Editor’s blog

Smart meter rollout continues to amaze

It seems, according to a press release from auto-switching company Migrate, that the smart meter rollout is producing a surprising number of consumers who are experts … on smart meters. The company said it recently carried out a survey and found…

Where does a Ministry for Climate Change belong?

As the budget approaches, and a potential restructuring of government departments, the question arises: what to do about climate change – or, more specifically, the Department of Climate Change that was absorbed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial…

A penny here and a penny there

Listening to a recording of a recent briefing on the Capacity Market and the coming winter after the event was an is an interesting experience. It was the kind of informal chat all we energy geeks engage in, but it…

Missing from the Conservative Party conference

For many years, energy fringe meetings at the Conservative Party conference were accompanied by a chorus of muttered ‘no’s and the odd loud ‘tut.  They came from someone at the back, quivering with rage, waiting for the moment they could…

ATOL v SOLR

Watching the huge effort being put in to manage the thousands of Thomas Cook travellers affected by the company failure, it is probably a good time to compare ATOL, the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing scheme, and energy companies’ supplier of last…

The old question over gas meters revisited

As the nation’s smart meter rollout stutters on, it is time to ask again whether there is any point in installing gas smart meters. The question has been raised from the start of the programme. It is not required under…