Powergen Announces Price Increase

[aldo]

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Powergen Price Rise

Hi All,

I have to announce that Powergen has today (Thursday 21 July) announced it is to increase electricity prices by 7.2% and gas prices by 11.9% for the majority of its residential customers, effective from 31 August. (See Press Release below)

Obviously this will mean a creative change for those of you that have the old message displayed in your adverts.

Luckily the new message is now more positive than the old one.

1. The £43 discount message should have the message of £50 discount rather than £43.
   
2. EnergyExtra 10% savings message needs to change from 10% to 14%.
   

Sorry for the inconvenience this is likely to cause to you all.

If I can help with anything please do not hesitate to contact me at the following email address .... aldoc@summitmedia.co.uk

Kind regards,

Al




Press release
Thursday 21 July 2005
Powergen announces price increase due to wholesale price rises

Also launches £18 million support package for vulnerable customers and new Capped price energy product

Powergen has today (THURS) announced it is to increase electricity prices by 7.2% and gas prices by 11.9% for the majority of its residential customers, effective from 31 August.

This price increase is the direct result of record rises in wholesale costs – with electricity costs going up 23% since November last year and gas up 35%. These unprecedented increases are affecting all energy suppliers, with other companies indicating that they expect to increase their prices in the near future.

Nick Horler, Managing Director of Powergen Retail, said: “The UK is in an era of rising energy prices and we, like all energy suppliers, are under tremendous pressure as the prices we pay for electricity and gas reach an all time high.

“By making a smaller increase in the Summer rather than a larger increase later this year, we can help our customers ahead of the Winter when they use energy most. Together we can do this by making their homes more energy efficient and by offering specific support to vulnerable households.”

To help people minimise the impact of rising energy bills, Powergen is offering all customers discounted cavity wall insulation, which could save a household up to £160 a year on their energy bills. All electricity customers will also be offered four free low energy light bulbs.

In addition, Powergen has today launched an extended Capped price product, to safeguard customers against future price rises until January 2008 - which is the longest protection period on the market.

Powergen has also developed an £18 million package of measures to protect its most vulnerable customers. These include:
· A rebate for all Age Concern customers to offset this price rise until next year;
· Increasing the Cold Weather Payment for Age Concern gas customers by 40%;
· Removing the surcharge for prepayment electricity customers;
· Free cavity wall insulation for all its customers aged 60 or over and for those on means tested benefits, Tax Credit or Pension Credit;
· Free loft insulation for all customers who are on means tested benefits, Tax Credit or Pension Credit6.

Around 14% (817,000) of Powergen customers are protected from this increase because they have taken advantage of Capped price energy or Powergen Staywarm.

Powergen is part of E.ON UK, which is part of the E.ON Group – the world’s largest private-sector energy services company.

[Mogga]

Do you have any info on what renewables powergen are using?

(After all the price of the sun and wind and wave power won't go up)

I'd like to put together some articles about how picking an energy supplier should be about long term choice and sustainability.

Cheers

[aldo]

Hello Mogga,
Nice to hear from you again I will get onto Powergen and find this out for you, I am flat out at the minute as I have just got into the office and need to do a lot of work because of the price rise, is Monday alright?

[Mogga]

Yes thats fine

Cheers

[aldo]

Hi Mogga,
I nicked this from the PG site and have asked PG to send me some more info on this subject if they have it,

“Many years ago, Britain was powered by windmills and water mills and people burned wood to provide heat. It might seem strange to many people that we’re looking back to the past to answer our energy needs for the future. But there are many good reasons for this.

Renewable energy offers us many environmental benefits over conventional electricity generation sources like fossil fuels. Far fewer pollutants are released into the environment and renewable energy sources are completely sustainable as they are continuously replenished by nature.

Powergen Renewables brings together, for the first time, all our renewable generation activities into a single integrated business. Our renewable energy projects include onshore and offshore wind, hydro and biomass-fuelled generation, and cover both the management of our existing assets and the development of new projects.

We already have many projects generating green energy, including 16 wind farms and the largest hydro-electric scheme in England and Wales at Rheidol. In the future, we plan to significantly expand our wind generation activities by building more onshore and offshore wind farms.

We're also looking at ways t use biomass fuels to produce electricity in both our existing coal-fired power stations and new purpose-built generating plant.

We have a challenging task ahead. However, we're going to use our experience and expertise to expand renewable energy and help build a sustainable future – for all of us.”

Sorry for not getting back to you yesterday, but I was in a meeting with PG which ended up lasting all day.

Hope the above helps a little,

Kind regards,
Al

[Mogga]

Cheers