The roll out of smart meters for home and business electricity and gas customers in the UK looks set to be the most expensive in the world, according to a report in Greenwise Business

Smart meters are currently being rolled out to all domestic energy customers, and business energy providers, including British Gas, have been championing the benefits of smart meters for their customers, proscribing them as an effective management tool to monitor business electricity and gas consumption.

“Better information means better management,” claims British Gas on their website, and it certainly makes sense – being able to accurately monitor the energy your business uses empowers you to see where savings can be made and also helps with accurate billing.

However, according to research carried out by business information service Datamonitor, smart meter deployment in the UK would in some cases cost double what it does in other countries.

“The UK solution looks very expensive compared to, say, France where ERDF expects to drive down the cost of its meters to £28-£30. The equivalent figure for the UK’s meters is around £57,” Jon Lane, energy director at Datamonitor, told Greenwise Business.

It is the sophisticated nature of the UK’s smart meter system that pushes up the cost. Installing the meters involves multiple utilities with a central communications provider to collect and give out metering data to those participating in the scheme.

Driving down energy usage by home and business customers is key to making the scheme a success, Mr Lane added.

Smart meters can deliver detailed data about your company’s gas and electricity usage. Automatic readings from the meters can be transmitted monthly, weekly, daily or hourly, so you can really start to break down when you are using most business electricity and gas, and begin to understand where savings can be made.

You can read the full story in Greenwise Business

and learn more about British Gas’s smart metering for business customers on their website

Medium and larger businesses have been left appalled by a £1bn a year “stealth” tax that will see business electricity and gas bills increase by 11 per cent.

Details of the tax were not announced in George Osborne’s spending cuts speech, but were contained in Treasury documents that showed how money will be raised to pay the deficit.

From April 2012, the Treasury will collect money from all businesses in the Carbon Reduction Commitment Scheme.

Where previously companies that managed to substantially reduce carbon emissions would have received rebates on the carbon allowances they have to buy, now all companies in the scheme will have to pay depending on how much carbon dioxide they produce.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Energy Minister Charles Hendry claimed the changes were being brought in to simplify the scheme, which had previously been condemned as too complex.

But business owners were unimpressed, and unconvinced, by this argument. Stephen Robertson, director-general of the British Retail Consortium, told The Telegraph: “We are surprised and dismayed that the £1bn per year participating businesses will put in to the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme is no longer to be recycled to participants but is instead to be pocketed by the Exchequer.”

PriceWaterhouseCooper report that these changes will cost businesses with an average £1m bill for their business electricity and gas £76,000 in the first year and £114,000 by 2015.

Business leaders were also irritated that this rise in business electricity and gas bills, which will have a large impact on many companies, was not included in the Chancellor’s main speech.

For advice on how to save money and find the best contracts for business electricity and business gas, contact Energy Advice Line.

Read the full story in The Daily Telegraph.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has given the green light to eight new nuclear power stations despite concerns over safety and clean-up costs. The nuclear plants will play a pivotal role in meeting the demands of home and business electricity customers in coming years.

Mr Huhne was previously opposed to nuclear energy due to worries about the disposal of radioactive waste, but the Coalition government is in favour of using nuclear to supply domestic and business electricity while slashing carbon emissions to meet tough targets – an 80 per cent reduction is required by 2050.

However, green energy will also play an important part in meeting these needs and targets. Up to 44,000 wind turbines are to be erected around the British coastline and households and businesses will be encouraged to generate their own electricity via solar panels to make the most of the Feed In Tariff scheme.

This announcement came on the same day that it was revealed the River Severn Barrage Scheme, which would have provided up to five per cent of the country’s electricity, would not be going ahead because it was too expensive and would have a large environmental impact on rare birds, water voles and salmon living in and around the river.

Home and business electricity customers risk blackouts unless new power stations are introduced to replace coal and nuclear plants earmarked for closure in the next ten years.

The Coalition wish to use a mix of green and nuclear energy to meet this demand. All of the new power plants will be built near existing power station sites in Bradwell, Hartlepool, Heysham, Hinkley Point, Oldbury, Sellafield, Sizewell and, as previously reported by Energy Advice Line, Wylfa in Anglesey.

Business electricity customers will not start receiving their power from these plants until 2018.

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace are not impressed by the news, claiming local democracy was being “kicked out of the door.”

However, the CBI welcomed the new developments.

Director of Business Environment Dr Neil Bentley told the Daily Telegraph: “The Government has rightly recognised that the UK needs to do more to bolster our energy security while cutting emissions. This will require the development of a broad mix of sources, including new nuclear power, clean coal and renewable sources, such as waste incineration.”

You can read the full story in The Daily Telegraph.

Homes and businesses on Anglesey and beyond will continue to get their electricity from the Wylfa nuclear power plant for at least two more years after plans to decommission the plant were put back.

The Magnox-type reactors were set to stop generating electricity in December 2010, but now its lifespan has been extended, securing 200 jobs for another 24 months.
Nuclear energy is an important resource to the Coalition for guaranteeing home and business electricity supplies in the years to come and new power plants have been planned, including another on Anglesey to replace Wylfa.

It is hoped that such a plant will be built within the next ten years.

A location near the site has already been identified near to the existing site and developer Horizon Nuclear Power hopes to lodge a planning application by the end of next year.

Up to 800 permanent jobs could be created in the electricity business, the company claims.

The developer hopes a planning application will be lodged by the end of 2011.

An agreement was reached with the Health and Safety Executive to extend Wylfa’s working life after a periodic safety review. Staff at the site have spent the last year preparing for the review.

Ynys Mon AM Ieuan Wyn Jones said in an interview with the BBC that the extension was “crucial” to the island’s economy.

“It is good news that the plant will be able to continue generating electricity for another two years, offering much needed peace of mind for the workers and their families,” he said.

Meanwhile, Anglesey Council welcomed the reduction of the gap between decommissioning Wylfa and the building of a new plant.

Nuclear energy, although initially not favoured by many among the Liberal Democrats before May’s election, has become a vital part of the Coalition government’s strategy to meet tough carbon reduction targets and guarantee supply to home and business electricity customers.

You can read the full story at BBC Online.