Local councils could generate electricity
March 26, 2010 at 2:00 pm
With the need to generate renewable electricity greater than ever before, the government is having to come up with new ideas to ensure that it meets its targets over the coming years. Its latest proposal is to allow local councils to generate their own renewable electricity which they could then sell to people in the area.
If the proposal went ahead, local councils could go into direct competition with existing energy suppliers. And seeing as bills are so high at the moment, increased competition might not be a bad thing at all for consumers. It may even force the energy companies to lower their own bills from levels that many see as unreasonable, seeing as wholesale prices have dropped so much over recent months.
According to the latest proposals, the electricity generated could only come from renewable sources. At the moment, local authorities are not allowed to generate their own power, so it would be a major shift if the government permitted them to do so.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change has said that allowing councils to generate electricity in such a way could help to encourage more local energy projects that would produce cheap, green electricity. It would also allow councils to play a greater role in helping to tackle climate change.
This sounds like a great idea and it would have the dual advantage of helping us to break our addiction to oil, at the same time as possibly leading to cheaper power.
Landfill sites could become base for wind turbines
March 19, 2010 at 4:16 am
WRG (Waste Recycling Group) and Spanish company FCC (Fomento de Construcciones y Contrata) are planning a revolution in wind power by coming to an agreement to install hundreds of wind turbines across WRG’s landfill sites.
The solution is elegant. Everyone knows that wind power is a great way to generate green electricity, but no one wants a turbine built in their back garden. So why not just put them somewhere where no one is going to complain?
The companies have confirmed that they will be investing £100 million in the project, and that this will lead to an estimated 80MW of green electricity when the wind turbines are up and running.
The two companies are taking advantage of a new incentive scheme for the generation of green electricity. ROCs (Renewable Obligations Certificates) have been designed to encourage the creation of more renewable energy plants across the country.
WRG owns over 100 landfill sites in the UK, meaning it’s in a perfect position to instigate the scheme. What’s even better, WRG already has grid connections installed on its landfill sites as they are currently used to capture gas. As the gas is predicted to decline in the near future, wind power will be a great substitute.
With 14 wind farms in Spain, FCC is also very experienced in the sector. It’s hoped that a solid partnership between FCC and WRG will help the UK to reach its green energy targets. Planning applications are going to be submitted later in the year.
Ofgem to review loophole in energy price notifications
March 12, 2010 at 2:21 pm
There is a current loophole in the law that means energy companies only have to inform their customers of a price rise in their energy bills up to 65 days after the rise has been introduced. Now the government wants Ofgem, the industry regulator, to close this loophole and impose a new and more reasonable limit.
The issue was originally brought up by Simon Hughes, the energy spokesman for the Liberal Democrats. He highlighted how unfair it was that energy companies could effectively put up their prices without informing consumers.
A number of possible solutions are currently being considered. One is to force the suppliers to inform their customers before any increases are confirmed. Another is to introduce a much shorter deadline of only a few days rather than the current 65 days.
Joan Ruddock, the Energy and Climate Change Minister, said that price hikes “are difficult at the best of times”, but that some people might not find out for up to 65 days is “utterly unacceptable”. The government has now given its assurance that the 65-day rule will be changed in favour of consumers, despite the fact that energy suppliers could veto any decision that is made.
The energy industry has hit back at the claims, however, with Christine McGourty from Energy UK stating that the majority of customers are advised about any changes to their energy prices “within weeks”, and that the 65-day rule gave companies the means to communicate in the “most cost-effective way – via their bill”.
Despite this, the fact that some people are only informed of price rises up to two months later is clearly a practice that will have to end.
Ofgem launches green energy labels
March 5, 2010 at 2:36 am
Ofgem has just launched a new scheme to help consumers find out just how much each energy supplier is dong to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. This is coming into force in the form of a new label which will show whether a provider is ‘green energy certified’.
The aim behind the scheme is to help energy customers see quickly and clearly which providers are doing the most to source extra green power. Ofgem is hoping to convince customers that it is worth paying for renewable energy and now they can clearly see who is doing the most before choosing a supplier.
The label scheme will make it harder for suppliers to make misleading claims about their use of renewable power. Suppliers will now have to demonstrate to a panel of experts exactly what they are doing to increase their sourcing of renewable energy, and can no longer rely on vague claims to get more customers.
Solitaire Townsend, the chairwoman of the panel, said that “only 2% of Britons currently buy green energy”, but she hoped that “a trustworthy label will convince many more to go green.”
Before the introduction of the scheme, many customers may have been paying suppliers for what they thought were impressive green credentials, whereas the suppliers might simply have been meeting their existing targets set by the government.
Surprisingly, some green energy firms are not happy with the new rules. The founder of Ecotricity, a green energy company, said that Ofgem has created an “artificial standard” as some energy firms could still be misleading in their green energy claims.
