall in current wholesale prices is only part of the pricing story as our customers are using gas bought over a number of years at much higher prices than today."

Are households really benefiting?

British Gas was the first major energy supplier to announce it was cutting gas bills this year – however, just a few weeks later it announced a 58% jump in its annual profits, thanks to the falling wholesale cost of gas and electricity.

But the energy giant isn't alone in seemingly raking in the profits. An investigation by Ofgem found that the net margin for a typical standard dual fuel customer rose by £30 during the three months to February 2010.

Mike O'Connor, chief executive of watchdog Consumer Focus, says: "At a time when householders are worried about their winter energy bills, they will no doubt wonder why margins have increased for the fifth quarter in a row, while wholesale costs continue to fall.

The answer seems to be depressingly simple – energy companies are pushing up their profits by cashing in on the cold spell."

Although Ofgem's figures don't take into account the latest price cuts, a quick look at energy price movements over the past two years shows the impact of rocketing wholesale energy costs in 2008 is still being felt by many households.

For example, British Gas only cut gas prices by 10% last year and 7% this year, compared with a 50% hike in 2008.

The future of energy prices

While energy bills appear to be 'heading south', this is sadly only a short-term trend. A recent report by Ofgem warned that far-reaching energy market reforms are needed in order to ensure energy supplies are sustainable, and affordable, beyond the middle of this decade.

Without this investment, energy could become unaffordable. However, with an estimated £200 billion needed, it is likely some of the cost will filter through into domestic energy bills.

There are also fears that consumers may have to pick up the cost of smart meters, which every house must have within the next 10 years. 
What you should do

According to energy experts, people on standard tariffs are probably better off switching regardless of pending price cuts.

"Online energy plans currently cost around £300 a year less than suppliers' standard plans, offering households a real opportunity to take their energy bills back to pre-2008 levels.

As well as switching, there are a number of other things you can do to reduce your bill. For example, you're likely to be charged less if you opt for paperless bills and pay by direct debit.

However, one of the best ways to cut your bill is to simply use less energy. Making your home more energy efficient is also an option, although this can be costly.

The government does offer grants to households to help them meet the cost of energy efficient home improvements.

New rules

Currently, energy suppliers are allowed up to 65 days to notify a customer following a decision to increase prices. If a customer is notified after the event, then suppliers must allow them to switch supplier and avoid any backdated increase.

However, the energy regulator Ofgem is now considering amending the statutory time limit. Under the proposed new rules, it may insist on energy suppliers notifying customers of price changes in advance or, alternatively, it may reduce the time limit from 65 days to 10.

Compare Gas and Electricity Prices now!

Like more and more 'standard' type tariffs SOLv18 does come with early termination fees should customers decide to leave before 30th June 2011.

Price Guarantee offers the customer the ability to cap their energy prices up to 31st May 2011. Surprisingly this tariff carries no exist penalties.

With these tariffs npower has made its position clear that it clearly wishes to operate in the competitive arena. All indications would suggest that these tariffs will create a bit of a stir.
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Britain will not build state owned gas storage to ensure energy supply as this would raise gas prices, unsettle gas the market and harm commercial investments, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said.
"In light of these challenges, the Government has decided not to pursue this option," it said on Thursday in a report on gas security.

Instead, it is considering asking gas producers to provide gas production figures ahead of the high winter demand period to assess the risk of a gas shortage, and improving communications with the Norwegian energy network operator.

Britain has a lower ratio of storage as a percentage of demand than France or Germany, prompting calls for more storage to be built to buffer against unexpected supply cuts like those caused by a Russia-Ukraine gas dispute two winters ago.

The country imports a large amount of gas from Norway, and a technical problem at a Norwegian gas field set off a gas balancing alert in Britain last winter when exceptionally cold weather sent demand soaring.

Other security measures under consideration include giving financial incentives to balance supply and demand in emergencies and possibly strengthening suppliers' obligations to provide gas for homes and small to medium sized businesses.

Sam Laidlaw, the chief executive of utility Centrica, said the government needed to back development of commercial gas storage facilities.

"The policy statement rightly recognises the success of the liberalised energy market in delivering the necessary investment in new infrastructure," Laidlaw said.

Centrica operates Rough, the largest gas storage facility in Britain, and is also investing in other storage projects.

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), through its wholly-owned subsidiary SSE E&P UK, has entered into an agreement with Hess to acquire its natural gas assets and infrastructure in three regions of the North Sea.
The regions include Everest/Lomond area, Easington Catchment area and Bacton area. SSE will pay a total cash consideration of $423m for Hess' assets. The transaction is subject to the receipt of all necessary partner and regulatory approvals.

The total gas and liquid resources, which SSE is acquiring, total around 383 billion cubic feet (bcf) or 64 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). The headline transaction price for these resources is $6.6/barrels of oil equivalent (boe) or $1.1/million cubic feet (mcf).

Additional less certain resources of gas may also be identified through further exploration. The main production asset operators are BG Group, BP and Perenco.

SSE currently needs on average around 1300mcf of gas per day to supply its customers and to fuel its power stations and gas from the acquired assets will provide around 8% of that initially, declining over the next ten years.

According to SSE, while the upstream gas assets represent the large majority of the transaction, the company will also acquire other assets from Hess including its 17.7% equity interest in the Central Area Transmission System (CATS) pipeline, which delivers approximately 10% of the UK's total gas demand through a 400km pipeline from the central North Sea to a processing terminal in Teesside. The CATS pipeline is operated by BP.

Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE, said: "This timely acquisition will enable SSE to enter the upstream gas sector in a measured way by buying proven and geographically diverse production assets.

"These assets will provide a new source of primary fuel and a hedge for our gas generation and supply activities. The acquisition will also give us involvement throughout the gas chain – production, transmission, storage, distribution and supply."

Shipley Parish Council has celebrated the installation of energy efficient measures at its parish room, following a £15,500 grant from energy company E.ON.

The previously unusable room received a major overhaul thanks to E.ON's Sustainable Energy Fund, which helped fund the installation of an air source heat pump, insulation in the ceiling, cavity wall and floor, double glazed windows and dry-lining of the walls.

Tony Jenkin Jones, Community Relations Executive for E.ON, said: "This is a great example of how community organisations can benefit from our Sustainable Energy Fund and contribute to a more sustainable, low carbon future."

Judy Mallaber, MP for Amber Valley, officially opened Shipley Parish Room to celebrate improvements made. She said: "I'm delighted to see the opening for community of this historic parish room built in 1897, which has stood empty for the past 10 years and is now reopened thanks to the hard work of local community groups.

"It's great to see the real changes E.ON's Sustainable Energy Fund is bringing to local communities by helping them become more energy efficient."

Leni Cooper, Secretary of Shipley Parish Room Trust, said: "Local community groups have been keenly awaiting the opening of the parish room as, up until now, there has not been a meeting place in the area since our parish room closed more than a decade ago.

"E.ON's grant has made a tremendous difference to our project.  A building that was once a very cold, draughty and unwelcoming place has been thoroughly insulated throughout and heated by an energy efficient heat pump.  We are now able to provide a modern venue that is energy efficient, warm and low cost."

E.ON's Sustainable Energy Fund helps community groups and not-for-profit organisations develop sustainable energy measures.

It is supported by a dedicated web resource which provides top tips on energy efficiency and sustainability and full details of how to apply for a grant.

SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) has completed the in-sourcing of its meter reading and electricity meter operation services throughout Great Britain, a year ahead of schedule.

It has also completed the first community-wide energy reduction trials in the UK, featuring ‘smart’ meters, and through this has helped two partner communities achieve a 10% reduction in their energy consumption.

In-sourcing
In line with its general preference for services and operations to be carried out ‘in-house’, SSE decided to in-source metering services in a programme which started in 2007. This programme has now been completed, creating 750 new jobs within SSE as a result. SSE’s metering team now comprises 1,500 directly-employed people working in all parts of Great Britain.

In addition to securing annual cost savings of at least £5m, the in-house metering team delivers more reliable metering services, allows more effective management of customer data and creates face-to-face contact between SSE and its customers.

Before the metering in-sourcing was completed, SSE relied on a combination of its own employees in central southern England and the north of Scotland and up to nine external agencies elsewhere in the country to read electricity and gas meters and install and repair electricity meters.

Energy reduction
Longer-term, SSE’s Great Britain-wide metering team will be able to support the transition to ‘smart’ meters which will take place over the next 10 years and will help SSE deploy other energy-related services and products during that time.

SSE has been one of the largest participants in the UK Government’s Energy Demand Research Project (EDRP), since it began in July 2007.  SSE’s projects have involved the long-term trial of over 10,000 smart meters in several locations across the UK and community-wide energy reduction trials involving three communities in Wales, Scotland and England.

SSE has been the only energy supplier in the EDRP to hold trials involving engagement with entire communities. These trials were held in North Leigh in Oxfordshire, Alyth in Perthshire and St Athan in South Wales.

SSE has today announced the communities of North Leigh and Alyth have successfully achieved their target of a community-wide 10% reduction in energy consumption. The trial in St Athan started later, and is therefore not due to be completed until later this year. The community is, however, working hard to achieve their target, and good progress is being made.

A range of measures was available to each community including smart meters, real-time display devices (which show energy use in monetary value), energy efficiency advice and insulation offers. As well as the support provided by SSE,  the communities arranged various events locally, designed to involve the whole community.

The EDRP trials, which were announced in July 2007 and started later that year,  have been managed by industry regulator, Ofgem, on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and aim to gain an understanding of how consumers react to improved information about their energy consumption. The trials consist of different elements using different methods to provide feedback on energy consumption.

Natalie Bruce, Head of Metering at SSE, said:

“The key independent surveys confirm that SSE already sets the benchmark for good customer service in the energy supply sector, but we want to build on that.  Metering is the foundation of good customer service in energy supply, and I am very pleased that SSE now has its own nation-wide team.  This will stand us in very good stead as we prepare for the installation of smart meters and other new services and products that energy customers will rightly expect over the next decade.”

Richard Westoby, SSE’s Director of Energy Demand, said:

"The information that we have obtained during our smart metering trials will be extremely useful in helping to shape the future of the energy industry. The primary purpose of our trials was to understand how people use energy and how savings can be made when more control is given to individuals and communities.

“We firmly believe that there must be radical changes in the way that energy is produced and consumed and the results of these trials, which have used a number of innovative technologies, will help us assist all customers in reducing their energy consumption in the future.”

Energy minister, Lord Hunt, said:

“Smart meters will help people manage their energy better and the energy demand research project is an important part of understanding how consumers respond to them. Every home will have one of the meters by the end of 2020 under our plans. It’s great to see the success that these communities have had in cutting energy use as part of these trials.”

British Gas has today confirmed plans to speed-up its smart meter programme by installing two million smart meters in customers' homes by 2012 in an attempt to enable British householders to take an early advantage of smart meter technology which consists of real time, on-screen information – thus helping to reduce energy use, cut carbon emissions and lower fuel bills.

British Gas, whose parent company is Centrica – a leading integrated energy company, has also unveiled the world-leading companies it will be working with to reach this target – consisting of mobile phone giant, Vodafone; billing systems leader, SAP; software and communications firms, OSIsoft and Trilliant; and global smart meter manufacturer, Landis+Gyr. Plus the Zigbee Smart Energy global wireless home area network standard will be used to connect the in-home devices.

British Gas believes that like all new technology innovations, implementing agreed standards within the industry is a vital step, especially in the highly competitive energy supply market, where over 100,000 customers' change suppliers each week. Therefore, all suppliers will need to be able to operate all smart meters – and that is why British Gas has also declared to share its technical standards with the rest of the industry in an attempt to build momentum for an earlier roll-out, thus beating the Government's target date of 2020.

Phil Bentley, MD of British Gas, Stated:

"At British Gas, we already have the largest smart meter trial in the country. We want all our customers to have smart meters as soon as possible, so they can take advantage of this technology and use it to help them cut their energy use, carbon emissions and fuel bills"

No U-turn on biofuel policy say's the EU!

