Derby Toyota Reduces Business Electricity Costs With Solar Panels

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Ollie

Toyota in Derby has switched on its 17,000 solar panels which it hopes will reduce its business electricity bills and save energy.

Utility Exchange reported back in June that the Toyota factory at Burnaston in Derbyshire was installing solar panels at a cost of £10 million. The green electricity will be used at the plant which currently makes the Auris, Auris Hybrid and Avensis cars.

As business electricity prices rise Toyota hopes to reduce energy bills by using green electricity generated by the solar panels which cover an area the equivalent of four and a half football pitches. The company hopes the solar array will generate enough electricity to build 7,000 cars.

It is a joint project with British Gas which has funded and installed the solar panels. As reported previously it means British Gas will benefit from the feed-in tariff while Toyota benefits from the free business electricity.

A spokesperson from Toyota said “The solar array is a key part of Toyota’s sustainable plant vision in which manufacturing operations are designed to work in harmony with their local community and surrounding environment”.

The managing director of British Gas said “With energy costs increasing and a tough financial climate, all businesses are looking at ways to cut their bills as well as reduce their carbon emissions. Solar power has the potential to make this happen and really revolutionise the way Britain’s homes and businesses generate energy”.

Ecotricity Installs Electric Car Charging Points Across Motorway Network

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Emma

One of the problems with electric cars is that they can only travel around 100 miles before they need re-charging but the first national motorway network of electric charging points has just opened across the country launched by Ecotricity.

Ecotricity, the green energy supplier, has installed free solar powered electric power points at 12 Welcome Break service stations and hopes to install another 17 later in the year.

business electricity tariffs

Founder of Ecotricity, Dale Vince, said “There’s a bit of the chicken and egg situation going on. People are not buying electric cars because they’re not sure about charging, and people aren’t putting charging points up because [not many are] buying electric cars”.

He added, “Until now, charging posts have all been in city centres like London, but this is where you need them the least. Statistics show that it’s not in towns and cities where electric cars need to recharge, but on longer journeys between cities – and that means motorways”.

The charging points will use renewable energy generated from Ecotricity wind farms or solar parks. Users will have a choice of electric top-ups. They can either use the 13A supply which is quite slow and can take 12 hours to re-charge fully or they can use the faster 32A supply which can recharge a car fully in 1-2 hours. A top-up will take just 20 minutes using the faster charger.

Unfortunately though, not all electric vehicles will be compatible with the new 32A fast charging system.

It’s planned that within 18 months all Welcome Break motorway service stations will have charging points. It’s hoped that as more charging points are made available it will make electric cars a more viable alternative when consumers change their car.

Mr Vince said “We’re creating the infrastructure to get Britain’s electric car revolution moving. This marks the beginning of the end for the old combustion engine. With world oil prices going through the roof, you’ll now be able to get around Britain using only the power of the wind. It costs 1p a mile in an electric vehicle, compared with 10p in a petrol car”.

And I’m pleased to report that when I stopped off at a Welcome Break service station on the way back from Cornwall I saw the Ecotricity charging points installed and ready to use.

Centrica, Shell & BP Announce Huge Profits While Consumers Face Price Hikes

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Ollie

Centrica yesterday announced profits of £1.3bn for the first half of the year and BP and Shell have also announced huge profits while consumers face rising energy and petrol prices.

Centrica has blamed increasing wholesale prices, rising taxes and increased energy efficiency for the fact that profits were down 54% at British Gas while BP and Shell have benefitted from rising oil prices.

According to the energy giant, residential customers of British Gas used 18% less gas and 3% less electricity in the first six months of the year. Centrica puts this down to the warm weather in April and the fact that customers are becoming more environmentally aware and conscious of the cost of energy.

Meanwhile British Gas Business saw a fall of 7% in operating profits to £137 million and British Gas made an operating profit of £270 million.

However, Centrica is still going ahead with a 12% rise in payouts to shareholders while consumers face increases in gas and electricity prices. Only this week E.ON increased business electricity prices and others look set to follow suit.

Meanwhile the AA has warned that petrol prices are close to reaching record highs and expect them to go even higher within the next few weeks. This comes after Shell posted profits of £5 billion and BP posted profits of£3.2 billion for April, May and June. Both companies are benefitting from high oil prices, which also affect wholesale energy prices.

