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.

Business electricity prices are in the spot light as energy suppliers prices are creeping up once again. The business electricity prices service negotiates the best rates with energy suppliers for businesses. We find the cheapest business electricity prices in the UK, so you don't have to go any where else or be hanging on the phone waiting to get through to speak to some one.

Our service is free; we get a small administration fee from which ever supplier wins your business. You can be totally confident that business electricity prices are completely independent and work for you NOT the supplier.

Business electricity prices are one of the UK's leading, fully independent, energy brokerages. We have been serving businesses cut energy costs for over 5 years.

We help over 15,000 Business customers a year either by renewing their energy contracts at more competitive rates or switching them to a cheaper supplier. This experience and deep market awareness means we have authority and purchasing power within the industry. Our customers vary from small, local businesses to large industrial manufacturing sites and anything in between.

Call 0845 226 0046 and reduce your business electricity prices today

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."

A global leader in wind turbine manufacturing has completed its work on two Scottish wind farms, helping to edge the country closer to its ambitious renewable energy targets.

REpower UK, the Edinburgh-based business, has completed installation and achieved commercial handover of two large wind farms located at opposite ends of the country.

The move means that the wind farms are now connected to the national grid and are being operated by their respective owners.

In the north-east, 20 turbines have been delivered to Fairburn wind farm in Ross-shire for Scottish and Southern Energy, while in the Scottish Borders 19 turbines were handed over to EDF Energy Renewables at Longpark near Galashiels.

Combined, the two sites have a rated capacity of 80mW, creating enough energy to power almost 46,000 homes a year.

Rick Eggleston, managing director of REpower UK, commented: “These wind farms are both large sites with complex grid connection requirements. This element was of particular significance at Fairburn, where we took on full responsibility for the grid compliance.”

He added: “Both wind farms use the MM82 turbine, which is specially adapted to thrive in high wind locations bringing an efficient result in terms of wind energy.

“We’re very confident that they will make a very valuable contribution to meeting the renewable targets in Scotland.”

REpower is currently working on eight onshore wind farms across the UK after completing 26 onshore wind farms in Scotland, England and Wales and one offshore wind farm, Project Beatrice, in the North Sea.

The company has also been appointed as supplier for 30 offshore turbines for Vattenfall’s Ormonde wind farm in the Irish Sea which, on completion, will have a total rated output of 150mW.

German-owned REpower employs 75 people at its UK subsidiary in Edinburgh and a total of 2000 worldwide.

Ofgem, the energy regulator, found EDF Energy in breach of the regulations between October 2008 and March 2009.

Energy companies must handle complaints effectively and with the attention they deserve 
During this time the company had not maintained all its records in the way that the new standards require when handling customer complaints.

However Ofgem said that EDF Energy acted promptly to address the problem, according to Ofgem, and voluntarily made payments totalling £200,000 to Money Advice Trust and the Citizens Advice scheme Energy Best Deal.

As a result the regulator decided not to impose a financial penalty on EDF Energy, but warned all suppliers to take their obligations on handling customer complaints seriously.

This is the first time Ofgem has found a breach of the new regulations which took effect in 2008.

The new regulations also support consumers’ right to take a dispute to the Energy Ombudsman where it cannot be satisfactorily resolved with the energy company.

“It is vital that energy companies handle complaints effectively and with the attention they deserve.”

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.

MORE than 40 private and public sector organisations have banded together to promote the Highlands and Islands as a "hub" for the renewable energy industry.

The group will set out its case at next week's All-Energy Conference in Aberdeen, the largest renewable power event in the UK.

There are almost 600 companies and organisations with an interest in energy in the Highlands and Islands, operating in a wide variety of sectors including oil and gas to wind, tidal, wave, bio-mass, hydro and hydrogen.

What is Reactive Power?

Some equipment used in industrial and commercial applications requires an amount of ‘reactive power' in addition to the ‘true power' requirements. This reactive power generates the magnetic fields which are essential for inductive electrical equipment (such as transformers, motors and welders) to operate.

Reactive power is measured in units of kVAr (kiloVolt Amperes reactive), whilst ‘true power' is measured in kW (kiloWatts). In general terms the lower the power factor, the greater the amount of reactive power required. The highest power factor is unity, 1.0 however some equipment can operate at power factors as low as 0.4. The power factor can be calculated from the power triangle shown below:

Reactive Power Charges
A number of Distribution Network Operators levy a reactive power charge if the number of reactive units consumed exceeds a pre-determined percentage of kilowatt hours consumed, which means that the amount of charges will vary from site to site, and even from month to month. These charges are passed on to our customers at cost as levied by the distribution company and are not included in the rates agreed on your quote.

As an example, in the former Eastern Electricity area (EDF) such charges only apply to the number of reactive units in excess of 33% of the total number of kilowatt hours consumed e.g. Assume 10,000 kWhs consumed and 5,000 reactive units recorded over a billing period, then charges would be based on 1,700 reactive units;

i.e. 5,000 – (0.33 x 10,000).

Energy suppliers will invoice these charges separately from your main bill, in accordance with the terms of your contract with them. Payment for these invoices is due promptly according to the payment terms and method agreed on your contract.

Can you reduce  Reactive Power Charges?
Customers wishing to reduce or even eliminate reactive power charges can consider doing so by improving the site's power factor, to a level close to unity, i.e. 0.95-0.97.

This is possible by installing power factor correction equipment. Power Factor Correction equipment consists of capacitors with associated control and switchgear. Capacitors draw reactive power, but in an ‘opposing direction' to that drawn by typical business plant and equipment. The net effect is a reduction in the amount of reactive power, and therefore a lower level of kVA which may in turn lead to a lower available capacity charge each month.

In addition to reducing Reactive Power charges there may be other benefits in Power Factor Correction;

•Potential Reduction in any kVA leading to possible reduction in demand related charges.
•May provide additional capacity from existing connections without the need for system reinforcement.
•Likelihood of reducing overheating electricity distribution equipment.
Of course there are costs associated with the installation of PFC equipment. Systems can be installed from £500 but this may be negligible when compared against the reactive power charges that would otherwise have been incurred.

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.

As a result of the probe OFGEM has increased the protection for Micro Businesses with the following new rules:

» Before entering into a contract a customer must be informed of the key terms and conditions

» Within 10 days of the contract being agreed the customer should receive hard copies of the full terms and conditions and a statement of renewal terms if the contract is fixed length

» Customers will be contacted a minimum of 30 days before the end of the contract period with an explanation of the options available and including advice on what a customer should do to terminate their current contract and stop the supplier from assuming contract renewal for a further fixed term contract period.

» Customers at any point from when the contract is agreed until the end of the notice period can give notice that they wish to terminate it at the end of the fixed term period.

These rules come into force on 18th January 2010, however they will not apply retrospectively and so will only affect existing customers when they come to terminate or renew their supply contracts.

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.

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British Gas joins controversial shale gas hunt

British Gas owner Centrica is entering the controversial shale gas business as part of its strategy to double the size of its North American operation, Direct Energy, to a turnover of £12.2 billion within five years.

It is likely that the energy giant will either enter a joint venture or acquire a company with the skills to extract the gas from soft shale rock found in North America.

Chris Weston, Direct Energy's new chief executive, told analysts last month: 'We are interested in shale gas - it is a phenomenon.'

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."

"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."

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."

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."