Energy
FeedBP goes nuts for new Brazil deal
Adrian Holliday
Mar 12th 2010
Filed under: Economy, Investing, Energy
BP hopes Brazil is about to spout serious oil. BP has just bought a load of exploration assets from US company Devon Energy for £4.7bn.These sites include ten promising new Brazilian fields, plus deep water sites in the Gulf of Mexico. It's all about long-term potential. But it's thought BP will gain around 40,000 barrels a day from the deal immediately.
E.ON cut prices
Omotola Akerele
Mar 8th 2010
Filed under: Company, News , Energy
E.ON have followed close behind British Gas and cut their prices by 6% for domestic customers. The energy supplier says households will save an average of £42 per year with the move.
The price drop, which is set to come into effect on March 31st, will benefit around 1.9 million residential customers with E.ON claiming that they will be £26 a year better off than those who are with British Gas.
UK to subsidise electric cars
Guy Clapperton
Mar 1st 2010
Filed under: Markets, Energy, Technology
The Government has announced plans to subsidise electric car purchases by a total of 25%.Energy costs fall but do providers profit?
Adrian Holliday
Feb 23rd 2010
Filed under: Economy, Personal Finance, Energy, Retail
Energy wholesales prices have plummeted in recent months. Yet gas and electricity prices for most UK consumers have not. It's now estimated that many energy companies are making more than £100 profit per customer.That's about a 40% rise in the last three months thanks to the extended, extraordinarily cold winter. Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband has demanded meanwhile that suppliers slash prices. But should energy companies be cutting prices really?
'Almost 3m Brits not paying energy bills'
David Burrows
Feb 18th 2010
Filed under: Personal Finance, Energy
Britain has almost 2.9 million 'ghost' households - where people are either not paying for their gas or electricity, or who have left a property without paying for it, according to research by moneysupermarket.com.
The comparison site found almost one million households (4%), aren't paying for their gas and electricity.
Of those, half haven't tried to identify their provider, while the other half aren't paying because they haven't been acknowledged as a customer by their supplier.
The research also revealed 1.1 million households admit to moving out of their property without settling their gas and electricity bills, leaving the costs behind for the next people who move in.
Top Shell execs sure of new pay freeze
Adrian Holliday
Feb 17th 2010
Filed under: Company, Investing, Banking , Energy
Shell has put its exec fat cats on a diet. Well, of sorts. You could argue that a pay freeze is still a diet when you take into account 3.5% inflation.Fear not, it's not complete starvation rations for Shell's top table. But why the move? Pressure from major investors mainly, as well as a PR ploy: when the economy's suffering, it doesn't look good to gorge.
New global oil crunch looms closer
Adrian Holliday
Feb 11th 2010
Filed under: Economy, Energy, Technology
Prepare for yet more energy price rises. The boss of Scottish & Southern says car users in particular need to think hard about how much fuel they use.Marchant is well informed. Scottish & Southern is a £10bn FTSE-100 company; he's also a member of the Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security, alongside co-member Richard Branson.
Toyota could face 'terminal damage'
Adrian Holliday
Feb 9th 2010
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Energy, Manufacturing
It's amazing the damage an errant floor mat can cause. Or a software glitch. As Toyota knows to its huge cost: it's now having to recall 436,000 of its Prius models because of new safety worries.Bad news should come out all at once. Not in dribbles. That's the view of David Haigh, boss of Brand Finance on Toyota's "inept" handling of its safety recalls across its product range.
British Gas cut prices
Omotola Akerele
Feb 4th 2010
Eight million households are set to benefit from a 7% cut in their gas bill, British Gas said today.The reduction will be appreciated particularly after the big freeze in the UK which has caused an unprecedented rise in household energy bills.
Toyota in new brakes recall worry
Adrian Holliday
Feb 4th 2010
Filed under: Energy, Manufacturing
The world's most successful car company has been shaken to its roots following a global recall concerning sticking accelerators. More than 8m cars worldwide are being recalled.
Now there's another worry with its highly celebrated Prius model – faulty brakes. Dozens of complaints are circulating in the US and Japan about the Prius' ability to stop safely in demanding conditions.
Lights out for the UK?
Adrian Holliday
Feb 3rd 2010
Filed under: Economy, Markets, Energy
The UK faces serious power shortages in the future. Energy regulator Ofgem says securing sustainable supplies in the future is threatened – and urges far reaching energy market reforms to cope.
Why the worry? Tough environmental targets, more gas import dependency and closure of ageing power stations have "cast reasonable doubt over whether the current energy arrangements will deliver secure and sustainable energy supplies," claims Ofgem.
BP profits up but shares fall
Helen Fowler
Feb 2nd 2010
Filed under: Company, Markets, Financial Crisis, Energy
You might not think so, judging by your utilities bills. But times are hard for the energy titans. BP today announced disappointing profits, causing shares in the firm to fall 4%.That big a slide suggests investors are seriously disgruntled. But BP still managed a 70% rise in fourth quarter profits to $4.4bn. So what's the problem?
Did you pull 'a sickie' today?
Adrian Holliday
Feb 1st 2010
Filed under: Job Focus, Energy
Are you reading this at home? By all accounts there's quite a few of you who are. It's estimated 350,000 UK workers pull 'a sickie' on 1 February. The most popular day in the year to take off.And there are some bizarre excuses around. The Telegraph reports that some range from chronic sneezing and relatives who failed to die at the weekend to roads too busy to cross.
Have Toyota's troubles just begun?
Adrian Holliday
Jan 28th 2010
Filed under: Company, Investing, Financial Crisis, News , Energy
Today Tomorrow Toyota. This was the world's most successful car marker's ad sign-off for several years. Let's add a fourth T-word to this little troika: Trouble. The world's number one car marker is deep in the brown stuff. It's most successful model, the Auris (the new name for the Corolla) has a potential fault that could see the accelerator pedal trapped between the floor mats. Several other models are also thought affected.
Fuel bill chill spreads more worry
Adrian Holliday
Jan 26th 2010
Filed under: Debt, Personal Finance, Financial Crisis, Energy
Biting temperatures and the longest recession since World War II means more people risk being unable to pay their energy bills. Energy regulator Ofgem claims there's a 13% rise in people needing extra time to settle their energy bills. And there's a winter blizzard of stats to support the mounting anxiety.
NY and the City clash: London falling
Economy doing worse than suspected?
