Businesses urged to fight climate change and cut costs March 3, 2020 Businesses will be required to submit data on their carbon emissions, alongside their accounts, for the first time. The Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting requirements (SECR) will take affect for 12,000 companies whose financial year’s started on or before 1 April 2019 The government argues cutting the 30 per cent of annual greenhouse gas emissions [...]
UK government to allow new onshore wind farm subsidies March 2, 2020 Onshore wind farms will be eligible for subsidies for the first time since 2016 from next year. This was announced with details on the next stage of the Contracts for Differences scheme which launches next year. However, the government has stressed new projects in England will only go ahead with the consent of local communities. [...]
Energy complaints only the tip of the iceberg February 27, 2020 The true scale of customer dissatisfaction with the energy sector has been significantly underestimated, according to a new survey. Research by consumer group Which said if every consumer with a grievance against their supplier complained, the number submitted would be around 6.9m. One reason for this figure is disillusioned customers do not want to make [...]
UK power storage firm wins £35m investment from Japanese tech giant February 25, 2020 A UK company developing technology to store power more efficiently has won a key investment from a Japanese technology firm. Highview Power, which plans to store renewable energy by using liquid air announced the $46m (£35m) investment from Sumitomo Heavy Industries today. The money will be used to help export the “CRYOBattery” technology around the [...]
Only five car battery tech patents filed from the UK in 2019, says BDO February 24, 2020 A record number of patents were filed in 2018/2019 as countries race to develop electric car batteries – but data suggests the UK is falling behind when it comes to the automotive technology. Advisory firm BDO has found 3,400 battery patents were filed in this period, a 57 per cent increase on the year before [...]
We’ve got the power: Decarbonising our transport on the road to a greener nation February 21, 2020 The government will soon publish its strategy on cutting emissions from cars, trains, boats and planes — and already the transport secretary has suggested that sales of combustion and hybrid vehicles could be banned from 2035. Change comes with questions. For example: how clean is our electricity? And can Britain’s energy infrastructure meet the demand [...]
Switching energy supplier? You could get £30 compensation for mistakes February 12, 2020 Energy watchdog Ofgem has today announced a new raft of compensation measures to protect consumers from difficulties caused by switching supplier. From 1 May, customers will receive an automatic £30 payment from suppliers if they are switched by mistake, if their switch takes longer than 15 days, or if their final bill does not arrive [...]
Record number of cheap energy deals available for UK households February 5, 2020 UK households now have a far wider choice of cheap energy deals, with 78 tariffs now priced under £1000 a year. According to consumer group Which, the number of these tariffs has exploded since the energy price cap was introduced last January, when there were only 12 available. There are also 25 deals now under [...]
Ofgem publishes new plan for net zero Britain February 3, 2020 Ofgem has today published a new plan to decarbonise the UK’s energy system in order to meet emissions targets by 2050. The “Decarbonisation Action Plan” sets out nine actions that the energy industry must put into practice in order to ensure that the UK’s energy networks can deliver net zero. Central to the plan is [...]
Ovo Energy slapped with £8.9m fine for inaccurate billing January 29, 2020 Ovo Energy has been charged £8.9m by industry regulator Ofgem after inaccurate information on bills led to some customers being charged too much. The challenger firm, which recently became one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers, fell foul of the watchdog after incorrect annual statements were sent to more than 500,000 customers between July 2015 [...]