UK gas prices edged up early on Tuesday after Monday’s fall, but the system was well supplied and demand only increased marginally, traders said. 

Gas for Wednesday was up 2.30 pence at 19.00 pence per therm compared with day-ahead contracts late on Monday, while within-day was up 3.80 pence at 18.80 pence per therm.

Along the curve, gas for September was up 0.10 pence at 20.00 pence per therm, while October was up 0.25 pence at 26.70 pence and November increased by 0.30 pence to 35.50 pence.

“It’s not crashing off anymore, people are possibly profiting from yesterday. There’s also a bit more demand than Monday,” one trader said.

National Grid forecast demand to be 185 million cubic metres (mcm), still below seasonal norms of 210 mcm, while National Grid data showed gas flow from Langeled and St. Fergus remaining high at over 40 mcm at 0913 GMT. Confidence in supply was also boosted on the expected arrival of two liquefied natural gas tankers on Wednesday and Saturday at Britain’s South Hook terminal. 

In the power market, prices eased but were supported by supply outages fears and exports to France. Baseload power for Wednesday was at 37.10 pounds per megawatt hour, against 37.20 pounds for day-ahead contracts late on Monday, while October dipped five pence to 36.10 pounds. “A few power stations went down this morning,” one power trader said. British power was also being exported to France via the interconnector early on Tuesday, with electricity flow at 510 megawatts at 0907 GMT, National Grid data showed.

EnergyQuote www.energyquote.com announced today that it has acquired John Hall Associates Limited (JHA) to further expand its capability, expertise and  strengthen its position within the energy sector. The combined company is now one of the largest energy consultancies in the UK and Europe, employing 200 energy specialists who deliver services to over 800 customers across the UK and Europe.

Together, EnergyQuote and JHA possess a strong combination of UK and European expertise, systems capability and talented individuals in the energy commodity market. This blend of expert resources will help customers more effectively understand and benefit from the growing complexity and volatility in today’s energy markets. The new and expanded portfolio of services means that EnergyQuote can now provide a far more resilient, quality offering to customers across a greater range of services and countries. 

EnergyQuote’s combined product suite will offer a range of integrated and cost-effective solutions in Procurement, Risk and Strategy, Market Analytics, Trading Desk, Bureau, Carbon Reduction and Energy Usage management.

The new EnergyQuote team will consist of John Hall, operating as Chairman of the combined group, Christopher Lydiard-Wilson, EnergyQuote’s founder, will be the Chief Executive Officer and Gary Worby will serve as the Managing Director.

The UK based JHA team of 40 employees has been delivering procurement solutions to its European energy consumers for over 35 years. These services cover all aspects of energy procurement, with specific expertise within the fields of risk management, energy contracts, market reports, contract management, energy research and procurement strategy.

Commenting on the deal, Gary Worby , Managing Director of EnergyQuote said, “John Hall Associates Limited’ people, technology and European and North American relationships are an important addition to EnergyQuote’s portfolio of businesses and complement our existing products and services. The company brings us a broad range of advanced products and technologies, as well as a management team and employees with a deep customer understanding. We expect the combination to strengthen our market position globally and drive further growth for EnergyQuote going forward.”

John Hall, Chairman of John Hall Associates Limited said, “JHA and EnergyQuote are two long serving and highly experienced consultancies in both the UK and Pan-European markets.  Our synergy will further enhance the services available to our combined clients and the overall energy market. I have gladly accepted the role of Chairman of the new company and I look forward to working with both existing and new colleagues and clients in to the future.”

Ofgem, Britain’s energy regulator, yesterday warned Britain’s big six gas and electricity suppliers that it would launch a full investigation unless action was taken to ease new credit restrictions on 250,000 small businesses. The power companies have told some of these customers that they must pay their energy bills seven months in advance. Small business organisations have voiced concern that this could push many into bankruptcy. 

Ofgem said that in addition to its own inquiry, it could refer the industry to the Competition Commission if suppliers did not act voluntarily to relax the new harsher payment terms. An Ofgem spokeswoman said that Alistair Buchanan, its chief executive, had asked the companies — EDF Energy, British Gas, SSE, ScottishPower, E.ON and RWE npower — to come up with detailed guidance that would provide relief for small firms struggling because of the downturn. He proposed that the Energy Retail Association, which represents the companies, work with the Major Energy Users Council to resolve the problem. “Ofgem will continue to monitor the situation,” the spokeswoman said.

