UK Faces Possible #Electricity Blackouts By 2015

via catalyst-commercial.co.uk

Ofgem, the UK’s industry regulator, expressed a warning that people could experience blackouts by 2015. At this time, there’s no chance for it. But, by 2015, it’s a one in 12 chance. The reason for the increase in possible blackouts is the decrease in operational power stations and the country’s spare generation capacity, which is presently at only 14 percent.

As additional power stations are taken offline for good, due to their production of copious amounts of pollution, the capacity will drop to just four percent. It’s believed industrial customers will be the first

ones to succumb to the blackouts. According to the Institute of Directors Senior Economic Advisor Corin Taylor, the possibility is discerning and it’s important to the economy that factories have power to continue their business as normal.

http://www.catalyst-commercial.co.uk/uk-faces-possible-electricity-blackouts-...

Energy firms call for clear carbon emissions targets

via guardian.co.uk

VIDEO - Wholesale gas price 'fixing': the key questions - Channel 4 News

via channel4.com

Natural Gas Pricing in U.K. Is No Libor as Probe Begins

via businessweek.com

The regulatory investigation into alleged manipulation in the U.K. gas market, Europe’s biggest, may fail to undermine a price-setting system that relies on daily conversations between journalists and traders.

While forcing more buying and selling onto an exchange would improve transparency, scrapping reporters’ assessments of the private over-the-counter market would increase prices for end-users, according to Englewood, Colorado-based IHS Inc., a consultant whose clients include 70 of the U.K.’s 100 biggest publicly traded companies. Whatever the merits of the probe, regulators will have “great difficulty” finding evidence of manipulation, Eddie Proffitt, chairman of the natural gas group at the U.K.’s Major Energy Users’ Council, said Nov. 14.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-30/natural-gas-pricing-in-u-dot-k-do...

Energy Bill reaction: Low carbon energy industries welcome measures

via clickgreen.org.uk

UK #Energybill published – live reaction

via guardian.co.uk

You don't have to be a whizz at maths to see that the [energy bill] targets will require a steep growth rate in renewables. It would be a remarkable trajectory, taking wind from a 1% share of the nation's electricity to around 25% in under 15 years, overtaking nuclear power in the process. But can this actually happen?

Yes it really can, provided the industry (both in the UK and abroad) continues to make the strides it has been making over the past few years. At around 9.30pm on a cold day in mid-September last year, something extremely exciting happened in the UK (albeit completely unnoticeable to all but a few operators in the National Grid's control centre): wind power set a new all-time generation record of 3.98GW. "System demand" at the time was 34.9GW which meant that, for the first time in the UK's history, the wind was meeting more than 10% of our total electricity demand, nearly 12% actually.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/blog/2012/nov/29/energy-bill-published-elect...

Recession hits business water usage

via expressandstar.com

The FTSE 100 company warned that commercial volumes continued to be hit by a large rise in unemployment in the North West of England in the last two years.

But United, which covers seven million people in the North West, posted a 4% increase in revenue to £822.9 million in the half year to September 30 as prices rose 5.8%.

The Cheshire-based group said underling pre-tax profit was up 3% to £190 million in the period as it invested £354 million in its network.

The company, which revamped its customer services last year after it received more complaints than any of its rivals in 2010/2011, said complaints had fallen a further 12% in the half year. It had no "escalated" complaints for the first time, it added.

Chief executive Steve Mogford said: "We are continuing to invest in our network for the benefit of our customers, the environment and the local economy."

http://www.expressandstar.com/business/city-news/2012/11/28/recession-hits-bu...