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Investors will also be watching to see if the unseasonably chilly autumn has boosted consumption.  British Gas owner Centrica will also be in the spotlight on Thursday, having announced it will increase its prices by an average of 6 percent on November 16. The UK's biggest energy supplier, which is due to post a trading update, came under fire in July for making residential operating profits of £345m in the space of six months, equivalent to £1.9m a day. 

Some of Britain's biggest companies may be forced to move to the US or Eastern Europe, where energy costs are dramatically lower, the Energy Intensive Users Group is warning this weekend.

Jeremy Nicholson, director of the powerful lobby group that campaigns for companies in the steel, chemical and glass industries, said that British companies vcould not compete against Us groups because their energy costs were four times cheaper.  He said Britain needed to develop its own shale gas industry, which would decisively transform the economics of the intensive energy industry. Britain should also pay compensation to firms that face huge bills to meet climate change targets, he added. 'The solution for intensive industry depends on maximising the opportunity for responsible production of shale gas in the UK as well as completing the electricity market reform process so the Uk can deliver low carbon nuclear energy and renewables at least cost to consumers,' he said. He added that the Government and intensive-energy industries had to reach a deal that would give compensation to firms forced to pay for higher-price energy to meet climate change policies. 

Germany's biggest companies have also warned of an inability to complete with the US because they do not have access to the same quantity of cheap shale gas.  They believe the US will have a price advantage for at least the next seven years. German industrial giant BASF has said European companies were paying up to five times more than American competitors. As a result, European energy-intensive users may invest more in the US rather than in Europe. 

The warning comes as the Government looks set to announce that Britain has discovered huge shale gas deposits in the North-West, East Midlands, Sussex and Kent. The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that Britain was sitting on shale gas reserves worth £1.5 trillion.  The amount - more than the remaining gas reserves of the North Sea - is bigger than previously thought and would potentially bring energy price stabilityand independence from imports for decades. Nicholson said 'It's inevitable that our members will have to think about moving if energy prices keep going up so fast and our competitors have the advantage of gas three to four times cheaper.' He said Britain has an opportunity to compete because of the discovery of large quantities of shale gas - and much of this was in areas where our biggest energy producers had major facilities.  We are well placed to exploit shale gas here,' he said.  'The environment agency is a very responsible agency and it would not get in the wary of responsible development.'

More than two-thirds of people would rather have a wind turbine near their home than a shale gas well, a survey has found.  Asked to choose between having a turbine put up or a well drilled to extract unconventional shale gas within two miles of their home, 67 per cent opted for the renewable energy source and only 11 per cent favoured the gas development. 

The ICM poll also found that more of those questioned would support wind piower near their home than oppose it, with 49 per cent saying they would be likely to back turbines within two miles and 22 per cent likely to be against them. Young people were more likely to support a wind turbine nearby, with 64 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds in favour of the technology.

The survey comes amid strong opposition within the Conservative Party to onshore wind, and growing support for shale gas development in the UK, including the promise of tax breaks for the fledgling industry. Shale gas, which is being widely exploited in the US, is extracted through 'fracking' or fracturing the rock using high pressure liquid to release gas, but it has raised concerns about drinking water contamination and minor earthquakes.

The Co-operative, which commissioned the survey, is also warning about the impact of exploiting a new fossil fuel source on efforts to cut carbon emissions to tackle climate change. Paul Monaghan, head of social goals at the group said 'This poll puts to the sword the myth the public are set against onshore wind and wish to rush into a second dash for gas. The UK has made massive strides in recent years with its renewable generation capacity, and it's essential this continues'.

The Government is planning to write a 'blank cheque' to the nuclear industry by underwriting the cost of new power stations, leading energy academics have claimed in a letter to i. Under a major policy U-turn being considered by ministers, the taypayer would be left to cover the cost of budget overruns or building delays at nuclear plants. Costly setbacks are almost inevitable with such complex construction projects.

The proposals, which would break a long-standing government promise never to subsidise the nuclear industry, are intended to reassure multi-national energy firms into investing in a new fleet of nuclear plants in Britain. EDF Energy's plans for a plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset are considered the most advanced.

Last night environmentalists accused the Government of plotting to squander public money to protect the profits of energy giants. Richard George of Greenpeace said 'Promising no subsidy for the nuclear industry, while plotting to give a massive subsidy to the nuclear industry, is a new level of betrayal for this Government and its shambolic energy strategy'.

In a letter to i's sister paper The Independent, Paul Dorfman of Warwick University and nine other energy experts write 'The Government have promised that they would never, under any circumstances, subsidise nuclear power.  However the Coalition Energy Minister John Hayes is now considering a major U-turn in energy policy by giving a blank cheque to nuclear.' One of the signatories of the letter, Jeremy Leggett, executive chairman of Solarcentury, the UK's largest independent solar electric company, said last night 'I believe the nuclear industry is done for and these are its death throes.  

