News and Current Affairz

Dunstable Downs sees E.ON UK employees go green

2007-11-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

More than 50 E.ON employees from a Bedford customer call centre recently volunteered to give a helping hand to National Trust's Dunstable Downs Estate in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire in preserving natural habitats which are vital to the environment.
Over a fortnight, the unpaid assistants cleaned a big section of scrubland on Dunstable Downs Estate as part of a continuing scheme to help put an area of genuine chalk grassland environment, which at present is getting worse by the day, to its former beauty.

An enthusiastic helper, Graeme Dinner, stated: "We all mucked in to get as many jobs done as we could, from clearing a huge pile of brambles to helping chop down trees.

"After a very rewarding, but long, day's work, we all felt great as a team and knew we'd done our bit for the environment, community and the local flora and fauna - as this type of grassland is the perfect habitat for rare flowers and butterflies.

"We'd all love the opportunity to help out again, but maybe when the weather is a bit warmer!"

Assistant Warden of the estate, Marshall Eason, stated: "It was a pleasure to have the E.ON volunteers here to help us out as we managed to get so much more work done than we'd be able to do alone.

"They were all in such good spirits about being outdoors and doing something positive for conservation in this area, and are welcome to come back anytime."

Business Energy Services provider, EON, finds and supports volunteering opportunities which provide a rewarding challenge for employees as part of its wider community relations program. EON employees in 2006, from the goodness of their hearts, used up more than 30,000 hours helping people out in their free time, on schemes in their neighborhoods. They also uncover and back schemes which require volunteers and are challenging for their staff, which in turn benefits the community as a whole.

One of the UK's leading Business Gas and Business Electricity companies, E.ON generates and distributes electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the world's largest investor-owned energy and Gas Company, and employs roughly 18,000people across the United Kingdom.

£10,000 grant boost for Solar energy scheme at Tunbridge Wells school from E.ON

2007-11-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

Claremont Primary School Staff and pupils are rejoicing following being granted £10,000 which will help towards the cost of setting up a system powered by solar energy under Business Energy Providers E.ON's latest SOURCE neighborhood scheme.

Tunbridge Wells school, which is in Banner Farm Road in Tunbridge Wells, hopes to make use of the solar PV panels to connect climate change, alertness of additional natural world matters and healthy living to its students' learning.

Community Relations Executive at E.ON, Sarah Green, stated: "This is a great project and we were really impressed with the school's ambition.

"We all have our part to play in reducing carbon emissions, and E.ON's SOURCE project is designed to provide community groups with information and funding to help them make their buildings more sustainable.

"The SOURCE website brings together all the information community groups need to put their sustainable energy ideas into practice, and funding of up to £30,000 per application is available."

The roof, which is 6kW, mounted structure is expected to accumulate roughly 2,300kg of carbon dioxide emissions per year, any surplus energy which wasn’t used by the school will be sold back to the national grid.

Statistics from the structure will be employed in classrooms to give students on the dot news about the generation of energy, how to save carbon dioxide and patterns of the weather. The solar panels will shape part of a design to augment alertness of green issues amongst students, parents, staff, and the community in general.

Claremont Primary Schools head teacher, Richard Sutton-Smith stated: "We're indebted to E.ON for helping Claremont make its 'Protect Our Future' project a reality.

"Our children are immensely excited about this renewable energy system and their involvement with a sustainable future."

E.ON, one of the UK's leading green electricity generators, launched its SOURCE fund and website earlier this year to help with the costs of sustainable energy projects for community buildings.

This article has been brought to you by Jay Khan on behalf of EON
E.ON is one of the UK's leading business electricity supplier and business energy supplier - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ around 18,000 people in the UK;

E.ON Thinking the ‘smart’ way for its corporate business clientele

2007-10-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

As E-ON one of the United Kingdom's leading power and gas companies is so committed to altering the energy bazaar, they announced on Monday 22 October that they launched a Smart Billing proposition for corporate business clients for more than 50 web-sites.
Technology from Smart Meters will bestows companies with enhanced energy administration, supplying trustworthy and precise billing based on tenuously gathered readings from meters. This move helps businesses to better comprehend how they consume energy make it easier for them to reach their targets of reducing CO2 emissions.

Director of B2B Peter Haigh, of E.ON stated: "At E.ON we're committed to helping our customers achieve their low carbon objectives and help the Government to meet its carbon reduction targets.

"We're sure that our work in Smart Metering technology will have a huge impact for our customers in helping ensure our bills are timely and accurate, while also giving them the information they need to control their carbon emissions."

