First Utility's energy plan switch pushes up bills £200 a year http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/first-utilitys-energy-plan-switch-pushes-up-bills-200-a-year/

Households signed up to one of First Utility’s energy plans are paying nearly £200 a year more on average for their gas and electricity – as of yesterday.

The group shifted customers on the iSave v12 plan to the dearer iSave Everyday tariff from the beginning of this month.

Average bills will rise from £1,054 to £1,250 a year, equating to an 18.6 per cent price rise, according to the price comparison website uSwitch.

This is the latest in a series of price increases from independent suppliers. Co-operative Energy and OvoEnergy – alternatives to the industry ‘big six’ – increased prices last month. The ‘big six’ imposed or announced rises late last year.

Jeremy Cryer, energy spokesman for comparison site GoCompare, says: ‘An increase in prices from energy providers doesn’t necessarily mean increases for all customers.

‘Many providers have different  tariffs for different regions. Some headline increases, such as those by First Utility, simply mean that a cheaper fixed tariff is ending.’

via First Utility’s energy plan switch pushes up bills £200 a year | This is Money.

First Utility's energy plan switch pushes up bills £200 a year

Cornwall green energy firm Enact in administration http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/cornwall-green-energy-firm-enact-in-administration/

A renewable energy company from Cornwall has gone into administration with the loss of 29 jobs.

Tolvaddon-based Enact Energy Renewables has appointed Begbies Traynor as administrators.

The administrators will now attempt to find a buyer for some or all of the company’s assets.

via BBC News – Cornwall green energy firm Enact in administration.

Cornwall green energy firm Enact in administration

Electric cars with 1,000-mile range to be in the market soon http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/electric-cars-with-1000-mile-range-to-be-in-the-market-soon/

REVOLUTIONARY technology means that long-range electric vehicles could finally become a reality for the mass-consumer car market.

It would be a breakthrough that counters criticism from a cynical public who, in the past, have pointed out that electric vehicles travel only a short distance and need a whole night to recharge.

“I can tell you that there will be a vehicle that will do Land’s End to John O’Groat’s on a single charge next year,” said Ian Hobday, CEO of Liberty Electric Cars, one of Britain’s fastest-growing electric car manufacturers.

The Land’s End to John O’Groat’s remark refers to a journey from one end of the United Kingdom to the other, from deepest southern England to the tip of mainland Scotland.

Hobday said the news of a potentially record-breaking electric car, which could be set for release in 2013, in an interview with online motoring magazine Motortrades Insight.

The vehicle will be capable of a range between 837 miles to 1,000 miles—four times the farthest range of electric cars currently available on the market. Potentially such a car would be capable of reaching from the UK far into Europe without need for a recharge.

Liberty Electric’s “Pure Electric” e-Range—the world’s first zero-emission four-by-four—is already on the road. While the price and final model for the record-setting new car is yet to be revealed, Hobday added: “It shows you where the electric car technology is going.”

Speaking about the electric car industry as a whole, he said: “If I have to forecast where we’re going to be, right now we’re at 200 [miles] to 250 miles without too much trouble. We will be at 400 [miles] to 500 miles within two or three years.

“Have no fear,” he added, “battery-based energy storage for electric vehicles will be capable of delivering everything that a tank of petrol or diesel can deliver within two or three years.”

The battery technology has been developed by Metalectrique Ltd., a research and development business based in Saltash, Cornwall, southern England, using proprietary metal-air electric power technologies.

Metalectrique owner Trevor Jackson commented: “Having carefully looked at the business cases for the highest energy density batteries, by 2000 I came to the conclusion that aluminium-air technology was the best option.

via BusinessMirror – Electric cars with 1,000-mile range to be in the market soon.

Electric cars with 1,000-mile range to be in the market soon

The best way to weed out solar cowboys is to celebrate best practice http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/the-best-way-to-weed-out-solar-cowboys-is-to-celebrate-best-practice/

It’s no secret that the solar industry in the UK has faced problems with cowboys.

The feeding frenzy caused by the launch of the feed-in tariff left the door open for less-than-scrupulous businesses to wade into solar in the hope of making a quick buck. Uneducated customers looking to take advantage of a generous feed-in tariff rate made for easy prey and many took advantage.

The catastrophic handling of feed-in tariff revisions may have had one beneficial effect: most cowboy installers have ridden onto pastures new.

However, while the majority have left, the legacy of these cowboys still risks giving the industry a bad name.

A cursory glance at Martin’s photo blog will show you just how bad some installations in the UK are.

