Category Archives: Energy industry

Germany at risk of gas shortages as consumption cutting target missed

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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.

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UK power prices hit record high amid cold snap and lack of wind power

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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.

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£18bn project to link UK to huge wind and solar farm in Sahara delayed by a year

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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.

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EU states agree $60 a barrel cap on Russian oil after Polish green light

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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.

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BP shares in Kremlin oil firm are ‘blood money’, says Zelenskiy adviser

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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.

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Ofgem tells energy network firms they must invest without increasing bills

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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.

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Calls for UK ban on pre-payment meter installations made under court warrants

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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”.

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UK households have cut energy consumption by 10%, say suppliers

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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.

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Sales boost for B&Q and Screwfix owner amid rush for energy-saving products

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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%.

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Annual UK energy bills would have hit £4,279 without emergency support, Ofgem says

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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.

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Russia launches another wave of missile strikes across Ukraine

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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.

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Millions of UK households to pay more for energy from April

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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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Energy firms accused of profiteering with ‘horrendous rates’ for care homes

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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.

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Russian oligarchs and companies under sanctions are among lobbyists at Cop27

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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”.

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Energy bills: thousands of UK households in limbo over £400 support

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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.

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‘Vital’ energy security bill must be brought back, says Labour

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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.

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Germany keen to discuss natural gas pact with UK amid supply risk

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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.

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Biden accuses oil companies of ‘war profiteering’ and threatens windfall tax

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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.

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Major partnership between science centre Questacon and Shell to end after four decades

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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.

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UK government’s £400 energy bill support going unclaimed

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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.

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