Numerous companies know of their commercial societal accountability and aspire to function as a low carbon energy corporation, keeping carbon emissions to a minimum and lending a hand in contributing towards a much more manageable environment.

The technology that smart billing offers, gives the chance and the facility to measure consumption trends, giving them a clear picture of their usage. In addition the smart meters will grant two way contact, thus making it a lot easier for the meters to be restructured

Visit http://www.eonenergy.com/ if you would like to learn more about Smart Billing.

Powergen will officially be part of E.ON in December

2007-10-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

One of the UK's leading electricity and gas companies, E.ON will be at Covent Garden during 22-24 October. E.ON has publicized that from 03.12.07 they will cease to make use of the Powergen brand and all customer communiqué will replaced by E.ON.

Managing Director of E.ON UK's Retail Business Graham Bartlett, said: "The look and feel of the E.ON brand has featured in Powergen communications for some time now. In December we'll complete that journey and all communications for residential and business customers will change to E.ON.

"Powergen has been part of E.ON since 2002 and this move confirms E.ON's commitment to the UK. We want to change energy for the better - where it comes from, how we get it to you and helping you to use it more efficiently - which is why we're launching a series of new ways to do all of these things."

As of today, all business to business clients can sign up to EasyGreen which will make it easier for companies to purchase green electricity and reduce their carbon footprint.

Additionally, all corporate customers of E.ON will now be able to access SmartBilling which provides organisations with the latest technology of meters to accurately keep track of all energy usage and maximize energy management.

Further to this, all customers and non-customers are being encouraged to take the Energy Challenge which can result in them having upto £1601 shaved off their electricity and gas bills by visiting http://www.powergenchallenge.co.uk/. The site uses a 360° virtual tour of an interactive house, a personalised energy efficiency report and tailored advice on how to economize your energy which would result in every-one saving money off their bills.

To learn more, turn up at the E.ON Experience which takes place in Covent Garden during 22 and 24 October, and will then visit other parts of around the UK. All visitors will be encouraged and welcomed to take part in the Energy Challenge and understand more about they can save energy and money off of their bills.

Workers from E.ON UK make there marks in the history books at Nottinghamshire National Trust park.

2007-10-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

More than 200 volunteers who work for E.ON UK recently volunteered and gave a helping hand to important natural habitats at the National Trusts' Clumber Park.

Over the course of 14 days, the volunteers completed a variety of projects, including creating a natural ‘hump' barrier out of earth and turf to stop cars from entering and damaging a special site of scientific interest at the park.

The volunteers also cleared the site of an overgrown medieval fish pond, which is a unique historical feature which the National Trust specialists had not seen unearthed before.

Graham Horsley, one of the willing volunteers, said: "This is a great way to make a difference in our community and was also a great team building experience."

Aaron Taylor, who was also a volunteer, added: "It was such a good opportunity for us all to get out of the office and make a difference to an area that we need to look after for future generations."

Roy Turner, head warden at Clumber Park, said: "It proved to be an enormous task and all of the teams worked extremely hard and achieved a huge amount.

"I get great satisfaction working with teams from E.ON as they always get the job done, with a good dose of fun as an added extra!"

E.ON UK finds and supports volunteering opportunities which provide a rewarding challenge for employees as part of its wider community relations programme. In 2006, staff spent over 32,000 hours volunteering on projects in their local communities.

Students Turned On By Switching Off

2007-09-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

Students Turned On By Switching Off

New students at the University of Birmingham, University of Warwick and University of Central England in Birmingham, will be among undergraduates encouraged to have fun in the dark this year by taking part in The Student Switch Off - where Halls of Residence will compete against each other to come top of the class in energy efficiency.
The scheme - backed by E.ON, the UK's largest integrated power and gas company - aims to cut energy usage in the Halls by 10% and to prevent over 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere*.

Inspired and supported by Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College, and endorsed by WWF, The Student Switch Off is the brainchild of Neil Jennings, Ben & Jerry's Climate Change Ambassador. Neil successfully piloted his idea at the University of East Anglia last year, with E.ON's support, saving £19,000 and 92 tonnes of carbon dioxide at the UEA alone.

"I'm completely chuffed with the results of The Student Switch Off to date," said Neil. "Under the guidance of, and financial support from, Ben & Jerry's, through their Climate Change College, I've recruited a further six universities from across the country to host the scheme this coming academic year."

Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College, a nine month business mentoring programme, is open again for entries until 24th October 2007.

Jennings, who visited the Arctic earlier this year with the College in a bid to understand the effects of climate change first hand, adds: "We'll be drawing on the traditional ‘friendly rivalry' between Halls of Residence to help reduce carbon emissions."

