British Gas Price Increases

British Gas customers will face a 7% rise in gas and electricity bills this winter, the company has announced.

The increase, which comes into effect on 10 December, was the result of rising wholesale prices, it said.

The rise affects eight million customers, but the company added that its 300,000 most vulnerable customers would initially not be charged more.

British Gas has become the second major UK energy supplier to announce price increases for the winter months.

It said that wholesale gas prices had risen by 25% since the spring.

"We know that rising energy prices come at a difficult time for many," said British Gas managing director Phil Bentley.

The company said prices for those on a typical dual-fuel deal would go up by £1.50 a week.

Vulnerable customers on the "Essentials" package with British Gas will have prices held until 1 April 2011.

Full details can be found at the BBC website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11741766

It is likely that the other 'Big 6'and the smaller suppliers will take this opportunity to increase energy costs for their customers. Southern Electric (SSE) have already increased their gas prices, although EDF have announced that they do not intend to raise prices before the winter ends.

Phoenix Energy recommend that domestic customers sign up for a fixed price deal at our comparison site before the prices of the best fixed tariffs raise again.

http://www.getmecheapbills.com

First 'Big 6' Domestic Energy Rise in 2 Years

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) is putting up its domestic gas tariffs by 9.4% at the start of December.

The company, one of the UK's biggest energy suppliers, said the rise would affect 3.6 million customers.

The company blamed the increasing wholesale cost of buying gas which it said had gone up by 25% since March this year. The company said it was sorry that the higher bills would come in during this winter.

"The last few months have been marked by rising wholesale gas prices and, having absorbed losses in our gas supply business for some time, we can not delay an increase in retail prices any longer," said Alistair Phillips-Davies, of SSE.

"I am sorry it will take effect during the winter period." Those affected include 380,000 customers in Scotland and 440,000 customers in Wales.

Price effect
The company said that people were being more careful with their energy consumption, so it calculated the price rise would be £4.64 a month for the typical customer, or £56 a year.
However, taking regulator Ofgem's standard consumption measure, the effect would be a £5.60 a month rise, or £67 a year.

This is the first time for two years that standard prices among the "big six" energy suppliers have risen, and follows some price falls during last year.

After 1 December, SSE customers with a dual-fuel tariff would still be paying bills that were £33 cheaper than when prices were at their peak in January 2009, said Ann Robinson, of Uswitch, but she said the timing was a concern for customers.

With winter about to kick in, this is a body blow for consumers. What nobody wants to see is a repeat of 2008, when suppliers last put prices up and bills rocketed by £381 or 42% as a result," she said.

There could be more bills rises to come.

Earlier this month, Ofgem said that gas and electricity bills would both have to rise by £3 a year, as £32bn was needed to improve the UK's distribution infrastructure. Ofgem said energy firms needed to spend that sum over the next 10 years to "keep the lights on" and meet the government's green energy targets.

Other suppliers

Customers of the other major energy providers will have to wait to see if the rest of the industry also puts up prices.

"While we hope that other companies do not follow suit, history has shown us they adopt a pack mentality on pricing," said Audrey Gallacher, of watchdog Consumer Focus.
The watchdog has argued that companies should have reduced prices when wholesale costs were lower. It claimed that SSE's gas prices had fallen by 2% since wholesale costs peaked in 2008, while the wholesale gas price had declined by more than 40%.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: "While, on behalf of consumers, we are disappointed in the decision taken by SSE to increase their gas prices, this is a decision for the company which must compete for customers in the marketplace.

"Consumers should therefore continue to assess regularly whether they are getting the best energy deal for them and to take steps to switch supplier and tariff if not."

(article courtesy of BBC)

Domestic customers should check their own energy and see if they are getting a good deal by checking http://www.getmecheapbills.com

Utility Supply and Metering Work

One of the areas in which Phoenix Energy specialise is the provision of utility supply to new build, refurbished and converted buildings.

We organise everything from the initial applications, organising quotations and payments, organising site visits and the scheduling of work to meet our clients requirements. Finally we organise meter appointments and register the meters to the appropriate company, indevidual or organisation. Phoenix Energy have organised over 800 metered supplies at dozens of site, predominately across the North East but also in Yorkshire, London and Manweb areas.

Working with the utility infrastructire providers can be very tiring and stressfull and we take away alot of hassles from architects, site managers, foremen, contractors and site owners - allowing them to do what they are good at (and are paid for!) building houses and making money.

I have used photos from 2 of our sites to illustrate what we do. The first site shows a small developement of 5 houses in Teeside - this job had stopped because of the recession but my client finished off the building of these houses - we organised all the utility and metering work.


Before. After

The second set of photos shows an onging development of barn conversions into 10 luxury houses in Co Durham. This site is ongoing and now the utilities are provided to the site, the plots will be indevidually sold and completed as self-builds, but with utility provision.

