Britain has the highest domestic electricity prices in Europe with customers paying double the continental average. The typical British household pays 14.8p/kWh before tax while the pre-tax price in Bulgaria sits at just 5.75p/kWh. While our tax sits much lower at 5% than most of the rest of Europe, Britain has still seen the biggest […]
EON pay for missing advanced meter deadline
Bad news for E.ON as they have had to fork out £7 million to the Carbon Trust after they were investigated by Ofgem for failing to meet their advanced metering rollout obligations. All suppliers were advised by the government in 2009, that they must rollout advanced gas and electricity meters to large non-domestic customers by […]
UK fracking on the rise but not in Scotland
It seems that government backing has helped to ramp up fracking planning as applications have risen. Ken Cronin, chief executive of UK Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG) has announced that he has “seen a significant increase in applications happening around the UK over the course of the last two or three months”. David Cameron has made […]
Extension granted for wind energy projects
After much controversy over the premature closure of the Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme, the government has bent under the pressure and allowed an extended grace period. There are no plans to bring back the RO scheme, as Amber Rudd sticks to her pledge amid claims she is protecting customers against high bills. “As we have […]
Demand Side Response (DSR) service for businesses from Smartest Energy
Smartest Energy is preparing to offer a Demand Side Response (DSR) service to businesses in the new year. Businesses will receive payments for reducing consumption in periods of high demand through the Capacity Market auction. They may even receive money just for taking part even if they are not called upon to cut their usage. […]
Ofgem-run energy price comparison service?
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the preliminary findings in their report in July, with regard to the energy market and its issues. Along with a proposal to set up a Safeguard Regulated Tariff which would protect all ‘disengaged’ customers from high standard variable tariffs, the CMA also suggested an Ofgem managed comparison service which […]
FiT changes hinder community energy projects
Energy secretary Amber Rudd admits that Feed-in Tariff (FiT) changes could have a negative impact on the development of community energy projects. However she defended her decision by reiterating the importance of safeguarding spend under the FiT scheme. Not all is lost though as she offered community projects hope of potential assistance when she added: […]
UK energy system wastes more than half of power generated
54% of generated power is lost between the source and the end user reportedly costing £9.5 billion a year, thanks to the UK’s inefficient energy system. The government is being urged to look into the issue as a more efficient grid would be the first port of call for a cost-effective solution to a reliable […]
Shale fracking banned in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland’s environment minister Mark Durkan has banned shale fracking in the strategic planning policy statement (SPPS) for Northern Ireland. Durkan stated that this would not change unless the Department of the Environment is “satisfied that there is sufficient and robust evidence on all environmental impacts of fracking.” He said: “I have been consistently clear […]
UK government blasted over renewables cuts by Al Gore
Former US vice president Al Gore has been left “puzzled” by the recent cuts to renewables subsidies by the UK government. In their short time in power, the Renewables Obligation scheme has been scrapped, subsidies for wind farms and solar projects have prematurely ended, cut Climate Change Levy (CCL) exemptions and the Feed-in Tariff scheme […]