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Commodity markets this week have taken fright at the turmoil in Bahrain, which has caused another spike in oil prices. The market had temporarily recovered following the past month’s record-breaking levels per barrel due to the instability in the Middle East. With Libyan production already near zero, markets reacted badly to new demonstrations in Bahrain and the risk it may spread to neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Brent crude futures broke back above $113 a barrel.

A price comparison website has warned consumers they will face a 20 per cent rise in fuel bills this winter. Cold weather and rising gas prices are expected to push the average quarterly fuel bill up to a record £658.

The Spanish government is rushing to print new signs to alert its people of a reduction in the motorway speed limit as oil prices rise. This is just one method the administration is using to tackle rising prices due to unrest in Libya. The maximum speed limit on Spanish motorways will be lowered to 110kph (68mph). Around 13% of the oil Spain consumes comes from Libya.

National Grid, which supplies the nation’s power, estimated that the country used far less energy watching the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton than it did during Prince Charles’s marriage to Diana Spencer in 1981. The Grid said less energy is used than on a typical May bank holiday as the nation is sat by television sets, instead of more energy-intensive activities like turning on washing machines, toasters and kettles.

People in rural areas are calling for a cut in fuel duty following soaring prices on the forecourt. A litre of unleaded petrol in the north west of Scotland currently costs 139.9p, and Paula Gordon, who runs the Sleepy Hollow Smokehouse in the area with her husband Alistair, is feeling the pinch from the fuel price pressures caused by the Middle East unrest. She said plans to raise fuel duty in the April budget would be “crippling” for firms in rural areas.

Commodity analysts at Japanese bank Nomura have warned that oil prices could perhaps strike $220 a barrel if the crisis in the Middle East continues. The market gurus compared the current situation to the 1990-1991 Gulf War, saying if Algeria and Libya were to halt oil production, prices could peak at the $220 mark. Others have given a more modest prediction of $150 if the unrest spreads. The average barrel price has surged beyond $120 in the past fortnight.

The government has announced plans to install all 30 million homes in the UK with a smart meter within a decade. The process of the meters being fitted will start in 2014 and trials have shown that they can reduce bills by 5 to 10 per cent. These devices take electricity readings every half an hour, daily readings of your gas usage, and transmit all the data to your supplier.

Wholesale gas prices have risen dramatically over the last year, and are up 35 per cent since March 2010. It was only a matter of time before this increase would be passed on to retail prices. It has come as no surprise that supplier E.ON has joined four other energy companies in putting up prices and heaping more winter misery on suffering consumers. All suppliers have cited wholesale costs as the reason behind the price hikes.

A new scheme designed to increase green capital investment means incentive payments will be available to households from October 2012. The tariffs, called the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), involve payments being paid for 20 years based on every kilowatt hour of renewable heat produced. The government wants to reduce dependency on gas to reduce energy imports as well as cutting carbon emissions.

A minister has urged hard-hit energy customers to “vote with your feet” in the event of high fuel bills. The Bank of England has warned it expects household energy bills to rise by 15 per cent this year. “Consumers don’t have to take price increases lying down. If an energy company hits you with a price increase, you can hit them back where it hurts – by shopping around and voting with your feet,” Energy Secretary Chris Huhne told the Observer newspaper.

Military and business leaders in the USA warned that further oil price rises resulting from the Libyan revolt would mean a heavy burden on strained Pentagon budgets and the US economy. General Charles Wald, the former deputy commander of European Command, said each $10 rise in a barrel costs the Pentagon an additional $1.3bn. “You start adding a billion here, a billion there, and that is a huge amount of money being spent, even in military terms,” he said.

The coalition have today (Wednesday, December 8) introduced to parliament a bill to provide homeowners with four-figure loans to make their properties more energy-efficient. The energy security and green economy bill is expected to make power companies legally obliged to slash greenhouse gas emissions in their customers’ homes. Companies could be offering incentives, such as foreign holidays, for customers to take out ‘green deal’ loans.