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Official figures this week reveal the number of households who are in ‘fuel poverty’ has more than doubled in the last five years because of soaring energy bills. A household is defined as being fuel poor if it has to spend 10 per cent or more of its income on paying to keep the home adequately warm. For many pensioners this is the largest bill they have to pay all year, so many are struggling to keep their homes warm. In 2003 the number of fuel poor households was two million, but it climbed to 4.5 million in 2008, according to the Department of Energy & Climate Change.

British Gas has announced a 7% rise in gas and electricity bills this winter, the increase coming into effect on December 10. The company said this was the result of rising wholesale prices. The energy giant said prices for those on a typical dual-fuel deal would go up by £1.50 a week, but its 300,000 most vulnerable customers would initially not be charged more. The rise affects eight million customers, and British Gas is the second major UK energy supplier to hike prices for winter.

Utilities firm Npower has admitted it had not communicated well the changes it made to charges, and now 1.8m people are to receive an average refund of £35 in one of the biggest pay-outs of its kind. Npower says it will write to all those affected over the next two months, even if they are no longer customers.

A total of £2 billion a year could be saved by UK households if they make an effort to becoming energy efficient, the Energy Saving Trust has claimed. “Investing in energy efficient technologies like loft or cavity wall insulation is an invaluable way to ensure that we can add value to our home, keep bills down and unlike decor will never go out of fashion,” said Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust (EST).

This is the question many households are asking as the winter fuel bills hit the doormats. Well you could be facing a fuel bill price hike of £100 this year, with an average household rise of £57 in the last quarter alone.  So it”s about time you took steps to cut down on your heating costs and look at fuel saving measures before the next cold spell in November 2010.

Oil prices are at their highest for 10 months, up at over $74 a barrel, as Europe, China and maybe the USA come out of recession and start using more energy. Demand for oil from China rose by 3.5% in July compared with July 2008 with similar increases in demand expected from the euro zone as their industrial output strengthens.

The Energy Savings Trust, is a Government backed non-profit organisation that provides free impartial advice tailored to the consumer. Their advice can help you save money and fight climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from your home.

HeatingSave’s intelligent heating controller is the answer to fuel bills going up. The price comparison site confused.com said that the smaller energy companies, because they do not benefit from the bigger economies of scale, tend to be the first to pass on reduced prices in a falling market, and of course are the first to raise them as wholesale prices go up.

There has been a big blow to prospective climate legislation in the United States of America. A group of senators were due to unveil a new bill this week, but postponed their plans when one of the three, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, threatened to pull out if Senate majority leader Harry Reid followed through on talk of introducing a bill to reform immigration policy.

Savings are a dead loss; inflation is going up – so try HeatingSave as a way to maximise your cash in order to slash a quarter from your fuel bills. The Office for National Statistics said Consumer Price Index (CPI) annual inflation rose 0.6 percent in April from March. Analysts had forecast a gain of 0.4% in this measure, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The Scottish government is using cutting-edge technology which will enable housing providers to pinpoint precisely where heat is being lost. Clyde Valley Housing Association is one of four Scottish associations taking part in the scheme which could be introduced countywide if successful. During the 15-month process, thermal imaging will be carried out by IRT Surveys of Dundee.

The volcanic ash cloud from Iceland has led to the grounding of 63,000 European flights over the past four days. The eruptions from Eyjafjallajokull has saved 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than the annual emissions of many developing countries.