E.ON proposes higher dividend as British business eyes £100m profit March 24, 2021 E.ON’s British retail businesses, which includes the Npower brand, is recovering faster than planned, and as a result the company has proposed a higher dividend. E.ON’s UK retail unit is likely to deliver more than £100m in profit this year, one year ahead of schedule. The German company, which became Europe’s largest operator of energy [...]
Ofgem plans to make suppliers pay back unused credit balances March 17, 2021 Ofgem is mulling proposals that would limit the amount of consumer credit energy suppliers can hold, which could see £1.4bn in excess payments returned to customers. Households that pay for their energy by direct debit typically pay a set amount to suppliers every month based on their average consumption. As energy use is normally lower [...]
BP to keep partial work-from-home policy as oil major seeks to cut office costs March 8, 2021 BP plans to extend remote working as a further cost saving measure affecting 25,000 staff
18 energy suppliers pay out £10.4m for overcharging customers March 2, 2021 Ofgem has this morning charged 18 energy suppliers, including British Gas, Shell, and Scottish Power, a combined £10.4m for overcharging their customers. In total, over 1m customers were wrongly charged £7.2m for firms’ failures to correctly protect customers’ tariff prices when they decided to switch supplier or tariff. The watchdog said that most of the [...]
More than a dozen companies exit $11bn Nord Stream 2 project to avoid US sanctions February 24, 2021 Baker Hughes Co, AXA group and 16 other companies have stopped working on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to avoid US sanctions, according to multiple media reports this evening. Russian energy company Gazprom and its partners are in the process of building an $11bn pipeline that will supply natural gas from Russia directly [...]
Drax invests £226m in biomass power ahead of coal plant closure February 8, 2021 British power company Drax will buy major Canadian biomass fuel producer Pinnacle for £226m, as it prepares for the closure of its coal power stations next year. Once the biggest polluter in the UK, the firm will cease burning coal at its two North Yorkshire units in March this year and will eventually close the [...]
Octopus outfoxed: Challenger brand tops Which? energy survey January 25, 2021 A small provider has ended Octopus’ two year reign at the top of Which’s annual survey of energy companies. Outfox the Market, which was only founded in 2017, rose from 19th in the table last year to top the rankings in Which’s energy satisfaction survey. The small energy provider frequently offers some of the cheapest [...]
Shock to the system: Ofgem proposes new body to run electricity network January 25, 2021 Ofgem has this morning submitted proposals for the creation of an independent body to run the UK’s electricity network, in what would be a radical shake-up of the way the country’s power is managed. Such a body, the watchdog says, could save consumers up to £4.8bn by 2050, while leading the country’s charge towards net [...]
Corona Impact Series: How a Chiswick energy startup grew up fast during the pandemic January 6, 2021 In this series, City A.M. looks at the financial and economic impact of the ongoing pandemic on a range of small and medium-sized businesses across London. This week: how a small West London-based supplier of green energy thrived during last year’s lockdowns. The pandemic story of So Energy in Chiswick certainly bucked the national trend last year. Only [...]
Households could be automatically switched to cheaper energy tariffs December 13, 2020 Households could find themselves automatically switched onto cheaper energy tariffs under new government plans set to be released this week. The proposal is an attempt to crack down on energy suppliers which move customers onto higher “default” deals after their initial contracts end. The BBC reported that the plan would be unveiled as part of [...]