The current economic situation in the UK and the steep rises in gas and electricity bills has caused serious financial problems for millions of British homeowners. However, those people who are tenants are now finding that they are facing a heavy financial penalty for fluctuations in the energy market. The situation is now considered to be so serious that potential tenants are now seeking assurances from landlords that their rental properties are energy efficient.

Most savvy landlords have already capitalized on this new opportunity to attract new clientele by ensuring that their properties possess energy performance certificates. Additionally, The Landlord’s Energy Saving Allowance also allows property owners to recoup the money that they have spent on installing insulation.

Those landlords ,in England and Wales,who have previously sought to avoid obtaining energy performance certificates are in for a rude awakening as the government has passed laws to ensure that they must provide proof of these certificates when letting out their properties.

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With huge price hikes in gas and electricity bills affecting a significant proportion of the UK’s 60 million population, shopping giant Tesco has stepped into the energy saving arena by announcing that it will provide free loft and cavity wall insulation for those who are on benefits or over the age 70. Other customers will be charged a fee of £199.

Tesco revealed that it had seen data that showed that around 9 million British domestic properties did not have proper insulation. The company aims to assist 500,000 people to trim their energy bills. The announcement comes hot on the heels of the Government’s unveiling of a £1 billion energy saving package designed to help the most vulnerable households.

Presumably, it didn’t take Tesco long to work out that customers who save money on the cost of their energy bills will have more cash to spend on other essential items ,such as food, which can be purchased from the retailer.

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As the UK teeters on the brink of recession drivers are finding that , as well as facing the prospects of ever increasing motor costs, they are having to deal with the prevalence of petrol theft. The increase in this type of crime means motorists should pay special attention to the finer details of their car insurance policies in order to find out whether they are covered.

This criminal activity has come under the spotlight because thieves who find that they are unable to siphon of fuel from modern day vehicles via traditional methods, have decided to drill directly into petrol tanks to empty the contents. So drivers who are already under serious pressure from the credit crunch could find themselves faced with a bill that is likely to run into thousands of pounds.

Unfortunately for motorists thieves are not only concentrating their efforts on fuel, they are also turning their attention to catalytic converter theft. Norwich Union reported that this type of crime has increased by more than 500% over the last 12 months.

By using the Save On Bills comparison service users can find the best available insurance deals to suit their needs.

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UK energy regulator Ofgem has completed a seven month inquiry into the British gas and electricity supply market. In its findings the watchdog revealed that although it found no evidence of price fixing between the big six suppliers – Centrica, RWE,EDF, Scottish Power, E.ON and Scottish and Southern Energy - it was concerned that over 4 million British consumers are losing,on average, £55 per year because they are not benefiting from the best available tariffs.

Ofgem has announced that it will move to place a ban on, what it considers to be grossly unfair, differences in pricing. The organization added that there must be an end to the practice of charges being linked to different modes of payment and there must be more clarity in the way that energy price plans are presented to customers. Far too often, consumers do not fully understand what it is that they are signing up to.

Ofgem also warned the largest energy operators that the UK’s Competition Commission would be invited to launch a detailed investigation into the industry’s pricing structures if energy suppliers failed to implement their recommendations.

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With the credit crunch continuing to bite and the UK teetering on the brink of recession it came as no surprise that the Bank of England ( BOE ) reported that the demand for secured loans has fallen during the third quarter of 2008. The BOE has also predicted that the decline in this type of loan is expected to continue in the coming months.

UK lenders have made no secret that the tightening of the financial markets has caused them to consider the restructuring of their organisations and the withdrawal of most of their secured loan products. However, the dramatic fall in house prices has not helped the situation.

Many borrowers are complaining that lenders are placing too many restrictive terms and conditions on secured loans. However, it was also reported that there was a significant increase in those consumers who were unable to keep up with their loan repayments.

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Energy experts have predicted that the UK could be subjected to a shortage of power supplies when the National Grid revealed that forward wholesale electricity prices for November had soared to £133 per megawatt hour. This represents a £10 increase in comparison to last week’s prices.

This could lead to the UK’s energy market being close to exhaustion which would cause a series of huge blackouts. However, the National Grid sought to ease these fears by saying that the market had not yet reached its safety limit in terms of capacity. It was suggested that black outs might occur if power plants developed technical glitches.

A number of concerns have already been raised about the instability of Britain’s gas and electricity supplies. One such warning focussed on the UK’s reliance on external energy providers such as Russia which has a reputation for curtailing supplies to countries that do not share its political point of view.

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Newly released Department of Environment statistics showed that fuel poverty figures had risen to 3.5 million by 2006. This represents an increase of around 1 million on 2005 figures.

According to general classifications a household is regarded to be in fuel poverty if its occupiers spend more than 10% of their income on gas and electricity. The government said that the huge increase in fuel poverty was the result of price hikes by power companies.

Minister for the Environment, Hilary Benn, stated that the soaring cost of energy bills has hampered the government’s ability to tackle the problem of fuel poverty. He added that government expenditure on energy saving measures and fuel poverty had totalled £20 billion since 2000.

Various charities and unions have said that gas and electricity prices are currently out of control and requested that the government take immediate action to cap energy bill prices. The government’s latest energy saving programmes also came in for heavy criticism.

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