Exclusive: Care England calls for Ofgem investigation into suppliers’ practices in letter seen by the Guardian
Energy suppliers have been accused of profiteering by charging “horrendous and financially crippling rates” to care homes facing huge bills this winter.
The chief executive of Care England, the largest body representing independent providers of adult care, has accused gas suppliers of being “unduly onerous” in their practices.
Continue reading...The heavy presence of lobbyists from Moscow suggests Russia is using the climate talks to drum up business
Russian oligarchs and executives from multiple companies under international sanctions are among the lobbyists currently attending Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Among those at the pivotal climate talks are the billionaire and former aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska, who is under UK sanctions, and the billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, the former head of the Russian fertiliser company the EuroChem group, who has been targeted with individual sanctions by the European Union which he disputed, calling them “absurd and nonsensical”.
Continue reading...Concerns grow that people relying on communal heating may not receive state discount promised
Thousands of people living in homes with centrally supplied electricity are still waiting to hear if and when the UK government will pay them the £400 promised under the energy bills support scheme.
While those living in conventional homes with standard electricity meters are due to receive their second monthly payment of £66, concern is growing among some of the several hundred thousand households that receive their electricity via a communal supply that they will not see any of the money they have been promised.
Continue reading...Shadow climate minister says Britain is losing the race to create green jobs
Labour has accused the government of being “highly irresponsible” in sidelining a crucial piece of energy legislation, arguing that Britain is “losing the race” to create green jobs.
The energy security bill was published in July with the aim of boosting domestic, low-carbon power supplies and bringing down energy costs.
Continue reading...Officials interested in deal that would allow two countries to bail each other out in event of shortages
Germany is keen to talk to Britain about a solidarity pact that would allow Europe’s largest consumers of natural gas to bail each other out if an extreme cold snap were to create shortages this winter, German officials have said.
Such an agreement could be mutually beneficial for both London and Berlin, the German civil servant in charge of rationing in the case of a supply crisis told the Guardian in an interview.
Continue reading...A week out from US midterm elections, president pleads with energy firms to invest profits in lowering costs for American consumers
President Joe Biden has accused oil companies of “war profiteering” as he raised the possibility of imposing a windfall tax if companies don’t boost domestic production.
In remarks on Monday, just over a week away from the 8 November midterm elections, Biden criticised major oil companies for making record profits while refusing to help lower prices at the pump for American people. The president said he would look to Congress to levy tax penalties on oil companies if they don’t begin to invest some of their profits in lowering costs for American consumers.
Continue reading...Climate campaigners welcome move as community pressure over fossil fuel sponsorships and advertising grows
A 37-year partnership between fossil fuel giant Shell and Australia’s national science and technology centre Questacon – which branded and delivered science activities for children – is ending.
Canberra-based Questacon has also confirmed a four-year, $1m sponsorship deal with Japanese oil and gas company Inpex will not be renewed when it runs out at the end of the financial year.
Continue reading...Many households who use non-smart prepayment meters are failing to redeem vouchers, says PayPoint
Government energy bill support worth as much as £400 over the winter is not reaching many households who use prepayment meters, according to data from a payments company.
Households with prepayment energy meters are entitled to vouchers giving them monthly discounts, but only half of the expected number have been used so far, according to PayPoint, which handles top-up payments in shops across the UK.
Continue reading...Oil company’s third-quarter result smashes Wall Street forecasts – as does Chevron’s £11.2bn
The US oil supermajor ExxonMobil has reported a quarterly profit of nearly $20bn (£17.3bn), $4bn more than analysts had forecast, almost matching the earnings of the tech giant Apple.
Exxon’s $19.7bn profit for the third quarter outstripped the record $17.9bn it reported for the previous quarter, as it became the latest fossil fuel producer to enjoy soaring earnings, a day after Shell announced global profits of $9.5bn between July and September.
Continue reading...Oil giant to boost dividends as firm continues to benefit from energy price spike after Ukraine invasion
Shell has reported profits of nearly $9.5bn (£8.2bn) between July and September, more than double the amount it made during the same period a year earlier, as it said it would increase its payments to shareholders.
The oil company continued to benefit from soaring energy prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it was not able to match the record $11.5bn profit it earned between April and June, because of weaker refining and gas trading.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Joint venture with Centrica is aimed ultimately at reducing carbon intensity at the site
Hydrogen will be injected into an emergency gas-fired power station for the first time in a pilot backed by the owner of British Gas.
