By Paddy Kent I was so pleased with myself when a comparison site signposted me to join Utility Point in January 2021. Pat on the back for finding the very lowest prices on offer and locking in those prices for 12 months. Household spending spreadsheet updated. Paperwork filled away in the lever arch. Forget about…
Category: Energy
Gas crisis? What crisis?
By Siân Jones The gas price rises hitting the headlines this week have been a gift for journalists keen to find the next crisis, now that pandemics and vaccines are slowly slipping down the news agenda. Doom-laden talk of power-cuts, the three-day week and a return to the 1970s all make great copy, particularly for…
Better late than never: “the start of the UK’s hydrogen revolution”
By Will McMyn The government’s long-awaited Hydrogen Strategy has finally been published. This is the latest in a line of energy and climate related documents that has materialised well after it was promised. There are a number of other key policy documents that remain missing in action (Heat and Buildings Strategy, anyone? Or Treasury’s Net…
Fifty Shades of Green: misleading environmental claims in energy and other markets
By Will McMyn Many UK energy suppliers say that they provide their customers with green electricity; in fact, over half of the electricity deals now available are marketed as “100% renewable”. Along with the electricity, these companies supply their customers with a warm and fuzzy feeling, the happy belief that they are doing their bit…
By ratcheting up the UK’s climate ambitions, the PM gives a positive signal to the world – but widens the already gaping “policy gap”
By Will McMyn Among Joe Biden’s first acts as US President in January was to re-join the Paris Agreement, which his predecessor, Donald Trump, had walked away from, claiming it would “undermine” the US economy and put the nation “at a permanent disadvantage”. In his first week in the White House, Biden also announced a…
The Energy White Paper
Head of Energy and Sustainability Will McMyn analyses the long-awaited Energy White Paper, published this week. Over two years since it was first announced, the Energy White Paper was finally published on 14 December. The reaction from most industry commentators has been positive: here it seems, at last, is a credible, coherent and comprehensive plan for modernising…
A heated conversation
By Samantha Pogson Growing up in rural Australia, the debate of ‘turning on the heater’ wasn’t really something we discussed. However since I moved to England three years ago, I’ve noticed this can lead to quite the, dare I say it heated conversation. According to my own personal research, if you’re from the north of…
The challenge of putting net zero pledges in practice
By Gareth Jones, Associate Partner BP’s announcement earlier this week that it would cut its dividend for the first time in a decade prompted much comment in the business pages. This is unsurprising, given that the company is widely seen as a reliable and regular payer of dividends and many shareholders and investors have counted…
Power to (and from) the people
By Simon Gentry, Managing Partner We wrote some weeks ago about how, on an average day, around 60% of the UK’s electricity was now generated by zero-carbon technologies – wind, solar and nuclear with biomass and a bit of hydropower. This ‘new normal’ was, we argued, significant and marked a permanent change. Renewables were and…
Conceived and born in different worlds: will the Energy White Paper be worth the wait?
Head of our Energy and Environment team Will McMyn discusses what might be covered in the anticipated energy white paper. The government’s energy white paper has been a very long time coming. It was first announced back in November 2018 by then Business Secretary Greg Clark when he made his “four principles” speech. The speech was talked up in…