The European Union has bowed to pressure from environmental groups and published its first major impact assessment into the effect of biofuel on indirect land use change, following concerns that it could undermine the fuel's stated environmental benefits.

However the EU is sticking by its target requiring 10 per cent of all road transport fuel to come from renewable sources by 2020, with the vast majority likely to come from biofuels and has all but ruled out a U-turn on its biofuels policy, despite some media reports to the contrary.

The new environmental impact study for the EU Biofuels Mandate was published yesterday, and details how different scenarios, such as the use of electric cars and second generation biofuels that do not use agricultural land, would affect the emission reductions that are expected to result from the 10 per cent target.

The EU said that although models in the report show that an increase in the proportion of biofuel results in higher indirect greenhouse gas emissions, the net outcome is still positive compared to use of fossil fuels and would not undermine the environmental viability of biofuels.

However, according to Friends of the Earth, the new report shows that if the proportion of biofuels used rises above 5.6 per cent of all road transport fuels, "there is a real risk that indirect land use change could undermine the environmental viability of biofuels".

The 5.6 per cent figure is obtained by deducting the expected share in 2020 of other renewable road transport fuels from the 10 per cent target. But critics said that the anticipated contribution from other forms of transport, such as electric cars, had been inflated to bolster the case for retaining the 10 per cent target.

Friends of the Earth seized on the report as evidence the EU strategy on biofuels is fundamentally flawed and reiterated its calls for the 10 per cent target to be scrapped.

Adrian Bebb, agrofuels campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe said: "The EU's biofuel policy is looking more and more unsustainable and if not urgently reviewed will lead to deforestation, more climate changing emissions and damage to the environment. It is time to end this madness and bring in real solutions to the climate crisis."

He added that the new report should trigger an urgent review of EU biofuels policy. "How is the EU going to restrict use so that biofuels do not damage the environment or people?" he asked. "The case against the current 10 per cent target is as strong as it ever was."

However, Marlene Holzner, a spokeswoman for EU Energy Commissioner Guenter Oettinger told BusinessGreen.com that the report "provides no basis for calling [the 10 per cent target] into question", and rejected speculation that the EU is preparing a U-turn.

"The aim of the studies is to look into different scenarios and review the effects of the use of biofuels," she said. "This includes for example the change of land use and the impact it has on carbon emissions. Once we know what the impact is, we can minimise the impact if necessary. But there is nothing in this report that tells us that promoting biofuels is wrong."

The report does however conclude by admitting that considerable uncertainty remains regarding the impact of new sustainability criteria on biofuels markets and says that more empirical research into the role of certification and differentiation of biofuels is required.

New entrant energy supplier Ovo has become the cheapest supplier of gas and electricity after undercutting the 'Big 6' companies.

Ovo now offers the cheapest standard tariff gas and electricity after cutting bills by 7%. It makes it cheaper than any of the 'Big 6' – British Gas, Npower, Scottish & Southern, Scottish Power, E.On and EDF.
The average family in the UK can expect to save around £355 by switching to Ovo's New Energy Fixed Tariff, paying £855 per year.

However, while the Ovo tariff jumps ahead of the Big 6's standard tariffs, those looking for the very cheapest deal are likely to find an 'online' tariff costs them less.

Online tariffs mean you apply and get your bills on the internet.

Of the online tariffs, fellow new supplier First:Utility offers the cheapest deal.

The Conservatives say they will force electricity and gas suppliers to provide sufficient gas and electricity supplies as part of a plan to guarantee energy security.

The Tories plan to incentivise firms to build added capacity and intervene over supply contracts and storage facilities to protect gas supplies in the winter.

Tory leader David Cameron said energy policy was "out of date" and Labour had failed to modernise key infrastructure.

Labour said the policy approach was "simplistic and ill-thought through".

Publishing a consultation paper on energy security, the Tories said they supported government plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to replace the majority of existing plants which are due to cease operating by the middle of the next decade.

However, the Tories said Labour had "consistently ducked" the challenge of reforming power infrastructure and diversifying energy sources to offset the fall in North Sea oil and gas production.

'Lights off'

The party has warned that the "lights could go off" at some point over the next 15 years if existing capacity is not replaced and says its priority is to deliver secure, sustainable and affordable supplies of energy.

Under a new electricity capacity guarantee, regulators would be able to issue long-term supply contracts to generators to stimulate investment while gas suppliers could be required to build extra storage facilities to prevent strains on the network at times of peak consumption.

  We are setting out a Conservative programme for long-overdue reform of energy policy, together with the actions we will take to mobilise the investment required to enact those reforms

David Cameron
The Tories are also recommending a overhaul of the climate change levy, to charge firms on the basis of their emissions and to provide a "floor" price for carbon to encourage emissions trading.

Ministers will be required to deliver an annual energy policy statement to Parliament while energy regulator Ofgem will lose its competition and consumer protection powers - to be handed to the Office of Fair Trading - and focus solely on executing policy.

"British energy policy is out of date," Mr Cameron said.

"It was designed almost thirty years ago for a world in which Britain had an excess of generating capacity, in which we enjoyed the benefits of growing North Sea oil and gas production and in which neither local pollution nor climate change were the concern they are today.

"We are setting out a Conservative programme for long-overdue reform of energy policy, together with the actions we will take to mobilise the investment required to enact those reforms and our strategy for minimising the cost to consumers."

'Staggering'

Labour have accused the Tories of dithering over energy policy and offering lukewarm practical support for both nuclear and renewable.

"Today's paper bears all the hallmarks of Tory policy in the past few months: it is simplistic and not thought through," said Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband.

"It is staggering that in a paper on energy markets the Tories have nothing to say about consumer fairness or fuel poverty," he added.

The Lib Dems said the Tories had performed a "massive U-turn" on nuclear development and it was now the only one of the three largest parties to oppose what it said was a wasteful and environmentally hazardous plan to replace the UK's ageing nuclear infrastructure.

British Gas welcomes the attempts by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition to keep fuel poverty on the political agenda and we urge politicians of all parties to undertake a radical review of the measures to tackle fuel poverty.

We believe that available resources must be targeted at those who need it most. The Government currently spends £2.7bn per annum on the Winter Fuel Allowance. This is a helpful handout to all pensioners, but it makes no sense for wealthy pensioners and people living on the Costa Del Sol to receive it when millions of hard pressed low income families go without. British Gas calls on the Government to reform the winter fuel allowance to target it at those most in need and to ensure that the allowance is credited directly to the recipient's fuel bill. Together with the support available to customers through their energy supplier, this could more than halve energy bills for the poorest.

British Gas has been working with NGOs and the voluntary sector over a number of years to alleviate fuel poverty. We are spending over £500 million to help our most vulnerable customers between 2008 and 2011, more than any other company in Britain. Already this year we have helped more than a million hard-pressed families with reduced rate tariffs, access to free impartial debt advice and free energy efficiency measures.

Many small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK may be considering a business electricity price comparison in order to cut costs, as research has highlighted the extent of problems caused by adverse weather. According to Lloyds TSB Commercial, the freezing temperatures seen in the winter had an impact on seven out of ten such firms. And for 56 per cent of SMEs a direct financial effect was felt - with more than a third stating that they lost up to £10,000 and seven per cent saying it cost more than £30,000. Cutting back by switching business electricity tariffs could help offset the problems, with just 23 per cent of companies saying they were unaffected. Head of external affairs at Lloyds TSB Commercial Stephen Pegge commented: "The combined impact of both the recession and winter will inevitably have caused cashflow problems for many businesses." E.on recently launched its Business EnergyManager, designed to help SMEs understand how electricity is being used in an organisation. Find out how you could switch suppliers and make sure you're not caught out by the small print with your business electricity prices.

Under Ofgem's new ‘Green Energy Supply' Guidelines, launched in February, suppliers offering ‘green electricity' to consumers under the voluntary tariff system must demonstrate that their green tariff involves a commitment above and beyond what is required from existing Government targets for sourcing renewable electricity and reducing emissions. In most cases that will involve some sort of fund to support additional projects, which might include community-scaled renewables or energy saving projects, or even carbon offsetting projects.

The rules for domestic tariffs in the new scheme require that offsetting projects save or avoid the emission of at least 1 tonne of carbon a dioxide equivalent annually, and 50kg of CO2 equivalent emissions p.a. for all other environmental activities, such as community-scaled renewable electricity projects, these all having to be additional to that saved from any existing programmes e.g. as counted within the Renewable Obligation (RO). Basically they can't just use power already credited under the RO. To meet the new rules they must do more, and the new scheme provides specifications, which will be accredited by an independent panel, overseen by the National Energy Foundation.

The voluntary green power market has always sat uneasily on the margins of the UK Renewables market- which is driven by the Renewable Obligation. All electricity consumers already pay their suppliers extra for that, so the voluntary green power schemes have to offer something else to give extra value - they just can't charge extra twice for the same electricity used to meet the suppliers RO requirements. Most suppliers have already been offering additional green benefits to justify premium prices- some have set up funds to support green projects. But not all have charged more. For example, npower set up a self -financed fund for its Juice scheme to support new marine renewables projects- it's reached over £2m so far.

Quite a range of schemes have emerged, with there being some confusion and indeed scepticism about the validity of some of the claims to ‘green-ness' being made. The new rules puts these schemes, and the additional elements, on a more formal basis.

All the large main suppliers- British Gas, E.On, EDF Energy, RWE Npower, Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Power, and linked groups, have signed up to the new scheme, as well as independent supplier Good Energy.

Unlike the ‘big six' suppliers, who also sell non-green power, Good Energy buys in and sells 100% green power from mostly local independent sources- and retires any Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) it gets, rather than selling them on. So it claims that it will help renewables to expand, since the value of ROCs will rise proportionately. The other main independent, Ecotricity, sells a roughly 50/50 mix of green/conventional power, which it sees as being reasonable since it is still four times as much green power than currently required by the RO targets. It also charges a premium green tariff rate, but says the income helps it to invest in new renewable energy projects- and it certainly has been pushing ahead with major wind projects.

However Ecotricity has been very critical of the new OFGEM scheme and has not joined. It argues that the renewable energy used under the new tariffs will still all come from Britain's same pool of RO linked renewable electricity, which meant that the big energy companies would not be required to build any extra major source of renewable energy. They will simply provide added-on schemes such as carbon offsetting, help with micro-generation or energy efficiency schemes.

When the guidelines were first proposed last year, Ecotricity's CEO Dale Vince said: ‘In these guidelines Ofgem are accrediting everything you can imagine except the thing that really counts- green electricity. Of course we believe in planting trees, protecting wildlife and cutting carbon, all of these things have an important role to play- but not in green tariffs. Green tariffs and consumer choice of green-tariffs- people power- could play a crucial role helping us to reach government renewable energy targets. But Ofgem have sidelined the consumer in one fell swoop by excluding real green electricity from their definition of so-called green-tariffs.'

After the launch earlier this year he reaffirmed his view: ‘Green electricity tariffs should be about more than feel-good charity schemes. If suppliers want to plant trees or even help old ladies across the road, I'm all for that but not under the guise of green electricity. Ofgem's new ‘rules' set an artificial standard of what green electricity really is. This can only result in them becoming an expensive niche product in a charity ghetto, doing more harm than good. Consumers will get poorer, but Britain won't get any greener as a result of this'.

That may be overstated, after all the new scheme does require real carbon emission reductions, but he may be right in principle- while some small community project may get some support, it won't lead to extra capacity in the mainstream renewables sector. Basically the problem is that the government wants the Renwables Obligation to be the main vehicle for supporting renewables and sees the green consumer tariff as additional and voluntary. Certainly, so far, the uptake has been marginal- only about 2% of UK consumers have signed up to such schemes. What's not clear is what will happen when the new Feed-In Tariffs (FiTs) for small projects come on line from April onwards . Since it's outside the RO, will that power, including some from community projects, be available for ‘voluntary' tariff schemes? That might change things, even though the FiT is also only seen as a small, marginal exercise, leading to at most to 2% contribution to UK electricity by 2020.