Site Distance from main road

One of the main problems, logistically and in terms of cost was the distance of the development from the utility networks, approx 500 m. All utilities supplies had to be placed in field to left of access road.

before work work ongoing

Street lighting New electricity transformer

Landlord supply for site 63mm gas main

The main road and the distance from the road can be seen in the above photo.

water supply added to trench before backfilling.

first house first house completed - (the gas and water service piping can be seen in the foreground)

The Phoenix Energy consultancy work on the above 2 projects assists the developers in the completion of their property developements. This compensates for the cost of the work many times over as any problems or delays with the utilites can have major effects on the construction timetables, leading to massive cost overruns.

We can be contact for this type of work on 0800 458 6460 or direct to John Lewins on 07974 387 218.

Green Energy - Somes Obscure and Interesting Facts

At Phoenix Energy we believe very strongly in ethical values and sustainable energy. We have a range of green products from major suppliers to meet the needs of our environmentally conscious customers. We supply renewable energy to business customers using energy from EDF and for our domestic customers our website http://www.getmecheapbills.com has renewaable energy from all of the leading suppliers and also an excellent deal from OVO energy.

There are some interesting and thought provoking links below. (taken from Greenpeace)


Wind could meet 12% of global power demand by 2020, and up to 22% by 2030.

Subsidies to fossil fuels worldwide outweigh renewable energy support by a ratio of 12:1.

On November 9th, 2009, Spain generated more than half its electricity demand with wind power.

A project is underway 2 deliver one sixth of Europe's electricity fm solar plants in the Sahara by 2050.

Price Waterhouse Cooper says Europe and North Africa could run on 100% renewable energy by 2050.

China built (roughly) one windmill an hour in 2009.

Wind overtook coal as the third-largest producer of power in Spain in 2009.

The annual market for renewable technology will rise fm appx US$100 billion today, to $600 bn+ by 2030.

Europe DECOMMISSIONED more coal, fuel oil and nuclear capacity than it installed in 2009.

Solar energy is now working at night on a commercial scale. A plant in Spain has seven hours of heat storage.

The global financial crisis didn't stifle the US wind power market: it grew by 39% in 2009.

China become the largest investor in clean energy in 2009, investing $16 billion more than the US.

Concentrated Solar Power plants focus the suns rays with mirrors at temperatures which melt steel.

The world's largest wind farm is in Texas.

Geothermal power provides 10% of New Zealand's electricity needs.

Iceland's power supply went from 75% imported coal to more than 80% local geothermal and hydro in 30 years.

In the space of just 5 years, Portugal's electric grid leapt from 15% to 45% renewables.

Concentrated Solar Power could employ 200,000 people by 2020, 2.1 million by 2050.

Four of Big 6 Energy Suppliers Face OFGEM Investigation

Four of the "big six" UK energy suppliers are to be investigated amid concerns of mis-selling to customers, the regulator has announced.

Npower, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy, and EDF Energy all face questions over face-to-face and telephone sales of energy contracts.
Ofgem said it had received information from a variety of sources suggesting they could have breached new rules.
The quartet said they would work with Ofgem on the investigation.

Research by the regulator in 2008 found that, of those who switched their energy supplier, more than half did so in response to contact with a salesman.
But it found that many who switched following doorstep sales ended up on a more expensive tariff because they were misled, or found it difficult to compare bills.
As a result, Ofgem brought in new regulations at the end of last year aimed at tightening up the sales process.

The new requirements included:
supplying a customer with an estimate before any face-to-face sales are concluded
giving, in most cases, a comparison between the new offer and the customer's current deal
actively preventing mis-selling to customers on the doorstep and over the telephone.

The four energy companies face an investigation into whether these new licence agreements have been breached.
"We expect all suppliers to comply with these tougher obligations, but if our investigations find otherwise, we will take strong action," said Andrew Wright, of Ofgem.
The regulator has the power to fine a company up to 10% of its turnover if a breach is discovered.

Previously, under the preceding mis-selling rules, Ofgem fined Npower £1.8m in 2008. London Electricity - now part of EDF Energy - was fined £2m in 2002.

Views expressed by the four energy companies suggest they will vigorously refute any claims of mis-selling.
David Mannering, the corporate economic regulation director at Npower, said: "We fully support Ofgem in making sure that customers clearly understand the products on offer to them and we are confident that the processes we have in place mean that we comply with our regulatory obligations."
Scottish Power has the highest proportion of complaints per 100,000 customers made to advice line Consumer Direct this year. However, not all of these complaints are necessarily justified, as they are just the view of the consumer.
Its spokesman said the company would answer questions raised by Ofgem.
Scottish Power insists on the highest standards possible for all of our sales agents, and invests heavily in training and development to maintain these standards," he said.
EDF Energy said that it believed it was fully compliant with the rules, and trained its staff fully, including refresher briefings. All new sales were verified by telephone to confirm the customer's intention to switch.
And SSE said it believed it was complying with the new rules.
"As a responsible company we take seriously all our customers' issues and would ask any prospective or existing customer to contact us if they are concerned, and we will work with them to resolve the situation," SSE said.
Christine McGourty, director of Energy UK, which represents the leading gas and electricity companies, said: "The companies involved will collaborate fully with the Ofgem investigation and are awaiting further details from the regulator.
"The new regulations that cover doorstep selling are part of the industry's EnergySure Code of Practice and members undergo a rigorous independent annual audit to ensure all the obligations are being met.
"Any sales agent in breach of the code will be struck off the approved energy sales register. Companies take their customers' concerns seriously and would urge customers to call them directly with any concerns they have."