As well as relying on a bit of healthy competition, the scheme has the full backing of the respective Student Unions and aims to encourage students to adopt energy efficient behaviours by offering prize incentives from E.ON, the main sponsor of the initiative, as well as lashings of ‘legend-dairy' Ben & Jerry's ice cream for winning Halls.

The best performing Hall from the Universities of Birmingham, Warwick and UCE Birmingham will ultimately be invited to the coveted ‘Student Switch Off Green Party' at the end of the year, hosted by E.ON. The party will include a live steel band, BBQ and zero-carbon games like sumo-suit wrestling and croquet.

Phil Biddle, Head of Energy Efficiency at Powergen, said: "The Student Switch Off is an excellent initiative and we're delighted to support it for the second year running and to provide valuable energy saving tips and advice.

"Students will be amazed at just how much they can save through the simplest of measures like not leaving TVs and computers on standby and switching off lights when they leave a room."

The scheme also has the personal endorsement of Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, who commented: "The Student Switch Off is a perfect example of the kind of innovative grass roots campaign we aim to support through our Climate Change College, giving people a really tangible way to reduce their carbon footprint and to lick global warming one scoop at a time."

E.ON’s Energy Services employees wear badge of honour in support of Jeans for Genes

2007-09-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

In the run up to Jeans for Genes day on October 5th, staff at E.ON UK's Energy Services business have made a donation of £2,550 to the children's charity by raising funds through a safety hotline.
All calls logged on the ‘near hit' hotline, where staff report potential safety incidents, now mean that a £1 donation is made to the charity.

Richard Hale, from E.ON' s Energy Services, said: "Our staff have wholeheartedly supported Jeans for Genes over the past few years.

"We hope that, by donating £1 for every near hit reported, it'll not only encourage people to think seriously about safety, it'll also help to fund research into genetic disorders affecting children, such as cystic fibrosis, haemophilia and sickle cell.

"Our field staff can't usually participate in wearing jeans as they have to wear specific safety gear so, this year, the charity has designed a special patch that our staff can stick to their uniforms.

"We're really thrilled that we're able to support a charity which makes such a big difference to the lives of seriously ill children, and we're keen to continue our support and see it grow from strength to strength in the years to come."

Rosalind Freeborn, from Jeans for Genes, said: "We're delighted that E.ON's Energy Services has chosen to support the charity in such an imaginative and effective way, and we expect that this scheme will help us to raise over £3 million this year.

"The funds will go towards research into the causes and treatments of inherited conditions, and will offer support to families with children for whom life can be very challenging. So, thank you to everyone at E.ON, and remember to ‘get denimised' on Friday 5th October!"

E.ON UK explores greener community heating options for Kent

2007-09-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Have another dose of news from Powergen who are owned by E-ON

E.ON UK explores greener community heating options for Kent

E.ON UK could be behind one of the first large scale community heating schemes in the UK, with tens of thousands of Kent homes potentially being heated by excess steam from its proposed cleaner coal development.
The company kicked off an initial feasibility study to examine the potential for a district heating project as part of its proposed Kingsnorth development earlier this year, and has now joined forces with local development agencies to take the project forward.

Dr Paul Golby, Chief Executive of E.ON UK, said: "This is yet another example of how we can change the way that we generate, distribute and use energy in the UK.

"And, while it's still early days, our investigations have shown that there is a real opportunity for community heating, particularly given the large residential and commercial developments being undertaken in the next decade as part of projects such as Thames Gateway and Medway Renaissance.

"Technically, we've already built in provision for combined heat and power or district heating in our designs for the new plant and our studies show that we could potentially provide heat to up to 100,000 homes plus associated commercial and public service buildings."

A community heating scheme would remove the need for gas-fired boilers in new homes or businesses, with steam being taken from E.ON's proposed coal units to heat water in a network that would then be piped direct to people's homes to provide heating.

There are currently around 50,000 new homes on the drawing board in Kent. District heating on these properties alone would mean a saving of approximately 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, equivalent to taking around 20,000 cars off the UK's roads.

Agencies involved in the project are Medway Council, SEEDA, Thames Gateway, Kent Thameside and Medway Renaissance, alongside other key stakeholders including DEFRA and the Combined Heat and Power Association (CHPA).

"There are clearly a number of issues that need to be resolved before we could give this project the green light," said Dr Golby.

"Some of them are technical, others non-site specific relating to planning, regulation, markets and policy, but we're keen to explore any option out there in terms of finding additional benefits to our new projects.

"The next step now is to push forward with a more detailed feasibility study to identify a number of considerations that could make this idea a reality."