Elsewhere in the EU, Feed In Tariffs and green energy certificates schemes used by consumers are taken seriously, and have had major impacts. I the UK though they are still seen as marginal- the focus remains on the competitive market orientated RO, despite the fact that, so far, this has been poor at delivering much renewable energy capacity.

Business Energy Prices

Gas tariffs will remain unchanged, EDF Energy said, arguing its prices were still competitive.

The reduction in electricity bills will come into effect on 31 March and will affect 2.3 million of the firm's customers.

E.On cut its electricity bills by 9% on average on Thursday. It also decided to keep gas prices unchanged.

"These reductions will apply in London, South East, South West, Wales and Scotland, benefiting the vast majority of our standard rate customers across the country," EDF said in a statement.

"In other regions, EDF Energy is already offering some of the lowest tariffs on the market".

'Volatile wholesale prices'

Apart from EDF and E.On, competitors British Gas and Scottish & Southern Energy have also announced price cuts.

British Gas is to cut its gas prices by 10%, effective from 19 February while Scottish & Southern will cut the price of electricity by 9% and gas by 4% from 30 March.

The cost of wholesale gas is linked to the price of oil, which has fallen significantly from the peak it reached in summer 2008.

"Although wholesale prices have fallen recently, the market remains volatile. As a result, the outlook for retail prices is still challenging," EDF said.

"Forward annual wholesale prices for electricity and gas remain at relatively high levels."

ScottishPower today announced reductions in its gas prices for around 1.6 million domestic gas customers and a new winter rebate for vulnerable customers who heat their homes with electricity.
From 31st March 2010 ScottishPower's gas prices will fall by an average of 8% or £66 per annum*, one of the highest price cuts announced by any major supplier this year. These latest reductions follow recent cuts to ScottishPower's Online and Fixed Price offers and will make ScottishPower cheaper on average than British Gas for gas^.
Announcing the cuts, Raymond Jack, ScottishPower's, Director of Energy Retail, said:
“We understand that household budgets are tighter as a result of the economic recession and recognise our customers are concerned about the effect of the recent cold weather on their heating bills. With this in mind we are pleased to be able to pass on lower prices and offer additional support to those most in need.
“We must remember though, that despite reductions in wholesale prices, the gas we are using today was bought well in advance when prices were much higher. It is important that we do this to ensure we have sufficient supplies when customers require them and to protect customers from volatile spot market prices.
“Typically, less than 60% of a bill is now based on wholesale costs. Investment, government obligations and the delivery of energy to the home make up a significant portion of our bills. Over the next few decades, the energy industry will need to invest over £200 billion to ensure that we have a modern and reliable low carbon electricity network.
“To get the most from our new lower prices we would also encourage all of our customers to make sure they are taking advantage of our best deals. By making simple changes to the way they pay and by choosing to manage their account online, ScottishPower customers could make further savings of up to £382#.”
In addition to the gas price cuts, ScottishPower has also announced support for those vulnerable customers who heat their homes with electricity through a new £50 winter rebate**. Under this program 60,000 vulnerable customers will receive a £50 rebate by the end of March 2010 to help with the cost of their winter fuel bills. This package is in addition to the existing Fresh Start social tariff scheme, which already helps around 80,000 customers over 60 and in receipt of qualifying state benefits with savings of up to £382 per year. ScottishPower also remains the only UK supplier to set standard prepayment prices significantly below standard cash rates for both gas and electricity.

*  8%, £66 reduction is based on a domestic customer using 20,500 kWh of mains gas annually, averaged across payment methods and regions.
^  Based on customers paying monthly by Direct Debit or via a Prepayment meter.
#  Annual saving of £382 is based on an average of ScottishPower's Gas & Electricity Offer customers across Britain with annual mains gas usage of 20,500kWh and annual Standard Rate electricity usage of 3,300kWh, who pay quarterly (excluding prompt payer discounts) and switch to ScottishPower's Online Energy Saver 8 Offer, paying monthly by Direct Debit.
** The £50 winter rebate will be applied to multi-rate electricity accounts. Vulnerable customers have been identified using an Experian Fuel Poverty index. The rebate will be automatically credited to relevant customers accounts by 31st March 2010.

Npower Cheapest Gas Prices!

Npower have today announced reductions in domestic gas prices for approximately 2 million standard domestic gas customers averaging 7% or £50. These cuts will take effect from 26 March 2010 and will make npower cheaper on average than British Gas for gas*

Thousands of households will soon get the chance to receive more accurate energy bills as the one company to offer smart meters extends its reach. First Utility last week became the cheapest energy company in the country with its internet iSave tariff, undercutting British Gas. At the same time, it announced customers on the new iSaveV3 tariff will be offered a free smart meter in coming months, with the aim of nationwide coverage by the end of the year. Only households in the Midlands presently have access to these.

Smart meters that monitor exact energy usage multiple times a day, resulting in accurate bills, have to be in all households by 2020, the government said last year. It is hoped they will also cut carbon levels by encouraging householders to pay more attention to energy usage and make more effort to control it. So should you switch to a smart meter now, and will it really save you money?

As First Utility is the only company offering smart meters it's hard to accurately assess their impact. However, householders should not automatically expect bills to drop.

"Bill shock" is a typical initial reaction of smart meter users, says First Utility, as customers used to smoothing out costs with fixed monthly direct debits are suddenly hit with bills reflecting actual usage over a cold winter. "People who were paying estimated bills before can find they were paying less," says a customer services representative.

First Utility is also struggling with customer service issues, according to a number of postings on web forums including moneysupermarket.com, Google and MoneySavingExpert.com. The company scaled back its initial national smart meter rollout after complaints about service in the early days, but seems to be still dogged by problems. Its customer rating is four out of 10 on moneysupermarket.com, compared with eight for Ebico, an energy company with a similar number of reviews.

One industry insider told the Observer First Utility is beset by complaints and that "customer service is terrible". Another said it is only communicating by email and that this is causing problems, while it is also rejecting a higher-than- average number of customers.

Mark Daeche, First Utility's chief executive, acknowledges it has been struggling with the volume of business and that customer service has suffered. "We have been a victim of our own success," he says.

"However we are expanding staff numbers and I expect to sign the lease for new offices in the next few weeks."

First Utility is still ahead of the game with its smart meters. Other companies are set to follow its lead but will have to learn from its experience when it comes to customer service issues.

British Gas is expected to lead the major push in smart meter installation after announcing it wants to recruit 2,600 "smart meter experts" by 2012, while other companies, such as npower, are testing the meters in different parts of the country. Even relatively tiny newcomer Ovo Energy has said it will be installing such meters this year.

Once smart meters are a regular fixture in UK households, bills should be cheaper, say industry specialists. They will give energy companies better understanding of people's energy usage and allow them to make better decisions when buying energy wholesale. These costs savings should, in theory, be passed on to households.

However, substantial savings will only be made if customers learn from the meters. "If I gave you a smart meter now you wouldn't save a penny," says a spokesman for npower. "It's about encouraging you to interact with it and that's what energy companies need to be doing. The benefits will only come when you start paying attention to it." By this he means making energy-saving decisions after seeing how much is being used by certain actions, such as switching on a hairdryer or taking a long shower.

Some remain sceptical about how much smart meters will change behaviour. Scott Byrom, utilities manager at moneysupermarket.com, says his company has recently tested energy monitors, devices connected to your electricity supply to tell you how much your energy costs each day but which are not used for billing. "We found that people are fascinated by how much turning on their kettle costs for the first week but they soon lose interest and stop looking at it," he says. "The only real benefit I see is that they will give you accurate billing. But we've almost already got that."

All the cheapest tariffs are online, he says, and most of these require customers to enter monthly meter readings.

Householders keen to get a more accurate view of bills might be better taking a "transitional approach", says Joe Malinowski of the energyshop.com. "I would advise householders to pick the cheapest tariff they can and then buy an electricity monitor to keep track of their daily usage," he says.

Energy companies are generally becoming more proactive in helping customers keep track of their energy usage, which can't come too soon. A report out this weekend from Britain's only not-for-profit energy company, Ebico, reveals more than 80% of the British public do not know how much they pay for their gas and electricity, and one in 10 never looks at their meters.

"Attempts to persuade people to reduce their energy use cannot be successful until consumers can make a simple correlation between the amount of energy used and cost," says Phil Levermore, managing director of Ebico. "People need to relate to household energy use in the same way they do to fuel consumption in a car."

Ebico has teamed with Oxford University to promote an energy-measuring tool. This lets you monitor real energy use and carbon emissions by submitting regular meter readings. You are given results as a £-spend-per-week and an A-E carbon rating. You can compare results with friends, family or other households.

Business Electricity

A shopping mall in the centre of Liverpool is to trial an innovative scheme that would see used cooking oil from the centre's restaurants turned into biofuel onsite.

The Liverpool ONE retail, leisure and residential centre announced last week that it is to build a biofuel room in the mall's basement that will be used to convert waste oil into biodiesel within 24 hours. The fuel will then be used by the company that manages the centre to run the fleet of estate vehicles that are used to clean the site.

The company said that it expects to produce around 200 litres of biodiesel a week, potentially cutting carbon emissions by an estimated 54 tonnes a year.

Under the scheme, used cooking oil will be collected each day and fed into an onsite Fuelpod, which pumps the oil through a series of filters and heats it overnight to 65 degrees. The warmed oil will then be mixed with methanol and potassium hydroxide, which act together to bind the fats within the oil, creating biodiesel and a glycerine-laden oil that can be used to accelerate the development of compost.

A growing number of firms, including fast food giant McDonalds, are now using old cooking oil to create biodiesel, but Liverpool ONE said the use of onsite refinery equipment would serve to cut the carbon footprint of the process still further by removing the need for the oil to be transported.

"As a vital part of Liverpool's economy, we feel that Liverpool ONE should play a role preserving the environment," said estate director Chris Bliss. "The Biofuels Initiative will help lower the carbon footprint of Liverpool ONE and individual retailers. It also forms another element of Liverpool ONE’s overall environmental strategy."

The average annual household bill for those paying by direct debit will drop by £42 as a result, E.On said.

The move comes after British Gas and Scottish & Southern cut their standard household gas prices by an average of 7% and 4% respectively.

The changes come after a period of lower wholesale costs. The move meant E.On would be offering the cheapest standard tariff for gas users. However, the cheapest average dual fuel bill - covering gas and electricity - is currently with British Gas.

E.on has about 5.5 million UK customers. It said many of those would not be affected by the cuts as they either received only electricity, or were on fixed-rate deals.

Gas providers have come under pressure to cut bills after prices that they pay on the wholesale markets fell.

However consumer groups have criticised the sector for not moving faster to cut prices in the face of a bitterly cold winter.

And British Gas's price reductions came into force immediately - while Scottish & Southern and E.On customers must wait until the end of the month.

The latest moves are expected to push the others in the "big six" energy providers into cutting prices.

"This will heap pressure on the remaining three major suppliers to follow suit." 
 

Scottish and Southern Energy will cut its gas bills for domestic customers by 4% from 29 March, the company has announced. The average annual household bill will drop by £30 as a result, the energy provider said. The move comes a month after British Gas cut its standard household gas prices by an average of 7%, and others are expected to follow suit. The changes come after a period of lower wholesale costs. The company said that its average dual fuel standard credit bill would stand at £1,162, although prices alter depending on where people live in the country.

