tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69167495719565017322010-03-27T12:25:39.426ZBusiness Cost Consultants utilities news.Keithnoreply@blogger.comBlogger288125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-90123836221395640922010-03-27T12:25:00.001Z2010-03-27T12:25:39.439Z

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Keithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-23554977917962400512010-03-26T13:51:00.001Z2010-03-26T14:02:03.165Z

Investment in low carbon technologies was at the heart of the Budget delivered by the Chancellor today. Major low carbon components of today’s Budget are: * Green Investment Bank The new Green Investment Bank for Low Carbon Development announced by the Chancellor today will be a major step in overcoming the finance challenge confronting infrastructure projects in the UK. The Government says

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-86676875692118894392010-03-24T13:43:00.002Z2010-03-26T13:55:17.757Z

Telecoms watchdog sets 24Mbps as slowest broadband speed that can be classed as 'superfast'Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, wants BT to share its network of telegraph poles and underground ducts with rival providers such as Virgin Media, to accelerate the rollout of "superfast broadband".Ofcom also set out for the first time yesterday what it regards as the lowest speed that would merit the name. Ed

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-38428822772822914832010-03-24T13:04:00.000Z2010-03-24T13:06:48.574Z

SHARES in Cairn Energy leapt to the top of the FTSE-100 leader board yesterday as the oil and gas explorer said it was poised to pump even more oil from its key Indian fields. Sir Bill Gammell's Cairn Energy has upwardly revised estimates of reserves in Rajasthan – and Greenland is looking good too. Picture: ComplimentaryInvestors were also cheered by news of a near five-fold rise in annual net

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-20540653304656738782010-03-23T13:55:00.001Z2010-03-23T13:58:02.390Z

Staff at British Gas have voted to strike after alleged bullying by management, and over changes to staff terms and conditions.The GMB trade union said staff would take industrial action over what it described as "macho management".The union said its members supported strikes by 82%, and industrial action short of a strike by 90% in a high turnout of the 8,000 workers balloted.British Gas said it

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-75216459485951514692010-03-23T13:32:00.000Z2010-03-23T13:35:34.010Z

MARINE energy projects in remote waters off the coast of Scotland face paying as much as £50 million a year to connect to the National Grid while some energy schemes in the south-west of England could receive an annual grant of more than £5m, Scottish Renewables has calculated.Under the UK's current transmission charging system, which is calculated according to location, projects in remote areas

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-85748933686403257852010-03-23T13:20:00.001Z2010-03-24T13:23:26.903Z

Scotland's long-trailed Saltire Prize, intended to help accelerate the commercial development of marine energy, has finally opened for applications. It is expected to take seven years to find a winner.The £10 million prize n the world, will go to a commercially viable wave or tidal energy technology that generates at least 100 GWh of electricity over two years.Scottish Energy Minister Jim Mather

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-77015414497935682882010-03-22T13:26:00.001Z2010-03-22T13:28:53.943Z

LONDON (Reuters) - The Labour government will unveil a 2 billion pound "green" investment bank in Wednesday's budget to help Britain's transformation to a low carbon economy, a government source said on Sunday.Finance minister Alistair Darling has said there will be no pre-election giveaways in the budget, with polling day expected on May 6, but he wants more investment to encourage future

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-1234815236754250252010-03-17T13:40:00.002Z2010-03-19T14:17:36.994Z

LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - Short-term UK gas prices eased on Tuesday on improved Norwegian pipeline flows, liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, and the demand dampening effect of warmer weather. Gas for delivery on Tuesday traded around 36 pence per therm, with erratic flows from Norway over the last few days supporting prices, but contracts for delivery on Wednesday fell to around 34.00 pence

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-72210524652762995412010-03-16T14:28:00.001Z2010-03-16T14:31:09.406Z

The consortium behind the planned Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Europe has sealed a 3.9bn euro ($5.4bn; £3.5bn) funding deal from 26 banks.The deal marks a milestone in development of the 1,220km (756-mile) pipeline, due for completion in 2012.Russia's gas giant Gazprom has the biggest stake in the controversial venture, which environmentalists say will increase pollution in the

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-30183354319181647402010-03-16T14:26:00.000Z2010-03-19T14:28:49.773Z

The Crown Estate has signed agreements for 10 offshore wave and tidal power developments in Scottish waters. The sites have the potential to be generating 1.2GW of electricity by 2020.SSE Renewables' agreements total 800MW, half of which is to be developed in partnership with Aquamarine Power and Open Hydro Site Development.Scottish Power has up to 150MW generation potential, Eon and Marine

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-17254981463507267462010-03-16T13:28:00.001Z2010-03-17T13:30:33.877Z

LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Scottish & Southern Energy Plc (SSE.L) said it has made an indicative offer for the British power grids of French peer EDF (EDF.PA), as the field of potential buyers for the three networks is narrowing down."We have put in an indicative bid, it's at a very early stage of the process," Scottish & Southern's Finance Director Gregor Alexander told Reuters on Tuesday on

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-16195174754192062002010-03-15T14:12:00.001Z2010-03-19T14:16:33.710Z

