Gas and Electricity Markets Must Have Sustainable Development
Recent years have seen noteworthy improvements in the UKs energy efficiency. Although the low carbon economy progress is significant, increased efforts and more solutions will be required for many years. Sustainable development in this area is expected from the gas and electricity markets, and this must be accomplished with a consideration towards the impact on consumers.
Gas and electricity projects related to energy conservation and lower greenhouse gas emissions must meet Government requirements year after year. Power stations combined with industries and residences contribute 66% of the UKs carbon dioxide emissions. Programs piloted by the gas and electricity sectors in 2006 and 2007 resulted in an emissions decrease of 4%. These programs concentrated on coal to gas conversion and renewable energy projects.
Following the trend of declining energy consumption since 2005, consumption in 2007 was down 3%. Both the gas and electricity sectors reported considerable usage decreases, with a 4% decrease in gas consumption and a 3% decrease in electricity consumption. Government mandates call for a continued downward trend in energy usage each year.
While achieving significant accomplishments in the search for a low carbon economy is the vision, limiting the financial consequences to customers must be considered as well. Considering the current bleak economic picture, this is a quite an undertaking. Three and one half million UK households were at fuel poverty level in 2006, and more than three-fourths of these were vulnerable households. To be classified as a fuel poverty household, fuel costs for heating a home must exceed 10% of household income. An estimated .7 million households in 2007 and .5 million households in 2008 were added to the growing list of fuel poverty households.
Ofgem, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, works with the Government and the gas and electricity markets to achieve the sustainable development targets established by the Government. Ofgem regulates the gas and electricity sectors to ensure that consumers are protected from unfair practices. This agency is particularly interested in helping fuel poverty households and has a goal of eliminating fuel poverty by 2018. Ofgem drives low carbon initiatives and facilitates projects aimed at meeting carbon dioxide reduction.
The gas and electricity sectors have achieved positive results from their efforts in the past several years to save energy, protect the nations supply of fuel, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and lower energy costs. Ofgem has played a large role in the energy sectors reaching and exceeding low carbon goals. Concentrated effort and further innovations are needed, however, in order to meet the Governments targets for continual improvement.
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