Helpline
Meanwhile, Ofgem is urging any householders who believe they have been mis-sold energy on the doorstep or on the telephone to report the case to the Consumer Direct hotline by calling 08454 040506 and choosing option one.
However, the current system still encourages mis-selling, according to Audrey Gallacher, of watchdog Consumer Focus.
"Complaints have declined since new rules came into effect this year, but suppliers still seem to be flouting the rules," she said.
"Some customers are still being given misleading quotes and information, which leave them worse off when they switch provider.
"While many doorstep sales people will do a good job, the pay and rewards system continues to encourage mis-selling, despite years of regulation and voluntary initiatives.
"If better advice for customers and enforcement of the tougher rules doesn't end the flagrant abuse of this form of selling, the big question will be whether it should be completely banned."

Article courtesy of BBC

Phoenix Energy recommend getting independent advice or visiting our independent and inpartial pice comparison site.
http://www.getmecheapbills,com/

A New Round of Price Increases?

First Utility has increased energy prices for its existing customers by up to a quarter.

The start-up supplier has put up some of its prices by 23%, paving the way for the possibility of a new raft of increases from the “big six” energy companies.

Customers who are on First Utility's two variable online dual fuel tariffs - isave v1 and isave v2 - can expect increases to their energy bills.

Based on an average household, the isave v2 tariff has risen by 23.3% to £1136 a year from £921.
This deal is now £254 more expensive than the best online dual fuel deal, SaveOnline v2 from E.ON which stands at £882 a year, according to figures from moneysupermarket.com

Meanwhile, the isave v1 has also gone up from £965 a year on average to £1136 a year - an increase of 17.7%.

The news of price hikes is a stark contrast from earlier this year when First Utility named itself a price pioneer and the first energy firm in the UK to offer a dual fuel tariff costing less than £900.

Mark Daeche, chief executive officer of First Utility, said: "Last year Ofgem agreed to increase the charges that the gas and electricity distribution and transmission companies charge all Energy Suppliers. The increase in these charges came into effect on 1 April 2010.

“This is an industry-wide pricing change that all suppliers in the energy marketplace have to deal with.”
Daeche also blamed the rise in energy wholesale prices for the price hikes.
He added: “In addition wholesale energy prices have increased significantly since March 2010.
“We have been able to absorb these additional costs and delay increasing our prices until now, however it is has become apparent that these costs are likely to remain high for the foreseeable future.
“We will be reviewing this situation on a regular basis so that we can pass on price reductions directly to the consumer as soon as we can.“

At the end of July First Utility pulled two of its online deals - the smart online saver 4 and the isave V3.2 - and lauched its isave v 4 and smart online saver 5.

Is this the start of a new round of price increases from the 'big 6'? We recommend shopping around in order to obtain the best deals - particularly First Utility customers and customers coming off fixed price deals.

http://www.getmecheapbills.com lists all of the energy deals currently on offer. Check now to see how much you could save.

FREE Energy Monitors for Business customers

Phoenix Energy are independent energy brokers and consultants, working with all of the leading suppliers with the aim of reducing business energy bills. Our customers cover all sectors of business and commerce, from corner shops to industrial manufacturing sites.

To celebrate the launch of our new bi-monthly newsletter, Phoenix Energy are running a promotion to increase business environmental awareness and to reduce the energy usage of its customers.

For every new business energy customer, signing a contract through Phoenix Energy, we will give away a FREE Eco-Eye Elite energy monitor.

The Eco-Eye constantly monitors the amount of electricity coming into a business and clearly displays the energy usage in either Kilowatts or in cost and is a visual reminder to think about how much power a business is using. Using an energy monitor helps identify wastage and encourages businesses to make changes which will reduce carbon footprint, making a real difference to electricity bills as well as the environment. The average energy reduction of businesses using this type of monitor is 15%

Simple to install, and easy to use, Eco-eye makes you aware of your electricity usage and will have you saving your money from the first time you use it. With real time information up-dating every 4 seconds, you can identify which appliances are energy efficient and those which are not!

Eco-eye monitors retails for approximately £50 so we believe this is a tremendous offer, particularly since using Phoenix Energy to organise your energy contracts will also usually give an average cost saving of 10-25%
Details of our monitors can be found at

http://www.eco-eye.com/

We have previously offered this promotion to Business Clubs North East members and our customers have experienced significant savings in usage as well as savings on energy bills – a ‘win - win’ situation!