Britain’s second-largest residential broadband provider is preparing to switch its entire workforce to Apple laptops.In what is one of the largest deployments of the company’s computers in the business market, TalkTalk has decided to scrap its desktop PCs in the office and equip its staff with MacBook Pro laptops.It has switched 150 staff at its West London headquarters to the computers as part

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-19453034467932514972010-03-11T16:23:00.001Z2010-03-12T14:40:05.513Z

All’s fair in love and war, and Motorola may owe its recent upswing to the Google-backed Android platform, but this week the resurgent handset vendor hopped into bed with Microsoft, to deploy Bing on Android devices.Under a global alliance between Motorola and Microsoft, the US manufacturer will deploy Bing services on Motorola devices powered by Android, with the first offering launching in

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-24495676061095370052010-03-11T15:43:00.002Z2010-03-12T14:42:54.536Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell below $82 a barrel on Thursday, retreating from an eight-week high hit a day earlier as a spike in Chinese inflation had investors mulling prospects of monetary tightening in the heart of energy demand growth.A smaller than expected drop in the number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits also weighed on sentiment, but falling gasoline

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-49895723473043980932010-03-11T13:52:00.002Z2010-03-12T14:59:59.247Z

SCOTTISH Enterprise has sold Atlas, its controversial fibre telecommunications network, to Scottish & Southern Energy. The price has not been disclosed due to "strict confidentiality agreements" but it is thought to be less than the £10 million Scottish Enterprise has invested in the network. The deal does not include Atlas's six data centres.The deal boosts SSEADVERTISEMENT's UK telcoms cable

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-75878580034945238622010-03-11T13:34:00.002Z2010-03-12T14:43:57.696Z

LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - UK gas supplies remained tight early on Thursday after a steep drop in flows from Norway on Wednesday, despite a recovery in imports from the Netherlands overnight, according to data from National Grid. Supplies of Norwegian gas into Britain via the Langeled pipeline dropped from over 60 million cubic metres to around 40 mcm on Wednesday afternoon, after a power

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-82702955513797802772010-03-10T09:22:00.002Z2010-03-12T15:00:28.271Z

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - British gas prices picked up early Wednesday due to high exports to Belgium increasing demand while cold weather was still pushing up gas needs for heating. Gas for Thursday was 33.50 pence per therm ($4.998 per mmbtu) at 1112 GMT, rising 0.50 pence from day-ahead contracts on Tuesday.Balance of the week contracts were up 0.35 pence at 32.50 pence, while April

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-23896128375141411692010-03-09T14:41:00.001Z2010-03-19T14:43:21.851Z

Scottish Water has completed a reservoir extension in Dumfries & Galloway as part of a £150 million regional investment.The £1.3 million project, adding a 1000 cubic metre tank to the Muirhead service reservoir, comes on the back of two related upgrades in the area: six kilometres of water main improvement in the Kirkudbright area (costing £1 million) and a £500k upgrade to the Glengap water

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-67822074198377596072010-03-09T13:18:00.002Z2010-03-09T13:23:56.539Z

The government has announced plans to carry out the first comprehensive environmental assessment of wave and tidal energy in England and Wales. This so-called Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) exercise will also look at the conservation issues surrounding the storage of carbon dioxide around the coast and offshore wind and oil and gas activities.This initiative was highlighted by energy

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-31087232649064551572010-03-01T12:32:00.001Z2010-03-01T14:54:48.406Z

Water minister Huw Irranca-Davies has said that he is "minded to take a review of Ofwat".Talking at the Water UK City conference, he said: "There is a genuine question around whether a system of economic regulation that was set up to extract maximum efficiencies at the time of privatisation is still the right system twenty years on. Today we are faced with challenges such as climate change and

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-32632206756056587402010-03-01T11:44:00.001Z2010-03-01T11:48:54.167Z

British Gas was accused last night of fleecing millions of poor and vulnerable customers as the company announced record-breaking profits of £595 million last year — more than £1.6 million a day. The announcement from Britain’s biggest utility company, which supplies 15.7 million homes, prompted calls for a competition inquiry amid accusations that it had failed to pass on falls in wholesale gas

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-63374983874049430492010-03-01T11:36:00.001Z2010-03-01T11:39:18.113Z

For the man in charge of British Gas, Sam Laidlaw has a strikingly cautious outlook on the fuel’s future.The hot topic in the energy industry is the flood of previously uncommercial gas coming onto the market.Technological advances have brought down the cost of extracting gas from difficult rocks such as shales, producing a boom in US production. Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP, has described

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-45577219223291554382010-02-26T11:40:00.000Z2010-03-01T11:43:28.439Z

Southern Water is to be the first utility company to charge extra to supply its customers in the hot summer months. Seven water companies are thought to be considering a move to so-called "seasonal tariffs", which has the blessing of industry regulator Ofwat. But Southern, which supplies more than a million customers in Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, will formally announce the

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-27523314469192724022010-02-26T10:54:00.000Z2010-03-01T10:56:51.719Z

More than £18m of government cash has been pledged for the development of an offshore wind energy testing site off the Northumberland coast.The grant will help built 20 "pod" structures off the New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in Blyth.Firms and researchers will be able to use the site to test prototype turbines and their foundations.Regional development agency One North East last week

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