Final Round KO to DECC Drax Energy, Europe’s largest coal fired power station has accepted defeat in their bid to overturn the government’s controversial decision to renege on a subsidy agreement under their flagship contracts for differences (CfDs) scheme. Drax had been told they would receive subsidies for converting a further two of their coal […]
DECC Appeal Drax Biomass Conversion
Drax and Double Drax Part 2 Following the controversial selection of recipients for the first round of enhanced subsidy packages under the Contracts for Differences scheme for new renewable generation and the apparent largesse of the government in the level of the awards made. Together with Drax’s legal challenge to missing out on the promised […]
Ofgem vs Ovo Energy Dispute
In a somewhat baffling spat between the energy regulator and a new entrant energy supplier accusations are flying around that innovation is contravening rules and that the regulator is stifling progress. That’s the situation that Ofgem and Ovo Energy have got themselves into. The issue is around surplus monies being held in energy company bank accounts […]
Solar Subsidy Winners and Losers
The Renewable Energy Foundation has revealed in a new report that the cost to customers of subsidising solar energy has increased four fold in just two years with further increases expected. According to the report the Feed In Tariff subsidy that is sourced from energy bills has been used to pay £580m towards the installation […]
CMA, the Banking industry
The headlines looked promising: The Bank of England’s latest report on lending to businesses showed a significant turnaround with lending to businesses increasing £3.4bn in May compared to an average monthly decrease of £2.1bn since December. Below those headlines though the flow, and positivity dissipated with SMEs seeing another fall in the number of loans […]
North East Shines Again for Business
The Likely Lads, Auf Wiedersehen pet, Spender, Byker Grove, the North East has been the birthplace and inspiration of some of the greatest dramas of the last few decades. Well perhaps the latter two are stretching the point but a region beset by desolation of indigenous industry has bred real life drama by the bucket […]
SSE Loses Half a Million Customers in 2014
SSE the UK’s second largest energy supplier has revealed that in the first six months of 2014 they lost nearly half a million customers. In total 2014 has seen Scottish & Southern Electricity lose 5% of their customer base, falling from 9.47m to 8.99m in the period from January to June. SSE also reports that […]
When £50 Equals £100: Centrica vs. Ofgem
Each month Ofgem publishes its Supply Market Indicators (SMI), a look at the cost of energy and its constituent elements. In reality however the SMI is focused on one figure alone, the profit per account earnt by energy suppliers. Ofgem have consistently highlighted the impact of this cost on the price of energy and their […]
Betting on the Gas Market
A fool’s game? “Europe has enough spare capacity in liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet a large part of the region’s needs if Russia retaliates against the latest EU sanctions by restricting gas supplies.” That was the headline of just one week ago. So why has the gas price suddenly shot up again with Winter […]
New Study Finds Climate Change Hypocrisy
Post affluent politics is an interesting phenomenon. Where households or individuals have sufficient resources to meet their personal needs their minds often move on to non-hygiene factors that don’t directly affect their immediate well-being but which provide a cause to champion. It’s too simplistic to say as Helena Bonham Carter once said that the ‘poor’ […]