The wholesale prices of electricity, Brent crude oil and natural gas have all held steady this week - following small ups and  downs, no major movement has been seen.

Despite threats between the US, the UN and Iran regarding nuclear testing and rights of passage through the Strait of Hormuz, thus far no impact has been seen in the markets and the Strait remains open for the time being.

Recent announcements that the UK is some £1 trillion in debt may cause ripple effects across all markets, including the energy markets - make sure you're up to date by subscribing to  our regular market updates and industry developments by clicking here.

The wholesale price of electricity has continued to fall following a trend started in August 2011, and we are now seeing the lowest wholesale price since October 2010. Meanwhile, natural gas and Brent crude oil prices have maintained their recent behaviour of an overall falling trend consisting of erratic lifts and downward spikes, largely driven by uncertainty in the Eurozone and political unrest in several key oil-producing countries.  The current cold outside weather has seen an increase in the demand of energy as people seek to keep warm, but the overall picture is very positive with supply being more than able to meet demand and the cold conditions, although expected to continue beyond the end of the week for the most of the UK, are not as severe as recent years.

A very happy 2012 to all - we at Clifford Talbot Partnership hope you had a pleasant festive break and are ready and raring to go in the New Year. As anticipated, the wholesale prices of all three major energy commodities held steady over the end of December, with prices being on a par with those coming into winter 2011-2012. While electricity wholesale prices have exceeded expectations by dropping further still - to a 14  month low - natural gas and Brent crude oil have seen slight upward movements, but remain faithful to recent market behaviour and are not totally unexpected increases.
 
Winter demand was easily covered this year owing to the mild weather and almost record high storage levels, but as businesses return to full operation following the Christmas break, we can expect to see an increase in demand and, although storage levels both current and  forecast are still excellent, a further upward movement is not out of the question, especially amid reports of rising oil prices which  may see knee-jerk reactions in markets.

At the time of writing, prices for April 2012 are at a 20-month low, and going as far as 2014, prices are still expected to be extremely keen, boosting confidence.

All three major energy commodities - Brent crude oil, electricity and natural gas - have seen prolonged falls since their most recent peaks in September of this year (and as far back as April for Brent crude oil). This in part thanks to any supply shortfall fears for the winter being all but quashed and prices for the start of 2012 dropping to a parity with Summer 2012 prices for the first time after being notably higher all year. The extra confidence in the market will be good to hear coming into the Christmas break, but the fact that forward prices are looking steady to Summer 2012 is sure to pique interest in the market at the start of 2012.

Get in touch now and speak with a Utility Consultant for all your Business Utility Procurement requirements - we'll be more than happy to advise.

Despite relatively low imports through the Langeled Norway/UK interconnector over the last few days, the three main wholesale markets have seen several falls over the past few days. Most notable has been the recent and welcome 'slump' in brent crude oil prices - the main driving force behind the wholesale prices of electricity and natural gas prices. The last 2 months have seen a massive 12% fall in the prices of Brent Crude, with a whopping 9% fall in the last week alone.  As always, the domestic markets, which have seen massive increases in the last few months, are unlikely to reflect these falls but the in-day business markets will benefit business energy users. Our in-depth knowledge of supplier, industry and markets gives our clients a huge advantage when it comes to tendering their energy contracts for future supply, be that for 6, 12, 24 months or beyond. We are totally flexible to client requirements and take each case on its own merit to the benefit of our client.

It's impossible to avoid reports of the recent and abhorrent riots across England, which will see a massive clean-up operation over the coming weeks. Although not on the scale to expect any impact on the prices of energy, with several clients of ours in the affected locations we'll be keeping a keen eye on any developments.

If you are not yet taking advantage and reaping the rewards of our Utility Consultancy - now is a good time to tie in any outstanding utilities contracts, be that short or long term - just get in touch and let us use our expertise to best advise you when to contract, and to whom - and you'll also find we have many areas of excellence which would benefit all aspects of your business utility management needs.

The start of June 2011 has unfortunately seen prices across all three commodities gradually climb to a month-high with Brent Crude Oil remaining the driving factor and again approaching the $120 per barrel point - a mark that has only ever been surpassed on two occasions; once in May 2008 when prices went on to peak at almost $150 per barrel, and then again more recently in April 2011 where the prices went up to over $126 per barrel before returning to the current level.

