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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.

To support the construction industry, energy secretary Chris Huhne said that government policy will stop any ‘cowboy’ installers taking on jobs under the Green Deal, with registered tradespeople being given a quality mark to put customers’ minds at rest. The Energy Bill was introduced to Parliament last year and includes provision for a new Green Deal which the Government believes will revolutionise the energy efficiency of British properties.

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.

The official energy price enforcer is warning consumers they face gas price increases of up to 30 per cent before winter. Ofgem issued the grave statement after it found out wholesale prices for gas next winter have already risen by almost a third. The increase could add more than £200 to the typical energy bill.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said more than 20 per cent of all households in the UK were affected by fuel poverty in 2009 due to higher fuel bills. A household is defined as being in fuel poverty when it has to spend more than 10% of its income keeping warm. DECC predicts that the numbers for 2010 and this year will have increased because of further rises in the price of energy.

A survey by a price comparison website has found that one in five households believed their finances were at a ‘tipping point’ and rising fuel bills were the most important factor in squeezing their wallets. Moneysupermarket.com says that weekly outgoings for the average British adult have gone up by £54 over the past six months.

A director of a charity has said government plans to shake up Britain’s power supply market are “regressive”. Norman Kerr of Energy Action Scotland: “It is a regressive step as payments to cover the costs will take the form of blanket levies on customers’ bills and will not be based on either ability to pay or level of usage.” He favours general taxation as a way of paying for energy reforms.

E.ON is the fourth energy company to announce a hike to its gas and electricity prices in the UK. Its electricity prices will rise by 11.4 per cent and gas costs will be up 18.1% from next month. E.ON has around five million customers but said almost 600,000 were unaffected by the rise, including its most vulnerable customers on WarmAssist tariffs. It has also guaranteed no more price increases for Age UK customers for at least a year.

Another energy firm has revealed it will increase gas prices as from next month. Good Energy will leave electricity prices unchanged until at least 2012 because of its renewable energy generation, the company announced. Good Energy said it will lift gas prices by 9.4 per cent because of a sharp rise in wholesale gas prices, which has already caused four of Britain’s largest energy suppliers to put up tariffs this summer.

A measure is being proposed to raise energy efficiency in UK households – raise the VAT on energy. A new report says the UK government’s policies on energy and climate change must be rethought. The report came from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD concluded that although current policies are resulting in some reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, they are not enough to meet longer term goals.

Today (September 15, 2011) EDF Energy announced it will raise gas prices by 15.4% and electricity prices by 4.5% from November 10. The company stated that the annual cost of a standard dual-fuel bill paid for by direct debit would rise to £1,165 from £1,051.

The Energy Secretary says he is going to get tough on the big six energy companies. Talking to the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham, Chris Huhne also wants to help smaller companies get a share of the market. He said: “It is not fair that big energy companies can push their prices up for the vast majority of their consumers, who do not switch, while introducing cut-throat offers for new customers that stop small firms entering the market.”