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Business Utilities UK are proud to be sponsoring Mrs UK Sherene Fogg Dawber in her next competition for Mrs Europe in Russia. Wishing you all the luck in the world – make sure you come back with that crown Sharene.
She was crowned Mrs United Kingdom on the 28th May and will be competing in Russia for a tittle of MRS Europe 2017.
Brexit has had an impact on investment in some energy projects.
That’s the view of some of the energy experts who was at our Power Ride charity event in London last week through which we raised more than £1,200 to support Parkinson’s and our Re-energise Nepal campaign.
When asked about the effects of the UK voting to leave the EU, Chris Johnson, Finance Manager at Net Zero Buildings said: “The first impact is the drop in the exchange rate. They have recovered but we are still suffering from those for the raw materials. Our SchoolHaus side of things uses Canadian seeder, PV panels that are imported and we’ve noticed a hit on those but we’ve limited as much as we can.”
Chris Kimmell, Commercial Manager at Open Energi said: “Financiers are slightly wary of investing in new things. That’s just yet more uncertainty to add to lots of other uncertainty that’s been piled on top of the energy industry unfortunately. Customers, some of ours are less willing to invest as well so for us we’ve seen a big impact on the financial point of view.”
However Dave Worthington, Managing Director at Verco, believes it’s too early to say Brexit has affected investment in the energy efficiency sector.
He added: “It has certainly affected some of our core clients’ business, construction and property particularly, now we’ve seen the value of property go down and that’s hit development of pipelines.
“Our clients I think are still going ahead with things they were planning to do in the energy efficiency space. We’re still seeing that whole area grow because the long term trajectory is still there, the government has signed up to the fifth carbon budget, we’re seeing the government now saying they are going to ratify the Paris Agreement so there’s a non-stopable momentum in corporate response to climate change.”
Other energy experts who attended the event said the money invested to support the construction of Hinkley could have been “better placed elsewhere”.
UK gas and electricity wholesale prices have dropped to their lowest level in almost a decade, sparking calls for suppliers to cut bills by 10%.
Prices have averaged at nine-year lows over the first quarter of this year, according to the ICIS Power Index, which analyses energy markets.
Ben Wetherall, head of gas at ICIS, said: “UK gas demand was affected by a mild winter, but more gas-fired generation helped to keep prices stable.
“Cheaper gas prices, the additional emissions costs for burning coal, and less wind generation than a year earlier all helped to boost demand.”
Power prices fell less than gas as traditional generation was squeezed by more renewable capacity.
Zoe Double, head of power at ICIS, said: “Some older coal-fired plants closed during Q1 2016, so with less flexible supply available to the market, market participants are reluctant to sell power for winter delivery at lower prices because of the risk of shortages.”
Comparison website uSwitch called on suppliers to reduce standard tariffs by a further 10% in light of the new figures.
Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, said: “Today’s figures prove, yet again, that consumers have been short-changed by token gesture price cuts.
“Whilst any reduction is welcome, the fact remains that the average Big Six dual fuel bill has fallen a mere 5.7% since the start of last year.
“Given record-low wholesale costs, suppliers must do the right thing and reduce standard tariffs by a further 10%.”
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd wrote to energy firms in the middle of last year asking them to pass on a fall in wholesale costs to consumers.
But recently announced price cuts by the Big Six, which all came into effect last month, are calculated to save customers on standard tariffs just £30 a year.
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: ” Customers will question why energy prices remain high and suppliers have only cut gas prices by a measly amount, when wholesale prices continue to fall.
“The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that customers collectively are overpaying on their energy by £1.7 billion and our own research shows that customers could be saving up to £400 by moving away from the Big Six.”
An Ofgem spokesman said: ” With wholesale prices continuing to fall, energy suppliers need to justify their prices to you otherwise they risk losing your business. Increasingly, we are voting with our feet with switching up by 15% last year and over 40% of switchers moving to independent suppliers.
“Ofgem is working with the CMA to further increase competition and will be looking to introduce the CMA’s reforms as soon as possible. Help is available to get a better deal from www.goenergyshopping.co.uk and savings of over £200 are possible.”
Energy UK, which represents suppliers, said: ” Energy companies are bringing down their prices with cheaper tariffs launched almost every week. Since January 2014 the cheapest tariffs have fallen by around £200. There are now over 50 deals under £1,000 being offered by 37 suppliers operating in the market.
“Wholesale prices make up less than half of the average bill and the majority of the rest falls outside suppliers’ control so there will always be a difference between wholesale price falls and what customers actually pay.
“Suppliers are also making it quicker and easier for customers to find the tariff right for them. Almost four million customers switched supplier in 2015 and, currently, around 400,000 households are signing up to new deals every month.”
