FuelClub Discount

Energy companies are to be told to reallocate some of the £3bn they must spend to reduce carbon emissions towards directly helping the fuel poor, following uproar over last week’s decision by British Gas to hike gas bills by a third.

Amid widespread calls for a windfall tax on industry profits which could be used to ease the bills of the vulnerable, the government is working on compromise solutions intended to double companies’ spending on fuel poverty measures.

In a statement of priorities that will alarm climate change campaigners Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister, told The Observer: ‘If I said to an elderly woman I’m worried about global warming she would say “Chance would be a fine thing in my living room”. We are not going to sacrifice fuel poverty on the altar of climate change.’
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The business secretary has issued a warning about inflationary pay rises after tanker drivers working for Shell settled a pay dispute with employers.

The deal came after a four-day strike by the drivers. They had originally wanted a 13% pay rise, and turned down 7%. Their final deal is not yet known.

John Hutton said the deal reflected the particular conditions in the industry.

He said: “There needs to be discipline in public and private sector pay if we are to keep inflation under control.”
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects “significant impact” on the supply of gasoline to its service stations as tanker drivers, who deliver to 10 percent of the U.K.’s filling stations, are set today to begin a four-day strike over pay.

The Unite union, representing 641 drivers, failed to reach agreement with Shell subcontractors Hoyer GmbH Internationale and Suckling Transport Ltd., union spokeswoman Pauline Doyle said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Shell, which is not involved in the pay negotiations, said supplies to its filling stations would suffer and that it has teams working to ensure that as much fuel as possible gets through to customers.
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Motorists in the UK have suffered from a far higher rise in petrol prices than their European neighbours, according to a report on Wednesday.

The cost of unleaded petrol has risen by 20 per cent in the UK over the last year, a far greater increase than across the Continent, where prices have risen by just 14 per cent.

In Italy and Germany prices have risen by less than 10 per cent.

The research by the Post Office Travel Services – which has stripped out the volatile effects of exchange rates - has led to accusations that British motorists have been left out of pocket by punative tax rises. Only Dutch motorists have to pay more tax than the British, according to the AA.
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High fuel prices have triggered a wave of thefts of low-tax red diesel, used for tractors and other agricultural machinery, from farms across Britain.

NFU Mutual, the leading provider of insurance to rural enterprises, reports that the number of claims for stolen red diesel are up 30 per cent in the first five months of the year. So far, there have been 50 claims involving a total of £100,000.

However, the loss of diesel alone is not the only problem for farmers. Often thieves leave the pump nozzle open, so that diesel runs away on to the ground leading to serious pollution. The cost of the clean-up is more than the price of the fuel.

The cost of red diesel is 65p a litre, of which 9.69p is tax. A year ago the average price of red diesel was 38p a litre. In 2002 farmers paid 17p a litre.
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The walkout was announced after the collapse in talks between Unite and two companies who deliver fuel to Shell.

As a result around 1,000 forecourts could be starved of fuel unless a deal can be brokered next week by the arbitration service, ACAS.

Although Shell owns only 10 per cent of forecourts across the country, there are fears that the strike threat could trigger another wave of panic-buying.

Unite, which is representing 641 drivers working for Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport, has submitted a demand for a 13.2 per cent pay increase.
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