Energy giant npower has blamed the Government's green taxes for its increased fuel bills.  The Company said the rush to cut carbon emissions was a major factor in it driving up charges by nine per cent. Huge costs are involved in subsidising wind farms and building new network of cables and pylons to connect them to the national grid.

An average of £4 billion will be taken from consumer bills from next year to support the shift to green and nuclear energy. Regulations from Brussels and Westminster mean energy firms face penalty charges if they create electricity from coal, oil or gas. The companies then pass this charge on to consumers.  Separately, levies have been built into bills to raise money to fund so-called 'free' insulation for customers.

Npower's chief commercial officer, Paul Massara, said: 'There is never a good time to increase energy bills, particularly when so many are working hard to make ends meet. 'But the costs of new statutory schemes, increases in distribution charges and the price of gas for the coming winter are all being driven up by external factors, for example government policy.'  He added: 'We support moves to reduce C02 emissions but new government schemes will mean that energy bills will rise'. 

BG Group boss Sir Frank Chapman has warned that Britain may not be able to replicate the US shale gas revolution, even as the Chancellor ushered in new tax breaks for the controversial energy source.  Chapman told the Mail that the 'jury is out' on whether Britain's shale gas resources can be exploited easily and profitably.  Shale firms are in line for a boost after George Osbourne said that he would bring in tax breaks to 'stimulate investment' in the industry and create jobs.  But chapman said: 'whether it's economic, whether it changes the cost of gas to consumers, thats's difficult to say'.

He also pointed out that the US - which has been held up as an example of shale's benefits in a report by the Institute of Directors - is a different market..  'It has a large and growing gas demand with consuming industries close to the resource base, and it has considerable existing gas Infrastructure to get gas to the customers at low cost', he said.  He said the US shale Industry can also cheaply convert sites originally built to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), which are no longer needed due to the shale bas boom there.  None of these factors apply in Britain, where the industry is still in its infancy. 

OFGEM is investigating British Gas Business for allegedly attempting to prevent businesses moving to rival suppiers.  Energy suppliers can formally object to firms moving to a rival if they are owed money or the business is being switched in error. But as part of its ongoing review into the domestic and business energy markets, the regulator has received a number of complaints that BGB is unfairly blocking firms hoping to transfer away by raising invalid objections.  This would constitute a breach of licence. 

Britains wave and tidal energy industry yesterday received a major government boost to help the green technologies grow. The Technology Strategy Board and Scottish Enterprise are investing more than £6.5million in severn research projects to support marine energy. Between the northern tip of Scotland and the Orkney Islands is Pentland Firth, a five-mile stretch of water that marks the meeting point between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. One million tons of water flow through this channel every second.

Further round the coast of the Orkneys, the sea dashes waves against cliffs. This is one of the roughest patches of water on the planet. Some in the industry believe harnessing the power of the sea here could produce enough electricity to power one fifth of all the UK's energy needs and perhaps more. The problem is cost - both tidal and wave power are expensive. Tidal power involves 100ft turbines on the sea bed which move regardless of which way the tide is going. 'Tidal power may vary, but it is totally predictable,' says Alan Mortimer, head of Innovation at Scottish Power. The company has planning permission for a line - called an array - of ten turbines, located in a stretch of water among the Orkney Islands.

Work will begin in 2015, and when completed, it will be the first of its kind anywhere in the world. The firm hopes to follow this with a hundred-strong line stretching acress the Pentland Firth. This work alone would bring more than £2bn of investment into the country and provide in excess of 5,000 jobs. The other technology, wave power, works on a very different basis. While tidal is totally predictable, wave power works best when the sea is choppy. Each generator has 'carriages' that move with the waves, pumping hydraulic fluid through the joining cables and turning the motors. The firm wants to place 50 such generators, each 180m long, on the surface of the sea. There are two currently bobbing off the coast, one operated by Scottish Power and the other by fellow energy giant E.on.

On Marwick Head, Mortimer points to the clear horizon. 'This whole vast expanse, and the amount of energy that is out there is unfathomable,' he says. Both tidal and wave power are still in the testing phase, and while the long-term promise of unlimited energy sounds attractive, neither will be able to start producing significant amounts of electricity within five years. Furthermore, both projects require a giant helpiong hand from the state.

Once the turbines are installed, the Industry wants subsidies that are more than twice those given to wind farms. But Mortimer suggest it could be a export opportunity. He asks: 'Post-recession, what types of industries will Britain be able to lead the world with?' 'The market in these technologies will be global, but the knowledge will be here. Our engineers will be in demand all over the world.' 

Energy giant SSE will increase its tariffs by 9 per cent in a move that could trigger the other 'big six' firms to follow suit.  More than eight million gas and electricity customers will be affected in a blow for cash strapped families struggling with rising living costs and below inflation rises. The move will add £8.53 a month to the typical monthly direct debit, dual-fuel customer - taking the average annual bill to £1,274.  SSE, the UK's second largest energy firm, will introduce the increase on October 5th 2012.

