Could your 'Green' house by costing you money?

Are Exhaust Air Source Heat Pumps Costing You More Than Expected?

ENERGYLINX: Families afflicted by high energy costs could be the victims of green technology.

An expose by BBC's Rip Off Britain found that many families residing in new, 'state-of-the-art' government-funded housing projects are shelling out three to four times more for electricity than they expected to be paying.

As part of the UK government's commitment towards establishing a greener building infrastructure, recently-constructed housing developments throughout the UK were fitted with exhaust air source heat pumps - a system in which the heat from wasted air is pumped back into homes, providing free heat and hot water. However, residents were left shocked after being charged over three times more for their electricity than was estimated by the Energy Performance Certificates which accompanied their new homes.

With some residents being charged over £250 for electricity in just two months, independent studies conducted by heating engineers have concluded that the heating systems - which are designed in order to run 24 hours per day - are unable to heat homes as efficiently as those of the system's Swedish creators, which are apparently better insulated. As a result, these heating systems automatically switch on an electric immersion heater as a means of countering this handicap, leading to astronomically high electricity bills for weary customers.

Unfortunately for UK families, these systems have become a popular choice amongst nationwide building developers - who are legally obligated to integrate some form of 'green technology' into most government housing projects. Yet in the case of these air source heating systems - which are thought to have already been installed in over 15,000 UK homes - green technology has undoubtedly failed to save customers on energy bills.

Indeed, one of the four key goals of the UK's Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) is to "reduce energy use by households, businesses and the public sector, and help to protect the fuel poor." However, this goal is admittedly difficult to achieve amidst a government-mandated technology being installed into the homes of UK's lower-income families that, in truth, costs families up to three or four times more for their electricity bills - and actually wastes energy in the process.

As a result, Phoenix Energy would advise that all customers being affected by extraordinarily high electricity bills - regardless of whether they have had an exhaust air source heat pump fitted - Check here to get a free impartial, independent energy quote.

SSE Raise Domestic Prices

Energy firm SSE will increase its domestic gas and electricity prices by an average of 9% from 15 October.
It blamed the increases on the extra cost of using the gas and electricity networks and rising costs in energy wholesale markets.
SSE, which also trades as Scottish Hydro and Swalec, said five million electricity customers and 3.4 million gas customers would be affected.
However, there will be no more price rises before the second half of 2013.
The forthcoming increases mean that a customer with an average standard dual-fuel bill will pay an extra £102 for the year, or £1,274 in total.
The company's chief executive Ian Marchant, said the forthcoming increases were regrettable but unavoidable.
"We pledged last summer to cap our energy prices for as long as possible and until at least August 2012, and then in January extended this pledge to October 2012," he said.
"Unfortunately, the increases in costs that we have seen since making this pledge can no longer be absorbed and mean that we are unable to keep prices at their current levels beyond this autumn," he added.
In May, the company reported a 2% rise in annual pre-tax profits to £1.33bn, though profits in its division which supplies electricity and gas to homes and businesses fell 20% to £321.6m.
Energy market 'broken'
In 2011, all the big-six energy suppliers raised their prices, in some cases twice.
But earlier this year they all staged a round of small price cuts, affecting either their gas or their electricity customers.
SSE cut its gas prices by 4.5% in March this year.
However, in May, Centrica - which owns British Gas - warned that continued increases in the wholesale price of gas might lead to renewed domestic price rises this autumn.
Richard Lloyd, of the consumers' association Which?, said: "We can't go through another winter with people worrying about their energy bills, the government and the regulator must reform our broken energy market."
Martin Lewis, of the consumer website MoneySavingExpert.com, said many people could save money by switching to one of the fixed-rate deals currently on offer.
"Two major energy companies are currently offering cheap fix deals at the same price as the cheapest variable deals, cutting many people's bills by hundreds of pounds and guaranteeing no price rises for up to two winters," he said.
"More surprisingly, those tariffs do not involve exit penalty lock-ins, so you can leave whenever you want."

All domestic energy tariffs are available at GET ME CHEAP BILLS .COM

Has OFGEM Shot Themselves In The Foot?

