Stay Informed With HeatingSave | Page 16

The increased cost in home heating recently as EDF Energy and British Gas put up their prices has not been equal across the UK, with some areas seeing bigger increases than others. Both companies claim that costs such as transportation have increased dramatically and in some cases now accounts for around 14% of the average central heating fuel bill.

Owners of British Gas, Centrica, have posted profits of £5m a day but despite this raised gas prices by 35% on Wednesday. Age Concern has warned that many pensioners will be unable to pay their winter fuel bills. As gas and oil production in the North Sea falls and the world wholesale prices continually rise, it will difficult for many hard-pressed consumers to save on their heating bills just by shopping around for the best supplier.

The major suppliers of energy have told the regulator Ofgem that there is “little chance” of them reducing energy bills this winter. (of course we all know that when they say this they really mean, no chance) Energy firms say that their costs, excluding the price of the energy itself, have risen steeply and that it is for this reason that prices will not come down; despite an anticipated decrease in wholesale energy costs.

The price of heating oil went higher today as the cost of crude oil rose ahead of the tropical storm Gustav that is moving towards the Gulf of Mexico. Several firms are evacuating staff from oil rigs as a precautionary measure. The Gulf has many off shore installations and these could be badly affected if Gustav is as strong as feared.

There are hundreds of thousands of different holiday homes to rent in the UK. One website alone, www.cottages4you.co.uk, features more than 10,000 holiday cottages across England, Scotland and Wales, plus 650 more in Ireland. Now that summer is around the corner, it is the perfect time to think about improving the heating regime at your holiday home. HeatingSave is tailor-made for holiday homes – or even business premises – that are infrequently used.

Homes or business wanting to cut their carbon footprint can enlist the help of HeatingSave, using its low-cost energy management and boiler controller device that is proved to give more efficient fuel usage. Heating buildings result in carbon dioxide emissions, and the more efficient your heating system is, the more your carbon footprint will be reduced.

World oil prices have recovered due to a number of factors. Some have cited the easing of European flight delays following the volcanic ash spewing from Iceland and the Goldman Sachs fraud saga. However, the main reason is the economic rebound of China. This is good news for oil exporters but bad news for under-fire UK users who use are suffering from a stagnant economy and a falling pound sterling. If you are a business or householder with an out-of-date central heating system you might well be reeling with the high cost of fuel.

The global price of oil has a direct impact on the amount that UK home-owners pay for their fuel and energy. With a 70% price rise of oil in the past year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced concerns that the price of oil could bring instability to global economic recovery. This may have a direct impact on the prices that you pay for fuel and energy in your home.

Going to a music festival this year? Well, attending a traditional mass mecca of peace and love such as Glastonbury has been shown, ironically, to do more damage to the eco-system. That is why ten UK music festivals have pledged to cut their emissions by 10 per cent in 2010.

There is currently zero confidence in BP following the fiasco when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank on the 20th of April after an explosion, killing 11 workers. Deepwater Horizon has become the United States’ largest oil spill in history – an estimated equivalent of 528,000 to 836,000 barrels spilled.

Official government figures show almost 3 million vulnerable households have fallen into lnerable households have fallen into “fuel poverty” in 2006, showing an increase of  700,000 over the 2005 statistics. Fuel poverty is defined as households who spend more than 10% of their income on fuel.  

Home Information Packs (Hips) are compulsory in England and Wales. They were introduced to give buyers more information and to preventing sales from falling through. Although the National Association of Estate Agents are calling for them to be slimmed down, they still want an Energy Performance Certificate to be included.