The firm says the move is in response to energy price increases in wholesale markets, as well as rising costs of using the National Grid network. British gas parent company Centrica recently warned that wholesale price rises may lead to higher bills this autumn. And utility groups are facing increasing costs of regulation and government-sponsored schemes, which are being passed on to customers. SSE said it will cap bills following the price rise until at least the second half of 2013.

Chief executive Ian Marchant said: 'Unfortunately, the increases in costs that we have seen since making this pledge can no longer be absorbed to keep prices at their current levels beyond this autumn. An increase in our prices has therefore, regrettably, become unavoidable.' SSE, which trades as Southern Electric, Swalec and Scottish Hydro, said it had seen a 14 per cent increase in the average price in the wholesale market to secure gas for the coming winter. The group also announced changes to simplify bills by introducing a new fixed standard charge of £100 per year for fuel and a single unit rate for energy used.

Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, called on the Government to reform the market ahead of the expected raft of price rises. He said: 'We can't go through another winter with people worrying about their energy bills. The Government and the regulator must reform our broken energy market. It's time for energy prices to be properly transparent and tariffs to be made simpler, so that consumers get a fair deal,'
Consumer Focus said that, following the October price rise, SSE will be by far the most expensive of the big six providers for the typical dual fuel tariff. SSE's price rise comes after it reduced gas prices by 4.5 per cent in March 2012. Last September, it increased gas prices by 18 per cent and electricity tariffs by 11 per cent. SSE's recent results showed its domestic supply operation made £271.7 million last year, although this was 21 per cent lower than a year earlier. 

Enery company Eon saw its profits soar by almost a quarter in the first half of the year as high prices fuelled a crippling cost of living squeeze for millions.  The German firm cashed in by increasing its profit margin on the gas and electricity it sells to more than four million UK customers. Eon is one of the country's "big six" power suppliers which all stand accused of failing to pass on the full benefit of falls in wholesale prices. The average annual dual fuel bill for E.on is £1261, £200 more than it was in January last year and some 55 per cent higher than the £813 customers paid in early 2008. Apart from the financial pain inflicted on customers, the high energy bills are aso harming British Industry and efforts to escape the recession.

Profits at E.on's UK operation rose by 23.7 per cent up by £47million to £245 million for the first six months of the year.  Using another measure of profits - the figure for earnings before interest and tax - the total rose by 47 per cent to £199 million.  The UK profits boosted those of E.on's German parent company, where the total for the first half of the year trebled to £2.45 billion.  E.on is not alone in cashing in on consumers. Recently the UK's biggest supplier British Gas, revealed profits rose almost 23 per cent in the first half of the year to reach £345 million.

The bonanza at E.on is particularly surprising as it came in a year when the company sold off a highly profitable arm, Central Networks, which runs the electricity cable networks in many parts of the country. Richard Hall, head of energy regulation at the official customer body Consumer Focus, sadi: E'on's profits have jumped by 24 per cent despite it selling off its profitable network businesses last year.  'Such a big increase, hard on the heels of British Gas profit rises, will leave customers questioning whether the price they're paying is fair. 'Wholesale prices are now a long way from their peak and E.on has reported greater margins based on changes in their costs. 'This will reopen questions on whether falls in wholesale pricing are fed through fairly and fully. Profitable companies are needed for our  economy but customers need to know they are being charged a fair price through a competitive and transparent market.'

E.on has promised not to raise its standard energy tariff this year, however, industry analysts insist all the major firms have scope to cut prices. Ann Robinson, the director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com said: 'E.on has frozen its prices for the winter, but I would now urge it to go one step further and to cut its prices ahead of winter so that customers can feel some of the benefit of the lower wholesale costs too. 'With over eight in ten households having cut down or rationed their energy use last winter because of cost, any reduction would be welcomed.'  E.on and other suppliers did make small price cuts earlier this year, however this was not enough to wipe out earlier rises.
Yesterday E.on confirmed its profits in the UK had been boosted 'primarily becuase of improved retail margins'.  

The company's finances have benefitted from the fact it has signed a long-term low-price suppy deal with the Russian gas producer Gazprom.  It is also abandoning nuclear power following concerns triggered by Japan's Fukushima reactor meltdown in March last year.  

Every home wil pay £88 to build a vast network of pylons in a £22billion project to link wind farms to the national grid. Bills will start to rise next year under the contraversial pans revealed by industry regulator Ofgem. An average of £11 wil be added annually for eight years, making £88 in total on top of any other increases.

