New scheme for companies, charities and public sector organisations to offer discount on wholesale prices
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is poised to announce a cut to the financial support offered to businesses to help with their energy bills.
A new scheme to provide support for businesses, charities and public sector organisations at a less generous level than the current scheme is expected to be presented in the House of Commons on Monday.
Continue reading...Firm said in October it had not paid any UK windfall taxes because of heavy investment in North Sea
Shell has revealed it expects to pay about $2bn (£1.7bn) in UK and EU windfall taxes for the final quarter of 2022 – the first time it has paid UK tax for five years.
The oil company had previously sparked anger in October when it said it had not paid any UK windfall taxes because of heavy investment in the North Sea.
Continue reading...Ministers missed crucial opportunities but should use energy windfall tax to speed up insulation efforts, committee says
A national “war effort” on energy efficiency is required to cut energy bills, reduce climate-heating emissions and ensure energy security, according to a cross-party committee of MPs.
Boosting efficiency in homes and businesses is the fastest way to cut energy use but the government missed a “crucial window of opportunity” last summer, the report from the environmental audit committee (EAC) said. The energy bills crisis was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while political turmoil in the UK resulted in three prime ministers in office between July and October.
Continue reading...Falls could lower cost of government subsidies and reduce risk of power cuts this winter
Economic forecasters could be forgiven for reading the outlook for 2023 through their fingers as strikes, cost of living pressures and a potential global recession paint a gloomy picture. But wholesale gas prices have offered a sliver of optimism, with a sharp fall in recent days. Here’s why they are tumbling – and what it means for consumers.
Continue reading...Figure worse than predicted and head of industry body expects ‘more business failures’ in early 2023
The rail strikes have had a worse impact on the UK’s hospitality industry than expected – costing bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels £1.5bn in December alone – according to the head of the body representing the sector.
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, said this had contributed to a “perfect storm” for businesses battling high energy bills and a cost of living crisis, adding this meant “undoubtedly we will see more business failures” in the next three months.
Continue reading...US oil firm contests legal authority for ‘solidarity contribution’ to raise funds to offset soaring energy prices
ExxonMobil has launched a legal challenge against the EU in an attempt to derail the bloc’s windfall tax on the profits of energy producers.
In a high-stakes political battle as countries across Europe and the wider western world struggle with soaring energy costs and sky-high inflation, the US oil firm said it believed the EU had overreached its powers with the windfall tax.
Continue reading...Months of talks end with ‘dynamic cap’ deal after Germany persuaded by global reference-price condition
EU ministers have agreed a plan to cap the price of gas, ending months of argument over how to handle the cost of soaring energy prices after Russia cut gas supplies to Europe.
“Mission accomplished,” said the Czech minister for trade and industry, Jozef Síkela, who chaired talks between energy ministers, adding that negotiations had not been easy.
Continue reading...Number of people unable to afford prepayment meter top-up is higher this year than in past six years combined
The monthly number of people that Citizens Advice helped with energy-related problems and issues rose to a record high in November, underlining the scale of the struggle with soaring costs of gas and electricity.
The charity said it was continuing to exceed its forecasts for the numbers of cash-strapped households turning to it for help because they cannot afford to top up their energy prepayment meter and therefore cannot perform basic tasks such as heating food.
Continue reading...Country has scrambled to open up new sources of energy since start of Ukraine war
Germany is saving less gas than necessary to rule out shortages this winter, the head of the German grid agency has said, as the country missed its crucial target of a 20% cut in consumption last week amid dropping temperatures.
Germany, which used to draw about half of its natural gas needs from Russia before the start of the Ukraine war, has scrambled to open up new sources of energy during the last ten months.
Continue reading...Severely cold weather has come with low wind speeds, creating perfect storm to drive wholesale costs up
UK power prices have hit record levels as an icy cold snap and a fall in supplies of electricity generated by wind power have combined to push up wholesale costs.
The day-ahead price for power for delivery on Monday reached a record £675 a megawatt-hour on the Epex Spot SE exchange. The price for power at 5-6pm, typically around the time of peak power demand each day, passed an all-time high of £2,586 a megawatt-hour.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Dave Lewis, chair of startup hoping to provide 8% of Britain’s energy, tells how political turmoil has delayed undersea cable project
An £18bn project to connect Britain with a huge wind and solar farm in the Sahara through an undersea cable has been delayed by at least a year because of political ructions in Westminster.