Despite sharp price falls in the wholesale electricity markets in recent months, energy companies have started to apply tough new conditions to shield themselves from the impact of the 40,000 corporate insolvencies expected in the UK this year.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that recession-hit companies had been finding it increasingly difficult to secure contracts from suppliers without big deposits and other restrictions.

Nick Campbell, an energy trader at Inenco, a consultancy, said that British companies were having to pay up to £350 million in advance for their energy and that sectors heavily exposed to the downturn, such as brickmaking, had been hit particularly hard.  Part of the problem has been that trade credit insurers, which pay the bills of companies entering insolvency, are increasingly rejecting applications for new energy-supply contracts.

“The credit constraint is a problem for the whole economy, including the energy markets,” Mr Campbell said. “Just as the banks may restrict lending even though interest rates are at all-time lows, suppliers and credit insurers are keen to limit exposure to risky sectors.

“Companies also face a variety of obstacles before even entering a supplier agreement. These can include a six-month deposit and use of margin accounts.”

The FSB estimates that in recent months one million small businesses have been contacted by their energy companies and informed of more restrictive credit conditions, and a quarter of these were being forced to pay money in advance. EDF, ScottishPower, E.ON and British Gas are among the suppliers to have tightened their payment arrangements.

EDF acknowledged that tougher credit conditions were hampering customers. It said that it was “actively engaged at all levels to find acceptable credit solutions for all parties”.

Software maker eMeter has landed a contract that could see it managing data from smart meters across the United Kingdom.  The deal is with Electralink, a company created in 1998 to manage communications between utilities in the deregulated U.K. energy market.

Electralink manages data from traditional meters, but it’s moving to integrate smart meters into its system as well.  Right now about 15% of the U.K.’s electric meters are “smart,” or capable of remote monitoring, activation and shut-off.

But the U.K. government has called for all 26 million homes in the country to have smart electric and gas meters by 2020, making Electralink a potentially huge customer for eMeter.

A company in Utah is developing a battery system for home-based electricity storage that may make energy storage much easier and more economical for off-the-grid homes as well as helping to improve the efficiency of grid-tied homes.

The technology being developed by Ceramatec is a new variation on sodium sulfur batteries, an existing technology with very high energy density, but best suited for very large scale, industrial style installations such as grid storage. However, these batteries have the potential to bring the advantages of sodium sulfur batteries to a much wider range of uses.

Currently, sodium sulfur batteries operate at very high temperatures – above 300 degrees C (572 degrees F), and the components in them are corrosive. This isn’t the sort of thing that you would want in your home, and, for efficiency, they work best at a much larger size; they aren’t really at a home-scale size. On the other hand, there are some advantages to sodium sulfur batteries. They use very common and inexpensive materials, which makes them attractive. And the high energy density means that a small battery is all that is needed for a large amount of energy storage.

The Ceramatec battery separates the sulfur and sodium from each other with a thin ceramic membrane which allows electricity to be stored while operating at a much lower temperature. Ceramatec envisions a refrigerator-sized unit that would remain below 98 degrees C (208 degrees F), the melting point of sodium. Keeping the sodium solid makes for a much safer battery. The battery could store 20 kWh worth of energy, either from local, sustainable sources such as wind or solar, or from off-peak recharging from the grid, much like a plug-in hybrid car recharges when the grid demand is low.

Now, if you’re wondering why you need to know anything at all about EEStor, here’s a quick explanation. The company says that they can make “power storage devices” (not technically batteries, more like peculiar capacitors) that can hold 10x more power than advanced lithium ion cells. These “electrical energy storage units” will be lighter than the most advanced batteries in the world, can charge in minutes and will last forever.

It sounds too good to be true, but so many credible sources have been won over after viewing their technology, and they have had so many investors and clients interested in the technology, that there’s actually a chance that it’s real. If it is real, electric vehicles will be much more practical, less expensive and more convenient than we ever expected them to be.

I know it may sound like science fiction, but if you remember we talked about BlackLight Power’s invention last year, you surely do remember it was about free energy.

BlackLight’s hydrino (a hydrogen atom with a lower energy state  than it was previously thought possible) stirred controversy in scientists’ world, bringing them bad fame as seekers of “free energy” and associating BlackLight Power with a scammer’s image.

On July 30, BlackLight Power announced a commercial license agreement with Maryland-based Akridge Energy. BLP will allow Akridge to use their energy producing process for generating electricity in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Colombia, up to a maximum continuous capacity of 400 MW.