The scheme is part of a £200billion programme to switch to 'green' energy and build nuclear power stations to meet targets to cut carbon emmisions. This wider scheme will also be funded by higher bills for famiies and businesses. The network of pylons is expected to trigger disputes amid fears that beautiful views will be destroyed. Ofgem has said £470million should be set aside to bury cables in sensitive areas, such as national parks. However, this is an expensive option and the sum allocated is unlikely to be enough to protect al the important views.
The pylon project includes new undersea cables between England and Scotland, and Kent and the Continent as well as improveents to the existing cable network. The pylon programme will be carried out by the National Grid, which had wanted even bigger rises in bills to pay for the work and eneble it to make a profit. The company said the budget shoud have benn £31billion, which would have meant £124 more per home over eight years.

Last week, a report from official advisers warned that UK industry will become more uncompetitive as soaring green energy taxes make its bills higher than foreign rivals. 

Industry will become increasingly uncompetitive due to soaring green energy taxes, according to the Governments own advisers.
A shocking report has found UK manufacturers' electricity bills are already significantly higher than those in other leading nations due to climate change levies. By the end of the decade, our green taxes will be double those in other EU nations and dozens of times higher than those in the US. Industry groups said the report was 'extremely worrying' and could force firms abroad., where the regulations are less stringent. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skils (BIS) report looked at the iron and steel, aluminium, cement and chemicals industries in 11 countries, most of which have renewable energy policies.

These energy-intensive industries directly employ 600,000 in Britain and contribute nearly £50 bilion a year to the economy. Firms will be forced to pay an extra £28.30 in green taxes on top of the market price they pay for every megawatt hour of eectricity by 2020 due to climate policies, according to the report by an independent firm.

This compares with £15.70 in Denmark, renowned for its renewabe energy drive, £15.20 in France, £17.30 in Germany, £10 in China and a fall in the US and Russia. Terry Scuoler, chief executive of manufacturers organisation EEF, said: 'This report provides clear, independent evidence supporting concerns we have ong put to government - that UK manufacturers in energy-intensive sectors are paying more for their electricity than many global and European competitors.' He said the report showed 'a mismatch between intent and reality', given ministerial assurances that costs would not be loaded onto hard-pressed businesses. Ian Rodgers, director of UK steel, said: ' The findings paint an extremely worrying picture for the UK's Steel Industry. UK Government policy is making it more expensive to do business in the UK.'

The government has committed to cutting carbon emmissions by 80%, compared with 1990 levels,by 2050.

Last May India's Tata Steel announced 1500 job cuts in the UK, which put it down to the impact of expensive climate poicies. Its Chief Executive in Europe Karl-Ulrich Kohler, said there was a 'great deal of uncertainty' about how far the UK Government was prepared to go in its green policies. The CBI said the report showed measures announced by Chancelor George Osbourne last year - such as £250million to alleviate energy costs up to 2015 - di not go far enough. Manufacturers yesterday urged the treasury to put similar measures in place by 2015-20 to put them on a level playing field. The report was also scathing about the proposed Carbon Price Floor, which from next year will tax firms £16 per ton of carbon they emit. It has been criticised by environmental groups for simpy encouraging firms to shift production to countries without such strict rules. The BIS said the report did not take into account the Chancellor's recent £250million subsidy for businesses. A spokesman said: 'Government is comotted to ensuring that manufacturing remains competitive during a shift to the low carbon economy and that the UK is open for business.' 

  

British Gas has launched a new "plain English" guide to its bills and contracts after a study showed that over half of small firms were baffled by jargon. A survey of 1,000 businesses revealed that most could not explain the terms "deemed pricing", "out of contract", "unit price" or "kilowatt hour".

A survey of 1,000 businesses revealed that most could not explain the terms "deemed pricing", "out of contract", "unit price" or "kilowatt hour".
  

One in four said they spent too long dealing with their energy bills, contracts and pricing renewals because of the jargon used by suppliers. British Gas said it had worked with the Plain English Campaign to produce a new guide to help businesses understand energy billing .  British Gas said it had worked with the Plain English Campaign to produce a new guide to help businesses understand energy billing . 

One in 12 small businesses could be forced to shut down if energy prices rise at the same rate as in the last two years. Companies with fewer than 500 employees have warned they risk going under if their power bills , which have gone up by 58pc since 2012, keep on increasing. A tariff hike of 25pc would force once a third of small firms to cut back their operations, and would push one in 12 out of business altogether. 

Ministers insist that the following measures are needed to safeguard long term energy supplies: 

An arm of the Chinese government is in the pole position to be awarded the contract to build and run Britains next generation of nuclear power stations. The isea of Beijing having such control will be seen by some as a threat to Britain's economic and national security, but the UK's ageing nuclear reactors need replacing.

