The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has recently reported that the  prices in gas and electricity at the end of last year are expected to have pushed more than  400,000 households in England into fuel poverty. A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if it spends more than 10% of its income on heat and power. The DECC report, which can be found below, also states that in Scotland 28% of the population were fuel poor with Wales at 26% and England at 16%. D-ENERGi encourages anyone who is struggling with their gas and electricity bills to speak to their supplier as soon as possible to arrange a fair payment plan. Failure to do this may lead to further late payment charges being applied to your accounts. Help with bills! If you are struggling to pay your bills help is available. You can get help with heating through the Warm Front scheme, which helps your domestic property to become more energy efficient thus reduce your heating costs. Also another government initiative is the “Warm Home Discount Scheme” Click here to find out more on the Warm Home Discount Scheme Click here to find out more on fuel poverty  

  Transmission charges make up four percent of an average household bill and the cost to consumers of any potential changes is one of the key considerations for OFGEM. The current transmission methodology known as ICRP (Investment Cost Related Pricing) is being improved to better reflect the costs placed by high voltage renewable generation, this will include new kinds of generators such as wind farms and Solar PV

  This week the UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry visited Iceland to sign a new energy agreement. The new agreement will allow the UK to import geothermal energy produced by Icelandic volcanoes as well as exchange information on the gas and oil industries. This is a huge step forward for renewable energy in the UK and could make a significant difference to the security of our energy supplies and help to minimise our reliance on fossil fuels. After the visit the minister had the following to say: “Today’s agreement will help pave the way for a closer relationship with Iceland, which I hope can yield significant benefits for the UK, including the development of geothermal power, greater use of interconnectors to transport energy under the sea, and developing oil and gas resources. “This sort of approach can both enhance our energy security and deliver low carbon electricity in an affordable way.” This is clearly an encouraging move and will hopefully open up the posibility of other countries sharing renewable sources of energy.

  The Atlantic Array windfarm project suffered a massive blow today as protesters managed to force a reduction in the number of turbines to be used by a third, a drop of 139 from 417 to 278. Their complaints concerning the development consisted of a significant increase in noise pollution and the effect the turbines will have on the appearence of the natural landscape. This is a major knock to the Coalitions renewable policies and raises questions over the importance of preserving our countryside against increasing our reliance on renewable sources of energy. Though a victory for those opposed to the plans it is a sour note for the government after the progress made with Iceland just days ago. However, this may encourage the government and investors to look at other areas for renewable energy as windfarms continue to be a controversial choice.