The level of private investment in wind power is encouraging, say ministers.

A meeting of international Ministers was held last week when Mr Cameron welcomed the investment of £350 million to create 800 jobs in the energy sector, but he says the main challenge is to drive down costs.

Mr Cameron said at the event opening that “a more diverse, cleaner mix of energy sources that will give us… security without causing irreparable damage to the planet”.

He added: “Renewables are now the fastest growing energy source on the planet. And I am proud that Britain has played a leading role at the forefront of this… revolution”.

The Conservatives pledged to lead “The greenest government ever” but this is being hailed as an unfulfilled promise by many environmental groups.

Andy Atkins of Friends of the Earth said “In the very week we find the UK back in recession there is more need than ever to build a clean economy, and create the thousands of jobs this would bring. “With soaring gas costs sending household fuel bills rocketing, David Cameron should be championing clean British energy and leading the drive for a low-carbon future, not dodging the chance to advance this on the world stage.”

The Prime Minister had previously stressed the need for governments and businesses around the world to work together to lower the cost of renewable energy and develop a global carbon price.

He said that between April 2011 and February 2012 investments worth £4.7 billion have been announced in UK renewable energy and its supply chain, supporting or creating 15,000 jobs.

The information was revealed after shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint submitted a written request in parliament.

In summary:

• Two people received over £20,000 in 2010.
• 14 people received £10,000 in 2010 – 2011.
• 38 people received £5,000 in 2010 – 2011.
• Hundreds of staff received smaller amounts.

Ofgem’s spokesperson said: “Ofgem’s pay awards are set in accordance to Cabinet guidance in the same way as for all civil servants. Our base pay has been frozen and the scope and level of performance-related awards has been reduced in line with Government rules.”

Some may ask what they did as to be deemed ‘performing well’. Some say they aren’t even performing at all – Ofgem have been criticised over and over for being ‘toothless’. They have however, introduced Condition 7a to protect ‘micro-businesses’, and their Retail Market Review is still ongoing, which was announced last June.

Robert Oxley, campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s outrageous that so many staff are doing so well out of complicated and ineffective policies.”

What do you think?

The new rules do not however, mean that the supplier has to inform their customer if there is a cheaper deal with another supplier – only if they would be better off on another of their own tariffs.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg however announced plans are also in the works to print barcodes on consumers’ bills, which will be easily scanned by a smart phone, allowing easy comparison between tariffs.

The Big Six energy suppliers are British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, NPower, SSE and ScottishPower. Between them they control a 99% share in the consumer energy market.

Currently 7 out of 10 households are on a tariff that doesn’t suit their needs as well as it could, as there are over 120 tariffs to choose from.

Known as the Clearway Project, from now until September, there are no street works allowed on ‘key parts’ of the Olympic Route Network (ORN). This will be expanded to cover the whole ORN from July 2012, and will run until the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The second embargo will cover most of the streets in central London. It will cease being in effect until 30th September, as stated here.

The company in charge of the electricity transmission system, National Grid, released this leaflet regarding new connections.

UK Power Networks, the company that manages the distributions networks in and around London, has some information online, saying that it is certain that:

• Most forms of planned street works will not be permitted on or near Olympic and Paralympic Route Network before and during the Games
• It is unlikely new connections will be permitted on or near Olympic and Paralympic Route Network during the Games, and only connections that take a short time to complete will be possible in the period immediately before the Games.
• Restrictions will increase gradually from early 2012, before their full implementation in July.

If your business will need a New Energy Connection in London in 2012, start planning now. Get in touch and we can offer free advice and even manage the connection for you. New Energy Connections

More Info: Olympic Route Network Map | Q & A: Olympic Route Network

The Carbon Reduction Commitment, also known as the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, is designed to reduce the energy consumptions of the largest businesses in the UK, by placing them in a league table based on their performance in terms of energy efficiency.

It also affects all companies with a half-hourly meter, requiring them to disclose information on their energy consumption.

Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable has recently been a strong critic of the CRC Scheme, calling for it to be scrapped as it places an unnecessary burden on the UK’s largest businesses, driving them overseas.

The Chancellor today said: “The Carbon Reduction Commitment was established by the previous Government. It is cumbersome, bureaucratic and imposes unnecessary cost on business. So we will seek major savings in the administrative cost of the Commitment for business.”

“If those cannot be found, I will bring forward proposals this autumn to replace the revenues with an alternative environmental tax.”

In last year’s budget, Mr Osborne introduced a new ‘carbon price floor’, which he dubbed the “fair fuel stabiliser”.

Also announced in the 2012 budget were plans to further exploit our North Sea oil and gas reserves by implementing “a major package of tax changes” designed to make exploration and implementation of new technologies more financially viable.

Read about last year’s budget: Budget 2011 introduces new carbon tax
BusinessGreen covers the story here.

The program is designed to encourage energy suppliers to generate more from low-carbon technologies, but Which? says that it will add to our bills without really changing how the suppliers invest.