'Challenging business'

Scottish and Southern has 3.5 million gas customers but nearly 10 million customers across the UK who use gas or electricity or both. Electricity prices will remain unchanged.   We will never get back down to levels enjoyed a few years ago. Those customers who have relatively low gas usage will not see the full effect of the price cuts. Fixed charges - the initial charge for the first tranche of gas used - will increase from £53 to £98. Prices will be cut for gas used above this level, leaving a net effect of a 4% cut for the average customer. "Energy supply is still a challenging business, with significant upward price pressures which run counter to reductions in wholesale costs," said Alistair Phillips-Davies, the company's energy supply director.
"We will do everything we can to make sure customers get value for money from energy supply, with energy efficiency and customer service continuing to be top priorities." The company has also followed demands from the regulator and consumer groups by removing the price differential for pre-payment gas meters. Pre-payment meter customers will see their annual bill fall by 9%, or £70 a year on average. "This is a great day for social justice and means that almost 300,000 people, many of whom are on lower incomes, will now find it easier to pay for their energy and heat their homes," said David Orr, of chief executive of the National Housing Federation.
Single fuel gas rates will fall by 7% or £56 a year on average, moving single fuel gas prices in line with dual fuel.

Other suppliers

Gas providers have come under pressure to cut bills after prices that they pay on the wholesale markets fell. The latest moves by Scottish and Southern and British Gas should push the others in the "big six" energy suppliers into cutting prices

Energy companies in the UK could meet targets for renewable energy generation, if they invested only £30 a customer for the next ten years, according to a new study.

The green supplier Ecotricity has called for "people before profits" in order to pre-empt the energy crisis in 2020 predicted by the regulator Ofgem.

Ecotricity calculated in its report, based on publicly available figures from Ofgem, that none of the UK's suppliers were investing enough money to meet the government's target for 15 per cent energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Of the two biggest suppliers, Scottish Power was the closest to the minimum with £25.79 per customer, while Centrica fell almost a third short of the target at £11.07.

The 'not-for-dividend' model of Ecotricity means that it topped the league in 2009, by investing around £76.88 per customer.

Dale Vince, the founder of Ecotricity, said: "The Big Six energy companies in Britain haven't even come close to meeting their minimum legal obligation to build more new sources of green energy.

"We're calling on them to adopt our business model for the next ten years, forgo dividend payments and spend

British Gas today announced it is creating 80 full time jobs at a new insulation depot in Reading, which is due to open in March 2010. The new depot in Basingstoke Road is the first of 12 that British Gas will be opening across the UK over the next 14 months to help its customers become more energy efficient. 

Based in Reading, the new roles will cover Berkshire, Surrey and Oxfordshire and will involve the installation of cavity wall and loft insulation in homes and businesses.

Wayne Smith, Head of Insulation at British Gas said: "In today's economic climate, I'm delighted to talk about the creation of 80 new jobs in Reading.  There is much talk about utilising green technologies and cutting our energy usage, but we can only do this if we have enough people with the right skills.  Insulation is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to cut carbon emissions, which is why British Gas is investing in insulation depots right across the UK."

Martin Salter, MP for Reading West said: "I am delighted that British Gas is investing in Reading and creating much needed engineering, technical and blue collar jobs in my constituency. This is welcome news and a real vote of confidence in the economic recovery that we are starting to see. It is clear that there is a bright future in these new green jobs and in the business of creating better energy efficiency".

ScottishPower provoked a furious backlash from consumer groups yesterday when it announced an 8 per cent rise in profits to £1.3 billion last year.

The energy company's announcement, which came as bitter winter weather continued to affect much of the UK, was branded "indefensible" by one energy consultancy.

Consumer Focus accused the Spanish-owned utility of failing to pass on to consumers the benefits of plummeting wholesale gas and electricity prices last year.

Philip Cullum, deputy chief executive of Consumer Focus, said: "Wholesale prices have decreased dramatically but have not been passed on to consumers. If energy firms persist in not doing the right thing by their customers, it is time for the industry to be investigated by competition experts in order to identify what needs to be done to deliver fairness."
 
David Hunter, an analyst at McKinnon & Clarke, said: "Despite wholesale prices going into freefall, ScottishPower hasn't cut standard energy tariffs in almost a year. The failure of the ‘big six' suppliers to pass on to customers the massive reductions in wholesale business electricity prices, which they have been enjoying since 2008, is scandalous."

Iberdrola, Spain's largest utility company, which bought ScottishPower in 2006 for nearly £12 billion, said that profits from its UK business had improved because of an 8 per cent reduction in costs after a shake-up of its groupwide IT operations.

But John Hall, an independent energy analyst, argued that lower wholesale prices were the main reason for the rise. "They could have cut prices by 20 per cent a year ago, but instead they held them all year. They were under no pressure to do anything from the Government."

The announcement came as ScottishPower revealed that it had shed more than 100,000 customers in the UK last year, bringing the total to 5.24 million by the end of 2009. Many of these customers are likely to have gone to British Gas, which is expected to announce today that it gained about 150,000 customers last year.

This month British Gas became the first of the big six to trim prices this year, with a 7 per cent cut in its gas tariffs. ScottishPower has not cut prices since February 2009, when it lowered its average gas bills by 7.5 per cent and electricity by 3 per cent.

A ScottishPower spokesman said: "We constantly evaluate our costs and our retail prices and compare our position against the competitive market. We are committed to offering our customers value for money and are the only supplier to actively encourage existing customers to make sure they are on our most suitable tariff."

The profit announcement follows figures from Ofgem this week, which showed that profits per household earned by the big six had soared by 40 per cent this winter to £105 — the highest level since 2004.

Annual results from Centrica today are expected to show that operating profits for its British Gas business rose by nearly 50 per cent last year to £554 million, up from £379 million in 2008.

As a whole, Iberdrola, which is striving to reduce a €29 billion debt pile, said that 2009 profits had hit €2.8 billion, down 1.3 per cent on 2008.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 6.3 per cent to €6.8 billion. José Ignacio Sánchez Galán, its chairman, did not give a new target for cutting debt but said that overall levels would remain stable until 2012.

Wind assisted

Britain's embattled renewable energy industry received a boost when it was revealed that two European companies are in talks about the construction of a new factory to manufacture offshore wind turbines in the UK.

Ignacio Galán, chairman of Iberdrola, the Spanish utility that owns ScottishPower, said it had signed an agreement to take a minority stake in Bard, a German wind turbine maker. He said they were considering investing in a new UK plant to feed the growing market for offshore wind turbines.

The Government wants to raise the share of generation from offshore wind energy to 33 gigawatts by 2020 from less than 1 gigawatt today. Gordon Brown claimed last month that this would make Britain the No 1 market for offshore wind development and create about 70,000 jobs by 2020.

Sam Laidlaw: "Gas prices in the UK are a third lower than in the rest of Europe"

Operating profits at British Gas jumped by 58% in 2009 to a record high, its parent company Centrica has said.

British Gas's residential energy arm saw its operating profit climb to £595m last year from £376m in 2008, beating the previous high of £573m in 2007.
The announcement comes just days after energy regulator Ofgem reported that energy firms' profit margins had risen in recent months.
Earlier this month, British Gas said it was cutting its by 7%.
Adjusted operating profit at Centrica fell 7% to £1.86bn.
Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw said British Gas's profit margin had been about 8% for 2009 and the company was aiming for about 7% this year. The group also said British Gas would create 1,100 jobs in 2010.
Centrica said it realised 2009 was "a difficult year for many of our [British Gas] customers".
British Gas is the UK's largest energy supplier. It gained 141,000 residential customers last year, taking the total number of households it serves to 15.7 million.

Transparency needed

Centrica chairman Roger Carr said: "British Gas was the first of the major suppliers to reduce prices in 2009 which, combined with reduced average consumption, provided a welcome reduction in bills."
The company also said that British Gas had reduced its prices three times in the past 12 months.
However, campaign group Consumer Focus called for "immediate and significant price cuts across the market".
"Energy companies have no excuses for not cutting bills for their customers. It is clear the problems in the energy market are profound and that it requires fundamental reform," said Consumer Focus deputy chief executive Philip Cullum.
"Unlike the other members of 'Big Six', British Gas reports its results in detail and so takes much of the flak that deserves to be shared with the other companies. If ever a market was crying out for greater transparency it is the current UK energy market." 

Rising margins

On Monday, Ofgem published a report saying that profit margins at energy suppliers had risen by an estimated £30 a year.
The average margin for dual fuel customers had risen to £105 a year in February, from £75 a year in November, the regulator said, although the energy industry disputed the figures.
And on Wednesday, Ofgem chief executive Alistair Buchanan warned companies not to "short change" customers.
Energy suppliers have faced questions about their prices at a time when wholesale costs have been falling.
Centrica chief Sam Laidlaw admitted: "We did get squeezed in 2008 as commodity prices rose."
But he added: "With the price reduction that we have just made we've passed reductions [in wholesale prices] back to consumer prices."

Five of Britain's biggest energy companies were facing mounting pressure to cut prices last night after figures from Ofgem, the industry regulator, showed the average profits they earned per household leapt 40 per cent this winter to the highest level in five years.

Ofgem said that net profit margins earned by the so-called Big Six companies — British Gas, ScottishPower, EDF Energy, N-Power, Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) and E.ON — widened from £75 per average dual fuel customer last November to £105 at the start of this month.

The figure represents the highest average margin enjoyed by the industry since 2004, although Ofgem said that the increase was likely to be short-lived after the decision by British Gas to trim its gas prices by 7 per cent. Its move is expected to open the floodgates to further cuts from rivals.

Nevertheless, the report triggered fresh criticism of the industry for failing to pass on wholesale price cuts sooner as Centrica, the owner of British Gas, prepares to report an estimated 50 per cent increase in 2009 profits to £550 million on Thursday.

Mike O'Connor, chief executive of Consumer Focus, the industry watchdog said: "Householders will no doubt wonder why margins have increased for the fifth quarter in a row, while wholesale costs continue to fall."

Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, also called for the remaining companies to reduce prices. "Householders facing high winter fuel bills deserve to see the benefits as soon as possible," he said. "British Gas's cut was a welcome first move, but we need to see all suppliers passing on the benefits of lower wholesale prices."

Between 2007 and 2010, the average UK energy bill for a dual fuel customer soared from £912 to £1,223, according to MoneySupermarket.com.

Andrew Wright, Ofgem's senior partner for markets, acknowledged that the companies need to be profitable to afford huge infrastructure investments — estimated at £200 billion by 2020 — to secure supplies and reduce carbon emissions. But he added that Ofgem "would also expect recent falls in wholesale energy costs to be passed on to consumers".

Britain's energy companies reaped huge profits this winter because they left the prices they charge consumers largely unchanged from last year while wholesale prices they paid for gas and power plummeted in the recession. By the end of 2009, the wholesale price of gas had fallen to below 40p per therm, down from more than 100p per therm during mid-2008.

Demand for gas and electricity was also high because of unusually cold weather.

Christine McGourty, director of Energy UK, which represents the leading gas and electricity companies, said the Ofgem figures omitted many of the basic costs faced by energy companies.

MPs call for reform of "flawed" electricity market

Britain's electricity markets are "inherently flawed" and anti-competitive practices may be forcing up the costs paid by consumers, MPs have said.

The study from the Energy and Climate Change Committee on the future of Britain's electricity networks also called for the introduction of a more efficient "smart grid" capable of intelligently managing demand and supply.

Paddy Tipping MP, a committee member said: "Our existing regulatory and policy frameworks, along with the grid infrastructure we rely on, were developed to serve the fossil fuel economy of the 20th century. The future looks very different."

Mr Tipping called for a review of the British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements, which have formed the foundation for UK power activity since 2005. He also said that by 2020 the UK network would need to accommodate a more diverse energy mix.

Energy Suppliers

The extreme weather during the first month of 2010 saw average temperatures slip below 3c with widespread heavy snowfall and sharp frosts across most of the UK. According to the Met Office the minimum temperature recorded was (minus) -22c. The extraordinary weather over the winter period is estimated to have caused a 30 per cent surge in energy consumption, as families and the elderly struggled to cope with the freezing temperatures.