The energy startup Xlinks hopes to provide 8% of Britain’s energy supplies through a 3,800km (2,360-mile) cable linking Morocco with the UK, powering 7m homes by 2030.
Continue reading...Poland, which was pushing for low cap, says deal will keep it at least 5% below market rate
European Union member states have agreed to put a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian oil after Poland, which was holding out, gave the green light to the deal.
In an effort to reduce the Kremlin’s income from fossil fuels, the EU has agreed to limit the amount that can be paid for seaborne oil to curtail Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...British oil giant had said it would ‘exit Russia’ but still owns nearly 20% of state-controlled fossil fuel firm Rosneft
The chief economic adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called on BP to exit Russia entirely after the fossil fuel firm was offered a £580m dividend by the oil giant Rosneft.
Oleg Ustenko has written to BP’s chief executive, Bernard Looney, to demand the British company cuts ties with the state-controlled Russian firm nine months after announcing its intention to leave the country.
Continue reading...New electricity price controls from 2023 to 2028 will keep costs to customers at about £100 a year
The operators of Great Britain’s local energy networks will be forced to spend more of their profits on investing to future-proof the country’s electricity grid, after the regulator, Ofgem, said it would not allow any rises in household bills.
In a new set of price controls that will run from 2023 to 2028, the energy watchdog said it would keep costs to customers unchanged at about £100 a year.
Continue reading...End Fuel Poverty Coalition fears energy suppliers are using warrants to disconnect poorest ‘by the back door’
Campaigners have called for an immediate ban on pre-payment meter (PPM) installations made under court warrants because of fears that energy suppliers are using them to disconnect the poorest, most indebted customers “by the back door”.
Energy firms’ licence conditions protect many vulnerable people from formal disconnection over the winter, but the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said transferring households on to PPMs, which require regular top-ups and charge for energy at a higher rate, often prompted people in debt to “self-disconnect”.
Continue reading...E.ON reports up to 15% drop as Grant Shapps writes to firms customers cutting back on energy use should not face direct debit rise
Britons have cut their gas and electricity use by more than 10% since October in the first evidence of the impact of the energy crisis on household habits, according to two of Britain’s biggest suppliers.
E.ON, Britain’s second-largest supplier, and the owner of Utility Warehouse have reported “double-digit” declines in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Kingfisher says sales of loft insulation roll more than double while smart thermostats rose by nearly a third
The B&Q owner, Kingfisher, has reported higher sales as fears over higher gas and electricity costs boosted demand for energy-efficient products including insulation roll and smart thermostats.
The retail group, which also owns the hardware trade supplier Screwfix, said customers who invested in a raft of energy-saving DIY products helped increase group sales by 0.6% to £3.3bn in the three months to October. When stripping out the impact of the weaker pound, sales were up 1.7%.
Continue reading...Regulator raises cap for start of 2023 by £730 but government limits typical bill to £3,000 from April
The energy regulator Ofgem has said its price cap will reach £4,279 from January – but households will be shielded by the government’s emergency intervention to keep a lid on bills.
Ofgem said the cap, which is adjusted every quarter, will increase by £730 for the three months from the start of next year. However, the government’s energy price guarantee (EPG) will limit typical household bills to £2,500. Analysts had expected the cap to sit at about £4,200.
Continue reading...Attack is the sixth since early October and authorities in Kyiv said energy infrastructure was again being targeted
Russia has unleashed another wave of rocket, drone and missile strikes across Ukraine in its sixth mass attack since early October.
Ukraine’s authorities said the attack, like the previous five, was aimed at destroying the country’s energy system.
Strikes on critical infrastructure in Odesa and Dnipro were confirmed by the presidential administration and the regional heads on Thursday morning. Three people were reportedly injured in Odesa region its authorities said, while a another 14 people were injured, including a teenager, in the strike on Dnipro city, according to its mayor, Borys Filatov. The Dnipro regional administration reported that five people were injured.
Jeremy Hunt expected to use autumn statement to announce rise in household energy price cap to as much as £3,100
Millions of UK households will pay more for their energy from next April under plans to cut the generosity of the government’s gas and electricity support scheme expected to be announced by Jeremy Hunt on Thursday.
The chancellor is likely to use his autumn statement to say the need to save money and reduce state borrowing will require the household energy price cap to rise from £2,500 to an expected £3,000 to £3,100.
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