Energy bills both for consumers as well as in the business sector are set to rise steadily and dramatically over the next decade The increases will be driven by increased costs of creating energy at source as a result of the government’s plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

This much needed change in direction is estimated to increase the costs of energy in the industrial sector by as much as 17 per cent over the next decade, while the domestic sectors energy costs will rise by no less than eight percent over the same period. Government ministers involved in the environment sector announced their findings as part of a concerted strategy for tackling the threat of climate change and boosting renewable energy.

As in similar situations, there are pluses as well as minuses to contend with. Already some of the UK’s large industrial concerns are threatening that the increased energy costs are liable to cause British manufacturers to be uncompetitive on the global stage. There were also concerns voiced that the government was pinning too much of their hopes on wind power, and not investing enough on creating nuclear power.

A spokesman for the UK government in anticipation of industry’s reactions insisted that they intend to encourage all forms of low-carbon energy production, including nuclear and “clean coal” power stations that capture and store their emissions. Over the next decade, however, the biggest change in energy supply sources the establishment of a renewable energy industry, which is expected to power almost one third of the UK’s electricity, allowing . The government to meet their commitment to the European Union to derive 15 per cent of all Britain’s energy from renewable sources by the year 2020.

The cost of those measures, which will require at least £100 billion of investment over the coming years.

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Tags: carbon dioxide emissions, Energy Prices, Goverment, UK energy suppliers

A recent report has claimed that the UK public is being overcharged for energy and by more than one and half billion pounds every year.

With the cost of crude oil now less than half of what it was in January of this year, the savings that the energy suppliers must be making in their raw material costs are far away from being reflected in the financially choked British consumer’s gas and electricity bills.

While a large number of consumer protection groups have picked up on this point and begun to pressure the energy suppliers to reduce their bills, the UK government seems to be “sitting on their hands”. With the general feeling that the man in the street continues to be the whipping boy for profit hungry conglomerates, this apparent lack of regard for their plight really sticks in the throat of those who are concerned for the well being of Britain’s sick and elderly. There is no reason why significant reductions cannot be made in utility bills.

Until the UK government does step in, the only defence that the UK consumer has is to shop around and compare prices. If their current energy supplier seems to be overcharging them, no time should be wasted in stating their displeasure, and not waste time and energy by threatening to move on to a new supplier, but beginning to take the necessary steps to do so. Many consumers, who have tried this move, have been surprised to discover that their existing energy supplier will pull something out of the hat to keep their business.

Although it is often easier said than done, the UK consumer could take certain initiatives to reduce the cost of buying energy. The first is by paying promptly, preferably by direct debit, which could amount to saving of around £7.00 a month.

Paying online, especially if you are capable of reading your own meter can save even more. Watch your electric appliances, and switch them off when not in use, even if it is a pain in the neck. If you are finding it difficult to cope financially, and the circumstances allow it, you may even be eligible to certain government grants that will help you to pay your energy bills or better still reduce them through energy saving methods such as improved insulation among others.

All that will help till the UK government starts wielding the big stick at the energy companies. Don’t hold your breath.

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Tags: Energy Company's, Energy Prices, Fuel, Fuel Costs, Fuel Package, UK energy suppliers, UK’s oil and gas

There was little or no news around as the FTSE closed its doors for their annual spring holiday. There was much anticipation that tomorrow will see a continuation of the steady recovery that has now gone on for the last few weeks, especially on the announcement that the US treasury look set to purchase around one trillion dollars of healthy ( at least for the time being) assets from the banks. Experts have it that this will create the final major push that will eventually extricate the American as well as the global economy from the severest recession seen in more than sixty years.

It was just like the French to spoil a holiday, and this they almost did with the announcement that their state-controlled utility body EDF is considering disposing of its electricity distribution business in the UK, in a move to reduce its heavy debt burdens. Seemingly the matter was raised at the company’s recent board meeting, when the proposition of disposing of the network, which is the largest in the UK, was mooted. The apparent reason is that EDF are finding themselves temporarily strapped for cash, after a series of acquisitions, the most recent being the €15bn purchase of British Energy.

Overall EDF are reported to be planning to offload assets worth around €5bn in disposals, to reduce their debts that currently amount to almost €25bn.
The recently bankrupt Chrysler group has hastened to announce that their UK operation was in a healthy position despite their US parent group having called for Chapter 11 protection on Friday.

The UK offshoot, based in Milton Keynes and with a work force of around seventy, announced that they were in close contact with the company’s dealerships around the UK as well as any customers who have been in contact concerned about outstanding warranties and the availability of spare parts. In 2008, Chrysler UK sold over 13,000 vehicles.
Sterling rose slightly against the dollar yet slipped back against the Euro, whilst holding its own against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc:

· Pound/US dollar 1.504
· Pound/Euro 1.1204
· Pound/Japanese Yen 148.43
· Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6919

On Wall Street shares enjoyed another relatively buoyant day with the Dow Jones Average rising another 214.33 points to close at 8426.74. The Nasdaq also rose by 44.36 points to finish the day at 1763.56.