Economically it means the UK’s 27 million households will pay out a total of £6.1 billion on their energy bills for the last month, an increase of £1.89 billion despite the decrease in the cost of fuel. Wholesale gas prices fell by 60 per cent during 2008/9, but the savings have not been passed on to consumers with customer bills being reduced by less than ten per cent. Critics argue that the major energy suppliers are waiting until the summer to bring down prices rather than risk a cut in profits during the peak energy consumption over the winter months.

The UK’s largest energy supplier, British Gas with 15.7million customers, is set for a 50 per cent rise in annual profits to more than £500million, while Scottish and Southern Energy’s profits rose by 36 per cent in the past six months. Thousands of elderly, meanwhile, have been unable to afford to keep warm during the coldest spell in 30 years. One energy expert commented “There is still scope for significant price cuts for both gas and electricity to ease the burden on hard-pressed households. A lot of people, especially the old, poor and vulnerable, were already struggling to pay their bills even before the sharp drop in temperatures and they need help.”

There were 36,700 more deaths among the elderly during winter than in warmer months, according to the Office of National Statistics, up 12,000 on the previous year. At the same time there are millions of pensioners among the 5.4million who are in fuel poverty. The Age Concern and Help the Aged charity condemned the rise in winter deaths, which it links to ‘cash-strapped older people turning down the heating’. Energy watchdog group Consumer Focus commented: ‘All of the suppliers will be enjoying rocketing profits while millions of consumers worry about how to afford to keep warm.’

The windfall for gas and electric companies comes on the back of an the energy regulators Ofgem critical report that found energy suppliers waiting 65 days after putting up prices before informing customers of the increase, leaving many in the dark over the true cost of their energy consumption.

This is an increase of 40 per cent over the last three months, according to Ofgem, the industry regulator, and the highest level since at least 2004, when records started.

It is also, experts believe, the most money energy companies have made since they were fully deregulated by the Conservative government at the end of the 1990s.
The figures come just a few days before British Gas is expected to unveil a bumper set of profits. Helped by strong demand for gas during the cold weather in December, annual profits at British Gas could beat the record of £571 million set in 2007.

Ofgem said it had concerns about the very high profits that companies were now making. Over the last year, though customer bills have fallen slightly, they have not fallen nearly as much as wholesale gas and electricity prices.

Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, called on all the suppliers to cut their bills as soon as possible,

Mike O’Connor, chief executive of Consumer Focus, the Government-backed watchdog, said: “At a time when householders are worried about their winter energy bills, they will no doubt wonder why margins have increased for the fifth quarter in a row, while wholesale costs continue to fall. The answer seems to be depressingly simple – energy companies are pushing up their profits by cashing in on the cold spell.

“There is mounting evidence – and mounting demand from consumers – that price cuts should be passed on. We agree with Ofgem: energy companies should play fair and bring bills down to offer some respite to their hard pressed customers.”

This winter has been the coldest for thirty years, according to the Met Office, and most consumers have been forced to use more gas and electricity to keep their homes warm.

Mark Todd at the energyhelpline, the price comparison site, said: "I can't believe that in absolute terms profits for energy companies have ever been higher. We have to hope that this means there is plenty of potential to cut bills."

Since last summer, the only company to trim customers' bills is British Gas, who knocked off 7 per cent from its gas bills earlier this month. However, this still makes them considerably more expensive than they were two years ago.

According to Ofgem, the average dual fuel bill across the country – combing both gas and electricity – totals £1,130 a year, cheaper than 12 months ago when it was £1,205. However, in that time the wholesale cost of energy has fallen substantially.

This means that, after the companies have paid for their energy, as well as tax, staff wages and other operating costs, they are left with far higher profits.

A year ago the average customer generated no profits whatsoever, because of the high wholesale energy costs. They are now generating profits of £105, on average.

Energy companies insisted they were not profiteering, pointing out that over the last five years there had been long periods when they made no profit, or even substantial loses from supplying customers with gas and electricity.

Christine McGourty, director of Energy UK, which represents the leading gas and electricity companies, said: “The regulator Ofgem has pointed out before now that the business of supplying energy to the home moved into profit last year, but admitted this came after three years in which the companies were earning close to nothing from supplying dual fuel customers."

The rise in customer numbers, together with rock-bottom wholesale gas and Business electricity prices, should help British Gas to report profits of more than half a billion pounds for the year.

City analysts predict that British Gas Residential, the nation's biggest retail energy supplier, generated profits of £554 million in 2009 for its parent company, Centrica — up 46 per cent from £379 million in the previous year.
 
British Gas comes in from the cold

Centrica, due to publish its annual results on Thursday, is expected to reveal that with 150,000 new accounts, British Gas has finally reversed a seven-year run of falling customer numbers, bringing the total to 15.7 million.

Bobby Chada, utilities analyst at Morgan Stanley, said British Gas was in a "sweet spot" following a 7 per cent price-cut in its gas tariff this month and predicted that the group would continue to win new accounts in 2010.

Between the end of 2003 and 2008 Centrica shed a total of three million customers, amid accusations of uncompetitive pricing and poor quality service. Desertions reached a peak after a botched new IT system in 2006 that reduced the customer billing process to chaos.

Profits at British Gas were also boosted last year after wholesale gas and electricity prices plunged as the recession sapped demand. The wholesale price of gas fell to below 40p per therm in the second half, down from more than 100p per therm during mid-2008.

Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, is expected to use Thursday's results to unveil details of a new strategy focused on selling home services, including insurance products, energy efficiency and renewable energy products such as wind turbines and solar panels.

But while British Gas enjoyed brisk growth in both profits and customer numbers in 2009, profits across the wider Centrica group are expected to have fallen back. Other, less well recognised businesses such as Centrica Energy, which operates power stations and acts as a wholesale gas supplier, are expected to report steeply lower earnings.

Average forecasts from City analysts predict total operating profits of £1.82 billion for the whole Centrica group, down 7 per cent from £1.94 billion in 2008.

Nevertheless, the announcement of a big rise in profits for British Gas is likely to fuel anger from consumer groups who accused the company of delaying retail price cuts last year, despite a steep fall in wholesale prices.

They have also attacked Centrica for profiting from increased demand for gas during the recent cold snap.

The results next week will not include earnings from January, when Britain was hit by some of its worst winter weather since the early 1980s. On January 7, UK daily gas demand hit a record high of 454 million cubic metres, up 30 per cent from a seasonal average of 350 million cubic metres.

Microgeneration is the new buzz word

British Gas seems finally to be on something of a roll. The company, which now claims to be the UK's cheapest gas supplier after trimming retail prices this month, is tempting new customers and winning market share from its Big Six rivals.

The strength of the British Gas brand and the company's hefty marketing spend during the downturn have no doubt helped.

But the strategy pursued by Centrica, its parent, of bundling gas and electricity supply together with home services, such as boiler, plumbing maintenance and appliance insurance products has also proved remarkably effective in drawing in new customers.

Now Sam Laidlaw, Centrica's chief executive, is planning to open up a new front in the battle for customers by capitalising on government plans to improve home energy efficiency and to encourage so-called microgeneration of renewable energy, which will see households producing some of their own power from small-scale wind and solar generation.

He believes that by offering customers "home energy audits" and with the use of new technology such as smart meters, Centrica can build a whole new market installing and maintaining these sorts of products.

Meanwhile, two shrewd deals last year could mark a turning point for Centrica by permanently reshaping the business.

Historically, Centrica has suffered from a shortage of its own gas and electricity production. That has forced the company to buy supplies on the open market, leaving it exposed to volatile wholesale prices.

The £1.3 billion purchase of Venture Production, a North Sea gas producer, and a 20 per cent stake in British Energy, the UK nuclear generator, from EDF for £2.3 billion, have helped to solve this problem.

Centrica is now more vertically integrated and more independent than it has been since its creation in 1997 after a demerger from the old British Gas.

In time, that should also improve Centrica's ability to compete on price.

Business electricity

Biomethane will make a contribution to decarbonising the gas grid by delivering renewable heat to households through the existing gas network and central heating boilers.  According to a study by National Grid, it could account for at least 15 per cent of the domestic gas market by 2020.

Biomethane is a mixture of gases (predominantly methane) that are sourced from organic material, such as cattle slurry, food and household waste.  It has similar thermal characteristics to natural gas and, once upgraded to grid specification, can be injected into the gas grid for end use by customers.

The first project will involve British Gas working with Thames Water and Scotia Gas Networks to build plant at Didcot sewage works.  Thames Water already makes and flares raw biogas from sewage processing.  The project will design and build a plant to clean the gas and inject it into the grid.

First gas from this project could flow into the grid in summer 2010.  Upon completion, British Gas will also enter into a long-term gas purchase contract with Thames Water.

British Gas has also signed development agreements with four other companies to carry out feasibility studies with a view to delivering biomethane to grid.  The agreements are with GWE Biogas (using food waste and farm crops), Potters Waste (manufacturing waste), Dillington Biogas (farm waste slurry) and Adnams Brewery (brewery waste).

Assessment and development of these projects will start immediately.

Gearóid Lane, Managing Director of Communities and New Energy, British Gas, said: "We're delighted that the Government will provide support to make investment in biomethane commercially viable.  With 85 per cent of homes heated by natural gas, this is a fantastic opportunity to deliver renewable heat through our existing gas network and central heating boilers."

"These five projects demonstrate once again British Gas' leadership in renewable energy.  By making early investments in biomethane we intend to drive forward the opportunity to deliver green gas to our customers."

Government support for biomethane injection into the grid is part of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which sets out proposed financial incentives for the generation of renewable heat by households, communities and industry

Mel Karam, Thames Water's director of asset management, said:

"Our  project  with  Centrica and Scotia Gas Networks at Didcot marks a big step  forward  for  our ‘poo power' endeavours. For decades we've generated electricity  by  burning  sewage  sludge or methane derived from it, saving £15m  in power bills last year alone. Next on our renewable energy hit list is  using  biomethane  from  sewage  as another source of gas, so to see it become  a reality later this year will be great for customers and great for the environment."

Ofgem 'has failed to protect the UK from increasing business gas and electricity prices'

Energy regulator Ofgem is under pressure amid concern that it has failed to protect the UK against ever-increasing business gas and electricity prices.

It has been widely reported that the recent cold snap, coupled with Norwegian pipeline supply issues, has seen gas prices rise significantly on the wholesale market.

According to financialadvice.co.uk, these price hikes will in due course filter through to the consumer market.

However, despite its warnings the regulator has failed to introduce any new price regulations or price restrictions on UK energy supplies.

"Protecting consumers is meant to be Ofgem's first priority, but so far the regulator has been shying away from tackling the big issues," Dr Fiona Cochrane, a senior policy adviser for Which?, told the Times.

Dr Cochrane added that Which? Would continue to urge Ofgem to take action to ensure business gas and electricity customers did not lose out.

Businessgasprices.com is the UK's leading business price comparison and switching service. Find out how you could get the cheapest business gas prices and business electricity prices

Friends of the Earth has threatened to launch a legal challenge against the government over its "fundamentally flawed" plans to approve hundreds of new nuclear reactors, power plants, wind farms, electricity pylons and pipelines.
The group has written to energy secretary Ed Miliband warning him that government planning statements issued in November breach environmental regulations and had not followed proper consultation. Friends of the Earth said it was also supported by conservation groups, the WWF and RSPB.
The energy industry and ministers have been braced for a legal challenge for months, particularly over plans to build as many as 10 new nuclear reactors.
Friends of the Earth said it believed the statements, which new planning commission the IPC will use to block or approve applications, would result in Britain "locking-in" to a high-carbon energy infrastructure. It said the IPC should have to directly take into account the carbon emissions resulting from individual applications.
Friends of the Earth's executive director, Andy Atkins, said: "The government's draft national planning statements on energy are fundamentally flawed. The consultation was insufficient, the alternatives were inadequately explored, and the policies are poorly justified. And because they fail to assess the carbon impact that the proposed development will have they threaten to undermine UK carbon budgets."
A government spokesman said that the statements were set in accordance with its overall carbon budgets.

