UK utility Scottish & Southern Energy said Thursday it now has around 8.5 million customers, making it the UK’s second largest supplier of electricity and gas. In an interim report on its performance, mainly covering the April to December 2007 period, SSE said that it had gained 650,000 customers in the last nine months of… Continue Reading »
Read More →More than seven million Powergen customers are facing the prospect of big increases to their gas and electricity bills next month. The energy company, owned by E.ON, the giant German utility, was putting the final touches to a double-digit price increase for its 7.4 million British customers yesterday that could come within days. Industry sources… Continue Reading »
Read More →Britain’s second-largest energy company could be created from a merger between EDF Energy and Scottish Power, a move that would spark competition fears in the UK and outrage from consumer groups which are already warning about soaring electricity and gas prices. It has emerged today that EDF, the giant French energy monopoly that is London’s… Continue Reading »
Read More →Reporting a 44 per cent rise in first-quarter profits, Frank Chapman, the chief executive of BG Group, warned yesterday that gas prices in the UK would continue to rise as the country runs out of its own supplies.Reporting a 44 per cent rise in first-quarter profits, Frank Chapman, the chief executive of BG Group, warned… Continue Reading »
Read More →As UK energy suppliers have similar cost bases, room for price differentiation is limited. The Sunday Times has claimed that the Big Six UK energy firms are keeping their domestic bills high. However, UK retailers have very similar cost bases, which means that their prices will rise and fall together. Like the fuel retailing market,… Continue Reading »
Read More →Asda, the supermarket group owned by Wal-Mart, is to explore selling electricity to its UK business customers through its power services company Power4All. Rivals Tesco and Sainsbury both considered entering the UK retail energy market as the sector underwent deregulation in the late 1990s, but scrapped the idea amid concerns over risks to their core… Continue Reading »
Read More →The cost of household electricity bills is expected to rise by up to 15% if Britain is to meet compulsory climate change targets announced yesterday. Under the European Commission’s proposed measures for renewable energy supplies and lower carbon dioxide emissions, Britain will be required to increase its proportion of renewable energy from 1.3% in 2005… Continue Reading »
Read More →Half of Britain’s electricity in 2025 will have to come from gas-fired power stations even if all the policies in the government’s energy white paper are successful, according to calculations from Ernst & Young. Wind farms connected to the grid would provide only 7%of Britain’s electricity, and nuclear power stations 11%, a smaller proportion than… Continue Reading »
Read More →A 10-mile barrage could be built across the Severn estuary to harness the power-generating potential of its tides in one of the world’s biggest construction projects, ministers have announced. Business Secretary John Hutton described the potential of the £14 billion project to boost Britain’s energy supplies and cut greenhouse gas emissions as “breathtaking”. Initial assessments… Continue Reading »
Read More →Oil futures dropped sharply Tuesday on mounting concerns that the U.S. economy may be heading toward a recession that would dampen demand for crude. While the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut helped crude futures recover some of their earlier losses, many investors doubt the move will stave off a serious slowdown. High energy prices also… Continue Reading »
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