Energy industry to hold crisis talks with government as supplier Bulb seeks bailout amid gas price hike
UK energy company Bulb is seeking a bailout to stay afloat amid surging wholesale gas prices with Boris Johnson insisting the issues facing the industry are global.
A Bulb spokesperson said: “From time to time we explore various opportunities to fund our business plans and further our mission to lower bills and lower CO2.
“Like everyone in the industry, we’re monitoring wholesale prices and their impact on our business.”
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will hold crisis talks later with the energy industry and its regulator Ofgem amid fears for struggling suppliers and spiralling fuel bills.
Wholesale gas costs are up 250% since January and four small energy companies have already folded.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Gas supply not a cause for concern’
Meanwhile, Britain’s supply chain problems could last for months, the prime minister has warned, stressing that cancelling Christmas was “very much not the plan”.
Speaking on board his flight to the US for the United Nations General Assembly, Boris Johnson did not rule out shortages running into the autumn and winter as he blamed the problems in supply chains on “the global economy coming back to life”.
“The guy ropes are coming off Gulliver and it’s standing up, and it’s going to take a while, as it were, for the circulation to adjust,” the prime minister said.
Asked whether the shortages could last for months, the PM said: “It could be faster than that, it could be much faster, but there are problems as you know with shipping, with containers, with staff – there are all sorts of problems”.
Mr Johnson also stressed that supply chain issues were not specific just to the UK, but rather problems affecting “the entire world”.
“The gas supply issue is global, the HGV issue is in the US as well as in Europe, so we are seeing these same sorts of problems everywhere. But I think market forces will be very, very swift in sorting it, and we’re going to do whatever we can to help.”
The PM’s remarks come as retailers and food producers warned that supplies of food, turkey and chicken could run short as a result of the energy crisis.
Food producer Bernard Matthews warned Christmas dinner could be “cancelled” as sharp rise in gas prices meant two large fertilisers plants which produce CO2 as a by-product, have shut.
Carbon dioxide is crucial to the food processing industry in packaging meat products and culling animals.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Fears gas price rise could lead to fuel shortages
The PM on Sunday said he wanted to “give general reassurance that the problems we are seeing are temporary”.
“I have no doubt that supply issues will be readily addressed. We’re very confident in our supply chains,” he said.
“But in the meantime we will work with all the gas companies to do whatever we can to keep people’s supplies coming, to make sure they don’t go out of business. And to make sure we get through this current difficult period.”
The prime minister also sought to reassure the public that Christmas would not be cancelled.
“That is certainly not the plan,” he said.
“Plan A is what we’re on, and Plan B is what we might have to do. It’s a graduated series of steps and we certainly don’t want or expect to have to do anything like last Christmas.”
Business
Ex-Post Office head of IT says Paula Vennells ‘hoped to avoid’ inquiry – and reveals she blocked her number
A former Post Office executive has said she was forced to block ex-boss Paula Vennells’ phone number after the ex-CEO called multiple times asking for help to avoid an independent inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Lesley Sewell, previously the company’s head of IT, told the Post Office inquiry on Thursday that former CEO Ms Vennells had reached out to her four times between 2020 and 2021.
Ms Sewell said that she blocked Ms Vennells’ number due to discomfort with the contact.
In her witness statement to the probe, Ms Sewell said that one of Ms Vennells’ emails referenced the need to fill in memory gaps regarding Horizon and “Project Sparrow”, a committee addressing issues with forensic accountants who identified flaws in the accounting system.
“Paula contacted me on four occasions in total. I recall blocking her number after the last call as I did not feel comfortable with her contacting me,” Ms Sewell said.
“I had not spoken to Paula since I had left POL [Post Office Limited] in 2015.”
Lesley Sewell giving evidence to the Post Office inquiry. Pic: PA
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
According to Ms Sewell’s testimony, former chief executive Ms Vennells said that she had “been asked at short notice” to appear before a parliamentary select committee on “all things Horizon/Sparrow and need to plug some memory gaps”.