Customers will also face higher electricity bills, according to a draft Energy Bill published today, because the power plants' owners will be guaranteed higher prices by the government in order to ensure they make a profit on their multi-billion pound investment. Britain faces an energy shortage after 2020 as German firms RWE npower and Eon have pulled out of plans to build reactors at Wylfa, Anglesey and Oldbury, Gloucestershire. A consortium which includes the Chinese state-owned Guangdong Nuclear Power and Toshiba of Japan is understood to be most likely to ntake over. Toshiba provided some of the reactors at Japan's Fukushima plant whiched failed after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. One other consortium thought to be interested is led by the Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom, which critics claim is effectively the same body that oversaw the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Labour MP Ian Lavery, a member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, said the public 'would be totally outraged' at the prospect of any such deal and called for better security. 

Fears are growing that the government's electricity market reforms, which favour low-carbon power, will fail to prevent the collapse of the nuclear power rebuilding programme. David Cameron has been lobbying Japanese firms to replace German energy giants Eon and RWE, which have decided to pull out of nuclear business in Britain. A bill to be published on Tuesday will offer inducements to encourage foreign companies to invest £200Billion to build and replace old coal-fired and nuclear power stations.

At the heart of the reforms will be long-term contracts guaranteeing certain prices for nuclear power supplies. If costs fall, the companies would still get the agreed prices. The idea is to give nulear operators certainty as they spend billions of pounds to build the power stations. Howver, despite talks there are no signs of agreement. There are also fears that the EC may ban the contracts for being unfair subsidies.

French energy giant EDF insists it will not approve nuclear investment until there is market reform. 

One of the 'big six' energy suppliers has been fined £1.25million for using doorstep sellers to 'trick' people into switchimg supplier.

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) was brought to court by Trading Standards officers from Surrey County Council after it found that the company's sales teams were misleading homeowners over the amount they spent on their energy bills. Yesterday's fine is believed to be the largest ever to be handed out in a trading standards prosecution. Guildford Crown Court found the firm guilty of taking part in misleading selling practices between 2008 and 2009.

The SSE doorstep team would tell homeowners they had information showing they were paying too much with their current supplier but in fact no such information existed. A council spokesman said: 'This landmark prosecution was the first of its kind against one of the 'big six' energy firms'.

'Trading Standards officers doggedly pursued the energy giant after discovering its sales agents were using misleading sales scripts on peoples doorsteps.' Steve Playle, of the SCC Trading Standards team, said: 'This was a real David versus Goliath battle which resulted in a victory for consumers everywhere.'

Scottish and Southern Energy was not found guilty in relation to five other similar matters. 

Energy firms have been voted the most baffling in Britain - with customers unclear about what they are selling.

Power giants Npower and EDF Energy are the worst offenders, coming last in a table of 122 major businesses. Rivals E-on and British Gas were also in the bottom ten, according to a new study measuring how easy it is to understand what products and services a company is trying to sell through its ads, leaflets, brochures and website.

Overall companies are losing out on £2.75 Billion of business each year as customers struggle to work out what firms are offering. Google, Amazon and John Lewis were found to have the clearest communications but budget airline Ryanair and professional networking website Linkedin were seen as to confusing.

A spokesman for branding firm Siegel + Gale, who compiled the simplicity index, said: "By adopting Google's philosophy of 'focus on the user and all else will follow', those industries that fared the worst could hugely improve their public image."

EDF, the French energy giant planning to build two nuclear energy plants in Britain, has ruled out buying a stake in Horizon, the German backed venture that last week pulled the plug on its own British nuclear ambitions.

Ministers had hoped EDF would come to the rescue of its shattered nuclear energy policy by buying Horizon. But EDF has decided it has enough on its plate without taking on Horizon, which planned to build plants at Wylfa on Anglesey and Oldbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire. A spokesman said: 'We will not be looking at Horizon, but we think they have very good sites and we hope someone else will buy them.' The French could face similar problems to those experienced by RWE and EON, the German power companies that pulled out of the British nuclear industry after Berlin decided to close down all of Germany's nuclear power plants.

Francois Hollande, the socialist candidate for next month's French presidential election, is committed to a dramatic contraction of the country's nuclear industry. This would land EDF with a costly decommissioning and closure bill. But, in the meantime, EDF and its nuclear partner Centrica, the owner of British Gas, are in a powerful position to use their new status as sole player to extract even higher subsidies from the coalition. These would have to be paid for by consumers through yet higher prices. For the moment, EDF is insisting it is fully committed to spending billions on nuclear power plants - while warning it cannot give the final go-ahead to investments until there has been a proper agreement with the Government over pricing.

The Government and the power companies are in crucial talks to decide the price at which they can sell electricity from non-fossil fuel sources.
Once a level has been agreed, the companies are guaranteed a subsidy from the government ifenergy prices slump. However, if prices soar and they make big profits, they must pay back the difference. In either case, power companies need the certainty of regular revenue to make the initial investment. 

They claim to help you save money on evrything from car insurance to holidays. But customers using price comparison websites may not be getting the best deals after all, a study suggests.