Critics are questioning OFGEM's ambitious plans in order to drastically simplify the consumer energy market after it emerged today that homeowners stand to lose up to £130 in fuel discounts if the changes go ahead.

Industry-regulator OFGEM maintains that its goals regarding simplifying the energy market are quite simple and sincere; indeed, it cannot be ignored that a less-than transparent energy market has for too long been flooded with a surplus of complicated-sounding tariffs that add varying degrees of confusion to the process purchasing energy for one's home.

This assertion, which is accompanied by the assumed consequences of a cheaper and more competitive energy market, has developed into the spearhead with which OFGEM is pursuing its bold market reform plans; however, it is being widely-ignored that the maze of discounts and payment plans which OFGEM would happily see eradicated in fact benefit UK customers far more than the industry would care to admit.

Prior to that instigation of this heavily-contested industry-wide action, UK energy suppliers were in a position in which they could create tariffs structures that boasted a dizzying amount of stipulations in small, fine print; however, the ways in which suppliers are now being encouraged by OFGEM to structure their energy plans strictly marginalises the ways in which customers are able to save money on their energy bills.

Indeed, simplifying tariff structures does little in order to make energy more affordable. In truth, OFGEM's plans actually enable energy suppliers to establish a drastically higher baseline price for energy use that will never be as competitive as the majority of tariffs on offer at present – even when coupled with any number of discounts. Furthermore, because the majority of fixed-rate plans stand to be erased from the market, customers could be faced not only with the loss of vital discount plans, but also with the idea that ever-increasing household energy bills will never truly be capped.

Not only do these consequences of tariff simplification negatively affect customers, but they also pose a negative impact upon the already minimalistic level of competition amongst nation-wide energy suppliers. If all of the UK's 17 energy suppliers were to establish a like number of tariffs, it is fair to assume that an almost universal standard tariff price would re-establish the monopolisations some energy suppliers hold on certain regions within the nation – simultaneously crippling the existing market that encourages energy customers to switch providers in order to find the cheapest deals on offer. Therefore, in essence, the only ones who stand to gain from OFGEM's tariff simplification – as it currently stands – are energy suppliers.

In fact, several of the UK's foremost suppliers are already beginning to cash in on these reform ideas. British Gas announced last week an ambitious tariff restructuring which saw several popular discount tariffs removed from the market – meanwhile, Scottish Southern Energy chose in February to pre-empt OFGEM's reform legislature by radically reducing the number of tariffs they had on offer from a 68 to just 4. Needless to say, the majority of tariffs being removed from the market are those which boast fixed rates, online and dual fuel discounts and customer incentives – meaning that customers are already unknowingly being weaned off of the discounts that have kept them from living in potential fuel poverty.

According to the Daily Telegraph's Rowena Mason, around 80% of energy customers in the UK are currently participants of discounted energy plans that stand to be erased, and are set to lose an initial £130 in fuel discounts should the nation's other energy suppliers wish to follow the example of British Gas and SSE. UK homeowners were shocked last year to find that average fuel prices have risen to a high of nearly £1,300 per year – and, while the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC) predicts that up to 40% of UK households may be living in fuel poverty by year's end, OFGEM should recognise that their current plans for tariff simplification fail to benefit those who are truly in need.

It is for this reason that several energy suppliers have argued against the looming legislature, and have pressured OFGEM into delaying enacting the reforms; however, as previously stated, wheels have already been set in motion which have seen several energy suppliers commended for simplifying the industry – when in truth, they are only perpetuating a level of hypocrisy within the energy market that overcharges already wary homeowners.

With any luck, OFGEM may buckle under the pressure of critics and strongly rethink a number of its reform methods; indeed, tariff simplification is a noble pursuit – assuming that it is pursued in a fashion that truly benefits consumers. In the meantime, however, customers should recognise that a lengthy list of energy plans, while daunting, means a potential world of savings on annual household bills. A certain degree of confusion admittedly accompanies this level of choice; however, customers should find solace in the fact that there are 100% free and impartial energy services, such as Energylinx, that are prepared to sift through all of the fine print in order to find customers the best deals on the market.


