bills

  The rollout of smart meters across millions of British households is to reviewed by the government spending watchdog. The National Audit Office (NAO) says it will investigate whether the planned £11 billion rollout will save customers money and look at whether the government is on track to achieve its target deadline of 2020. Some […]

The UK’s energy regulator has apologised for not capping energy bills sooner. Ofgem Chief Dermot Nolan was accused of being a passive bystander by MPs, who said he had failed to prevent millions of customers from paying over the odds. Mr Nolan said he will not receive his £15,000 bonus this year after admitting the […]

Hosting family and friends over the festive period could cost the UK as much as £825 million in additional energy bills. Each household hosting guests is likely to spend around £55 more on gas and electricity than they would otherwise, according to new data from price comparison site uSwitch.com. More than half of the country’s households […]

Households and businesses across England and Wales are expected to see water bills cut by £25 a year from 2020 to 2025. Water regulator Ofwat said it will set the cost of capital across the sector at a record low of 2.4% – it expects this to have a direct effect on the bills paid […]

A water watchdog is calling on Ofwat to set the lowest ever cost of capital for the water industry. The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) recommends the regulator should set a Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) between 1.8% and 2.5% for 2019. This is the assumption made on the cost water companies will incur […]

Ofgem has said the government’s proposed energy bill price cap won’t come into effect by this winter. The regulator has suggested it will have to wait for legislation to be passed before it can take action on reducing the cost of standard variable tariffs. The process of passing new rules could take as long as […]

Gas and electricity prices could be capped as soon as this winter. That’s according to Energy Minister Greg Clark, who told the BBC that regulator Ofgem would receive legal backing from parliament to introduce a price cap. When asked if this could mean a change in policy this winter, he said: “Precisely. That’s exactly why […]

  Theresa May’s proposed price cap on energy bills was the talk of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester this week. ELN spoke to a range of MPs, delegates and party members to gauge their reactions to the controversial policy, which is intended to make the energy market fairer by imposing an upper limit on […]

Water companies must do more to deal with customers who are struggling to pay their bills. That’s according to water market regulator Ofwat, which estimates bad debt currently adds an average of £21 to each customer’s yearly bill. It says tackling this issue now by identifying which customers are having difficulties before they owe too much […]

Theresa May should take taxpayer funding for energy saving away from the Big Six and instead give it to local energy co-op groups. That’s according to think-tank IPPR, which suggests the best way to save energy and make bills cheaper is by bypassing the Big Six altogether. At present, large energy firms use government funds […]