British Gas and Npower announce price rises

adminBusiness Electricity, Business Gas, International, Utilities Market Regulation, Wholesale Utilities Markets

Three of the Big Six have now announced winter price increases of between 8 and 11 per cent. Npower and British Gas have joined SSE and Co-op on the list of energy companies that have already announced price hikes this winter. Both suppliers blamed the hikes on higher prices on the global energy markets, higher costs of transmission, and increases … Read More

All of the Big Six end auto-rollover contracts

adminBusiness Electricity, Business Gas, Utilities Market Regulation

None of the six major energy suppliers will continue to roll business customers into new contracts without their explicit consent. The “Big Six” all promised to stop the tactic, although they are essentially only pre-empting new rules being put in place by Ofgem, the energy regulator, as part of their ongoing Retail Market Review. We recently reported that three of … Read More

Labour slams Big Six profits

adminBusiness Electricity, Business Gas, Utilities Market Regulation

Figures released by the Labour party last week show that the largest energy suppliers have notched up £3.3 billion in profits since the Conservative-led Coalition came into power. The combined profits of E.ON, EDF Energy, ScottishPower, British Gas, Scottish & Southern and Npower have gone up 73% in the last three years, according to Shadow Energy And Climate Change Secretary … Read More

Wind farms continue to get massive subsidies

adminBusiness Electricity, Utilities Market Regulation, Wholesale Utilities Markets

Ministers increase “strike price” paid to onshore and offshore wind farms for each megawatt-hour of electricity they generate. Onshore and offshore wind farms are to receive subsidies on the energy they generate of at least £100 and £155 per megawatt-hour (MWh) respectively, with the going rate for electricity currently at around £50/MWh. The subsidy will be in place for the … Read More

Has the oil market been rigged to raise prices?

adminBusiness Electricity, Business Gas, International, Utilities Market Regulation, Wholesale Utilities Markets

BP, Shell & Statoil suspected of deliberately manipulating markets and exacerbating the recession. Three energy giants may have “colluded in reporting distorted prices to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products”. If these allegations are true, it could have had an impact on not just petrol. Everything is linked to the price of oil somehow … Read More