British Gas Business

Tel: 0845 600604 Fax: N/A

The Retention Team, British Gas Business, Spinneyside, Penman Way, Grove Park, Leicester LE19 1SZ

contract.renewals@centrica.co.uk (can also email the account manager named on each bill)

CNG Business

Tel: 01423 502554 Fax: 01423 502556

Contract Natural Gas Ltd, CNG House, 5 Victoria Avenue, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG1 1EQ

info@cngltd.co.uk

Corona Tel: 08442 646464 Fax: 0870 2429665

Corona Energy, Edward Hyde Building, 38 Clarendon Road, Watford WD17 1JW

mail@coronaenergy.co.uk

EDF Business Energy

Tel: 0800 096 2255 Fax: 01273 793 114 (marked ‘Site Loss')

EDF Energy, Southdown View Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN14 8NL

customer_correspondence@edfenergy.com

Eon Business

Tel: 0800 068 6516 Fax: 0115 877 7514

Eon Contract Terminations, PO Box 9042, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 5AZ

smecontractterminations@eonenergy.com or business@eonenergy.com

Haven Power

Tel: 01473 725943 Fax: 01473 726788

Haven Power, The Havens, Ransomes Europark, Ipswich IP3 9SJ

info@havenpower.com

Npower Business

Tel: 0845 166 3360 (3320 for gas) Fax: 01482 495 305 (for both)

Npower Business, Contract Terminations, Bridge House, 200 Clough Road, Hull HU5 1SN

smeconsultant.renewals@npower.com

Opus

Tel: 0845 3302655 Fax: 0845 223 5445

Opus Energy Limited, Royal Pavilion, 2 Summerhouse Road, Northampton NN3 6BJ

contactus@opusenergy.com

Shell Gas

Tel: 0207 257 0100 Fax: 0207 257 3410

Shell, 1-3 The Strand, London WC2N 5EJ

user@shell.com

Scottish Power Business

Tel: 0845 2700 700 Fax: 0141 568 3383

Scottish Power, SME Contracts Manager, Section 12, Cathcart Business Park, Glasgow G44 4BE

customer.services@scottishpower.com

Scottish & Southern

Tel: 01256 304278 Fax: 01256 304270

Energy Sales Dep, Scottish & Southern, Centenary House, 10 Winchester Road, Basingstoke RG21 8UQ

terminations.Reboot@scottish-southern.co.uk

Notice: at least one calendar month ahead of contract end date

Notice periods and contact details are correct @ the time of publication.

Business energy prices

"This claim by the GMB is untrue. 

"While we did remove around 300 non customer-facing roles last year, we also announced the creation of more than 4,000 new roles - including engineers and smart energy experts who will lead the roll-out of smart meters and energy efficiency measures.

"Just this week we briefed the GMB on our plans for growth as a business. It is very disappointing that the GMB has now seen fit to tell the media, incorrectly, that we have plans to make major redundancies, as this will cause concern among our people who are all working flat out to keep our customers homes warm and lit during this cold snap."

Russia comes to the rescue as Norwegian gas supplies to Britain falter Energy users' watchdog says UK lucky to escape gas shortages

Russia rescued British energy consumers by ensuring a steady flow of gas into the power network as supplies from Norway faltered during the cold weather, industry customers users said today.

As the National Grid warned of a "high" possibility of shortages in the north-east and south-west owing to another cold snap, the Major Energy Users' Council said Britain had been lucky to survive without shortages. Eddie Proffitt, chairman of the council's gas group, said: "The [British] gas industry has coped very well but we have been lucky. It would have been desperate if we had seen the kind of disputes between Russia and Ukraine that have reduced gas flows on the continent in the past two or three Januaries."

Politicians said four "gas balancing alerts" – warnings of pending shortages – in the space of a week meant it was time Britain reviewed its whole energy policy.

"This winter has shown the system we have devised does not have the resilience it should have. It runs on a 'just-in-time' principle which has economic benefits when it works but risks ending up in a 'just-too-late' if all goes wrong," said John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley.

"If the Russians had hit the kind of problems with its neighbours seen in previous years then we would have toppled off the knife edge we have been sitting on with our gas supplies."

The disruptions to supplies from Norway – normally seen as highly reliable – left Britain importing gas through the interconnector pipeline which runs from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Bacton in north Norfolk. In previous years shortages from Siberia have led German and Dutch suppliers to halt gas exports to Britain.

The National Grid admitted that much of the stress in the gas supply system had been caused by technical problems on Norwegian fields such as Ormen Lange and Troll but said everything was back to normal. A Grid spokeswoman insisted the gas alerts had worked as they were expected to: drawing new supplies from other sources, such as liquefied natural gas on board vessels and the continent. She declined to comment on what would have happened if Russian gas had not been flowing normally.

The Major Energy Users' Council also had serious concerns that changes to the regulatory regime next year could make the situation worse. Proffitt said there were 1,250 customers around Britain on "interruptible" gas contracts, but this number would fall to 27 by October 2011 when new Ofgem regulations come into force. "Some of our members are very concerned about this because they fear a supply shortage could lead to demands that sites lose their gas. Many of those who choose to have interruptible contracts have back-up power sources such as diesel-fired generators," he said.

Nearly 100 customers had their power cut at one stage last week, including the Vauxhall car plant at Ellesmere Port on Merseyside. National Grid said none were cut off today though its website earlier in the day had said that there was a high risk of interruptions in the north-east and south-west. This eased off later.

The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, fuelling a global culture of excess that is emerging as the biggest threat to the planet, according to a report published today. In its annual report, Worldwatch Institute says the cult of consumption and greed could wipe out any gains from government action on climate change or a shift to a clean energy economy.

Erik Assadourian, the project director who led a team of 35 behind the report, said: "Until we recognise that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilisation."

The world's population is burning through the planet's resources at a reckless rate, the US thinktank said. In the last decade, consumption of goods and services rose 28% to $30.5tn (£18.8bn).

The consumer culture is no longer a mostly American habit but is spreading across the planet. Over the last 50 years, excess has been adopted as a symbol of success in developing countries from Brazil to India to China, the report said. China this week overtook the US as the world's top car market. It is already the biggest producer of greenhouse gas emissions.

Such trends were not a natural consequence of economic growth, the report said, but the result of deliberate efforts by businesses to win over consumers. Products such as the hamburger – dismissed as an unwholesome food for the poor at the beginning of the 20th century – and bottled water are now commonplace.

The average western family spends more on their pet than is spent by a human in Bangladesh.

The report did note encouraging signs of a shift away from the high spend culture. It said school meals programmes marked greater efforts to encourage healthier eating habits among children. The younger generation was also more aware of their impact on the environment.

There has to be a wholesale transformation of values and attitudes, the report said. At current rates of consumption, the world needs to erect 24 wind turbines an hour to produce enough energy to replace fossil fuel.

"We've seen some encouraging efforts to combat the world's climate crisis in the past few years," said Assadourian. "But making policy and technology changes while keeping cultures centred on consumerism and growth can only go so far.

"If we don't shift our very culture there will be new crises we have to face. Ultimately, consumerism is not going to be viable as the world population grows by 2bn and as more countries grow in economic power."

In the preface to the report, Worldwatch Institute's president, Christopher Flavin, writes: "As the world struggles to recover from the most serious global economic crisis since the Great Depression, we have an unprecedented opportunity to turn away from consumerism. In the end, the human instinct for survival must triumph over the urge to consume at any cost."

Majority of electricity in the UK is produced from fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas. The power stations that burn these fuels to generate the electricity emit thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year and this has a major impact on the environment.

A much more environmentally friendly option is green electricity. This is produced from renewable energy sources and has little or no impact on the environment. There are a variety of ways of generating green electricity, which are listed below.

Wind Power
The winds that sweep the UK can be utilised by wind turbines to provide electricity. These are in use in growing numbers in the UK and many more are planned, particularly off shore wind farms and domestic turbines with the availability of government funded renewable and alternative energy grants.

Solar Power
The sun can be used to provide electricity, even here in the UK! Solar photovoltaic panels installed in buildings turn rays from the sun directly into electricity and solar energy into hot water.

Hydro Power
Water turbines are currently in use in the UK and provide around 1% of the electricity used here. This technology has already been in use here for over 100 years.

Wave Power
There is great potential in using the energy created by the powerful waves off the British coastline. This is still in development stages but looks likely to be a major source of energy in the future.

Tidal Power
One possible way of using the sea tides as a source of energy is by creating turbines underwater similar to wind turbines. Another system, which involves capturing tides behind an estuary barrier and releasing at low tide, is planned for the Severn Estuary.

Geothermal
This type of energy is created from hot rocks deep under the ground. In some areas, steam rises at ground level and can be used to power steam turbines to generate electricity. Water can also be directed down to the rocks creating steam. Geothermal energy can provide heat and hot water for domestic use through ground source heat pumps.

Biomass
Organic matter or specially grown plants are used as fuel for power stations or in the form wooden pellets for domestic biomass boilers. This is a carbon neutral method of providing electricity, as the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when the plants are burnt is equal to the amount absorbed when they were growing.

Landfill gas
Household waste that is disposed of in landfill sites across the country gives off methane gas whilst it decomposes. This gas can be captured and burnt in gas turbines to generate electricity. This will give off carbon dioxide but much less than the methane would emit.

Waste Incineration
As the UK rapidly runs out of landfill sites for waste, much of it is now being burnt in special incinerators. A percentage of this energy is being used to provide electricity. However, this is a disputed method as much of the waste being burnt could have been recycled. It also emits toxins into the air.

All major energy providers now offer green electricity to their customers either by supplying your power from a sustainable source or by funding renewable energy projects. The government has put in place a law, called the Renewables Obligation, stating that a percentage of each unit of electricity an energy provider sells must be offset with electricity from a renewable source. This percentage is set to rise but currently stands at 3%.

Eco Friendly Products
In addition to considering green alternatives to heating and powering your home it's equally important to consider purchasing eco friendly products. These are items manufactured from recyclable products, bulbs that use less energy and goods manufactured from sustainable and renewable resources, to name but a few.

You can also easily recycle items within the home such as plastic bags, bottles, boxes or even start harvesting rainwater for the garden, they are all small contributions that collectively make a massive difference to the environment.

The price of carbon – paid by heavy polluters such as power plant operators – plummeted yesterday by almost 10% on Europe's emissions trading market. This was in response to the EU scrapping a planned commitment to cut emissions by 30% by 2020 because other countries failed to show similar ambition.

E.ON and Centrica warned that they would not invest the tens of billions of pounds to build expensive new nuclear reactors and clean coal plants at today's carbon price, which is supposed to penalise dirty coal and gas plants.

Spot prices are now around €12 (£10) a tonne, close to a six-month low, and experts say that to make building new nuclear reactors financially viable, a price closer to €40 is needed.

A spokesman for E.ON said that without government action to tighten carbon markets, companies would wait until ageing reactors and coal plants close over the next decade and until power prices rocket before they made the investment.

"It is taking a hell of a risk of the lights going out," he said. "Power prices would go through the roof – they would have to get at a level where we think 'there's money to be made'. But we will get very, very tight [on security of supply]. It's the worst case scenario."

Some companies including Centrica repeated calls for the UK government to intervene and put a floor – or higher minimum price – on carbon to guarantee them a profit on building the expensive low carbon emitting power plants. The Guardian reported in October that senior government officials had promised the nuclear industry to fix a higher carbon price in the event of a failure at Copenhagen. A spokeswoman for Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, last night would not comment on his plans.