Big in the news recently was the price increases applied to domestic customers by Scottish Power, who upped their rates by 19% and 10% for natural gas and electricity respectively. The widespread reporting and resulting furore of these increases has somewhat overshadowed the fact that it will not only be Scottish Power that increase prices - it can be expected that all suppliers will increase the prices of their tariff rates in line with the wholesale markets. Energy suppliers have what has been described as a 'pack mentality', and it was Scottish Power in this case that acted first - the following weeks will no doubt see at least some of the remaining "Big 6" increase their domestic prices also. The fact that suppliers aren't as quick to drop prices when the wholesale markets fall as they are to increase them when they rise is understandably something of a sore point with consumers nationwide.

Typically, domestic markets follow the wholesale business markets about a month in arrears so it is relatively easy to predict how domestic markets are likely to act and to ensure your prices are locked in at the right time. Despite this rather convenient way of forecasting domestic prices, many end users can be caught out and not act until it's too late. Business markets are a very different proposition however, with prices being revised on a daily basis, sometimes several times every day, and with more scope for intricate negotiating between suppliers in order to secure best rates. It's a lot more complex and in-depth than simply visiting your preferred internet search engine for advice and tapping in your postcode.

As part of our Utility Bureau Service (UBS), we can take care of all your business energy buying requirements. Using our industry knowledge and contacts we know when to visit the markets, which suppliers to approach and the length of the contract which should be accepted, along with other important factors such as reviewing terms and conditions and arranging payment terms to best suit our clients. We'll also ensure supplies aren't locked in on unfavourable rates once a contract has expired by issuing termination at the right time and beginning the process again to your benefit. Our full UBS also offers a complete invoice verification and error resolution process, which offers clients peace of mind and frees up valuable time, as well as compiling Utilities Budgets, Tenant Billing, identifying savings opportunities, and regular reviews and reports.

Contact us for any business utility procurement or energy consultancy advice today on 01454 281607 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The wholesale costs of electricity, natural gas and brent crude oil remain high, but have seen a plateau in recent days following steady drops since the start of May 2011. The last few weeks have been fairly eventful with regular announcements which are likely to impact market prices such as:

• new plans to further increase UK to mainland Europe connectivity with a 500MW cable
• OPEC scheduling meetings with Saudi Arabia with a view to increasing oil output to meet demand
• the offline stress-testing of the 143 nuclear reactors across the EU following the fallout of the Fukushima situation
• Germany's decision to not extend the lives of their nuclear reactors and instead switch to "safer" energy
• the closure of the Ormen Lange oil field for maintenance, and the possible long-term closure of one of the Morecambe bay oil fields as announced by Centrica recently
• the extension of the life of the Magnox nuclear power plant and a new 2,000MW Pembrokeshire power plant

Coupled with the good news of increased future supply is the less than good news of the possible short-fall of capacity. It can sometimes be a case of one step forward, two steps back with the utility markets, with good news being slow to impact the markets and bad news resulting in a knee-jerk instant reaction.

By receiving and analysing data from across the UK and Europe, Clifford Talbot Partnership are able to constantly monitor the wholesale markets and review political and environmental instances that may impact prices, giving our clients as much information as possible in order to take advantage of our Energy Procurement Team.

As well as Energy Procurement, we are also hugely experienced and expert in all aspects of a Utility Bureau Service, encompassing all your Energy Management needs with services such as Tenant Billing, Bill Validation and Energy Consultancy - all at a clear and low cost.

Although the middle of last week saw a slight upward movement in the wholesale Brent Crude oil prices, the overall picture is a positive one with all three main commodities seeing steady drops following the peak at the start of April. The balmy weather and excellent current storage situation have helped boost confidence in the markets and the recent unrest in some Middle-East countries has eased somewhat.

As the subject of much current debate, shale gas prospecting has also been given a boost over the last few days with some MP's backing the new energy source amid pressure from campaigners who believe that the extraction of shale gas could be harmful to the environment. The underground rocks containing the shale gas are blasted with powerful jets of water and chemicals in a process called 'fracking' - and it's the after affects of these chemicals that are a current bone of contention. There have also been claims that shale gas carries a bigger greenhouse gas footprint than coal. Although the greenhouse gas issue remains to be proven either way - there should be no chemical or gas leakage if the wells are made to the required standard or better.  While there are widely available reports on the internet showing videos of flammable tap water in parts of the USA, this has only affected tap water in the immediate vicinity of shale gas extraction sites, and around wells constructed during the infancy of extraction. The amount of methane in the tap water is not thought to be a health risk except for in the case of explosions - of which, thankfully, none have been reported.

Shale gas is not seen as a long term solution to fulfilling global energy needs, but as the arduous and necessary move toward renewable energy continues, it could prove important to have the alternative readily available. It is estimated that worldwide reserves of shale gas could reach some 450 trillion cubic meters, compared to 187 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, and it costs approximately a third to extract. There's no doubting that this is big news, and will be subject of continual development and debate for some time to come.

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