The largest supplier of residential gas in the UK, British Gas, has cut its standard gas prices by an average of 7%.

For the average gas customer, this will mean a reduction of around £55 a year from their bill. It is thought that some eight million households will benefit from the cuts and the price changes take effect immediately.

Bearing in mind this is the third British Gas price cut in the past 12 months, it means that nearly £190 has been chopped off the average annual dual fuel bill.

Phil Bentley, British Gas Managing Director, said:
“At British Gas, we know household budgets are stretched, and that our customers are concerned about the effect the recent cold weather will have on their winter fuel bills. I’m pleased we’re able to offer our customers some extra help with this gas price cut – and that we’re able to do this while it’s still winter, allowing our customers to really feel the benefit.

“This latest price cut means that, no matter where you live in Britain, British Gas is offering on average the cheapest standard gas, electricity and dual fuel prices – beating all other major suppliers. But, at British Gas, we know that cutting prices is just part of the picture in helping our customers cut their fuel bills; we’re also doing more than any other supplier to help our customers use less energy. As well as cutting prices three times in the past year, we have been helping our customers improve their energy efficiency and cut their energy use by 7%.”

British Gas claim that last year, they cut both standard gas and electricity prices by an average 10%. And the May 2009 electricity price reduction saw British Gas become on average the cheapest supplier of standard electricity across the UK.

What’s more claim British Gas, this latest gas price cut means that they are now also the cheapest major supplier of standard gas at average consumption, and therefore of dual fuel, right across the UK.

In another move, British Gas has also removed the price ‘differential’ for gas pre-payment meter accounts, meaning that pre-pay gas customers are now paying, on average, the same for their energy as customers who pay by cash, or cheque.

Find out more about British Gas here.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

npower have introduced free home energy monitors for new customers. This customer incentive is available for all new Go Fix customers but is not available for signups to npower Juice green energy.

Switch energy provider to npower to claim your FREE Home Energy Monitor:

Recommended retail price: £39.99

Home Energy Monitors are estimated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change to help save up to 15% on your fuel bills.

Features of the Home Energy Monitor are:

• Check and monitor how much energy you are using in real time
• See what your electricity is costing you in Pounds and Pence
• See an instant response when you turn on an appliance – how much energy are your appliances using?
• Compare your usage from one day to the next

How to claim your Home Energy Monitor:
Switch your energy supply to npower online – once your energy supply with npower commences, you will be sent an email to which you’ll need to respond and confirm that you still want to receive your FREE energy monitor.

<< Click here to switch energy supplier to nPower and get your FREE monitor >>

Subject to terms and conditions:
† Maximum of 1 monitor per household. Offer to residents of Great Britain only (not Northern Ireland). This offer is subject to availability. Monitors will be distributed on a first come first served basis. There will be no alternative or cash offer. You will be sent an email once your supply with npower commences to which you will need to respond and confirm that you still wish to receive this offer. Your personal details will be used for cross checking for Ofgem compliance and may be used for marketing purposes. By accepting this npower home energy monitor you agree to receive survey’s from us about your usage of the device.

Article by Alan Potts
 

Energy company British Gas is going on the offensive with a number of projects to help thousands of people on low incomes cut their energy use and lower their fuel bills.

A multi-million energy efficiency programme has seen British Gas sign agreements with ten communities across the country to help local authorities and charities assess the best energy efficiency measures to install on a community-wide basis.

British Gas say this will be a campaign worth around £70 million and measures will include insulation, draught-proofing and heating schemes, as well as home energy assessments across a wide range of housing stock.

The approach to be adopted by British Gas is known as ‘whole house’ and means that measures will be decided according to what best fits local housing and will involve the entire house instead of a single measure on a one size fits all basis.

British Gas use Walsall for an example, where work is expected to include external solid wall insulation and switching homes from high cost electricity heaters, to lower cost gas central heating.

Work in all the projects will not just take in energy efficiency measures, but will also include a range of related services such as benefits assessments. In the case of Walsall, it represents part of The Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) which is a joint initiative between energy suppliers, power generators and the Government. The total value of energy efficiency measures installed here will be around £350 million.

Over 90,000 households are expected to benefit from The Community Energy Saving Programme which targets low income families. The programme is unique in helping the hard to reach people who have typically not benefited from other national energy efficiency initiatives.

And the programme is also thought capable of saving four million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas said:
“Households account for a quarter of the UK’s total CO2 emissions. By focusing on homes, and in particular vulnerable communities which have been traditionally hard to reach, we can make a significant impact on our national carbon footprint and cut the bills of Britain’s most hard-pressed families.

“As the country’s biggest energy supplier we are well-placed to take the lead in helping people become more energy efficient. This is why we’re very pleased to be the first energy supplier to begin CESP projects.”

On behalf of the Government, the Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock lent her support to the first wave of CESP projects and said:

“I’m pleased that British Gas has been so quick off the mark to begin work in these ten areas and identifying the communities that will benefit. The Community Energy Saving Programme will help some of the lowest income households across Britain tackle fuel poverty. I look forward to hearing about the other energy company plans which will ultimately benefit around 90,000 homes over the next three years.”

As well as working with local authorities, British Gas will also liaising with a number of charities including Scope, Help the Aged, Money Advice Trust and the RNIB.