Researchers at watchdog Which? found prices vary hugely accross websites such as Go Compare and CompareThe Market.com and that the price you see is not always the price you get. The watchdog has called for tougher regulation of the websites to ensure they treat customers fairly and transparently. The findings, published in Which? Money, were obtained by a researcher requesting car insurance quotes from eleven popular comparison sites.

They found prices varied from £310.28 to £660.20, despite entering the same deatails every time. The sites often use assumptions in their online forms, which the watchdog said can make quotes appear cheaper and lead to a 'one size fits all' policy unsuitable for individual needs. And many companies refuse to allow their deals on to price comparison sites in the first place, preferring to sell directly. Richard Lloyd of Which? said: 'Our research found if you want to get the best deal you still need to shop around or it could cost you hundreds of pounds.'

With the Budget looming, we need a plan to help the squeezed middle without adding a penny to the defecit. One way is to overhaul the myriad of tariffs and subsidies, introduced by Labour, that hike up energy bills. Effectively a tax on consumers, they are hurting hard-pressed families and businesses - and represent flawed environmental priorities.

Take the renewables obligation, the subsidy consumers pay energy companies to produce solar, wind and hydro-electric power. Figures from Ofgem, the energy regulator, reveal that the cost of the subsidy doubled in five years, and now stands at over £2 billion. Next year, the subsidy is the equivalent of hitting each household for £77, up from £40 three years ago.

To add insult to injury, the subsidy funnels money to the least-efficient energy sources. The justification has always been that this backdoor tax would make renewable energy sources more efficient over time. Yet, measured by 'load factor' (the extent to which a plant operates at maximum capacity), onshore wind and hydro-electric power have got less efficient in the last three years, and solar no better.

It is a similar story with feed-in-tariffs (FITs), another subsidy paid by consumers to encourage smaller businesses and homes to generate their own renewable energy from solar panels, wind turbines and anaerobic digestion of sewage. While a small minority have cashed in on solar subsidies, projections by the Department of Energy and Climate Change forecast that the resulting annual FITs bill, picked up by the consumer, will quadruple in the next three years - hitting £790 million - despite their miserable track record on energy efficiency. Even with Coalition efforts to rein in solar subsidies, the total cost of FITs over the next four years will still be £1 billion more than origionally budgeted for.

Given that fuel poverty has tripled since 2003, this toxic mix of tariffs and subsidies will hit low and middle-income families the hardest. So what should we do instead? The debate on climate change has shifted. While some still dispute the science, there is consensus that we need to forge an environmental policy that makes wider economic sense. The Coalition has made key changes in the right direction. Eight new nuclear power stations are planned. Equally, measures to promote home insulation and energy efficiency will reduce carbon consumption and save money.

However, there needs to be a sharper cost-benefit analysis, and more honesty about what Labour signed the country up to. Take CO2 emissions. The Coalition inherited Ed Milibands pledge, when he was energy secretary under Gordon Brown, to push for a 30 per cent cut in EU emissions. But what analysis has been made of the economic cost of the UK's share of that target? When the Taxpayers' Alliance submitted a freedom of information request, it was told such assessments were contained in seven documents. But Mr Miliband refused to disclose them, claiming it might damage Britain's climate change negotiations. This is ludicrous. Either the cost to Britain is high, in which case it would strengthen our leverage with other nations (but require explaining at home). Or the cost is low, in which case it is win-win. Whatever, the public should now be told the official estimates of the cost of such a major environmental target.

Next, the current tapestry of costly tariffs and subsidies needs to be torn up. Neither politicians nor bureaucrats are well-place to pick potential winners - in the green sector, as in any other part of the economy. The argument goes that the private sector will not invest in taking innovative research ideas to market. There is some truth in that, but it reflects a bigger problem Britain has in attracting venture capital, not to mention the initial under-investment in bright ideas in the first place. Both need to be addressed. But the fact remains that despite massive investment and cost to the consumer, the current tariffs and subsidies are not making renewable energy more efficient.

This does not mean abandoning the green agenda. But a smarter environmental strategy would address the short, medium and long terms. For those who take climate change seriously, it is difficult to understand why we do not invest more in adapting to the inevitable. We will spend as much on the Renewables Obligation next year as we will on managing flood risk and coastal erosion over four years. Strengthening the resilience of infrastructure should be bigger - and more immediate - priority.

In the mid-term, the aim should be to wean Britain off fossil fuels and make the country less reliant on unstable energy supplies from Russia and the Middle-East. Given the right regulatory regime, nuclear power is the most cost-efficient way to generate the volume of clean energy we need over the long term.

Perhaps renewables will come in good time. But we should not gamble millions in subsidies and tariffs speculating on such a poor bet. That does not mean that no public money should be invested in green technology. Far from it. But it should be focused on reasearch and development that drives genuine technological innovation over the long run. Last year, government spent a quarter as much on energy R and D as it did on tariffs and subsidies - less as a share of gross domestic product than France, Germany, Canada, Japan and the US. Those skewed priorities must change.

