The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced that the UK is on course to meet its environmental targets. A report published on Thursday suggests the country will generate sufficient renewable energy by 2020 to satisfy carbon objectives, which include consuming at least 15 per cent of energy (domestic, commercial, industrial and infrastructural) […]
TV shows are well known for tackling controversial and hard hitting storylines and now viewers of Britain’s longest running soap opera Coronation Street are to be educated about the dangers of faulty boilers and carbon monoxide poisoning in episodes set to air over Christmas and the New Year. The storyline is set to have […]
A survey has revealed that 36 per cent of people in the UK who own solar photovoltaic panels struggle to receive subsidies on time. Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) were introduced by the UK government on the 1st April 2010. Launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the scheme was intended to lower the […]
Actions speak louder than words for one of the UK’s biggest energy suppliers, EDF Energy, who have pledged to make sure their most vulnerable customers are automatically transferred to the cheapest available tariff to help them reduce their energy bills. The move – which comes after energy regulator Ofgem published proposals to reform the energy […]
A report published by the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) claims as many as 300,000 more households in the UK will suffer from fuel poverty this winter. Fuel poverty is said to occur when a household spends at least ten per cent of its monthly or annual income on energy. Some 2.7 million households in […]
With a smart meter roll-out set to replace around 53 million electricity and gas meters over the next six years the Government has established a set of rules designed to protect the privacy of all those millions of customers. The newly published set of rules will give energy consumers the power to determine how […]
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which advises the British Government on important climate-related issues, has contradicted the Coalition’s own research by claiming reliance on gas as a source of energy will prove more costly than switching to renewables. Using data produced by government officials, the CCC discovered that gas would not result in cheaper […]
E.ON has followed the lead of the five other leading energy firms in the UK by announcing plans to increase energy tariffs. The energy firm, one of the so-called Big Six, had resisted the temptation to raise prices in October after promising customers that its tariffs would remain unchanged in 2012. On Monday, however, E.ON […]
Households have been reminded to request a free energy display whenever a smart meter is installed by their energy supplier. Zoe McLeod, who heads the Smart & Sustainable Energy Markets Division at Consumer Focus, urged eligible households to request the display after new rules came into effect. Ms McLeod said: “We encourage customers to take up […]
Researchers in the United States have published details of a new lighting technology that promises greater efficiency and reliability than fluorescent light bulbs. The team at Wake Forest University, North Carolina, has developed Fipel (field-induced polymer electroluminescent) technology from several sheets of polymer, which contain nanomaterials that react to electrical currents. One important quality of […]
New research from popular comparison website uSwitch.com has revealed energy bills have risen by a whopping 65% over the last five years. Five years ago we were paying around £227 a year less to heat our homes than we are now. With heating and hot water accounting for almost 60% of the cost of […]
One of the leading energy suppliers in the UK has promised to reimburse thousands of customers who were overcharged between 2008 and 2011. E.ON referred the matter to industry regulator Ofgem earlier this month. The energy firm overcharged around 94,000 customers who switched suppliers ahead of four major price rises. The mistake was made when […]
The Coalition has moved yet further from its goal to become the ‘greenest-ever’ government after cutting funding for energy-saving initiatives. At a time when energy bills are set to rise by around 100 a year, ministers have sought to limit funds for the poorest households. In 2009, just over 1.9 billion was spent on government […]
Helping society’s most vulnerable people to avoid falling into fuel poverty and stay warm is the focus of a new Government initiative which has seen a £500,000 grant awarded to the Foundations Independent Living Trust. The ‘Foundations Warm Homes Service’ scheme is part of an initiative from the Department of Health to reduce the number of […]
As developers plan to convert hundreds of acres of British farmland into sites for solar photovoltaic panels, researchers in the US have published a paper on how solar power can be used at the smallest scales to produce steam for domestic and commercial applications. In South Molton, North Devon, planning permission for an 18-hectare solar […]
Energy Secretary Ed Davey has today announced plans to overhaul the energy market in an effort to honour a promise made by Prime Minister David Cameron. Back in October the Prime Minister promised to introduce a system that would ensure energy consumers were given the cheapest tariffs. Critics jumped on Mr Cameron’s comments, arguing that […]
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