Ms Sewell says Ms Vennells added: “My hope is this might help avoid an independent inquiry but to do so, I need to be well prepared.”
Ms Sewell, who struggled to contain her emotions and broke down in tears while giving her oath at the start of her inquiry evidence, was offered support and breaks as needed by chairman Sir Wyn Williams.
Sir Wyn told the former executive: “Ms Sewell, I appreciate this may be upsetting for you, Ms Price will ask you a number of questions in a proper and sensible manner, but if at any time you feel you need a break, just let me know, all right?”
Lesley Sewell taking the oath at the Post Office inquiry. Pic: PA
The Post Office has faced significant scrutiny following the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office which highlighted the Horizon IT scandal.
The faulty system led to the prosecution of more than 700 sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015, with many still awaiting full compensation despite government announcements regarding payouts for those with quashed convictions.
London City Airport will on Thursday name its first permanent female chief executive as it targets approval of an expansion plan that would create nearly 1,500 jobs.
Sky News understands that the Docklands airport has told staff that Alison FitzGerald, who has been co-CEO since January alongside finance chief Wilma Allan, has landed the role.
A woman wearing a face mask walks by London City Airport, which suspended its operations during the pandemic
She replaces Robert Sinclair, who left in January after six years to become boss of the High Speed 1 rail link.
The airport is owned by a consortium of Canadian pension funds and Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, which have backed a plan to increase its annual passenger traffic from about 6.5m to 9m.
It is appealing against Newham Council’s rejection of a planning application that would see it extend operating hours at the site, which is popular with City commuters.
The airport’s proposals include no increase in the annual number of flights and, in what it claims is a first for a UK airport, a commitment that only cleaner, quieter, new generation aircraft will be allowed to fly in any extended periods.
The runway at London City Airport
The appeal is being reviewed by the Independent Planning Inspector.
Its change of leadership makes London City the second of the capital’s airports to name a new CEO in quick succession, following the arrival at Heathrow of Thomas Woldbye last year.
“London City delivers one of the best passenger experiences in the UK and I’m committed to building on this success even further,” Ms FitzGerald said.
Representatives of Thames Water’s multinational syndicate of shareholders are poised to quit as directors of its corporate entities after refusing to inject the billions of pounds of funding required to bail it out.
Sky News has learnt that a number of board members at companies connected to Kemble Water Finance, Thames’s parent, are expected to resign in the coming days.
City sources described the move as “the logical next step” after the owners of Britain’s biggest water utility said they would not commit more than £3bn to help upgrade its ageing infrastructure and shore up its debt-laden balance sheet.
A default on part of Thames Water‘s holding company debts last month has raised the prospect that the company is heading towards special administration, a form of insolvency that would effectively leave the government liable for managing a utility firm which serves nearly a quarter of Britain’s population.
Money latest:
Rainy day for iconic British brand as profits suffer
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Thames Water under threat
Thames Water is owned by a group of sovereign wealth funds and pension funds from countries including Abu Dhabi, Australia, Britain, Canada and China.
A number of the investors are represented on boards which sit at various points in the group’s labyrinthine capital structure.
It was unclear on Wednesday whether Michael McNicholas, a representative of the giant Canadian pension fund Omers and who sits on the board of Thames Water Utilities Limited, was among those in the process of stepping down.
Read more:
Directors hold crunch talks over utility’s future
Even bigger surge in bills proposed under new plans
Along with the rest of the privately owned water industry, Thames Water faces a crucial moment next month when Ofwat, the industry regulator, publishes its draft determination on companies’ five-year business plans.
The draft rulings will be subject to negotiation before final versions are published in December.
Thames Water and a spokesman for Kemble declined to comment.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment12 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports1 month agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports7 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Environment1 year agoTesla advances Powerwall pilot project with German electric company