(article from Energylinx - provider of comparison services to domestic customers)

E.ON Energy reduce the prices of various fixed price tariffs

E.ON Energy have made a number of changes, effective today:

E.ON Energy Discount 2013 : Reduced cancellation fee from £30 to £10 dual fuel (£5 per fuel)

E.ON Fixed April 2014 : Reduced premium against Standard from 3% to 0% and reduced cancellation fee from £50 to £10 dual fuel (£5 per fuel)

Age UK Fixed April 2014 : Reduced premium against Age UK Standard from 4% to 1%


All these tariffs are available at GET ME CHEAP BILLS .COM

Summer Wealth Check

Unfortunately, the majority of customers wait until the beginning of winter before questioning what they may be spending on energy bills
– by which time they’ve already turned on the heating, and hefty winter bills have already found their way through the letterbox. As a result, we here at Phoenix Energy  would encourage all customers to do a quick comparison during the summer months in order to ensure that they are able to take advantage of cheaper plans on offer. Indeed, many energy suppliers make drastic changes around this time, which means that customers may even be paying too much over the summer months if they have not yet compared prices.

Also, many people are considering Solar Panels, which are designed both to help the environment as well as reduce their energy bills. The advantages can indeed be quite attractive; after all, by generating your own electricity, you cut down on the amount in which you need to import from the national grid. Furthermore, you can also receive financial benefits through a Feed In Tariff (FIT). The FIT is a government scheme which rewards participants with a payment for every unit of electricity they generate. This helps to overcome the cost of installation; however, even if you do choose to go down this energy-efficient route, you must still ensure that you are not paying too much per unit for the energy which you must buy from the electricity companies.

Finally, summer is also a good time in which to get around to all the maintenance issues you’ve been putting off. Among other things, these may include energy-efficiency projects such as insulation, draught proofing, etc. This ensures that you do not have to buy more energy than you actually need – after all, the unit of electricity or gas that you do not use is the cheapest of all.

Check GET ME CHEAP BILLS . COM for a comparison of all the current energy tariffs.

New Energy Tariffs Launched

Within the last 24 hours we have seen the following updates applied:

ScottishPower have removed Platinum Fixed July 2013 for sale at 1130 today

Npower have launched two tariffs at 0001 yesterday. These are of Electricity Online November 2013 and Energy Online October 2013

First Utility have launched iSave v11 at 0001 on the 26th June at the same time removing iSave v10 and iSave Fixed Price v2 September 2013.

New Simplified British Gas Tariffs

With immediate effect British Gas have revised their entire domestic tariff structure.

No longer will the following tariffs exist:

Standard, Online Energy, Fixed Price 2013 and Energyshare.

The new tariffs are:

Clear and Simple
•
A new tariff from British Gas/Sainsbury’s Energy, Clear & Simple is an alternative version of standard tariff with a simplified pricing structure. It has just a daily standing charge with a single unit rate

• Evergreen tariff (i.e. no end date)

• Straightforward dual fuel discount with all customers getting £15 regardless of consumption

• The DD discount is no longer capped

　

　

Online Variable August 2013

• A new tariff from British Gas/Sainsbury’s Energy, Online Variable Aug 2013 provides the customer with a guaranteed 6% discount on our ‘Clear & Simple’ tariff rates. The discount is applicable once on supply until 31st August 2013

• Paperless billing, Online Account Management and Direct Debit are mandatory.

• A cancellation fee of £30 per fuel (inc VAT) will apply should the customer move off this tariff prior to 31st August 2013

　

　

Fixed Price May 2014

• A new tariff from British Gas sold through all channels BG and SE (customers can still manage their account online).

• This LTC is not available for PAYGE

• Fixed Price May 2014 provides the customer with a 8.8% premium on the new Clear & Simple tariff rates at 22nd June 2012 for gas and/or electricity

• Cancellation fee of £50 per fuel (inc VAT) should the customer move off this tariff prior to 31st May 2014