Stateside yesterday, President Obama announced a proposal that will effectively outlaw certain loopholes designed to allow offshore tax-avoidance. The move is expected to affect US corporations with overseas divisions. Obama’s proposal is intended to disallow certain tax deductions for firms whose profits are earned in countries with lower tax bands than that of the US.

The US Treasury will be employing almost one thousand additional federal agents to enforce the new legislation, which is likely to bring an additional £140billion laws, ($210bn) in tax revenue over the next ten years

In overnight trading in Asia, encouraging signs continued. Shares in the Taipei exchange closed at the highest levels since September 2008, buoyed by investor confidence of closer ties with Beijing Yesterday advance left the benchmark up 38 per cent since the beginning of 2009.

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Tags: British Economy, EdF, Energy Prices, Financial News, FTSE, Recession, UK Banks, US Treasury

Continuing claims of unfair overcharging is making UK energy suppliers feel hot under the collar. And the people who are making them roast are Ofgem, the UK energy regulator whose role it is to crack down on companies who vary from the tariffs that they are legally obliged to charge the consumer.

A recently code of practice providing a whole new list of conditions designed to protect the interest of consumers and members of the business community will protect against well know “gypping” practices initiated by energy companies, particularly price discrimination against customers in the lower income bracket. These can be either families or occasionally small, usually family run businesses that use prepayment meters to settle their energy bills in advance, instead of the methods preferred by energy suppliers, particularly direct debit.

Under the new legislation, Ofgem end to put a stop to unfair practices against those who prefer to prepay their energy accounts as well as putting a stop to energy company’s insistence on demanding the automatic rollover of fixed-term contracts, regarded as unfair practice,. Ofgem see it is the consumer’s right to be able to shop around for the best energy supply deal before deciding which energy supplier to opt for.

Currently, having prepayment meters installed results in the consumer being charged a fixed one-off fee of at least £90.00 when they sign up with an energy supplier, where direct debit customers are not required to place a deposit. The aim of Ofgem is to stipulate that energy suppliers will be allowed to charge a fixed sum, yet to be established, but considerably lower than that being paid now for this service.

Also under scrutiny are unfair practices being levied on the 12 million households who prefer to pay their energy bills by direct debit. It has long been the practice of energy companies to encourage their customers to pay by monthly direct debit by offering financial incentives, as being paid quarterly effects their cash flow considerably, by making it cheaper than paying quarterly. However, after considerable research was carried out by Ofgem, it was ascertained that as monthly amounts being charged to the customers was an estimate based on previous history and not after the physical reading of their meter, they were often being overcharged, and any inflated charges were not being refunded after the meter was physically read. In answer to claims by some energy companies that energy bills “leveled ” out over the year, Ofgem’s research showed that in many cases, consumers were paying for as much as 13% more for energy than they actually received, against those who paid quarterly after their meter reading was recorded.

In the long term, the new legislation will insist that energy companies will provide their clients with an annual statement, detailing tariff information, written price quotations as well as their clearly stated rights to switch energy suppliers without pre-conditions or penalty clauses.

Energy companies who fail to comply with the conditions of the new legislation, which is due to come into effect by the autumn of this year, run the risk of being reported to the Competition Commission.

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Tags: Energy Company's, Energy Prices, Money, Ofgem, Savings, UK energy suppliers

Poor old Gordon Brown…nothing he does meets with approval any more. His £1bn fuel package has been slammed by critics as too little too late. Fresh off the back of the embarrassing stamp duty fiasco which saw the mortgage market freeze for weeks while buyers waited for clarification at exactly the worst time, his Father Christmas act has been greeting with shouts of Ba Humbug.

The fuel costs to heat homes has shot up with oil prices so that now the average family can expect to pay over £1400 per year by 2009, up from just under £670 a year in 2005. More than 10% of people are now officially living in fuel poverty and that figure is climbing fast. Fuel poverty is defined as anyone where 10% or more of their income is paid on fuel bills.

Double digit hikes in energy prices in the last 18 months, with more to come have seen the government’s plans to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016 go up in smoke, so to speak. People can be seen huddling around the embers…trying to keep warm.

His package included free cavity wall and loft insulation for pensioners and poorer households and all households will get a 50% discount on the work. Half a million customers will have their fuel bills frozen and payments to the most vulnerable will go up from £8.75 a week to £25 a week. This will be paid for by the energy companies themselves who will carry out the work, but many people fear that they will simply pass on the costs to the consumer through higher prices.

Mr Brown rejected calls for a windfall on energy companies and poured scorn on those who said that the bill would eventually be borne by consumers through higher prices. He also dismissed calls that loft insulation would take too long to implement and said that there would be an immediate impact.

Help the aged said in a statement “Individual changes which have been flagged by the Prime Minister are sensible and move in the right direction, but they are too little, too modest and will take too long to address the urgent plight of many pensioners today.”

A campaign has been launched to make people aware of the package, but some people referred to it as giving a drowning man swimming lessons. It looks like Mr Browns Autumn re-launch could be as frosty as a pensioner’s house this Christmas.

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Tags: Energy Prices, Fuel Costs, Fuel Package, Gordon Browns