Russia hands Ukraine a $7bn gas bill

Russia has reportedly handed Ukraine a $7billion bill for gas which Kiev had committed to buy last year but didn’t take. Russian state firm Gazprom is said to have demanded the cash from Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz for the 2012 gas imports. The bill could be linked to Ukraine’s recent deal with Shell for rights […]

Protection from price hikes ends for npower customers

Energy customers on npower’s fixed tariff could see their bills rise by £160 this weekend when their protection from price hikes comes to an end. Since the supplier’s ‘Go Fix 8’ plan launched in September 2011, consumers made savings of £261 compared to those on the average ‘Big Six’ standard tariffs. The fixed plan meant […]

700 mile road trip puts electric car through paces

Two students from Durham University have put an electric car through its paces by taking it on a 700-mile road trip. Sergio Roldan (pictured left) and Ioannis Sarrigiannis planned the round trip from Durham to Cardiff and back as part of a research project called the Customer-Led Network Revolution (CLNR). The journey with a regular […]

UK road fuel market ‘working well’, says watchdog

The UK road fuel sector is “working well” and the rise in petrol and diesel prices have been caused by higher crude oil prices and increases in tax – not a lack of competition. New evidence from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) suggests competition is working “relatively effectively” at a national level and that […]

Germany shares out renewable costs among firms

Germany plans to share out the cost of renewable energy subsidies among big energy users to take the weight of consumer energy bills. The German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier (pictured) reportedly wants to counter the huge cost of the country’s “Energiewende”, or energy revolution. The shift away from nuclear power towards renewable energy was prompted […]

DONG Energy installs ‘next generation’ turbines

DONG Energy has installed two “next generation” wind turbines (pictured) at its Gunfleet Sands site, which is believed to help cut the cost of energy in offshore wind. The Danish firm claims the 6MW Siemens turbines are the “first two turbines of their kind to be installed offshore in the world” and will go through […]

Strong oil prices despite carbon market crash

Oil prices were very strong last week and it broke out of its recent trading range to above $113/bbl. That was due to “very good economic data” from the US, Germany and China, which also resulted in seasonal gas and power contracts to end marginally high, according to Magali Hodgson, Optimisation Desk Manager at npower. […]

The Market Report – 29th January 2013

What happened to oil prices last week? And did carbon prices continue to fall? Find out the latest news on the energy market from Magali Hodgson, npower’s Optimisation Desk Manager, in this weekly update.

Bad experience puts consumers off switching

A bad switching experience is one of the main reasons that puts consumers off from changing energy suppliers. New research by Consumer Focus suggests more than a quarter (26%) of consumers said they would not consider switching their gas or electricity provider in the future due to problems experienced during the process. The most common […]

Dangerous smog covers Chinese cities

Many parts of China have been engulfed by thick polluted smog for the second time in around two weeks. According to Chinese reports, visibility was lower than 1,000 metres in the capital city, Beijing and a few other provinces. This has led to more people in hospital with respiratory illnesses and has prompted city Governments […]