Under Labour, Mr Milibands environmental policy was a giant boondoggle that is set to punish the squeezed middle. It will not survive the scrutiny of austerity. We need an alternative that is green and lean.

Cash-strapped households are not alone in facing excessive energy bills - but while regulators such as Ofgem are now taking action on behalf of consumers paying to much for gas and electricity, small businesses have had much more limited support.

Rising energy bills have been an ever-more painful headache for businesses of all sizes over the past few years. Tata steel warned last week that the cost of its energy in the UK is now so high it is struggling to compete with rivals in continental Europe, where it claims bills are 50 per cent lower. However, for small businesses, the issue is especially acute, as energy bills aften account for a disproportionate part of their costs. The average SME pays an average annual energy bill of £8000, around 9 per cent of their cost base. One of the problems, says Saurav Chopra, the chief executive of Huddlebuy, a deals site targeted at businesses, is sharp practice that energy companies would get away with in the consumer sector. Energy providers routinely offer discounted deals to attract new customers, subsequently rolling them over into uncompetitive contracts with only very short windows of opportunity to opt out.

"There's no nice way of saying this but energy companies are taking advantage of small businesses by making billing opaque and switching comples," says Doug Richard, the SME owner and former Dragons' D3en judge.

Mr Richard is supporting an initiative launched today by Huddlebuy and Make it Cheapler, the price comparison site for businesses. Its Great Business Power Cut campaign is an attempt to get small businesses to team up in order to secure better deals from the power giants. "Small businesses are paying through the nose when it comes to their energy bills," Mr Chopra says, "They are getting ripped off".
Clearly, Huddlebuy and Mahe it Cheaper have a vested interest. But regulators have been less focused on soaring energy bills in the SME sector at a time when the authorities from the Energy Minister down have been increasingly vocal about consumer detriment. Even the Energy Ombudsman will only accept complaints from the very smallest businesses. 

Meanwhile, energy-industry specialists say that the efficiences available to SMEs that do their homework are really worthwhile. "The savings possible are huge," says Martin Lewis of the Money Saving Expert personal finance website. "For a sample postcode we tried in the North-West of England on an annual electricity bill of £3,500 using the regional electricity company, it was possible to cut the bill to £2,300, a saving of £1,200."

Mr Lewis recommends small business-focused comparison services such as UK Power, the Business Advisory Service and Make it Cheaper as a good place to start for SMEs looking to cut their energy bills.

Still, business contracts tend to be more opaque than in the consumer sector and often lock customers in. To really tackle that, tougher regulatory action may be needed. Ofgem said in November it was considering enforcement action against suppliers preventing business customers from switching through unfair contract terms. We're still waiting. 

Pressure is growing on energy giant Eon to halt doorstep selling after rival EDF Energy was ordered to pay out £4.5 million over its questionable sales practices. Regulator Ofgem announced the penalty on Friday.

Last November, Scottish Power was fifth of the Big Six firms to stop cold-call door-to-door sales after heavy criticism from consumer groups. Eon is now the only gas and electricity supplier that still signs up new customers on the doorstep. However, Eon confirmed to financial mail last week that it had no plans to axe its door-to-door sales teams. EDF, which cancelled its doorstep selling last September, has been ordered to distribute the £4.5 million in two ways. The company must pay £1 million to Citizens Advice to support a public awareness campaign that encourages consumers to switch their energy supplier. The balance will be given to 70,000 of its gas and electricity customers on low incomes. They will get an average refund of £50 on their energy bills in the next six months.

EDF recently topped the table for the most customer complaints made against enrgy companies, according to Consumer Focus. Ofgem is also investigating EDF over complaints mishandling and a big fine is expected to be imposed soon.

Steve Playle of Surrey Trading Standards has 'great concerns' about doorstep selling. Last year, Surrey Trading Standards took court action against Scottish and Southern Energy over what Playle says were unacceptable doorstep sales practices including the use of misleading sales scripts.  SSE was found guilty, but it has appealed against the decision. The final verdict will be announced on Friday by the appeal court.
Playle says: 'A decision in our favour from the court will bring even more pressure to bear on Eon to stamp out the practice entirely.'
The regulator is currently investigating npower, SSE and Scottish Power over their sales practices. 

Energy suppliers must take greater responsibility for business contracts  arranged through brokers, say experts.

Concerns have been growing about small businesses being mis-sold gas and electricity contracts by unregulated brokers, against whom there is little recourse.  Energy watchdog Ofgem last year asked the government for powers to regulate brokers. Its consultation into the market closed last month and it is expected to announce changes aimed at cleaning up the situation in May. A spokesman says it wants to introduce measures to 'ensure that suppliers and the brokers that represent them are fair, honest and transparent in their dealings with businesses'. But in the meantime experts believe suppliers must accept a higher degree of responsibility for contracts they recieve through brokers, especially where the firm is unhappy with the contract or the way it has been sold. 

