tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69167495719565017322010-03-11T16:25:54.040ZBusiness Cost Consultants utilities news.Keithnoreply@blogger.comBlogger272125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-19453034467932514972010-03-11T16:23:00.000Z2010-03-11T16:25:54.046Z

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

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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

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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-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

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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

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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

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-43435606268319916852010-02-09T17:00:00.001Z2010-02-09T17:03:36.002Z

The power regulator Ofgem is bringing in a new scheme designed to show if a supplier is making real cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.Its "green energy certified" label is designed to give users a real guide to who is doing most to source renewable power. The idea is to reassure householders and small businesses that paying for green energy is actually worth it. Energy companies are committed to

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-63030945219153404462010-02-08T15:57:00.001Z2010-02-08T16:00:11.595Z

BG Group said its pre-tax profits fell to £857m ($1.4bn) in the three months to the end of December 2009 from £1.3bn in the same period a year ago.Full year profits for the UK gas producer were down to £3.9bn in 2009, from £5.5bn in 2008, impacted by lower gas and oil prices, the company said. Gas production rose 8% in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2008, and was lower than

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-21771819383150693632010-02-08T15:54:00.001Z2010-02-08T15:56:12.878Z

A huge gas storage scheme in Lancashire was set this week to be refused planning permission for a second time.Lancashire County Council was expected to reject the project on safety grounds as well as concern about the visual impact of the development associated with an underground gas storage facility near the eastern bank of the Wyre River.Canatxx wants to connect the facility to a liquefied

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Some eight million households are set to benefit from an immediate cut in the price they pay for gas after the country's biggest gas supplier, British Gas , announced a price cut.The company said the reduction in standard gas prices would be around 7 per cent. It estimated that would save the average customer on a standard tariff £55 per year. Announcing the gas price cut, British Gas managing

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-12357069397931045032010-02-06T16:06:00.000Z2010-02-08T16:08:06.617Z

Vodafone’s chief executive has answered his critics by reporting better-than-expected results and rejecting the case for a break-up of the mobile phone operator.Vittorio Colao on Thursday reassured investors that the revenue decline at Vodafone’s European businesses was slowing.He also said Vodafone’s board was unanimous that shareholder value was best secured through the group’s current

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-29924885329491505042010-02-06T16:01:00.000Z2010-02-08T16:02:32.166Z

Edinburgh-based exploration company Melrose Resources has made a new gas discovery at a well in northern Egypt.The group made the find after drilling almost a mile down at the South Damas exploration well in South East Mansoura. Melrose said the reservoirs were good and in line with expectations. The preliminary estimate has put the discovery at 30 billion cubic feet equivalent (bcfe), which was

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-12668040532024492010-02-05T16:55:00.002Z2010-02-05T16:57:49.032Z

Scottish and Southern Energy's interim statement for the nine months to 31 December shows growth in customers and generation capacity.With the 840MW Marchwood power station now in operation, SSE's electricity generation capacity tops 11,500MW with other generation projects progressing as planned, according to the company.SSE said Greater Gabbard, its 500MW offshore wind joint venture with RWE

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A report published today has outlined how Scotland can capitalise on its offshore wind and tidal resources to develop a renewables industry.The report, titled Scotland's National Renewable Infrastructure Plan has identified sites with the potential to help Scotland become established as a location for offshore wind turbine manufacturing and construction operations. The report says that investment

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BT is preparing to open up its underground cable ducts so that rivals can run their own high-speed broadband networks through the telecoms company’s infrastructure.Action by BT could allow competitors to lay their optical fibre cables without the expense of digging up pavements.BT’s willingness to open up its ducts marks an important policy shift by the company, and emphasises the intensifying

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-4186826401398035412010-02-01T11:53:00.001Z2010-02-01T12:05:00.456Z

The Government is drawing up plans for a wholesale reform of Britain’s energy markets that could wind back the clock on 12 years of deregulation.In an interview with The Times, Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said that Britain’s existing, highly liberalised market regime, introduced under Labour in 1998, was failing to deliver the investment needed to cut UK carbon emissions

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Scottish Water is to generate green electricity by fitting turbines in mains water pipes, in a revolutionary scheme that it claims could slash bills and provide energy for thousands of homes.The publicly owned utility is to launch a pilot scheme in Fife later this year, which will produce renewable energy by harnessing the power of water flowing at high pressure underground.The aqua-turbine

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Britain’s water companies may have to cut thousands of jobs as executives draw up plans to meet stringent new price controls set by Ofwat, the industry regulator.A deadline for Britain’s 21 water companies to appeal against the Ofwat ruling — which sets the amount that they can charge households and invest in network upgrades over the next five years — expired last night. All but a handful have

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Scotland's hydro potential is nearly double the amount previously estimated, according to a study published by the Scottish Government. An update on a 2008 study on Scotland's hydro resources now estimates there could be 1.2 gigawatts of potential new hydro capacity in 7,043 schemes. This compares to 657 megawatts (MW) according to the 2008 study.The study has taken account of micro-hydro schemes

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-69282870293723942782010-01-26T17:23:00.002Z2010-01-26T17:26:17.675Z

Scottish Power has applied for £6 million funding from the Low Carbon Investment Fund to develop and install a "smart grid" in the Glasgow area. The company said it had set up a dedicated team of engineers to work on the concept, based on a pilot in the Clyde Gateway, and it would use its own investment as well as seeking funds from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the energy

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Fresh job cuts are feared at United Utilities after the UK’s largest listed water company opted to accept the industry regulator’s tough new price limits for the next five years.The company, which provides water and waste-water services to 7 million households in the North West, said yesterday that it would accept price limits that would lead to bills falling in real terms for customers.The

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The cold winter weather this year will deliver a £100 million boost to the profits of Britain’s Big Six energy companies, according to forecasts by City analysts.Centrica, the owner of British Gas and Britain’s largest gas and electricity supplier, with 16 million customers, is likely to be the biggest single winner, Peter Atherton, utilities analyst at Citigroup, said. He forecast that Centrica

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