In May prices reached a record 137.43p a litre but the AA says prices are now at 136.40p a litre and set to increase further just as people set out on their summer holidays. The AA warns that it’s forcing many motorists off the road and many small filling stations are going out of business.

Many rural drivers are paying even more than this average price and the AA blames speculators for keeping oil prices high. An AA spokesman said “At this rate we could be hitting a new record within a fortnight. That is the worst case scenario. Current pump price rises offer little hope of respite in the near future”.

The same time last year petrol was 19.53p a litre cheaper while diesel was 21.42p cheaper. This is shown in Shell’s profits which have increased by 77% on the same time last year. Shell said it had benefitted from a rise of 49% in oil prices and an improved operating performance.

Centrica Announces £1.3bn Profits While Customers Face Price Hikes

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Kathryn

The owner of British Gas, Centrica, has today announced profits of £1.3 billion for the first half of the year only a few weeks after announcing huge gas and electricity price increases.

Just weeks after announcing it was to increase gas and electricity prices, Centrica has announced over £1 billion in half year profits, which includes £270 million for its residential arm, British Gas.

The news won’t go down well with consumers who have seen rises in both domestic and business gas prices and electricity prices.

In its defence Centrica said that adjusted operating profits in the first six months at British Gas fell by 54% when compared to the same period last year. This took into account falling consumption and a 30% increase in wholesale gas prices. In fact operating profits were down 19% compared with the same time last year.

Centrica argued that the British Gas division which supplies gas and electricity for both homes and businesses had reduced profits due to higher commodity prices and a fall in consumption. It could be argued however, that consumption fell because of rising energy costs.

However, the news of such massive profits is unlikely to go down well with consumers. Speaking from the consumer group Which? Richard Lloyd said “These profits come at a terrible time for people who are being clobbered by these 18% rises in gas bills and 16% rises in electricity bills”.

Centrica argued that without the increase in gas and electricity prices due in August, the company would make a loss in the second half of the year. But critics argue that Centrica is a major supplier of gas and sells gas on the wholesale market.

The group finance director for Centrica, Nick Luff said, “With events in the Middle East, events in Japan, strong Asian demand pushing up commodity prices, an increase in taxes, the energy market review, the retail market review – this has been a significant period for companies in the industry. The market has been challenging for us, with wholesale prices up 30% and a much warmer winter in the UK”.

Consumer groups are not happy though and the director of energy at Consumer Focus, Audrey Gallacher said “Retail profits margins may have been reduced by recent increases in wholesale prices – but as they are also major gas and electricity wholesalers, they can still make healthy profits at the other end”.

She added “Consumers will be more worried by their increasing bills than which part of an energy company makes the most money. Given Centrica profits remain strong, consumers are bound to question whether recent large price hikes were necessary”.

Ofgem Fines British Gas Record £2.5m

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Emma

The energy regulator Ofgem has fined British Gas a record £2.5 million for the way it handles customer complaints particularly those involving small businesses.

Ofgem found that British Gas had failed to reopen complaints when a customer thought the complaint had not been resolved. Ofgem said British Gas had failed to put in place adequate processes and practices for dealing with complaints from small businesses.

British Gas did not provide customers with key details about the help they could get from the energy ombudsman. The fine is a record for customer service issues.

The senior partner for sustainable development at Ofgem, Sarah Harrison, said “Today’s finding highlights basic failures in British Gas’ customer service, particularly in dealing with some of its small business customers, and shows Ofgem’s commitment to use its powers to ensure suppliers treat customers fairly and transparently”.

She continued “We warned the industry in March that we would be backing up our plans to reform the retail market with a tough approach to enforcement. This £2.5m fine against British Gas, and the other £10m of fines imposed on the energy industry so far this year, sends a clear message to energy companies that they must abide by the rules”.

However, British Gas said it was a minor error when it had 16 million accounts and added that it had recently been praised by Consumer Focus for its complaints handling procedures.

A spokesman for British Gas said “However, specifically for our micro-business customers, we acknowledge our service fell short of what they should expect from British Gas, for which we apologise”.

He added “We knew we had an issue here which is why we flagged it to Ofgem. After a £4m investment, we are now confident we meet all of our regulatory requirements”.

Ofgem are also investigating some of the other big six energy companies including npower and EDF Energy for complaint handling and Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy, EDF Energy and npower for misspelling.