Centrica also pointed out that the failure by the EU to increase its commitment from a 20% reduction in carbon emissions to a 30% cut by 2020 left the UK at a distinct disadvantage. Gordon Brown has already set a much higher target for the UK to cut emissions by 34% by 2020. This will make it harder for heavy polluters in Britain, such as manufacturers, to be competitive with their European rivals, who have less onerous pollution targets. The EU's lower reduction target – which determines the price of carbon on the EU emissions market – also makes it much harder for the UK which needs a higher carbon price to meet its own target.

Global energy companies such as Shell have also been pushing for a global market for carbon as the best way to stimulate investment in low carbon technologies. But analysts said the Copenhagen talks made this less likely, because countries did not sign up to individual binding emissions targets as they did under the Kyoto protocol. Countries also split into negotiating blocks, epitomised by the final agreement drawn up by the US, China, India, South Africa and Brazil, which excluded the rest of the world, making it harder to set up a global carbon trading system.

Andreas Arvanitakis, senior analyst at Point Carbon, said: "In some respects, it looks as though a single international carbon market is less and less likely, with a patchwork of regional price signals emerging instead."

A spokeswoman for Shell was downbeat about the Copenhagen summit. "The Copenhagen accord is just a step towards a global framework, but much more is required. We appreciate the difficulties of the process and recognise that the accord reflects a true political willingness to combat climate change. However, it remains unclear how this political willingness will translate into concrete steps and drive an international process to deliver a global framework." business gas prices

How would you like £10,000 to make your home more energy efficient? British Gas is looking for 100 households to take part in a new scheme called Pay as You Save. The trial will help the government decide how it delivers on its pledge to make the UK's homes more energy efficient.

Although the launch was rather lost, by coinciding with the first day of the Copenhagen talks, the pilot scheme will see householders given a loan to allow them to install either energy efficiency measures or micro-generation projects, such as photovoltaic solar panels.

The householder pays back the loan over as much as 25 years, through the money saved by reduced gas and electricity bills, or the income generated by the energy they produce. The consumer can therefore pay for the energy- and climate-saving measures without incurring extra monthly costs.

The government has pinned its hopes on this scheme as it struggles to upgrade the nation's housing stock and produce more electricity from renewable sources. This week the Conservative party said it would launch a similar scheme in partnership with Tesco and Marks & Spencer if it won the next election. It was apparently unaware of this trial.

The Energy Saving Trust, an independent non-profit body that offers advice to government and the private sector, says its research shows that householders are more likely to make larger investments if the costs can be spread through the savings they make on their energy bills. It couldn't say whether the loans would be interest-free, as the details are "yet to be properly established".

In total, 500 households will benefit from the pilot scheme – 100 each in Birmingham, Sunderland, Sutton, and Stroud. A further 100 can join the scheme through British Gas, although only households in the south-east are eligible.

The pilot scheme will be used to evaluate which delivery method provides the greatest benefits. The loans will start going out next spring, and the trial will run until April 2011.

British Gas is especially keen to hear from householders who are interested in micro-generation projects.

A spokesman says those applying do not have to be British Gas customers. The company is looking for different types of homes that would benefit from measures such as photo voltaic solar panels, air source heat pumps, solar water heaters, or solid-wall insulation.

If you are interested in applying email British Gas. Your email should include your postal address and phone number, as well as giving an indication of what measures you are interested in and brief details about your house.

Because the trial runs for two years, it would help if you are not planning to move during that period, although if there is a mass take-up of the scheme, the debt might stay with the home if the household installing the measures moves before it is paid off.

Speaking at the launch, energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: "Many British householders want to reduce their emissions, but are put off by the upfront cost of installing insulation, solar panels or ground source heat pumps. Pay As You Save will trial different ways of paying for this work. One quarter of the UK's total emissions come from homes, so householders have to be a part of the solution to climate change. Increasing the energy efficiency of homes not only helps reduce emissions, but will also help reduce fuel bills."

Business Electricity

UK households are slowly going green and are now spending more than £250 a year on environmentally friendly products such as low-energy light bulbs and energy-efficient appliances, figures suggested today.

The Co-operative bank's annual Ethical consumerism report showed that expenditure on green products and services topped £6.4bn in 2008.

Despite the recession, spending on green goods increased by 5% on the previous year, with each household spending an average of £251 on environmentally friendly products.

The figure has steadily risen over the past few years, according to the report, but still only accounts for less than 1% of household expenditure.

Spending on energy-efficient appliances, boilers and light bulbs has all risen across the country as a whole, as has cash for green transport, small-scale renewables and green energy tariffs.

Tim Franklin, chief operating officer at the Co-operative bank, said the figures showed political leaders - who are attempting to secure a new deal on tackling climate change at crunch UN talks in Copenhagen - that many people in the UK were working hard to adopt a greener lifestyle.

But he added: "In order for the UK to reduce its carbon emissions by 30% by 2020 there will need to be a step-change in take-up of low-carbon technologies and this will need a new contract between business, government and the consumer."

He said the leadership of ethical consumers and innovation by business worked best when backed up by "thoughtful" government intervention - as in the case of phasing out inefficient light bulbs.

"We now need to see such initiatives in a raft of new areas such as transport and electronic goods," he urged.

In October, the Conservative leader, David Cameron, called for a "green consumer revolution" and companies including Tesco and Coca-Cola suggested climate catastrophe could be averted by "greening" consumer behaviour.

The full Ethical consumerism report will be published later this month.

Renewable technology that uses energy stored in the ground to heat buildings and provide hot water could be installed in hundreds of thousands of homes and offices by the end of the next decade, a report said today.

About 8,000 ground-source heat pump systems were operating in the UK – far fewer than in other European countries, such as Sweden, although the market was expanding rapidly and doubled last year, the Environment Agency report said.

The document concluded that the technology could be installed in 320,000 homes and businesses by 2020 with support from the government.

If enough support was given through the renewable heat incentive, which will be introduced in 2012 and pay homeowners and businesses a guaranteed price for generating renewable heat, more than 1m ground-source heat pumps systems could be put in place.

At the top end of its potential, ground-source heat technology could be installed in more than one in 10 homes and in 40% of commercial buildings, the report said.

Even if growth was limited to 320,000 homes and business – 1% of households and 11% of commercial buildings – it could provide 30% of the renewable heat the UK needed to produce to meet its 2020 target.

"Ground-source heating is a rapidly growing technology that has the potential to produce at least 30% of the country's renewable heat needs – but it needs financial support in order to grow," Tony Grayling, the head of climate change and sustainable development at the Environment Agency, said.

"We would like to see this technology given adequate financial support through the new renewable heat incentive to meet its full potential in the UK."

Over the next two years, the company plans to increase its trial and install an additional 100,000 plus smart meters, which are designed to help reduce bills and cut carbon emissions.

For the last two years, ScottishPower has been testing new smart electricity and gas meters in approximately 1000 homes. The company is now expanding its trial as it moves to the next stage of progress before the full roll-out.

Smart meters will provide real time information on energy consumption, enabling customers to manage their energy use. Energy companies will also be able to design specifically tailored tariffs that will benefit their customers.

Finlay MacDonald, in-charge of smart meter programme at ScottishPower, said: "Our trials so far have been an invaluable source of information about what smart meters can do. We've learned a great deal about the technology and the capabilities of the meters, and this knowledge will only increase as our trials expand.

"Smart metering will have an impact on virtually every customer process, bringing with it vast opportunities to improve service and extend the range of products and services we provide our customers. There are many challenges yet to be overcome – and a lot of hard work between now and the end of the rollout, but the rewards for the consumer, business and the environment will be significant."

ScottishPower has also been working with project teams in Spain and US, who are also undertaking smart metering deployments over the coming years. This will allow the company to share expertise and maximise its knowledge in the development of smart meters.

Abengoa has already begun work on the plants, which are under construction to the east of Seville in southern Spain and are expected to produce enough power to supply 52,000 homes and avoid carbon emissions equivalent to 63,000 tonnes.

The move, which is subject to approval from ERU competition authorities, marks E.ON's first entry into the thermal solar power market and Frank Mastiaux, chief executive of E.ON Climate and Renewables, said if the partnership proves successful, the firm will look to pursue more projects with Abengoa in Spain and the US.

"Solar power will be the next strong pillar in E.ON's renewables portfolio," he said. "Our entry into CSP complements our recent moves into the photovoltaic business and we will now stand on two feet in solar in the future."

Under the terms of the partnership, the companies will invest €550m (£500m) in the two plants, which are due to start operation in 2011 and 2012.

The plants will use parabolic trough technology, a solution developed in the 1980s and tested extensively by Abengoa Solar at other locations in Spain. The systems use large motorised mirrors which follow the movement of the sun throughout the day and reflect light onto a central point, heating a synthetic oil. The superheated oil is pumped from the solar farm to a nearby power plant, where the oil's heat is converted to high-pressure steam in a series of heat exchangers. This steam drives a conventional steam turbine.

Santiago Seage, chief executive of Abengoa Solar, said the projects would benefit from E.ON's expertise at managing large-scale grid connections. "Having E.ON as a partner in these projects will allow us to continue growing at the speed we want and to improve our capabilities in areas where E.ON has extensive experience," he said.

Both companies are also founding members of the Desertec Industrial Initiative, which plans to install huge solar plants in the deserts of North Africa and transmit much of the resulting energy into Europe.

There is more to being green than driving a Prius and buying local produce. Duncan Clark sheds further light on the eco-friendly messages we've come to take for granted

A closer look at some of the commandments of green living could greatly reduce your carbon footprint.

1. What they tell you: Turning off the lights saves CO2

What they don't tell you: It makes sense for individuals to use less electricity to help reduce the emissions of British power stations. However, it's worth bearing in mind that the total amount of CO2 that can be released by power plants and other industrial facilities across the EU between now and 2012 is fixed by the European Emissions Trading Scheme. This means that if the UK power sector reduces its emissions, extra carbon permits get freed up for use elsewhere, such as German power stations or French cement plants. In other words, the same amount of CO2 will be released, just from different sources. If you want to ensure that your electricity savings do make a real environmental difference, join Sandbag, a charity that will remove CO2 permits from the EU scheme to stop your good work being traded away on the carbon markets.

2. What they tell you: Buy a greener car

What they don't tell you: If you definitely need a new car, it makes perfect sense to buy a small, super-efficient model with low CO2 emissions. However, making a new car – including mining and processing the metals and manufacturing and assembling the components – takes a huge amount of energy. According to an expert at the Stockholm Environment Institute, the production of a typical modern car causes around 8 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to driving 23,000 miles. Because of this, unless you currently drive a lot in a highly inefficient car, it will often be greener to stick to your existing vehicle than to sell it and buy a new one.

3. What they tell you: Going veggie cuts emissions

What they don't tell you: It's true that animal products tend to have much higher carbon footprint than food produced from plants. Hence vegetarianism tends to be a good idea from an environmental point of view. The devil is in the detail, however, because certain dairy products are more "carbon intensive" than some meats. In particular hard cheese, which takes a lot of milk to produce, can have a bigger footprint per kilo than chicken. So while cutting out meat – especially beef and lamb – definitely makes ecological sense, the benefit will be reduced if you make up the calories by consuming more dairy. The most effective way to reduce the emissions of your diet is to go vegan – or as close as you can get.

4. What they tell you: Don't overfill the kettle

What they don't tell you: It's not just how much water you boil that determines the carbon footprint of your tea or coffee, but also the type of kettle you use. Jug kettles are fast and convenient, but their fuel – electricity from the national grid – produces almost three times more greenhouse gas for each unit of heat than burning gas in the home does. Hence switching to a stove-top kettle on a gas cooker will usually reduce emissions – especially in colder months when any heat from the flames that escapes around the side of the kettle will warm the room, reducing the burden on the central heating system.