Sian Mexsom, Head of Fundraising Partnerships at Age Concern and Help the Aged, said:
“We’re delighted to be able to support British Gas in such a tremendously important programme. Through our work, we reach out to disadvantaged older people across the UK who tell us how they’re forced to live in just one heated room of their house in the colder winter months. We’re hopeful the CESP projects will help change this.”

Homes in Birmingham, Chester, Dundee, Glasgow, Haringey, Swansea, Knowsley, Preston, Southwark and Walsall will be in the first wave of The Community Energy Saving Programme.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Ofgem says it’s going to cost the UK £200 billion to secure energy supplies and meet carbon targets.

The figure was revealed after Ofgem’s report that they claim is their most comprehensive review of Britain’s energy supplies yet.

Labelled Project Discovery, the initial report outlines the challenges for Britain’s energy industry and concludes that if the targets are to be met, then customers could face potential price rises to fund this investment.

The report focussed on the challenges facing Britain’s gas and electricity supplies, and identified that the main cause of concern is the country’s exposure to a volatile global gas market and power stations nearing the end of their life.

As part of the report, Ofgem has drawn up a total of four energy scenarios applicable for the next ten to 15 years. And in each of the four scenarios there are reductions in carbon emissions of between 12% and 43% (from 2005 levels) and increases in energy infrastructure investment of between £95 billion and £200 billion.

The first scenario is called Green Transition. This one involves rapid economic recovery and a significant expansion in investment in green measures. Targets for domestic renewables are met and energy efficiency measures are effective. Also, UK gas demand falls, but electricity demand increases due to greater use of electric vehicles and heat pumps. This causes quite a hike on domestic consumer bills, with an increase of 23% by 2020.

The next scenario is Green Stimulus and this one is based on a slow recovery from the recession and restricted availability of finance. As a result, world Governments implement green stimulus packages to achieve environmental goals and boost economic activities. High carbon prices and government policies support investment in renewables, nuclear, and carbon capture and storage. Consumer bill impact is less at 14% by 2020.

Third up is the Dash for Energy scenario and plays out the theory that global economies bounce back strongly, but security of supply concerns outweigh the emphasis on environmental targets. This means that the UK’s renewables targets and the Government’s carbon budgets are missed. The result is competition between countries for energy resources, which in turn leads to tight gas supplies and high fuel prices. What’s worse is that planning and supply chain constraints means that new nuclear power stations can’t become operational before 2020. This leads to a doomsday scenario of an incredible 60% rise in domestic consumer bills by 2016, before eventually falling back.

The final scenario is called Slow Growth. This plays out the scene of a continuing recession which results in gas and electricity infrastructure being considerably lower than before the credit crunch. Once again, nuclear power cannot save the day, because incentives to rush to the atom are reduced because of low gas and electricity prices. And the result, an increased dependence on imported gas for new gas-fired power stations. And domestic consumer bills get clobbered by 22% by 2020.

Alistair Buchanan, Ofgem chief executive, said:
“Our scenarios suggest that Britain faces a tough challenge in maintaining secure supplies whilst at the same time meeting its climate change targets. However, there is still time to act. Ofgem will be putting forward proposals in the New Year based on today’s consultation to ensure that Britain’s energy industry can meet the challenges ahead.

“These are big challenges. Consumers are already enduring high energy prices,” said Mr Buchanan. “This is why we are consulting with consumer and environmental groups, the academic community and industry to ensure any policy proposals we make are grounded on the best evidence available. Early action can avoid hasty and expensive measures later.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

When it comes to insulating your house for the coming winter, don’t ignore sheep’s wool.

If we know anything about sheep, it is that they don’t freeze to death in fields during the winter, so suppliers who recommend such materials for keeping houses warm, might be on to a good thing.

Sheep wool is now being used extensively to make rolls of loft insulation material. And experts reckon it is up to 20% more efficient, meaning that you only need a depth of 225mm of sheep’s wool insulation, as opposed to 270mm of normal (fibreglass) insulation.

Now this depth figure is important, because it is the government’s minimum recommended thickness needed to keep the heat inside the house and not heating the street outside. And this figure is not arrived at in an arbitrary fashion. It’s derived at by estimating the amount of fibreglass (depth) needed to arrive at the standard of current loft insulation of 0.16W/m2K. This might sound like a tricky mathematical formula, but it refers to watts per square metre per degree Kelvin. This is referred to as the U-value and the lower the U-value, the better the insulating effect.

The trouble is of course, and this is a fact that many DIY insulators find to their cost, is that most attic roof joists are 100mm deep, which means that the insulation is way thicker than the joists. And if you want your attic boarded over to create a usable floor, then you cannot just compress the fibreglass as it’s insulating properties will be cancelled out. So, people who want to board over are usually faced with the decision of having to add to the current joists with new pieces of timber up to the required depth.

Adding new timbers in even a comparatively small loft space can be an expensive and time consuming job, which will dramatically increase the cost of insulation.

The base cost of laying down fibreglass is around £5 per square metre. If you choose say mineral wool fibre, which is said to not irritate the skin so much as fibreglass when laying, you still need a depth of 270mm, but it will set you back nearer £8 per square metre. You can get various types of non irritant fibreglass and lesser thicknesses, all achieving the desired U-value of 0.16, but some of these will cost between £10 and £25 per square metre.

And sheep’s wool? That will cost you £20 per square and say the salesmen, this will last the lifetime of the house and will not degrade like synthetic and mineral fibres, which will eventually collapse and lose their insulation properties.

Guest Article by Neil Camp