What’s the solution?

In its embryonic stages of the UK solar industry it seemed that many were quick to dismiss poor installations as a symptom of ignorance. There was still a huge knowledge gap as installers who joined during the launch of the feed-in tariff learned the subtleties of the trade.

via The best way to weed out solar cowboys is to celebrate best practice | Solar Power Portal.

The best way to weed out solar cowboys is to celebrate best practice

Thames Water wants to raise average bill £100 by 2020 http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/thames-water-wants-to-raise-average-bill-100-by-2020/

Britain’s biggest water company plans inflation-busting price rises over the next six years that could leave customers paying around £100 a year more by the end of the decade. Thames Water wants to review current price rules agreed with regulator Ofwat and to increase customers’ bills by at least £15 next year.

The company then plans an above-inflation increase for the following five years, which will leave the average customer with a bill of more than £450 a year by 2020.

The company will justify the price increase to the regulator by claiming there have been recent unforeseen costs and there is a need to invest in major infrastructure projects, including a new £4.1bn super-sewer to cope with London’s rising population.

However, the organisation that represents the water firms’ customers, the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater), said it was “concerned” by plans for above-inflation price rises in the current economic climate. Steve Hobbs, policy manager at CCWater, said: “Due to the wider context of the economy and the pressures householders are under due to their budgets, more than ever Thames, and all the other companies, have to listen to customers.

“Really if a company is looking at above-inflation rises it needs to justify it and show that it has listened to customers, explained the reasons for those increases, and crucially show customers have accepted it. We will be looking for evidence of that.

“The financial performance of the industry, especially in the last couple of years, has been pretty good. I think the time has come for that gain to benefit the customers as well as the shareholders. We would like to see a better balance.”

via Thames Water wants to raise average bill £100 by 2020 | Money | The Observer.

Thames Water wants to raise average bill £100 by 2020

British Gas Power scam at pub http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/british-gas-power-scam-at-pub/

A BANKIE barman put lives at risk when he illegally diverted electricity from the national grid to his boozer.

Joseph McCormack used copper wire to keep the power flowing into Chandlers after it was cut off.

The 60-year-old wanted to the keep the pints flowing at the Kilbowie Road establishment but last week at Dumbarton Sheriff Court it emerged his efforts could have ended in disaster. His solution was examined by an expert who said it could have sparked a fire.

Julie O’Hara, prosecuting, told the court the electricity supply had originally been cut off by British Gas on August 28 last year. However, on January 21, 2013, an engineer was asked to go to the pub to carry out an investigation into possible electricity by-pass. He spoke to McCormack who was working behind the bar and was taken to the fuse box within the pub.

The engineer noticed that electricity fuses within the supply box had been by-passed so he removed the by-pass and cut off all the electricity supply at the premises before reporting the matter to the police the next day.

But McCormack didn’t give up there and when workers from West Dunbartonshire Council’s licensing department drove past Chandlers at around 4pm on January 23 it was once again in full swing.

via Power scam at pub / Clydebank Post / News / Roundup.

British Gas Power scam at pub

Cheap energy deals still too hard to find, Which? survey warns http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/cheap-energy-deals-still-too-hard-to-find-which-survey-warns/

Proposals to simplify energy pricing are still too complex, a consumer group has warned.

A Which? survey found more than seven out of 10 people failed to find the cheapest deal using Ofgem’s tariff comparison rate (TCR).

The watchdog called for energy costs to be displayed in the same way as petrol tariffs, using single unit prices.

Energy regulator Ofgem rejected the findings, saying the research was “misleading”.

The TCR aims to allow consumers to easily compare the price of different tariffs across the market, giving them an indication of the cheapest deal based on an assumption of medium usage of both gas and electricity.

‘Think again’

But the Which? survey – which questioned 2,008 adults from 3-19 May – found that two thirds of people (65%) preferred the petrol forecourt-style single unit pricing system, compared with 10% who preferred the TCR.

Consumers also scored the single unit format highly for ease of understanding (62%), speed of use (63%), and helpfulness (53%), Which? said.

Just 4% of those who viewed the TCR format told Which? that they would check their usage to ensure they had made the right choice, while 57% were not able to find their energy bill at all.

More than half of those surveyed (55%) had never compared their energy tariff with others on the market to check if it was worth switching, with just a quarter (24%) switching suppliers in the last two years.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said the complexity of the system was a “major problem”.

via BBC News – Cheap energy deals still too hard to find, Which? survey warns.

Cheap energy deals still too hard to find, Which? survey warns