Centrica has invested in an industry joint venture which will trial using hydrogen at an existing “peaking plant” at its Brigg station in Lincolnshire, the Guardian can reveal.
Continue reading...With budgets always tight some smaller football clubs are looking to offset their soaring power costs
Shrewsbury Town’s fans had long since filed out of the Montgomery Waters Meadow stadium after the defender Chey Dunkley had scored an injury-time winner against Exeter, when Brian Caldwell looked angrily skyward. The League One club’s chief executive was unimpressed to see the ground’s floodlights still burning bright.
Caldwell is among the football executives trying to limit the financial pain from huge energy bills. Faced with an even bigger surge in his annual costs, Caldwell was forced to settle for a £100,000 increase, to £180,000, when signing a new energy contract in April. “It’s a massive dent in our finances. Football clubs are not normal businesses, they’re set up to break even and put the money you can into the playing budget,” he said.
Continue reading...Companies including EDF, Centrica and Octopus express ‘alarm’ over bill allowing ministers to overrule Ofgem
The UK’s big energy suppliers have urged the government to reverse part of its energy prices bill, saying it grants “extensive” new powers to ministers and puts billions of pounds worth of investment in jeopardy.
The bill, which is making its way through parliament, was introduced as part of efforts to reduce household costs and address the broader energy crisis.
Continue reading...Ed Miliband criticises Liz Truss’s ‘anti-green-energy dogma’ after plans to ban solar projects revealed
Labour has criticised prime minister Liz Truss’s plan to ban solar power from most of England’s farmland and vowed to treble the renewable energy source in its first term.
Ed Miliband, the shadow climate secretary, will visit a solar farm on Friday. He is to lay out his opposition to plans by Truss and her environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, who the Guardian revealed earlier this week are hoping to ban solar from about 41% of the land area of England, or about 58% of agricultural land.
Continue reading...Third of petrol stations struggling for fuel as striking workers call for share of oil companies’ high profits
France has told the oil giant TotalEnergies it has a duty to raise wages, as the group’s two-week standoff with striking workers drags on, disrupting petrol supplies and causing a crisis for the government.
Oil depot and refinery strikes at the French group and the US group ExxonMobil have reduced France’s petrol output by more than 60% in recent days, with one in three petrol stations struggling for fuel. Industrial action spread this week to other energy companies including the nuclear power group EDF, where some workers resumed their sporadic industrial action of recent months.
Continue reading...Cause of leak in Druzhba line, which supplies oil from Russia, not yet known, says operator
The Druzhba oil pipeline linking Russia and Germany has been partly shut after a leak was discovered in Poland, the Polish operator Pern said on Wednesday.
“The cause of the incident is not known for the moment. Pumping in the affected line was immediately stopped. Line 2 of the pipeline is functioning normally,” the operator said.
Continue reading...Prime minister accused of ‘another screeching U-turn’ having previously rejected calls to impose levy
Renewable power companies will have their revenues capped in England and Wales, after the government bowed to pressure to clamp down on runaway profits.
The announcement late on Tuesday night provoked immediate accusations that Downing Street had performed “another screeching U-turn” – having previously rejected calls to impose a windfall tax on power giants.
Continue reading...Brian Eno, Ahdaf Soueif and Miriam Margolyes sign open letter about exhibition opening shortly before Cop27
Campaigners including the musician Brian Eno, the author Ahdaf Soueif and the actor Miriam Margolyes have criticised BP’s sponsorship of an exhibition of Egyptian artefacts at the British Museum.
The exhibition opens shortly before the critical Cop27 climate summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh this November.
Continue reading...The country’s total refinery output has been reduced by more than 60% over the past two weeks
Long tailbacks of vehicles continued to grow outside French service stations on Sunday as petrol supply was hit by pay strikes at refineries run by the oil giants, TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil.
The leftwing CGT union is leading a refinery workers’ strike for better pay during the cost-of-living crisis, and for a share of companies’ high profits.
Continue reading...Deal to acquire rival’s 1.6m customers would end total cost to taxpayers at an estimated £4bn
Octopus Energy is reportedly closing in on a takeover of its rival Bulb in a deal that will set the final bill to the taxpayer at an estimated £4bn.
Ministers at the Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have been informed that a sale of Bulb’s customer base of 1.6 million would be the most favourable outcome, according to Sky News.
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