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Electricity

It's an ill wind...

26 July 2010

Here's a tale to shiver your timbers. A wind turbine at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy was blown over... ...more »

Tags: wind

Is wind power for the birds?

09 July 2010

Going green - yup, it can be problematic. Take Southwell Community Primary School in Portland, Dorset. It did the decent... ...more »

Tags: electricity, renewables, wind

No power for the people

08 July 2010

Lack of precipitation is having a serious impact on the good folk of the Inner Hebridean island of Eigg. The... ...more »

Tags: electricity

Toilet isn't flush with cash...

07 July 2010

Disconnector was gobsmacked about the following: a state-of-the-art loo in Dumbarton had its power cut off after the local authority... ...more »

Tags: ScottishPower

Seal of approval for nuclear power?

28 June 2010

Here's a tale of derring do at Wylfa power station in Wales. A seal was rescued at the nuclear plant... ...more »

Tags: electricity, nuclear

National Grid on alert for World Cup cuppas

16 June 2010

The great man notes that National Grid has gone footie crazy with an amazing compilation of facts about energy use... ...more »

Tags: electricity, electricity transmission, National Grid

Protests take the heat off generators

26 May 2010

It has all gone a bit Pete Tong for oil and gas majors such as Shell and BP. Activists have... ...more »

Tags: electricity, electricity generation

Cutting edge:

25 May 2010

Not sure if Chazza is impressed, cold or nervous about his proximity to Marine Current Turbines' SeaGen project installed at... ...more »

Tags: electricity generation, renewables, water

Truth spills out about nuclear accident in Japan

24 May 2010

Now here's a salutary tale. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has just reported that its 246MW Monju nuclear reactor is... ...more »

Tags: electricity generation, nuclear

Government should go compare

19 May 2010

A couple of days before the nation went to the polls, comparison site Energyhelpline.com called for a review of ­government... ...more »

Tags: electricity retail, gas

Flying high:

11 May 2010

Pictured is the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, which has benefited from two safety initiatives undertaken at Drax power station. These generated... ...more »

Tags: charity, Drax, electricity generation

Protesters train their sights on RWE

07 May 2010

Last week, 18 people from Bristol and Bath were charged under the Malicious Damages Act of 1861 after they blockaded... ...more »

Tags: electricity generation, RWE

A bright future for lucky swans

05 May 2010

Disconnector is aware of the ancient ceremony of swan-upping so was intrigued to learn that EDF Energy Networks engineers are... ...more »

Tags: EDF, electricity distribution

Seeing ain't believing:

26 April 2010

Two heads are clearly better than one for Npower volunteers Joe Briddon, Tim Howell, Daniel Steinert and Cath Smith. All... ...more »

Tags: Npower

Welcome to the nuclear family

22 April 2010

For sheer political brass neck, Plaid Cymru must take the biscuit (to mix metaphors) for unbridled inconsistency and lack of... ...more »

Tags: nuclear

Vote does not deliver power to the people

14 April 2010

Last week, the UK government abstained in a vote on a multi-billion dollar World Bank loan to South Africa to... ...more »

Tags: electricity, electricity generation

Get twitchy about decoy woodpeckers

29 March 2010

There were red faces and ruffled feathers in Cumbria as twitchers got the wrong end of the stick. Earlier this... ...more »

Tags: electricity distribution, United Utilities

Vodafone make the wrong call

26 March 2010

It has been getting a bit fraught on the mean streets of Cheadle in North Staffordshire. Engineers from Central Networks... ...more »

Tags: electricity distribution

Ofgem damned by faint praise

18 March 2010

It is an open secret that all the major parties have their issues with energy regulator Ofgem and the way... ...more »

Tags: Ofgem

Now, that's how you treat the 'won't pays'

11 March 2010

Spare a thought for three protest leaders in Mexico who've been jailed for contesting electricity charges. Not sent a final... ...more »

Tags: electricity

Man on a wire - no, seriously...

10 March 2010

Part of a Chinese city was without power for four hours when a man performed a high-wire act on overhead... ...more »

Tags: electricity

Vote for what you don't believe

09 March 2010

It is only to be expected in the run-up to the election, but polls are proliferating like there's no tomorrow.... ...more »

Tags: electricity, Energy, environment

Lines of worry for National Grid

05 March 2010

It is all going rather pear-shaped in Somerset, where National Grid is having a devil of a time over plans... ...more »

Tags: electricity transmission, National Grid

Waste not, want not

19 February 2010

A colleagues of Disconnector's was at a meeting about peak oil and energy security. One of the speakers was Brian... ...more »

Tags: electricity generation

Electrocution is too good for 'em

18 February 2010

Disconnector has highlighted the madness of certain individuals who risk life and serious blackouts in bids to thieve recyclable material... ...more »

Tags: electricity distribution

A tariff by any other name...

