The nuclear industry has had a horrible few years, having to contend with the cooling of popular and political attitudes towards nuclear power that followed the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011. Since then, Germany decided to phase out nuclear power, Italy scrapped its planned nuclear programme and president François Hollande said he would reduce […]
Ofgem’s Non-DD Penalty Under Fire
Ofgem – making a positive difference for customers (as long as you pay by direct debit) Ofgem aren’t having an auspicious time at the moment, under fire for their proposal for a unilateral code in the business energy market that allows suppliers to continue to miss-sell, belatedly fining BGB £5.6m for repeated misdemeanours over half […]
Centrica Profit Warning and Price Freeze
Apocalypse on Planet Centrica Centrica, the owner of British Gas Business has announced a profit warning and a freezing of prices as they attempt to ‘shore up’ their business. In the light of a forecast downgrade statement from Moody’s (as we reported recently) Centrica has blamed the unseasonably mild winter for depressing usage as well as […]
FSB Survey Confirms Unfair Energy Market for Small Businesses
Latest FSB reveal survey results showing the shocking lack of interaction of their members with the energy market. The Federation of Small Businesses has published its latest energy survey from its ‘Voice of Small Business’ Panel. Despite 63% of those businesses that had switched found the process easy, and 61% said it had a positive […]
E.ON Fined for Mis-Selling Energy
E.ON are the latest supplier to be fined for mis-selling but Ofgem’s proposals for a universal code of conduct don’t cover suppliers’ sales interactions. Go figure. Ofgem have ordered E.ON to repay to its customers a total of £12m for those affected by their mis-selling activities. This represents the largest ever penalty imposed by the […]
House of Lords Push for Fracking
The House of Lords economy committee published a report last week calling for Britain to get “fracking faster for shale gas”. Despite numerous setbacks at the hands of environmentalists and growing public opinion, the House of Lords’ report calls for a central role for shale gas in future UK energy scenarios. But the Lords’ warned […]
Service Sector Growth, 16 Months in a Row
There was bright news for the service sector in April as it saw another increase in activity for the 16th month in a row. Traditionally the service sector has not been a bell weather for the health of the UK economy, but is recent years, as the sector has grown in influence it is now […]
Scientists Attack Biomass Power Subsidy
Biomass, the scientists fight back We wrote recently about the travails of Drax, the UK’s largest coal generating power station and how its desire to become the UK’s biggest renewable plant had been dealt a blow by the government’s decision not to fully back its redevelopment to a biomass plant. We also discussed the bad […]
Boris Wants to be an Electricity Supplier
That’s the latest news from the London mayor’s office. What may sound like a wacky scheme from a wacko politician actually has some grounding in reality however. The intention is part of an initiative to increase London’s energy independence with the aim of producing 25% of the capital’s electricity from local sources by 2025. Whilst […]
Science Behind Energy: Electricity Storage
In the latest of our series on the science behind energy we look at the potential that electricity storage has for revolutionising our fuel mix and the influence of renewable energy. It can sometimes be rather difficult to identify what is ‘good’ renewable energy and what is ‘bad’ renewable energy. Indeed it very much depends […]