Fuel poor hit hard by the cost of climate change policies
July 28, 2010 at 12:50 pm
The Government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group has suggested that people living in fuel poverty (a situation where to achieve an adequate standard of warmth, a household needs to spend more than 10% of its income on total fuel use), are among the hardest hit by the government’s climate change policies. This accusation comes after the group discovered that energy bills have increased by 125% over the past six years, passing on costs accrued from government policies directly onto consumers.
Some 4.6 million households in the UK are now classified as being in fuel poverty. This is likely to increase since household bills are projected to rise by up to 50% by 2020, due to customers bearing the cost of government policies to invest in energy infrastructure and measures to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group agrees that investment in energy infrastructure and measures to reduce greenhouse gases is essential. However, worries over the future of grants to reduce the number in fuel poverty, such as the Warm Front scheme which may be under threat, have led to increased worry for those in fuel poverty. In order to reduce these fears, the group has asked government ministers to set an immediate and unequivocal goal to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016.
This plea comes as an alternative to the government’s current proposal for a “green deal” to help boost the energy efficiency of homes by focusing on installation measures. The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group argues that schemes such as these do not work for those in fuel poverty as they currently under-heat their homes to keep their costs down.
Shares in Falkland Oil & Gas drop
July 23, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Shares in Falkland Oil & Gas fell sharply recently after the company announced that it was giving up on one of its wells in the area surrounding the Falklands Islands. This was a major blow to the company which had expected to find oil in the region.
The well in question, Toroa, is situated just off the coast of the South Falklands. Drilling began at Toroa, in which the firm has a 49% stake, at the end of May 2010. Despite being very optimistic at the time, the firm has just announced that there are no hydrocarbons to be found there.
Forecasts had previously predicted that there could be up to three billion barrels of oil in the area. But this recent setback suggests that this was slightly optimistic. Still, Falkland Oil & Gas hopes that there is still oil to be found in the area, which is located 90 miles south of Stanley, the capital of the Falklands.
Shares plummeted 60% on the news, despite then recovering slightly and closing 53% down. Last month the shares had rocketed to 244p after the firm had announced that it had discovered a new field.
There are a number of UK companies currently looking for oil in the area in a move bitterly opposed by Argentina. The islands are known there as the Islas Malvinas, and the country claims the territory as its own.
Tim Bushell, the chief executive of the firm, said that whilst the results are disappointing, “it has to be remembered that this is the first well in a previously undrilled frontier basin”, adding that they believe “these results have helped to reduce some of the key risks of the plays in the deepwater areas of our licences”.
