The freeze will affect 5 million UK households, and will be financed by £100m of cost-cutting measures, including 500 job losses. The UK’s second-largest electricity and gas supplier, Scottish & Southern Energy, has announced the domestic energy sector’s longest ever ‘unconditional price promise’ at 26 months, having last raised its prices in November 2013. The company says the move will … Read More
Tory MP wants competitive utility markets
A senior Conservative MP has this week launched a major policy intervention, suggesting radical changes to the utilities regulators. The document was released on Monday, suggesting that draconian utility regulators like Ofgem and Ofcom should have their responsibilities for the competitive sections of the market taken away. This should be replaced with a more reactive style of regulation, by the … Read More
300,000 more households hit by fuel poverty
The average annual fuel bill has risen to £1,247 for direct debit customers, and £1,330 for those paying by cash or cheque. A report recently published by the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) stated that up to 9 million households could be stricken by fuel poverty (spending more than 10% of your income on heating your home) by 2016. There … Read More
British Gas and Npower announce price hikes
Three of the ‘big six’ have now announced increases to both electricity and gas for households across the UK. Suppliers are raising their prices as autumn is here – the same thing they seem to do every year. As usual, rising wholesale prices and government taxes are being blamed, as suppliers say they are just passing on the increases to … Read More