It’s the latest in a series of events that show the rising political opposition to green taxes and subsidies.

The Chancellor George Osborne set a precedent in October last year, saying that the UK must not “write a blank cheque” on behalf of consumers to tackle climate change.

“We’re not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business,” he said. “So let’s at the very least resolve that we’re going to cut our carbon emissions no slower but also no faster than our fellow countries in Europe.”

The budget on March 21st will likely show Mr Osborne’s real intentions – many are calling for significant cuts and Vince Cable has called for the Carbon Reduction Commitment to be scrapped as places a massive burden on the UK’s largest businesses and will only drive them overseas where energy is much cheaper.

Scrap the carbon floor price in 2012: You can read about the Which? campaign here.

“I think it has been over-subsidised and wasteful of public money"

Mr. Cameron plans to cut the subsidies for wind turbine construction, forcing them to be built in an economically viable way.

He said during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions “We’re cutting the subsidy to onshore wind because I think it has been over-subsidised and wasteful of public money”.

This comes after the government tried to reduce the subsidy for solar Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) earlier this year, meaning people would no longer be paid four times the going rate for every unit of electricity they generate through their solar panels.

The government received a letter from over 100 (mostly conservative) MPs stating their disapproval of the construction of more and more wind turbines across the countryside, and the difficulty local residents have in objecting to them.

The Guardian has just published a report stating that there is now 3 times the number of people who object to a new wind farm being built near to them than there was in 2010.

The Prime Minister is due to have a meeting with the rebel MPs on Monday.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has pledged £10 million to help fight the construction of an offshore wind farm that would ruin the view from his new golf resort in Scotland.

It is now widely accepted that up to 70% of business energy procurement is facilitated by brokers and Tpis such as ourselves, but there is no official Ofgem license or even a voluntary code of conduct.

This is why the Utilities Intermediaries Association (UIA) exists – too many ‘rogue brokers’ were destroying companies’ confidence in using Tpis, so the UIA set out to “enhance the reputation of this sector of the industry and give confidence to those who seek to use their service”.

What many don’t realise however, is that there are many differences between the Tpis that do exist, even the ones accredited by the UIA.

We have been a member of the UIA since October 2009, as we feel it is important to let our customers know that we always operate in an honest and open way. We’re even happy to tell you the commission we are making, and the way we make it.

Some of our clients want to pay us a flat fee for our range of services, particularly public sector organisations. But we also offer our full range of business energy cost management services to all of our clients, whether we earn a commission on the unit rate or an introductory fee.

These services are always free, whether you need your energy bills checked, need your energy usage analysed, need help with supplier credit issues or even just want to ask a question about business energy, we’re here to help in any way we can.

In all cases, we only ever charge what we think our service is worth, and we pride ourselves in never ripping customers off. We want to build successful relationships with our clients for many years to come, so we can both prosper, that’s why we’ve always worked to a code of practice, even before we were members of the UIA.

Click here to make an enquiry about our services

Winter 2012 - cold in the UK, but much colder in Europe

In winter 2012 we rely on imported gas more than ever. This was the main reason given for the recent winter price rises made by all big six suppliers, and it seems foreign imports are not just a problem in the UK.

Factors currently affecting wholesale gas prices:

• Cold weather in the UK is increasing our demand for gas and electricity.
• Exceptionally cold weather in Europe for the last few weeks – Italy saw its first snowfall in Rome for 26 years and temperatures went down to -21℃.
• Gazprom has failed to deliver enough gas to Europe, leading to big shortages in Italy, Poland, Austria, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.
• Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) deliveries are infrequent and not supplementing the shortfall by much.

With winter 2012 temperatures across Europe reaching in many cases around -20℃ to -30℃, it seems unlikely that wholesale gas prices will decrease any time soon.

It is also worth noting that much electricity is generated by gas-fired power stations, so there is also a knock-on effect on wholesale electricity prices, which are in turn passed on to consumers and businesses.

Unfortunately it seems that, as in the last couple of years, the only noticeable long-term trend in energy prices, is up.

Business prices can be particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in wholesale prices. Enquire on our business gas or large gas users page if you would like assistance in fully tendering your supplies to the market at this difficult time.

Sources: AFP | Voice Of America | Star Telegram

The company’s formula for success is astonishingly simple – it sold oil at much higher prices, compensating for losses in its other businesses.

Oil prices at an average of $109 per barrel, up from $88 per barrel the previous year, led to Shell to announce profits of £18.1 billion in 2011.

The company warned of falling profit margins and decreased production in other areas of the business however, with its downstream operations (petrol station and refining) suffering significant losses in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Shale of the century?

Shell recently announced its latest strategy, with $30bn of investment planned this year, mostly on upstream operations, including new exploration and extraction of oil and gas.

Shell’s oil and gas fields produced 3% less in 2011 compared with the previous year.

Oil and gas production will be increased, the company says, especially from unconventional sources such as oil and gas shale.

A report commissioned by the EU recently found that the various regulatory frameworks in place are sufficient for fracking activity to continue in the UK.