“We believe BlackLight Power has developed a new energy technology that will have a profound impact on the environment and the economy and will help us achieve our goal in becoming a major, green-power producer in the greater-DC market,” said John E. Akridge III, chairman and owner of Akridge Energy. “We are excited to be one of the early-adopters of BLP’s energy technology.” Mr. Akridge is also a shareholder of BlackLight Power.

The trust that Akridge Energy is giving BlackLight by investing in them should give the science community a reason to think more about hydrinos and accept newer physics concepts that, even if not fully understood and demonstrated, work. We’ll keep you updated with any other news about BlackLight’s evolution.

Energy suppliers have sparked an online price war, as households coming to their end of their fixed-rate tariffs look to switch suppliers. So where should consumers go to get the cheapest deal, and should they fix or risk further price increases? Almost five million households, that is one in seven, are on a fixed-rate energy tariff, meaning that the cost of their gas and electricity is fixed for 12 or 18 months. Many flocked to these deals after last year’s unprecedented price increases. Gas prices rose by 47 per cent and electricity by 28 per cent, which left many households struggling to pay their bills.

However, experts say that customers coming off a fixed rate could face a sharp increase in the cost of their energy if they allow themselves to be placed on their supplier’s standard tariff. For example, households on npower’s One deal, which ended yesterday, will find that their bills jump by an average of £210 a year if they revert to the standard deal today.

ScottishPower customers on the Fixed Price 2009 deal, which ends on August 31, could be charged an additional £340 a year, according to Moneysupermarket.com, the comparison website.

Scott Byrom, of Moneysupermarket.com, says: “The big increases that bill payers face when their current deals end could wipe out any savings they made when they fixed last year. The timing is crucial when looking for a new energy product. Move off your fixed rate too early and you could face termination fees of up to £75. Move too late and you may find yourself switched to the standard deal automatically, or be locked in to a less attractive fixed deal. Aim to switch about four weeks before your deal ends.”

The good news is that last week EDF, npower and ScottishPower all improved their variable online tariffs in an effort to lure customers. The best deal is now EDF’s Energy Online 5, at an average of £982 a year, though this is not available in some regions, including the South East and South West. The next best offering is the British Gas Websaver 3, at £1,018, according to Confused.com, another comparison website.

Experts say that it is best to opt for a variable tariff, rather than a fixed rate, because no price increases are expected soon. Joe Malinowski, of TheEnergyShop.com, says: “Wholesale costs have fallen by about 50 per cent since their peak in September, yet the average bill has only decreased by 5 per cent. So, really, we should be seeing further cuts in the price of energy.”

The most competitive fixed-rate tariffs are about £100 more expensive than online variable deals. The best is currently EDF’s Annual Fix version 3, at £1,097 a year. This is followed by ScottishPower Fix ’n’ Flex, at £1,111, according to Confused.com.

The controversial cost of the Government’s green energy measures is expected to add about £92 to household bills, though this will not come into force until 2020.

The exact cost of your gas and electricity depends on where you live. Consumers should go to a comparison website and type in a postcode to search for the cheapest deal.

If you do not wish to switch energy supplier, savings could still be made by changing tariffs with the same company. Alison Morrison, of Which? Switch, the comparison website, says: “Millions of consumers are still languishing on a standard tariff and paying their bills quarterly. Simple steps, such as paying by monthly direct debit or through an online account, can reduce bills. It is also important to give your supplier regular meter readings, instead of relying on their often inaccurate estimates.”

Consumer groups continue to urge energy suppliers to pass on falling wholesale prices. Consumer Focus, the watchdog, calculates that energy customers are overcharged by £74 a year because suppliers have not passed on wholesale price falls to consumers. It says that gas prices should be at least 7.4 per cent lower and electricity 3.1 per cent lower. This would save customers £1.66 billion a year. Ofgem, the energy regulator, has started producing quarterly reports on the relationship between wholesale and retail costs, but says that there is “no evidence” of unfair pricing from suppliers and that Consumer Focus’s calculations are “misleading”.

Consumer groups’ frustration with energy suppliers was exacerbated this week after British Gas announced that its half-year pre-tax profits rose sharply to £299 million, from £166 million. Although British Gas reduced its standard gas tariff by 10 per cent in February and cut electricity prices by 10 per cent in May, its profits were boosted by the cold winter.

Robert Hammond, of Consumer Focus, says: “Any business needs to make a profit, but it must also give a fair deal to its customers. Wholesale energy prices have come down and remain low, so we believe that energy companies should be making significant further price cuts.”