How HeatingSave Helps Businesses | Page 18

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is saying the high price of oil is starting to affect demand for energy. The body said it was concerned about supply shortages. The IEA added that global oil output fell by around 700,000 barrels per day in March due to unrest in Libya. It surmised that the price of oil could begin to moderate itself over time, but thought a policy response from oil producers’ group Opec was unlikely.

The owner of British Gas has hinted that it will raise prices for its gas and electricity customers again. Centrica’s statement to investors warned them to expect lower profits for the first half of 2011. The energy giant said “retail margin recovery” would boost its profits in the second half of the year to make up for this. Already in May Centrica said its customers were not paying enough to reflect the increased cost of gas on the wholesale market.

More details have emerged concerning the Green Deal scheme which is designed to help people pay for home insulation and other energy saving measures. The plan is for authorised companies to pay for the insulation work and homeowners will repay the money, plus interest, through additional charges on their energy bills. Climate change minister Greg Barker said: “The Green Deal is the government’s flagship energy saving plan to transform the country’s homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.”

A second big energy supplier has hinted that gas and electricity prices may rise steeply this year. Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) said its household gas business had been losing money, with a 25 per cent rise in wholesale prices last year outgaining December’s 9% rise. SSE warned that wholesale gas and electricity prices for the coming year had gone up since then by as much as 33%.

The Government has announced big changes in the way Britain organises its electricity production partly in a bid to cut high fuel bills. It will offer generating companies long-term contracts at fixed prices to produce low-carbon power – in other words, from renewable sources and nuclear installations.

A council says it is saving more than £3,000 a month by turning off some street lights after midnight. Carmarthenshire council ensures that 3,000 of the lights within its jurisdiction are dimmed in the early hours of the morning.

The government has been warned that there will be a 30 per cent rise in consumer energy bills by 2020 as a direct result of the coalition’s policies. The projected figure is blamed on policies like carbon pricing which are designed to promote the use of renewables.

Energy giant Npower blamed the “volatile global wholesale market” for making a big hike in its prices. Npower will raise gas prices by 15.7 per cent and electricity prices by 7.2% from the first day of October, it said. The firm said customers with a dual fuel tariff would see prices rise by 12.2% from October.

A local scheme offering discounted heating oil has become so successful it is being expanded nationwide. The idea generated with Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC) as a means to raise extra income.

In a move which has been widely predicted but is still unwelcome nevertheless, British Gas is putting up gas prices by 18 per cent and electricity prices by 16% from August 18, 2011. The utility last raised its rates back in December 2010 by 6.9% for gas and 6.7% for electricity. This means British Gas customers will have seen their bills increase by one-quarter in the last year alone. The firm has blamed the rises on the increasing wholesale cost of gas.

The government wants to slash the feed-in tariffs available to domestic and small-scale solar business installations, from 43p per kWh to just 21p per kWh. Under the proposals the new tariffs would apply to all new solar PV modules with an eligibility date on or after December 12, 2011. This has resulted in criticism from the solar industry, with one Twitter remark stating: “So you ‘consult’ until 23 Dec but cut off tariff from 12th?

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has blamed energy prices as the major factor in the highest UK inflation figures for three years. The rate of Consumer Prices Index inflation, which was introduced 14 years ago in the UK, matched its record high in September – increasing to 5.2 per cent. The ONS, which released the data, said: “By far the largest upward pressure to the change in CPI…