Amber Rudd said: “I’ve spoken to bosses at the Big Six to make crystal clear that the Government expects suppliers to pass on cost reductions to the families and businesses paying the bills. The cuts in tariffs by the Big Six are a good start but there’s more to do.
“This Government is playing its part – committing to take forward recommendations from the biggest ever investigation into the energy market and pushing ahead with plans so people can switch supplier within 24 hours. This will help keep bills as low as possible.”
According to a You Gov survey commissioned by npower, Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK saved £511 million on their energy bills in the last 12 months and around 45% of them saved up to £10,000 per year.
This is all because they negotiated a better deal from their suppliers, with as many as 93% of SMEs stating that taking the time to negotiate contracts really is worth while with average savings per business valued around £2,800.
However, despite the financial benefits of negotiating with energy companies, still 70% of SMEs don’t think to ask for discounts and price savings.
To encourage more businesses to negotiate with their suppliers, the Big Six has launched a campaign which offers tips on how to get the most out of their negotiations, including the importance of research and planning ahead.
Philip Scholes, Head of npower Business said: “This research shows that businesses across the UK are reaping the dividends of negotiating their supplier contracts. However, not all firms are entering discussions with their provider, which could prove to be a missed opportunity in the long term.
“That’s why we launched this campaign – we’d encourage all British businesses to look at their supplier costs and particularly their annual energy costs to help improve their bottom line.”
Earlier this month, the CMA stated SMEs paid around £280 million more per year between 2007 and 2014 to the Big Six.
Britain’s greenest energy company, is cutting its customers’ gas bills by 7% from April. Ecotricity believe the cuts, available to both new and existing customers, will save the average customer nearly £50 a year on their only tariff – ‘Green Gas.’
The company said it was making the cut following recent falls in the wholesale gas price – and called for other energy companies to better reflect wholesale reductions in their own price cuts.
The price cuts follow similar price cuts from large energy suppliers in the wake of plummeting wholesale gas prices. However, Ecotricity’s cuts are the largest in the industry so far. Earlier this week British Gas and EDF Energy cut their gas prices by 5%.
In the past 12 months the price of wholesale gas has fallen by as much as 35%, caused by lower global commodity prices and a mild winter.
Ecotricity said the price cuts would save the average customer £46 a year. The utility, which has one flat-rate gas tariff for all its customers, called for other utilities to make more aggressive price cuts in light of the fall in wholesale gas prices.
Founder Dale Vince said the 5% cuts from the rest of the industry do not go far enough.
He added: “We think 7% better reflects the reduction in wholesale costs. The 5% reductions that we’ve seen so far around the industry just aren’t enough.
“It’s all of our customers who’ll get this reduction, too – no matter when they joined us or how they choose to pay; that’s part of our ethical approach – one tariff and one price for everybody. We think that’s how it should be.”
Ecotricity’s Green Gas tariff is the only one in Britain with a green component and the only one with a frack-free promise – the company also recently announced that they’ll be making their own green gas from grass using its Green Gas Mills.
Mr Vince added: “A new kind of gas is entering the energy market, the green kind – and it’s the genuine alternative to fracking in Britain.
“Oil prices have fallen, so we’re seeing reductions in gas prices across the industry now – but one thing is for sure, they’ll go up again. It’s only by making our own green gas in Britain that we can keep energy bills affordable in the long term by creating energy independence – and we won’t need to frack the countryside to get our gas.”
Last month, Ecotricity lodged a planning application for its first anaerobic digestion plant, which if approved will be the first of three Green Gas Mills from the energy provider.
The plant will create gas from grass and rye sourced from within 10 miles of the plant, and will also include training facilities to offer local college students work experience in the anaerobic digestion industry.
100,000 people could die over the next 15 years because they can’t afford to heat their homes.
ScottishPower has become the third large energy company from the ‘Big Six’ suppliers to announce household price cuts this year, these cuts are scheduled to reduce average annual bills by £32.
ScottishPower have announced they are to cut its standard gas prices by 5.4% from mid-March, saving a typical household £32 a year.
The Glasgow based company is the third of the ‘Big Six’ suppliers to announce a gas price reduction this year, after pressure from politicians to reflect the falling price of wholesale costs in a fairer tariff.
The reduction, which will affect about one million households on the supplier’s standard variable tariff, will not come into effect until March 15, meaning customers are still paying more during this colder winter weather.
Earlier this year E.On was the first to announce a 5.1% price, effective from February 1, this was subsequently followed by SSE, who announced they will slash their prices by 5.3% after Easter.
Stephen Murray, of MoneySuperMarket, said ScottishPower’s price cut was “hardly worth shouting about”. Murray stated “These price cuts are long overdue considering the sharp falls seen in wholesale gas prices over the last year, but they just don’t hit the mark.
“It will still leave these customers paying on average nearly £300 more than those who have shopped around and switched to one of the many fixed price deals already available.”
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