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Crude oil prices were on the rise again yesterday, trading above $100 a barrel. Prices had dropped significantly after the summer peak of $147. It is thought that the slowdown in global economic activity and the increased output from countries like Saudi Arabia had been the main reasons for the decline; coupled with low demand during the summer months for heating oil.

Scottish Power and Npower  have followed the other utility companies with massive price rises in gas and electricity, with gas up by around 34% and 26 %  respectively and electricity by 9% and 14%. All price rises are effective as of this week and neither firm has ruled out further price increases citing increased wholesale prices as the reason for the large increases. 

As we told you on this site in August, nobody in the northern hemisphere is using heating oil in summer, so it was not surprising the price of oil slumped to below $100 a barrel last week amid fears of a world trade slowdown and low demand. However, yesterday saw the biggest one-day jump in the price of oil, going up by over $16 to finish at more than $120 a barrel, the biggest one-day jump ever recorded.

Average dual fuel bills might reach a staggering £3,000 a year should the current trend in energy bill hikes continue, industry experts forecast.

Although they’re not happy with their ever growing energy bills, up to 22 percent of British home owners “can’t be bothered” when it comes to implementing energy efficiency measures, a new market research study carried out my energy company npower has revealed.

Energy suppliers have not really managed to do anything about winning back the customers’ confidence, a new research report has revealed.

Ofgem, the official energy market regulator, has issued directions to suppliers to implement the rest of its reform package, meaning that, from this week on, very strict new standards of conduct will come into force, aiming to ensure the consumers’ fair treatment by energy suppliers.

Figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have revealed that the County of Rutland in the East Midlands has the highest energy consumption levels in the whole of England and Wales.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is gearing up to implement an extensive makeover scheme across both council and private homes, aimed at significantly improving their level of energy efficiency and thus reduce overall energy-related costs.

Regulations imposed by Ofgem’s Retail Market Review might actually leave some of SSE’s customers worse off than before, since many of them will have to be moved to different, more expensive tariffs, in order for the energy supplier to be able to comply with the new rules.

In spite of the relatively high number of Green Deal assessments that have already been carried out, the actual number of households that have successfully implemented energy efficiency measures under the Government’s program is still very low, the latest figures released by the DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change) have

The latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate that household gas and electricity consumption across the UK fell by a staggering 24.7 percent between 2006 and 2011, in a bid to mitigate the steep rise in energy bills over the same period.