5. What they tell you: Use more efficient appliances

What they don't tell you: Choosing highly energy-efficient appliances is one good way to ensure that routine tasks such as dishwashing and laundry don't create more carbon pollution than necessary. But there are other ways, too, such as simply running your machines at night. In the daytime, when electricity consumption is at its highest, the dirtiest, least efficient power stations are rolled out to help meet peak demand. At night, when demand is lower, these power stations can be switched off, which means that each unit of electricity has a lower carbon footprint. Turning your washing machine and dishwasher on before you go to bed therefore shaves a little off your carbon footprint by "spreading the load" on the electricity grid – though the difference isn't as huge as some websites have claimed.

6. What they tell you: Sign up with us, we provide 100% renewable electricity

What they don't tell you: Various electricity companies promise to provide customers with power from renewable sources. This gives the impression that by signing up you'll be increasing the amount of clean electricity being produced. The truth is rather more complex. The government requires a certain proportion of UK electricity to come from renewable sources. If an electricity company exceeds this target by generating most or all of its power from renewables it can sell its extra green electricity credits to other companies which in turn can avoid producing any green power themselves. The net effect is that not very much changes. That's not to say don't sign up, but if you do use a green power supplier don't expect your electricity to suddenly be carbon-neutral, no matter what the adverts suggest.

7. What they tell you: Wood fires are green

What they don't tell you: If you burn the wood in an open fire, the majority of the energy in the wood will be lost up the chimney. Assuming it comes from properly managed forests, however, wood is a green fuel because the CO2 released when it gets burned will be sucked from the air by the trees planted to replace the felled ones. The inefficient burning typical in a fireplace also creates plenty of soot. Like CO2, soot warms the atmosphere by absorbing heat from the sun – and it can also travel thousands of miles to settle on Arctic ice, where it accelerates melting by darkening the surface. A much better option environmentally is a log-burning stove. These capture most of the heat from the fuel, greatly reducing the amount of wood required, and they slash soot emissions too. Some modern stoves are so clean-burning that they can even be used in smoke-free zones.

8. What they tell you: Use eco detergents

What they don't tell you: "Ecological" washing up liquids and clothes detergents offer an environmental benefit by favouring rapidly biodegradable, low-toxicity, plant-based ingredients over harsher synthetic ones. However, when it comes to climate change, most of the footprint of washing up or cleaning clothes is not caused by producing the detergent but by heating the water. Hence the most effective way to cut emissions is simply to be sparing with hot water when washing up and to use low temperature cycles for laundry. If you find a 30-degree wash sufficient with an ecological powder, then that's ideal; if not, then arguably it would be better to use a more powerful detergent rather than turn up the temperature dial.

9. What they tell you: Reusable nappies are better for the planet

What they don't tell you: It's true that disposable nappies occupy a lot of space in landfill sites and consume a fairly large amount of oil in their production. However, an in-depth study from the Environment Agency (pdf) found that the total impact on global warming could be slightly higher for washables than for disposables. Washables can have a lower carbon footprint, but only if you have an energy-efficient washing machine, use a 60-degree wash cycle, limit yourself to 24 nappies, and don't tumble dry or iron them. Nappy washing services have the highest footprint of all.

10. What they tell you: Buy local

What they don't tell you: The transport of goods accounts for a small but significant proportion of the human impact on the climate. It generally makes environmental sense, therefore, to favour local food and other products. However, it's not always true that local is best. One study suggested that lamb from New Zealand, with its clean energy and rich pastures, has a lower footprint when consumed in the UK than locally produced lamb, despite the long-distance shipping. Another study showed that cut flowers sold in Britain that had been grown in distant but sunny Kenya had a smaller carbon footprint than those grown in heated greenhouses in Holland. So while transport is important, it's not the only factor to consider.

• The examples above are all drawn from the Rough Guide to Green Living, which was published this month.

British Gas is changing the way it bills its customers by offering to get rid of unpopular estimated bills. The company said estimates are the biggest source of frustration among customers because they are "hard to predict and budget for". Instead it is encouraging people to use Energy Smart meters, which allow customers to submit readings online or by text, and pay monthly for the exact amount they use. The new service comes with a monitor which displays and updates the household's gas and electricity usage.

The move away from estimated bills is part of a campaign to encourage more customer feedback. British Gas has also invited customers to join a panel "to come into our business, meet our people, ask anything they like - and report back publicly on what they've found". However, the company explained it would not be cutting prices this year as it is still supplying gas and electricity purchased at prices that were fixed more than twelve months ago.

 Campaigners said the firm was making “a killing” while many pensioners were left struggling to pay high energy bills over the winter months. They called for the company to cut energy bills and offer more help to the most vulnerable people. Centrica has revealed profits of over £1.8billion, with British Gas raking in over £540million despite a 7 per cent fall in energy consumption. Chris Brooks, secretary of the Suffolk Pensioners Association, said: “It is hard for pensioners during these winter months because it means that a higher percentage of the state pension is spent on energy.

 “Energy prices have a great impact on pensioners because during these cold times the heat is essential otherwise hypothermia becomes a massive problem. “It's an endless circle because the state pension is below the official poverty level and it just makes it so hard for people. “Poor little, frail old pensioners just don't really stand much of a chance.”

Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester, said: “I think this indicates how unfair life is. “It shows the abstract failures of this government by highlighting these private industries are making a killing while others suffer. “It won't just be pensioners that suffer but it will also be the millions of children who live in poverty in this country.” Tim Yeo, Conservative MP for Suffolk South, agreed that energy costs were increasingly becoming an issue for older generations. He said: “Energy prices are a real problem and they are going to rise in the next five years - so issues will become a lot worse. “It is the unavoidable outcome that costs will become more expensive as energy supplies become greener.

 “A certain amount can be done, such as insulation, but people really do need cash payments and assistance - I'm very concerned about this issue.” British Gas has also revealed that wholesale gas prices are set to increase from 31p to 49p a therm for the winter period of 2010/11 and could reach up to 57p in the following winter months.

 Wholesale prices are fixed around 18 months to two years in advance, which suppliers argue means that there are often substantial time lags before they pass on changes to customers. A spokesperson for Centrica said: “We cut our gas and electric prices earlier this year by 10 per cent which is more than any other provider. “By doing so, we have become the cheapest supplier in electricity only and the second cheapest for dual fuel - this is why we have gained 200,000 more customers since the end of June. “We have a special tariff particularly for vulnerable people and those with a lower income - this has been widely available and is currently being used by 500,000 of our customers.”

 A spokesperson from the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “Because of significant increases in fuel bills, we are determined to redouble our efforts to help the most vulnerable. “We will build on the measures we've already brought forward, including the £20billion on benefits and programmes, without which 800,000 more people would have found themselves in fuel poverty. “We plan to legislate to give new powers to the regulator to take action, make social tariffs mandatory not optional, and we are planning new measures on energy efficiency targeted at the poorest.”

British Gas staff manned the phones at their call centre at the Oxford Business Park South, in Cowley, on Friday night to collect charity donations via the Children In Need hotline for the first time this year. Callers pledged £122,296 in the five hours, including one single donation of £5,000. Staff also raised thousands of pounds dressing up for work in their pyjamas and taking part in a sponsored cross-dressing football match and chest waxing. Leena Patel, employee engagement officer at British Gas, said: "It was amazing and so surprising to find people being so generous.

"We had children phone up offering their pocket money and we had to explain they must go to the bank to do it.

"Then we had the other end of the extreme when a guy phoned up and donated £5,000.

"It is just amazing how many different people phoned up to pledge money.

"The office was so busy and so noisy.

"I have never seen the office like that.

"It was the first time we have been a Children In Need call centre.

"We have done Sport Relief and Comic Relief before, but Children In Need is bigger."

About 170 members of staff, including managing director Kanat Emiroglu, were joined by friends and family members volunteering to take the calls. Mrs Patel added: "To get £122,000 is staggering as it is almost double what we would normally receive for Sport Relief and Comic Relief." Nationally, 3,000 volunteers at 52 call centres, including Oxford, took 200,000 calls during the night. The Children In Need campaign had raised £19m by the time the live BBC1 television show presented by Terry Wogan and Tess Daly finished. The star-studded telethon featured appearances by Dr Who and the cast of EastEnders. In Oxfordshire two nursery school nurses sat in baths of custard, rugby players had their chests waxed and children from Woodstock covered themselves in Pudsey-style spots.

Head teacher, Ruth Murray, commented, "The change in the school has been astonishing: the old windows were drafty and made the school cold and miserable. The pupils and teachers all really love the new windows – and now we don't have to dread the colder months!"

npower's Climate Cop programme runs green-themed activities for schools right across the UK – and pupils from Francis Askew have already taken part in a ‘Climate Cops Academy' – a highly interactive day about saving energy and the planet. npower also undertook an energy audit in July 2008, which showed that huge amounts of energy were being lost through the old windows – making the school a prime candidate to benefit from one of npower's Climate Cop grants.

Clare McDougall, head of the Climate Cops programme, commented, "As well as educating pupils and surveying school buildings, we're also spending half a million pounds on making physical changes and improvements to schools. The energy audit we did for Francis Askew showed that there wasn't much point in them trying to be more energy efficient whilst loads of warmth was being lost through the windows. Now they've stopped warm air leaking out, any future energy saving measures should have a real impact."

npower's Climate Cop programme has committed £500,000 in energy efficiency measures for schools, 15 projects have been completed so far and - if all the measures are implemented - the participating schools would annually save a total of around £100,000 and 650 tonnes of CO2.
 
 

Online Energy Version 5

Online Saver Version 2

At the same time they have launched Online Saver Version 3 and for the first time they have launched a gas only version.

The new tariff is very competitive and from a gas perspective places EDF at the number one spot in all 14 areas across the UK, taking them into the same position as British Gas and OVO Energy - who together hold the number one spots for electricity and dual fuel for most areas.

Online Saver Version 3 has been designed to be very competitive rates at time of sign-up, and a minimum 2% discount off EDF Energy Standard prices guaranteed until the end of December 2010.

Customers joining the tariff who do subsequently leave before the end of the December 2010 will be subject to early termination fees of £25 per fuel.

The regulator has issued a draft spending and revenue programme for the electricity companies, fixing their investment in 2010-15 at £6.5 billion, 17% less than they requested. Ofgem has not, however, cut its requirement for improvements to the networks.

Energy bosses reacted angrily, saying they were being asked to shoulder the responsibility for much of the government's ambitious plans for a low-carbon future but to do it on the cheap.

They are to meet Alistair Buchanan, chief executive of Ofgem, over the next few weeks to make their final pitches for a better deal for 2010-15 before the regulator's final decision in December.

Nick Horler, chief executive of Scottish Power, said he was prepared to take the unprecedented step of going to the Competition Commission unless the regulator changed its mind. "Ofgem is playing yesterday's game, which was sweating these assets and bringing costs down," he said.

"We are at a point where we need to make big new investments. Ofgem has taken a very narrow view of economics and we may have no recourse but to go to the commission."

Many of the networks, which are regional monopolies, were built in the 1950s. They need a radical overhaul to accommodate wind farms, new nuclear stations, small household generators and other technology. "We can cut carbon, we can cut costs, but we can't do both," said John Crackett, networks chief at Eon.

"We need to have fair returns that are attractive to investors. If they are not attractive, we are not going to reach the [government] goals because companies won't invest."

If the draft decision is rubber-stamped by Ofgem, there could be a wave of disposals by companies unwilling to invest billions for small returns.

Ofgem has not told the firms what their allowed profits will be. Andy Cox, energy partner at KPMG, the accountant, said: "A number of players are looking again at their networks and considering whether in a capital-constrained world the returns allowed for the next five years will be sufficient."

Steve Smith, head of networks at Ofgem, said the regulator was not trying to starve the networks of money. Network charges are set to increase by 25% between 2010 and 2015, he said, and the firms had made big profits since privatisation.

"We have 14 networks, and some of them say it is going to cost a lot more than others to do the same thing. So we have challenged that quite hard," he said. "If they disagree they can, of course, go to the commission as an independent referee."