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The devastating result from Thursday’s elections will undoubtedly effect energy prices.
The drop in the value of the pound ultimately means higher cost in purchasing dollar traded oil and gas.
We can only hope the prime minister will still have a strong negotiating position with the EU to help the UK a cheap and sustainable energy policy.

We are pleased to learn that British Gas is conducting a trial to simplify it’s domestic bills for clearer appearance.
It is encouraging that OFGEM has permitted these trials against the rules of the licence conditions as their spirit is clearly to benefit the consumers and that is what BG is trying to do.
However we would suggest as an alternative to print some omitted information such as the method of calculation of the gas consumption on the back of the bill. This would enhance clarity on the main billing page but still offer the customer the information required without the need to contact customer services or check online.

Following the widely reported cyber-attack on the NHS and other high profile targets around the world it’s important to remember that every single computer connected to e-mail or internet is vulnerable.
Scammers tend to send genuine looking e-mails with “important” attachments which contain dangerous viruses.
While they often pretend to come from your bank, recently fake utility bills have come up on the screen.
Don’t open any attachment unless you are absolutely sure of its origin and you expect and e-mail from the sender.
As for utility bills, compare the senders e-mail with a genuine e-mail you received in the past.
The golden rule is: if in doubt – leave it out!

I question Labors manifesto of creating at least one publicly owned energy supplier in every region.
What are they trying to achieve? Cheaper prices? Do they believe they will be able to undercut the big6 supplier? If yes, that would mean driving most energy suppliers especially smaller ones out of business. This would certainly be detrimental to the competition.
And if they are more expensive than that would be a failure and only leave the tax-payer with paying the deficit.
Better service? Unlikely a government run company should offer a high standard of customer service.

OFGEM has granted Npower a time-limited derogation to allow the Licensee to proceed with the trial to test consumer engagement with its new Statement of Renewal Terms.
Npower has taken feedback from customers, which showed that the current Statement of Renewal Terms for domestic customers based on the prescription by the SLCs is too long, contains too much information and is difficult for customers to understand.

We are pleased to see a supplier taking the initiative to make their terms easier to understand by the customers. However we would like to see their commitment to plain English information being extended to the small print for both domestic and commercial customers.

Because of the length and complexity of supplier’s T&C’s, Alpine Utilities, often sends those to customers with our highlights to make it easier for our clients to pick up the most relevant points. This is yet another example of the quality of customer service Alpine Utilities clients can expect.

What’s happening?

The gas industry is going through a period of change during 23 May and 06 June 2017. This change affects all gas suppliers where a large IT upgrade is taking place across the entire gas industry. This will prevent any registration during this time. As a result of this, customers may experience a slight delay to the switching journey.

We wanted to give you an update on where the project is and what suppliers are planning to do in the weeks leading up to the switchover. But first some background info to help:

Background
• The national Gas registration system is being replaced (Gas only).
• This will impact all Suppliers and therefore our partners. This is right across the Industry – B2B & Domestic.
• It is going to be a SAP Implementation – the biggest in Europe.

What Next?
• The implementation date is confirmed as 01 June 2017.
• A number of so called non-effective days are required to facilitate ‘cutover’ to this new system. These non-effective days will be running from 23 to 31 May 2017. During this time, no communication can take place with Xoserve or the Independent Gas Transporters (iGTs); this is to enable critical activities such as data migration and transition to the new systems to take place.
• This non-effective period will impact all processes which interact with Xoserve and the iGTs.
• Ofgem have agreed that the 21 day switching rule will not apply (for gas switches) during this period.
• The impact to our customers should be minimal.
• If you have any customers that require registering within the minimum timescales there will be a delay, as this will impact the number of days it will take to complete the switch.
• Future new contract supply start dates (e.g. 01 July, 01 August) and renewals will be unaffected The first business as usual day after cutover is 06 June 2017

District Heating is where households no longer use their own individual heating boiler but get hot water for their heating from waste heat generated by a mini-power station (CHP) or a recycling plant or factory. The heat is being transported through underground pipes and the scheme is meant to cut carbon as well as cost to the users.
But consumers complaint of billing inaccuracies, outages and long-term contracts being unable to change supplier.

As we have seen from the de-regulation of utilities and railways, it takes years or even decades for a new industry to function satisfactorily. It is therefore absolutely vital that the government takes the initiative as soon as new schemes as these being rolled out, to put in place robust regulation and to set up a powerful arbitration procedure to protect customers.

Industry players, Big6 suppliers and Uswitch were quick to criticize the price cap of domestic standard tariffs promised by Tories election campaigners.
Suppliers claim that only free competition will drive prices down but also worry about billions being lost in revenues needed for investments while Uswitch is worried that consumers would become too complacent to switch.

In our opinion the government would be right to protect the 70% of loyal customers currently paying over the odds as it’s clear competition is not working efficiently.
While some consumers will no longer be in a rush to switch suppliers (loosing money to Uswitch) the majority of the 30% switchers would certainly continue to do so while lowering the prices for the other 70%.

P272 is now entering it’s final stage.

By 1st April all MD supplies with AMR meters must be converted to HH.

While OFGEM intends to take action against failing suppliers, it does recognize that some new contracts will be within their initial 45 day period before the change can take place.

Any MD contract now quoted as HH will require a MOP contract charged by one supplier as £265 per annum on a 5-year contract.
However this relative small charge may be more than compensated by a much lower standing charge as long a no capacity charges are being added.

UK Power Networks (UKPN), the owner and operator of distribution lines and cables across London, the South-East and the East of England, seems to have the answer.

As ELN reports the company now offers the option of texting people affected by power cuts to give updates about the expected duration of the failure and to keep them in the loop regarding the progress of repairs.

The service includes a 24-hour priority helpline to help customers deal with any particular problems they’re facing.

It aims to cater to vulnerable electricity users by offering them tailored support such as home visits, hot meals, advice and even by keeping their friends and family updated with how they’re doing.

People can even sign up to UKPN’s Priority Services Register, which will provide them with a pack of helpful items such as a plug-in-the-wall torch that automatically switches on when there is a power cut, a glow stick and a place to store emergency medical information.

To sign up to the text update service, users can text POWER and their postcode to 80876.

Fortunately powercuts in this country are rare and usually short.