Small and medium-sized UK businesses are taking off again after the devastating effects of the recession. They have also begun borrowing again according to the Bank of England and growth was at 2.4% by the end of 2014. There are 5.2m businesses in the UK, 99 per cent of which are classified as SMEs. They […]
Call for lower taxes from small businesses
Businesses are imploring the new government to lower taxes and property rates as they are struggling to compete with online retailers. During the election campaign, David Cameron promised to keep taxes low and cut regulation for small businesses. Philippa Roe, leader of Westminster Council, said: “There is a real appetite for change, to make the system fairer […]
Renewables to become top source of electricity in 2030
Coal will no longer be the world’s top source of electricity by 2030 if global pledges are kept to support renewable energy generation. Promises have been made as part of a global climate change deal to limit carbon emissions and reduce the use of fossil fuels. Schemes have been introduced to stop global temperatures warming […]
Independent energy suppliers becoming more popular
Consumers are paving the way to a competitive energy market with customers leaving the Big Six in favour of independent suppliers. These smaller companies now hold 12.6 per cent of the dual fuel energy market after rapid growth in the last six months while the Big Six’s market share is slowly dwindling month on month. […]
Big Six breathe a sigh of relief over CMA findings
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) were tasked with looking into the structure of the Big Six energy suppliers amid fears they had a monopoly over the energy market. Calls were being made to potentially separate retail and business arms in each of the companies as it was felt they may have been taking advantage […]
Electricity customers hitting the switch in 2015
Over 1.5 million customers have switched their electricity supplier so far in 2015 according to Energy UK. Switching rates hit record highs earlier this year after a governmental ‘Power to Switch’ campaign. The campaign advised consumers that they could be saving around £200 a year by switching helping raise awareness of the deals that are […]
UK fracking hits more roadblocks
So the USA has overtaken Russia as the world’s largest producer of oil and gas. US shale production has increased sevenfold in the last few years despite lower global demand this year. “We are truly witnessing a changing of the guard of global energy suppliers. The implications of the shale revolution are profound,” said Spencer […]
Oil prices drop again as Opec continues production
Oil prices have been dropped for some time now thanks to a decrease in global demand coupled with increased US shale production. Some of Opec’s members however are not happy with the current state of affairs and have implored the cartel to cut production so prices can rise. Even the Kuwaiti oil minister conceded that […]
Oil prices tumble as fracking in the US rises
A huge turnaround this year for the oil industry as fracking has upended the biggest world players. America has now replaced Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest producer and is fast pushing the North Sea operators out of the market. Increased shale oil production in the US and a decrease in global demand have caused […]
Government schemes wreck demand-side response intentions
Changing energy market schemes have undermined the value that customers could be receiving from demand side response (DSR) says electricity balancing and settlement company Elexon. Demand side response is the scheme where customers are incentivized financially to lower or shift their electricity use at peak times. This helps to manage load and voltage profiles on […]