E.ON is already a market leader in community heating in continental Europe with around 50 district heating schemes in place across Sweden and Denmark.

Yorkshire festival scoops Powergen award for energy efficiency

2007-08-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

Yorkshire festival scoops Powergen award for energy efficiency

Chapel Allerton Arts Festival has been named by Powergen, part of E.ON, as one of the most energy conscious summer fairs in the UK.
The week-long festival, which culminates on festival day on 1 September in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, has been selected by Powergen's energy experts as one of the most eco-friendly festivals to take place in the UK this summer.

The organisers have ensured that this year's festival, which celebrates the tenth anniversary of the event, educates about energy awareness, while also being a fun day out for all the family.

Organisers are closing off a street and ‘low energy entertainment' such as table skittles will be encouraged.

There will be a strong focus on recycling at this year's festival, with the introduction of a ‘Street Crew' of local youngsters who will pick up litter and sort out items that can be recycled, with any cans collected to be sold to a local aluminium recycling company.

The organisers are also planning to source environmentally-friendly fabric festival ‘Bags for Life' to be used during the festival, and afterwards, to further promote the idea of re-using.

All of these initiatives have led to Powergen awarding the festival with an Eco Fete Award, earning organisers a prize package worth £500 to further support the energy saving initiatives.

Phil Biddle, Head of Energy Efficiency at Powergen, said: "When choosing our winners, we looked for the little things that the organisers did to make a big difference and the Chapel Allerton organisers certainly did that, particularly with the introduction of low energy entertainment and the involvement of young local people with recycling."

Over the summer, the energy company has been urging organisers of fairs and festivals throughout the UK to follow simple energy saving tips and enjoy a more environmentally-friendly community event.

Steve Hunter, Event Manager of the Chapel Allerton Arts Festival, said: "We're delighted to have been recognised by Powergen for our efforts in being environmentally friendly. We're going to use the prize money to implement further environmentally friendly initiatives for the festival this year, with some of the money going towards the ‘Bags for Life' and the production of the t-shirts and bags for the ‘Street Crew'. We are so thankful to Powergen for providing us with this money and enabling us to further increase our energy efficiency throughout the festival."

Powergen is part of E.ON, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company, and is the company that sponsors the FA Cup.

Visit our website and see that we are one of the countrys' largest energy suppliers.

Powergen launches ‘Fixed Price Until 2009’

2007-08-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

I came across this bit of news from Powergen and Thought it would be good to share with everyone and let them benefit from this great and generous offer from them.

Powergen has today [20 August 2007] launched its first ever fixed price energy product, which will allow both new and existing customers to fix their energy prices at Powergen's current standard prices until 1 January 2009.

Powergen, which is part of E.ON, has launched the product in response to a recent survey (1) which found that although over a third (35%) of consumers would fix their energy prices to avoid future price fluctuations, over half (57%) don't want to pay a premium for doing so.

Graham Bartlett, Managing Director of Powergen Retail, said: "We're always keen to understand what people really want so we can deliver the products that best meet their needs.

"Fixed Price Until 2009 offers consumers the opportunity to fix the amount they pay at today's standard prices with no tie-ins or exit fees if they change their minds. This is simply a win-win product for people who want complete reassurance with absolutely no hassle."

With Fixed Price Until 2009, customers can:

Benefit from discounts of up to 9% for taking electricity and gas and paying monthly by Direct Debit;

Get 1 Tesco Clubcard Point for every £1 they spend on electricity and gas;

Manage their energy account online and receive paperless bills;

Move home and still take the product with them.

Around half a million Powergen customers have taken advantage of Powergen's price reassurance offers to date (2).

E.ON UK invites locals for a bat-tastic night time walk at Ironbridge Power Station

2007-08-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share a bit of news fromE-on with you all. After all this a blog for news stories.
Gotham City might be the usual habitat for Batman but E.ON UK's Ironbridge Power Station is now inviting local people to take a look at their local bat colony.

Bats, which are the only true flying mammals in the world, have been part of Ironbridge Power Station's nature trail for a long time now and the E.ON UK team is inviting locals to join them on a special night time bat walk around the Buildwas Abbey nature trail.

The bat walk is taking place on Thursday 16th August at 8pm and is FREE to all visitors with members of the Shropshire Bat Group on hand to offer their expertise and bat-watching equipment.

Mary Thornton, Community Liaison Officer at Ironbridge Power Station, said: "At Ironbridge we actively manage our site to encourage biodiversity so we want to know which species of bats we have around Buildwas and how we can best look after their habitat to make sure they stay here.

