Scottish Power Rejects Calls To Bury Power Cables

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Emma

There have been further calls for Scottish Power to bury new power cables making up the Beauly-Denny power line but Scottish Power has again rejected the move.

Utility Exchange has reported in the past that campaigners have called on Scottish Power to bury the power lines and in March the Scottish Government asked Scottish Power to look at “unexplored options” in order to reduce the visual impact of the scheme.

However, Scottish Power has again said that it would be too expensive to bury power lines underground and it would also lead to delays with “limited environmental benefits”.

Scottish Power’s response has been described as farcical by campaigners who want the company to bury the power cables.

The upgrade to the power line was granted permission in January 2010 but the Scottish Government asked Scottish Power to come up with plans to reduce the visual impact of the power cable. The new power line will be made up of 600 pylons and will connect sources of renewable energy, mostly generated from wind farms, to the National Grid.

While it’s unlikely there will ever be cheap electricity again Scotland wants to go green and get all of its electricity from sources of renewable energy. As wholesale gas prices rise, it’s hoped that this move towards renewable energy should help to keep the cost of energy down in the long run.

There have been a number of weird and wonderful suggestions for reducing the impact of the pylons from painting them a darker shade so they are not so obvious to planting vegetation to screen them. The Energy Minister at the time, Jim Mather, asked Scottish Power to consider burying the power line.

Scottish Power however, said that to bury the line would mean a delay of up to three years and increase costs which would have to be passed on to the consumer.

A report by Scottish Power said “The evaluation concluded that any undergrounding of the main 400kV line cannot be justified on the grounds of cost, technical difficulties and very limited environmental benefits. The company is therefore proposing to undertake extensive screen planting and hard and soft landscaping works and to underground a further 4.6 km of wood pole overhead lines, which could bring the total amount of other overhead lines being undergrounded to 11km”.

The chief executive officer of Scottish Power, Frank Mitchell, said “We believe that the revised Stirling visual impact mitigation scheme meets the terms of the condition placed on this project by the Scottish government last year, and also fully reflects the outcome of the further process of engagement with Stirling Council”.

He added “On this basis, Scottish Power looks forward to a positive early response to the scheme in order that further delays in delivering this project of national importance can be avoided”.

The campaign group Stirling Before Pylons said the new power line would already be up and running if Scottish Power had listened several years ago. Caroline Paterson from the group said “Maybe it will take slightly longer to underground at this stage. But Scottish Power have resisted and resisted all along. Obviously that does cost, but it’s of their own making. I think there are serious questions to be asked if the Scottish government approve it with no changes. They asked for changes and they’ve not happened”.

The Scottish Government is set to make a decision on the power line after discussions with Stirling Council but it looks like Scottish Power will get the go-ahead for the new power line without having to go underground.

BT Announces 5% Price Increase

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Ollie

The telecoms giant BT has announced it’s increasing its landline charges and call prices by 5%.

BT has announced a 5% increase in landline charges and call costs even though it made a £1.7bn profit in May, earlier this year. It will be the third time in 14 months that BT has increased its prices.

BT says its landline charges will go up to £14.60 a month at the beginning of December while call charges will increase by 5% too even though it’s only four months since BT last raised prices.

The news comes as consumers are coming to terms with increased gas and electricity bills. Both domestic and business electricity prices and gas prices have been increased by five of the “Big Six” energy suppliers over the last few months. This price increase from British Telecom will put further pressure on household bills and may even encourage more people to get rid of their landlines and make do with mobile phones.

The managing director of BT’s consumer division, John Petter said “We are making a series of price updates in December, but are then freezing some of our main prices until 2013. This will provide our customers with greater certainty over their bills. We are also telling them how they can save money with BT. Our Line Rental Saver product, for example, will soon provide customers with a saving of more than £50 per year”.

The last increase came in April after the company had already increased prices in October 2010 and there are concerns that the increase will affect those people on BT’s basic package who only make a few calls – especially the elderly.

A BT spokesman defended the increases and said “A report from Ofcom shows the UK has lower prices than the USA, Spain, Germany, France and Italy. The UK market is highly competitive”.