Small businesses are facing price increases of up to 100 per cent when their annual energy contracts come up for renewal. Suppliers are hitting firms with huge price increases when their contracts run out if they fail to cancel their agreement and move to a different supplier beforehand. While domestic consumers are being hit with average price increases of about 20 per cent, a doubling of rates on renewal is not uncommon for small businesses. Worryingly, many find themselves trapped in these costly new contracts because they are unaware that there is only a small period when they can give notice.

A survey of 750 small firms by Make it Cheaper found only half knew they had to terminate their contract within a certain period. If firms fail to notify a supplier in time they can be automatically rolled over to a one-year contract or longer at a far higher rate.

Financial Mail has long warned of the practice of rollover contracts, used by suppliers to tie firms in at high rates. In January, energy watchdog Ofgem introduced limited safeguards for micro-businesses - those with fewer than ten employees and a relatively low turnover. It said that any rollover contract could run for no more than a year. The changes also require suppliers to give microbusinesses clear written details of their contract. More important still, suppliers now have to send businesses a statement of renewal at least two months before their contract ends, detailing when and how to give notice. 

Consumer Focus says many people are being persuaded to sign up to expensive deals by doorstep or telephone salesmen. Ofgem is already investigating Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), along with Scottish Power, npower and EDF, over their doorstep selling practices.

Last month, SSE, was found guilty on two counts of taking part in misleading selling practices following a trial at Guildford Crown Court bought by Trading Standards. SSE is now appealing against the decision that its sales script was 'likely to deceive'. The script, seen by Money Mail, shows salesmen were told to say: 'We've had a print-out this morning of energy customers who maybe be paying an expensive tariff and unfortunately (taps customers address into handheld device), it looks like you might be one of them.'

In fact, salesmen have no idea how much households are already paying for their gas and electricity. These salesmen typically earn between £10000 and £20000, but thay can double their salaries by earning commission. SSE says the script was used in February 2009 and is not used any more. 'We are confident that our sales processes continue to be fair and responsible,' a spokesman says.  

Politicians and Whitehall mandarins are pandering to global warming 'alarmists' and consigning Britain to a future of inflated fuel bills and economic misery, the former head of the Civil Service warned last night. Lord Turnball - who served Tony Blair as cabinet secretary from 2002 to 2005 - accused MPs and civil servants of failing to challenge the 'climate change consensus'. He suggested that by blindly following the green agenda, the government had hit hard-working families with a range of costly policies.

Lord Turnball also pointed out that 'by and large humanity has prospered in the warmer periods'.

'It is regrettable that the UK Parliament has proved so trusting and uncritical of the (global warming) narrative and so reluctant the question the econmic costs being imposed in pursuit of decarbonisation,' he said.

'I am also disappointed that so many of my former colleagues in the civil service seem so ready to go along unquestioningly with the consensus. 

EON recently became the latest of the big energy suppliers to put its prices up. Electricity will go up 9 per cent and gas by 3 per cent on 4th February. They join the ranks of the major enrgy companies to have announced rises in the past couple of months. However, we also got some news we weren't expecting at all. It turns out that this is the thin end of the wedge.

Following in the footsteps of British Gas, ScottishPower and Scottish and Southern Npower is set to increase both electricity and gas tariffs from the 4th of January by 5.1%This would leave only Eon of the big six suppliers who have yet to announce an increase. 

Around eight million British Gas domestic use clients will face higher gas and electricity bills from the 10 th of December as the energy supplier price rises. Household bills for energy will increase by an average of 7% from next month. The increases apply to customers on standard and variable tariffs.

British Gas blamed rising wholesale prices and said it had been forced it to increase tariffs, but vowed not to apply the increase to the company's 300,000 most vulnerable customers, such as the poorest pensioners.

Just last month utility giant Scottish & Southern announced a similar increase. SSE said it would put up its gas bills by 9% from December 1st.
British Gas blamed rising wholesale prices and said it had been forced it to increase tariffs, but vowed not to apply the increase to the company's 300,000 most vulnerable customers, such as the poorest pensioners. Just last month utility giant Scottish & Southern announced a similar increase. SSE said it would put up its gas bills by 9% from December 1st.

Other suppliers are expected to follow suite. 

One new nuclear power station would be opened every 18 months under a Conservative blueprint to avoid the first widespread electricity blackouts since the 1970's. Shadow energy spokesman Greg Clark told the Daily Mail there would be 'no limit' on the expansion of nuclear power under a Tory Government. 'In the past we haven't been entirely clear - this is a very clear statement that we are in favour of nuclear power,' he said.

Mr Clark said he intended to allow energy firms to open at least one new nuclear plant every 18 months, starting in 2018, to help plug a looming power gap.