Coltrane Master Fund, the largest single shareholder in construction and FM company Interserve, has called for the board of directors to be removed from the company, bar CEO Debbie White. The news follows Interserve’s announcement that it has agreed a debt reduction plan with key lenders. The plan will see the company swap hundreds of Read more…

Businesses can save money by switching supplier, but there is another side to significantly reducing energy costs, says Chauvin Arnoux in this sponsored post. In recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of businesses that have been created to help other businesses save money on electricity charges, through either renegotiating existing Read more…

Carmakers are stepping up plans to use electric vehicle (EV) batteries to help balance power grids. Volkswagen is set to launch an energy company, while Nissan suggests 2019 is potentially a “breakthrough year” for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services. Meanwhile, a number of large scale EV charging infrastructure deals have been announced in recent months. While very Read more…

Electric vehicles make up a tiny fraction of cars on the road but sales are rising. In the medium term, grid operators predict that EVs will have a significant bearing on available network capacity. Meanwhile, major changes are afoot to the way grid capacity is allocated and charged to businesses. All of which means businesses Read more…

The latest technology developments make this the year to master Data Centre monitoring, says Socomec, and the firm invites readers to join a free webinar enabling them to do just that. Join Socomec at a FREE WEBINAR January 31st at 15.00 to discover The future of Data Centre Power Monitoring. REGISTER HERE. A perennial challenge Read more…

Strength and volatility have returned to commodity markets and non-commodity energy bill elements continue to rise. How can businesses navigate an increasingly complex environment? The Energyst asked energy experts. The tail end of 2018 saw several smaller energy suppliers going bust and the Capacity Market suspended. It underlined “how quickly things can change in the Read more…

The Energyst asked consultants and suppliers for views on key energy challenges and opportunities facing businesses in the year ahead.  In the immediate term, hitting all three Triad periods is a key challenge for businesses, as failure to do so will mean substantially bigger power bills, according to Ben Spry, head of Npower’s risk management Read more…

The £250m Queen’s Quay regeneration project in Clydebank will use water from the Clyde to help heat a mix of residential, commercial and public buildings via 5MW of heat pumps and a district heat network. Two 2.5MW water source heat pumps will take heat from the river to reduce the amount of power required to Read more…

Energy and sustainability threats are evolving quickly, and outpace conventional risk analysis and mitigation strategies. How exposed is your company, asks Schneider Electric in this sponsored post. Resilience is an organisation’s ability to adapt to risks and threats that challenge its viability. It’s also an imperative in the face of an increasingly broad and unpredictable Read more…

Winter 2018/19 could prove a challenging time for medium and large energy consuming businesses. The cold, dark days looming before us will combine with persistently bullish energy market conditions and higher network costs to create a budget-stretching winter season. These price pressures are likely to be an ongoing theme that impacts businesses on both sides Read more…

Let us help prepare you for Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting, mandatory from April 2019 following CRC abolition, says Inspired Energy in this sponsored post. As a result of the Government shakeup of carbon emission reporting and energy efficiency legislation, the new Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) framework, which is coming into force from Read more…

Mitie is to sell its social housing business, Mitie Property Management (MPM) to Mears Group in a deal worth up to £35m. The FM firm, now mid-way through a three-year structural overhaul, will put the money towards rebuilding its balance sheet and pension fund hole.  MPM provides property repairs and maintenance services to around 30 Read more…

Metered energy efficiency could unlock the holy grail of a market-based approach to cutting carbon, pulling in financiers, cutting the need for network investment and unlocking new business models. Brendan Coyne reports A UK-US partnership is attempting to embed a standardised, automated approach to real-time energy efficiency measurement into the GB energy system. The firms Read more…