The world largest mining company has invested £7.5bn into shale gas technology. BHP Billiton has agreed to purchase American shale gas company Petrohawk Energy in a £7.5bn deal, its biggest acquisition to date. It is the company’s second major investment into shale gas technology in the year, as BHP also purchased a gas field from Chesapeake Energy in February.
Huhne outlines electricity market reform
UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne unveiled proposals set to bring about the biggest reforms since privatisation. The UK government announced on Tuesday that the UK’s energy infrastructure will need £110bn of investment to keep the lights on. Chris Huhne told parliament that without reform and substantial financial investment, the country will be facing blackouts.
British Gas prices raised
British Gas are the first of the big six suppliers to follow Scottish Power in raising their domestic prices. British Gas announced on Friday it is to raise its domestic gas and electricity prices from 18 August. Gas bills will have an average rise of 18% whilst electricity will rise by around 16%. The Centrica-owned company has, somewhat predictably blamed … Read More
Ofgem investigate wholesale energy prices
Energy industry regulator Ofgem is to launch an investigation into how much suppliers are paying for wholesale energy. Ofgem discovered a 27% difference in how much suppliers were paying for electricity and 15% for gas last year. Wholesale prices are the reason quoted for the majority of supplier price rises. Two weeks ago Scottish Power upped prices by up to … Read More
RWE looking at sale of Npower
German utility giant RWE is reportedly assessing the sale of British energy firm Npower RWE, parent company of Npower, is assessing the sale of the UK company in a rethink of strategy. This comes after German parliament last week backed a withdrawal from nuclear power by 2022, following Japan’s nuclear crisis.
CCC advises government to step up carbon reduction
The Committee on Climate Change has advised the government to step up carbon reduction efforts in their latest report The advisory body said that the country’s greenhouse gas emissions are not dropping fast enough to meet targets. The CCC advised that a new range of carbon reduction tools is needed to achieve a faster rate of reduction. The Committee on … Read More
UK’s biggest solar farm up and running
The largest solar farm in the country is now in use after being connected to the national grid. The solar farm at Howbery business park in Oxfordshire caters for a quarter of the park’s energy requirements, generating 682MWh a year. There are 3000 solar panels in the array, which are expected to save 350 tonnes of CO2 at the Wallingford … Read More
Oil price down after IEA open reserves
The price of oil has dropped by $6 per barrel today after The International Energy Agency (IEA) opened up oil reserves. The IEA are to release an extra 60m barrels from emergency crude supplies. The UK is contributing 3m barrels, and half of it is coming from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Ofgem continue overhaul of energy market
Ofgem is to press on with its overhaul of retail gas and electricity markets, and announces investigation into Scottish Power promotion The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is to launch an inquiry into a “potentially misleading” offer that was promoted at the same time as the latest price increase announcements. The industry regulator has stated it is determined … Read More
Energy secretary encourages switching supplier
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has reminded consumers that they can switch supplier if they are unhappy with price increases Huhne has urged consumers to shop around if they are hit by substantial gas and electricity price increases. The Energy Secretary made the comments to the Observer newspaper following the announcement of ScottishPower’s price increases of up to 19%