Blog
Half of Britain’s plumbers fix botch-jobs by other Installers every day
A survey by Water Regs UK has found that more than half of plumbers say they are spending each working day fixing botched DIY jobs or other installers’ poor work.A survey of 200 British plumbers, conducted online in April by Water Regs UK, has found that more than half (55.6%) spend every single working day fixing other plumbers’ poor work. While more than two thirds (68.8%) say they face the problem of competing with unqualified plumbers who can do the job cheaper. Half of those surveyed (52.2%
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19th Jun 2023
How to connect an Air Source Heat Pump using pre-insulated pipe
If your looking for an alternative way to heat your home or business , you may well have come across Air Source Heat Pumps! They have increased in popularity hugely over the years , mainly due to a massive drive towards Net zero and the increase in wholesale prices of gas and electricity, although we are starting to see some redress in the market , especially in futures contracts , the price of energy is still at an all time high , and the pain is real for many. Whilst the government has st
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12th Jun 2023
New York takes big step toward renewable energy in ‘historic’ climate win
New York state has passed legislation that will scale up the state’s renewable energy production and signals a major step toward moving utilities out of private hands to become publicly owned.The bill, included in the state’s new budget, will require the state’s public power provider to generate all of its electricity from clean energy by 2030. It also allows the public utility to build and own renewables while phasing out fossil fuels.“It’s a historic win for the climate and for clean jobs,” sa
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4th May 2023
Why our energy bills are still going up even when wholesale prices are going down
The cost of energy on the market has been falling for months - but many customers are yet to benefitMany households will have received a letter informing them their gas and electric bills are going up in April. But why are energy bills still going up at a time when wholesale prices have gone down?In fact, both wholesale gas and electricity prices have fallen steadily since December 2022, but that drop has seemingly not been carried over into energy bills. The price cap set by regulator Ofgem, wh
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18th Apr 2023
More than 1m UK small businesses ‘trapped in high-cost energy tariffs’
More than 1m small businesses may be paying energy bills significantly above market rates after becoming trapped in long-term contracts fixed when prices reached a historical peak last year.Trade groups representing businesses from metalworkers to convenience stores have joined forces to warn of a “perilous situation”.They are calling on ministers to force suppliers to renegotiate unaffordable energy deals struck last summer or risk thousands of insolvencies that would hit jobs and the UK econom
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17th Apr 2023
UK energy bills to rise by over 50% in April as regulator announces hike
KEY POINTS
The U.K. has limits on how much suppliers are able to charge consumers for energy.Britain’s energy price caps are reviewed by the government’s regulator, Ofgem, every six months.Ofgem, the energy sector regulator, said on Thursday that its price cap would be raised by 54%, marking a record-breaking increase.LONDON — Energy bills are set to rise drastically in the U.K. after the country’s energy regulator announced its cap on prices would rise by over 50% in April.The U.K. has limits
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23rd Feb 2022
How the UK could play crucial role if Russia turned off gas taps to Europe
We examine how Europe could cope in the event Russia decided to leave some of its biggest customers out in the cold and finds post-Brexit Britain could provide the solution.There are many unknowns in the Russia-Ukraine situation.Will Russia invade? Will it stop short of invasion while taking other steps to destabilise Ukraine? Will it face European or American sanctions? What form would those sanctions take? And so on.But perhaps chief among the unknowns is what might happen to Europe's ene
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22nd Feb 2022
Why Russian Invasion Peril Is Driving Oil Prices Near $100
The threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is shaking up a fragile global oil market, pushing prices closer to $100 a barrel as traders calculate that supplies will struggle to cushion the effect from any significant disruption in Russian fossil fuel exports.Demand for oil has outpaced production growth as economies slowly rebound from the worst of the pandemic, leaving the market with a small buffer to mitigate an oil-supply shock. Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer, and if a con
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14th Feb 2022
Electricity charges: what are other countries doing to ease the pain?
Mixture of price caps, tax cuts and cash offsets across different European countriesSurging energy prices over the past year have prompted many European Union governments, and now Britain, to step in with measures to ease the burden on homes and businesses.Moves include subsidies for low-income families, tax cuts, windfall levies on power companies and suspending costly aid for renewables.AustriaAustriasays it will spend €1.7 billion on easing the impact of surging power prices on families. The
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8th Feb 2022
Funding announced for Car Battery Plant in the UK
A firm planning mass production of electric car batteries in the UK has secured government funding for its proposed factory in Northumberland.Britishvolt announced plans for the so-called gigafactory in Cambois two years ago, saying it would create 3,000 jobs.The BBC understands the government has committed about £100m through its Automotive Transformation Fund.Britishvolt also announced backing from investors Tritax and Abrdn, that should unlock about £1.7bn in private funding.Business Secretar
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21st Jan 2022