"Bats often get a bad press as scary night time creatures but they are actually fascinating little mammals, so we hope to offer everyone the opportunity to come along and find out more."

The nature trail is in the grounds of Buildwas Abbey, which was built in the 12th century and home to monks for over three centuries until 1536 when the dissolution of the monasteries brought an end to monastic life at Buildwas.

"We'll truly be walking in the footsteps of the monks who lived in the abbey - it's a magical location and a wonderful spot for discovering new habitats," said Mary. "So we'd encourage anyone interested to come down and join us to learn all about these intriguing animals.

"You'll be able to hear them around the nature trail, and hopefully see them if we have a fine evening, but spaces are limited so please get in touch if you'd like to join us - and don't forget to wear sturdy shoes, bring a torch and some warm clothes - Batmobiles optional!"

For further details and to book your FREE visit, contact the Ironbridge team direct on 01952 435 547.

Not a bad bit of news if I may say so myself.

Fresh News just off the wire!!

2007-08-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share some more news from E-On with all you people who'd like be more friendly to the environment.

Kent school awarded £15,000 by E.ON for wind turbine

Still time for other local community groups to apply to E.ON's environmental fund Energy company E.ON has given a £15,000 grant under its new SOURCE community initiative to Sandwich Technology School towards the cost of installing a 5kW wind turbine.

As well as generating electricity, the school wants to use the turbine to promote a sustainable way of living to minimise its ecological footprint.

Sarah Green, Community Relations Executive with E.ON said: "We know there are plenty of local groups that want to go green by reducing carbon emissions from community buildings, and we are keen to help them contribute to the fight against climate change in this way.

"In addition to the funding available, the website has been designed for simple navigation and brings together all the information community groups need to put their sustainable energy ideas into practice.

"The website contains tips on saving energy and downloadable fact sheets on ways of generating your own power or heat, as well as full details of how to apply for a grant."

The turbine is expected to save the emission of nearly 3,600kg of carbon dioxide each year, and excess electricity not used by the school will be sold back to the national grid.

Susan Hibberd, Eco Schools Co-ordinator for Sandwich Technology School said: "This grant has provided us with the opportunity to make a major step forward in the fight to become more eco-friendly.

"We're aware that as a technology school, we have a heavy carbon footprint, and our wind turbine will go a long way towards cancelling that out.

"We've been working on this project for eighteen months now, and it's fabulous to see it actually becoming a reality."

E.ON, one of the UK's leading green electricity generators, launched its SOURCE fund earlier this year to help with the costs of sustainable energy projects for community buildings.

The fund is backed up by the SOURCE website, which provides information and advice for community groups seeking to become more energy efficient or generate their own energy from sustainable sources.

Applications for funding will be reviewed twice more this year, and the next deadline for applications is 24 August 2007. The website, which contains full details of how to apply for a grant, can be accessed at www.eon-uk.com/source.

The SOURCE fund is still open, and applications will be judged again after each of the next two deadlines (August 24 and December 21);

E.ON is the UK's largest integrated power and gas company - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ over 15,000 people in the UK.
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News, Current Affairs, Politics, World Issues, World News, Free Speach, Conspiracy Theories.

2007-07-31T02:07:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd share a bit news from Powergen with you all today, you might find it of value, you might not, either way someone is bound to benefit from me employing such tactics.

E.ON’s undergraduates making waves in West Midlands

A group of 14 eager E.ON Power Academy scholars had a hands-on induction when they braved the pouring rain to carry out a number of challenges at Kedleston Hall in Derby.

The team helped out staff at the National Trust site by taking on tasks which the staff didn't have the time or resources to complete themselves.

The group worked hard all day clearing hay from fields, painting fences for holiday cottages and filling sandbags in preparation for more heavy rain.

Alastair Mills, one of the willing volunteers, said: "It was a great team building event as it's nice to get out of the office and get to know each other in an informal setting.

"It makes you feel really good to know that you've made a difference by helping out in the community. We all had an enjoyable and productive day - despite the rain!"

Simon Hiley, Head Ranger at the site said: "The team got stuck in and gave it their all, and, most importantly, all of the tasks were undertaken with enthusiasm and a good sense of humour.

"We couldn't have done it all without the help of the team from E.ON, so a big thank you to everyone that helped out."

E.ON UK finds and supports volunteering opportunities which provide a rewarding challenge for employees as part of its wider community relations programme. In 2006, staff spent over 32,000 hours volunteering on projects in their local communities.

E.ON is the UK's largest integrated power and gas company, who also now own Powergen, - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ around 15,000 people in the UK;

Better Late Than Never

2007-07-31T02:07:00.000-07:00