Fuel bills and bankers bonuses

If you live in the United Kingdom and do not have any form of microgeneration, such as solar panels, you are now paying more for your household energy than ever before. Since we founded Genersys in 2000 household energy bills have risen by 88%. Gas bill have risen by 120% and electricity bills by 48% according to figures published by Ofgem, and according to Ofgem the prices will rise by another 60% in the next few years.

National Energy Action’s plan for insulating the homes of the United Kingdom

Today in Brighton the National Energy Action Charity, a charity concerned with fuel poverty, launch their annual conference and if you are in Brighton and pop into their exhibition you will see some Genersys panels on display with some helpful Genersys staff you can answer your questions. Genersys does not make any sales through their membership of National Energy Action, but the NEA is a worthy organisation well worth supporting in their fight to alleviate the misery and hardship of people who cannot afford to keep warm and live at a decent standard, which is what fuel poverty means, rather than the somewhat formulaic concept of people who spend more than 10% of their income on fuel.

Utility Disconnections

Times are hard and when times are hard things that we took for granted when times were good become precious desirable luxuries that we can no longer enjoy when times are hard.

The Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes

There is a United Kingdom organisation that in its quiet way does a great deal of good work in the field of emission savings by way of educating and allowing a place where information and ideas and proposals about energy and its efficiency can be exchanged between businesses concerned with energy in some way and the government administration. That body is the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes and it is chaired by Professor John Chesshire who is both an economist and a past president of the Institute of Energy.  

What an annual £5000 energy bill means and what we can do about it

Yesterday I wrote about the spectre of £5,000 per annum energy bills for the average UK household. The figure was put out by an internet price comparison site, uSwitch with figures from Ernst & Young. It did not come as a surprise to me as my own analysis of the energy market has consistently come up with ever increasing energy prices and this analysis twelve years ago started the journey which resulted in Genersys, the solar thermal supplier.

Annual £5,000 energy bill for households in ten years time

The average household in the United Kingdom in 2004 was paying £580 a year for its household energy bills, usually its gas and electricity bills. Today that figure has slightly more than doubled with the average household paying £1,243 a year. Recent calculations by Ernst & Young, one of the world’s top accounting firms, indicate that by 2020 the average UK household is likely to be paying around £5,000 a year for its energy – that is to say its electricity, its gas (or oil or other energy source). If you will be approaching retirement in 2020 you may well need a specific pension pot, just to keep warm.

Why such a long wait for smart meters?

I remember watching Joanne Carr of the charity National Energy Action explain (it must be more than eight or nine years ago) the benefits of smart meters to a group of the National Energy Action’s business supporters. I should explain that national Energy Action is one of those curious British institutions – a charity supported by the government and energy companies and other related businesses to lobby the government to abolish what is called “fuel poverty”. National Energy Action is in effect paid by the government to push the government to do more for those in fuel poverty.

The Minister for Energy and Climate Changes speaks

“The rich world must act first, but that won’t stop dangerous climate change unless we help the poorest countries to act too.” This was what Mr Ed Miliband said last week. You will remember that Mr Miliband, a gentleman who studied politics, economics and philosophy at university and has spent his working life in politics (apart from a brief early foray in journalism), is the Minister in Charge of the Department of Energy & Climate Change.

British Gas reduce their prices by 10% for gas but for the poor it will make no difference

Gas prices have risen and risen and risen again, and in the past few months the natural gas whole price has fallen and the United Kingdom’s six energy suppliers (I know there are a few more than six but six have 98% of the market) have come under pressure to reduce consumer gas prices. British Gas, one of the big six, has announced that it will cut its standard tariff gas prices by 10%, which is much less than the increases in 2008. British Gas put their standard prices up by 35% in 2008. Being aware of the commercial position, British Gas will introduce the price cut from 19^th February.

For those of you on quarterly billing you may want to check your meter at this date and provide the gas company with a reading, otherwise you might lose out when they apportion the price decrease over a single billing period.

Why a free energy markets prevent us from reducing emissions

I wrote yesterday about who controls Europe’s natural gas (the answer was Gazprom, in turned controlled by the Russian Government).

There are problems of energy security, which impact direct on prosperity, heath and well being, which arise if a nation is not in control of their own energy. I do not think that such nations can ultimately be safe and prosper. However, there are also a adverse effects on climate change and carbon dioxide emissions that the free market creates, as well as adverse effects on fuel poverty, caused by a free market.