EU Now Bans 60 Watt Light Bulbs

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Kathryn

The European Union has banned 60 Watt light bulbs almost a year after banning 100 Watt light bulbs.

Utility Exchange reported last year that the European Union (EU) had outlawed the 100 Watt light bulb and it has now followed this by banning 60 Watt light bulbs.

The EU has banned the 60 Watt light bulb which means they will stop being manufactured at the end of August and householders will have to move to energy saving bulbs.

However, there have been complaints that the low energy version of the bulb has increased in price. According to one London wholesaler, its supplier had increased the cost of an 11-watt CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) from £1.39 in June to £1.67 in August.

CFL bulbs are designed to last longer and use less electricity than normal light bulbs but critics argue that they are more expensive and not as bright.

Manufacturers say prices have increased because the cost of raw materials has risen. They have also warned that prices are likely to increase further because China has increased the price of phosphors because it wants to protect its domestic supply.

There are concerns that the new CFLs contain mercury and are therefore more difficult to dispose of and some have claimed that they can trigger migraines and epilepsy.

The Energy Saving Trust says energy saving light bulbs could save around £2.50 a year per bulb or £45 for all the light in a home. However, the managing director of Ryness lighting shop, James Shortridge, told The Sunday Telegraph that manufacturers were not selling the energy saving light bulbs for less than £1.80 and that meant customers were having to pay around £2 per bulb.

He said “When the 100W ban came in, the last orders we placed were 30 per cent higher in cost than the previous ones. Their production plant did not suddenly leap in cost from one month to the next, it’s just a case of ‘These are the last orders, we are going to take what we can for it”.

Google Set To Launch Google TV In The UK

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Emma

Google is set to come to television screens as the internet giant is to launch a service called Google TV which enables users to search their TV screens as if they were surfing the net.

Google TV will enable users to choose whether to use their TV for television or the internet and they’ll even be able to do both at the same time.

It means it will be easier for people to watch programmes on BBC iPlayer and ITV Player on their main TV but how will we be able to get Google TV?

The new Google TV service will be available through a special set top box and is set to be launched in the UK within the next six months. The service will allow users to be able to search all content on the television and the internet with just one click and will mean you can move from the internet to the TV without having to mess about with any cables.

In addition users will be able to change channels using smartphones and iPhones instead of the regular remote control and it seems people will also be able to search using their voice.

The chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, is set to give the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival. It’s thought he’ll explain the new venture and talk about the link between people watching TV and using the internet at the same time.

However, the service is already available in the United States but it’s not been very successful with some complaining that the set top boxes were too expensive and others complaining that it’s difficult to use.

Furthermore some of the services Google TV offers are already available on other devices such as Apple TV. While the Google TV set top box costs around £152, Apple TV boxes cost around £100 and give users the ability to rent films and TV programmes and watch programmes straight from the internet onto to a television. Other devices such as the Wii also allow users to access services such as the BBC iPlayer so we will have to wait to see how well Google TV will do in the UK.

Guy Ritchie’s Green Ambitions

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Ollie

Madonna’s ex-husband, Guy Ritchie, has green ambitions as he plans to install 200 solar panels at his home in Wiltshire.

Guy Ritchie, the director of films such as Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Sherlock Holmes, wants permission to install 200 solar panels in a field near his home so that it can become self-sufficient in energy.

It seems Mr Ritchie is keen on going green and wants the solar panels to generate all the energy needed on his Wiltshire estate, Ashcombe House which he used to share with Madonna.

He’s already made efforts to go green by building three greenhouses in the grounds so that he can grow fruit and veg using rainwater and heat from a woodchip boiler.

Not only would Mr Ritchie benefit from cheaper energy bills by generating energy from the solar panels but he’d also benefit from the Feed-In Tariff scheme. Feed-In Tariffs mean owners of green energy generating systems benefit with a payment for all the electricity generated even if it’s used in their own property. They also get payments for any extra electricity which is exported to the National Grid and obviously benefit from cheaper energy bills because they are generating their own electricity.

So, it seems Guy Ritchie is concerned about rising gas and electricity prices and wants to benefit from both cheaper energy and from the Feed-In Tariff. How long will it be before he decides business electricity prices are too high and turns to sources of renewable energy to power his films?