17 February 2010

The gestation period was long and the accreditation scheme was a couple of seasons late (it had been promised for... ...more »

Tags: Energy

It's the way you tell 'em...

08 February 2010

Here's a brand new Disconnector award, for the most laboured joke of the week (number 1 in an occasional series).... ...more »

Tags: nuclear, politics

Hold the front page

15 January 2010

A few eyebrows were raised last week when the Crown Estate announced the location of its press conference about the... ...more »

Tags: electricity generation, politics, renewables, wind

You gotta really want it

01 December 2009

And finally, Disconnector's quote of the week. As those close to the action know, the ­government is having a spot... ...more »

Tags: energy efficiency, politics

The wisdom of ages

27 November 2009

Disconnector is intrigued to see the verbal sparring prompted by a Utility Week web story about a poll for EDF... ...more »

Tags: EDF Energy, nuclear

National Grid pins its hopes on Boris

26 November 2009

Will bike-riding, Latin-spouting and tousled-haired mayor of London Boris Johnson ride to the rescue of National Grid? The great man... ...more »

Tags: electricity, electricity transmission, National Grid

In honour of Olympic rings... some ringers!

23 November 2009

To celebrate 1,000 days to go until London 2012, EDF Energy, the sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic... ...more »

Tags: EDF Energy

The Lady ain't for playing it safe

20 November 2009

Serial director Lady Barbara Thomas Judge (around 30 and counting) was embroiled in a bit of a stand-off recently when... ...more »

Tags: electricity generation, nuclear

Methinks you protest too much

18 November 2009

You win some, you lose some. The great man muses thus after learning that the Advertising Standards Authority has been... ...more »

Tags: protest, renewables, wind

There's no smoke without ire...

11 November 2009

Understandably, most of the media coverage of this week's publication of National Policy Statements has concen­trated on the naming of... ...more »

Tags: Centrica

Electrician sparks Scottish and Southern Energy 'fantasy'

06 November 2009

Red faces should be the order of the day at Scottish and Southern Energy. Last month, the company failed in... ...more »

Tags: Scottish and Southern Energy

Shocking truth behind the headlines

30 October 2009

Normally the fact that a patient is recovering in hospital would not make the headlines. Last week, though, was a... ...more »

Tags: electricity distribution

Stirring up trouble

08 October 2009

Judge James Spencer is getting a bit annoyed. He presided over the trial of 29 people who took over a... ...more »

Tags: drainage, protest

Everyone's a winner... er, hold on a minute

02 October 2009

City traders enjoyed themselves last week by taking a position on both Eon and RWE on the grounds that their... ...more »

Tags: Eon, RWE

The good old days of class war

02 October 2009

Labour Party Conference sessions are not what they were. By and large the conference is carefully choreographed and stage-managed, so... ...more »

Tags: National Grid, politics

The lights are on, but no-one's at home

22 September 2009

Now here's an intriguing tale. A Glastonbury estate agent called Jules Bending has grabbed the headlines by, so he claims,... ...more »

Tags: electricity

Digging deep for charity:

18 September 2009

RWE Npower recently donated 80 tonnes of pulverised fuel ash from its Didcot A power station to the local canal... ...more »

Tags: charity, electricity generation, RWE Npower

If it don't smell right, it don't smell right

18 September 2009

Dumfries Sheriff Court has been hearing how ScottishPower staff were intrigued by a surge in power use at an industrial... ...more »

Tags: electricity, ScottishPower

Everything comes to he who waits

10 September 2009

Here's a turn-up for the books. US-owned Western Power Distribution (WPD) may, after all, be on the brink of winning... ...more »

Tags: electricity distribution

Wouldn't it be nice to get on with the neighbours?

10 September 2009

It has not been the best of times for Eon UK. Last year the generator's Kingsnorth power station was targeted... ...more »

Tags: electricity generation, Eon

Crime doesn't pay. In fact, it could cost you

07 August 2009

Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. The great man muses thus after learning about the former National... ...more »

Tags: electricity transmission, National Grid

Knickers to power lines!

07 August 2009

Readers of a prudish disposition may wish to look away at this point. It has emerged that a power cut... ...more »

Tags: electricity distribution, electricity transmission

Red faces over green logos

17 July 2009

Well, dear readers, Disconnector thinks you know the answer to this one, but here we go: is Dale Vince, Ecotricity's... ...more »

Tags: British Gas, Ecotricity, EDF Energy, renewables

And you think our DNOs have problems...

17 July 2009

We are constantly being told how much investment is needed in the UK's power distribution networks to bring them up... ...more »

Tags: electricity distribution

Energy prices really are getting ridiculous...

12 June 2009

Hull resident Mark Neadley got a slightly worrying text message recently from British Gas. It informed him that he owed... ...more »

Tags: electricity, gas, pan-utility