E.On UK supply profits dive due to mild weather August 13, 2014 German energy giant E.On’s UK subsidiary yesterday posted a 31 per cent drop in first-half profit for its supply arm – but its generation earnings rose by the same percentage. The warmer weather lowered demand for energy, causing revenue from the supply part of the business to fall 9.7 per cent to £3.95bn over the [...]
Ofgem: Energy market probe will not be whitewashed August 10, 2014 Questions raised over regulator’s influence in energy probe. Energy watchdog Ofgem has been forced to defend itself after five former regulators warned it may unfairly influence an independent investigation into the sector. Well-known industry figures including Stephen Littlechild and Sir Callum McCarthy have written a letter to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which recently [...]
London has nothing to fear from leaving the EU – but much to gain August 6, 2014 THE EUROPE Report: A win-win situation, authored by Boris Johnson’s chief economic adviser Dr Gerard Lyons and released yesterday, is a major contribution to the “in/out” EU debate – a debate that will simply not go away. I welcome its measured, positive and undogmatic analysis of the main scenarios facing Britain and our relationship with [...]
Energy firms warned they risk jail if they rig wholesale prices August 5, 2014 INDIVIDUALS found guilty of rigging wholesale energy prices could face up to two years in jail, under new government reforms proposed today. Under the new laws, it would be a criminal offence to fix the price of energy or use insider information to unfairly influence the market. “Manipulating the energy market is absolutely unacceptable, and [...]
Juncker’s new EU financial services tsar would be disastrous for the City August 4, 2014 The prevailing winds of politics have not been kind to the City or the wider financial world of late. Politicians, often with one eye on the next election and tempted to kowtow to “banker bashing” sentiments, have paraded their credentials by legislating against the unruly financiers who “caused the financial crisis”. But if you think [...]
HSBC chairman wants delay to ringfence rules August 3, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest banks could face two expensive shake-ups instead of one, the head of HSBC has warned, because the new competition probe is taking place at the same time as banks divide themselves up with the incoming ringfence. HSBC chairman Douglas Flint has written to chancellor George Osborne, asking him to push back the introduction [...]
Ofgem and big six energy suppliers spar over profit July 30, 2014 A fight between the big six energy suppliers and regulator Ofgem kicked off yesterday, due to a wide disparity between their estimates of company profits. Ofgem will today predict that firms will make £106 per household, up from the £101 it forecast a month ago. But the industry argues that their estimates have been wildly [...]
SSE and UK Power Networks to pay £3.3m for winter power cuts July 24, 2014 ENERGY network operators SSE and UK Power Networks (UKPN) are set to pay out an extra £3.3m for power cuts during the storms last winter. SSE’s distribution arm and UKPN, which deliver energy to people’s homes across the south of England, have already paid out £4.7m, after they were found to have been the slowest [...]
Parcel woes hit shares in Royal Mail before AGM July 22, 2014 AN UNEXPECTED drop in Royal Mail parcel revenues announced yesterday is likely to build more pressure on the company ahead of its annual general meeting tomorrow. Royal Mail saw a one per cent decline in parcel revenues in the first three months of the financial year to 29 June, and it expected full-year parcel revenues [...]
Lazy small firms blamed for bad banking market July 21, 2014 BRITAIN’S small firms have to try harder to push their banks to work for them, and be prepared to walk away if they do not, Britain’s competition chief said yesterday. Banks have been hit by waves of complaints from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) even since before the financial crisis. But only a tiny proportion [...]