US crude jumped to $60.08 a barrel, its highest point since mid-November, before slipping back to $58.62, up 12 cents from Monday’s close. Brent North Sea crude added 10 cents to $57.58.

The gains came as the euro soared above $1.37, its highest level for one and a half months. A weak dollar stimulates demand for dollar-priced crude because it becomes cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies.  read more

Maybe we’ve been out for the day and we need to heat the living room quickly when we get home in the evening or maybe it was a warm day with a cold night?

I always like to consider the environment when I heat the house. I live in a rented house so have no control over the source of central heating which is oil fueled. If it was my house I would have a wood pellet boiler.
I have solar water heating, and while it heats water no matter how little sunshine, there have been few days this spring that it reached maximum temperature. So it needs a little help.

I used to just switch on the oil and forget about it but now I’ve discovered that Eco heat logs are the perfect solution. They are CO2 neutral, excellent value for money and create UNBELIEVEBALE heat!
So next time you need heat quickly, don’t turn on the oil, light some heatlogs

Further advantages of Kedco’s trucks over conventional trucks for delivery of wood pellets include:

Kedco provide a unique service - we will deliver both bagged and bulk wood pellets straight to your door.

Read more on our wood pellet delivery here

Npower said prices for gas customers would increase by an average 26%, with prices for electricity customers up by 14%, both with immediate effect.

Scottish Power followed a few hours later by announcing it would increase gas prices by an average 34% and electricity prices by 9% from Monday.

The firms have 11.8 million customers between them.

Both blamed the soaring wholesale costs, saying they had made current pricing levels unsustainable.

They are the last of the country’s suppliers to hit households with increases in recent weeks, following moves by British Gas , EDF, E.On and Scottish & Southern Energy.

Npower said the average gas customer would see an average annual increase of £162 with electricity bills rising by an average £60.

The firm claimed that until today its domestic gas prices had been the same as they were 18 months ago following a price decrease in 2007 and an increase in January, but wholesale costs had doubled.

Electricity generation had also been directly affected by the soaring price of raw materials prices, which had increased by 122% for gas and coal and 79% for oil over the last 12 months.

Scottish Power said the average dual fuel customer would see bills increasing by 25%.

(source:Press Association)