Co-op Energy has today announced plans to cut their gas and electricity prices by an average of 3% from 1^st February 2012. The reduced costs will provide annual savings of up to £35 per year for Co-operative Energy customers, making their tariffs cheaper than any offered by the Big Six.

Small energy companies do not purchase their energy so far in advance as the bigger energy companies and are therefore able to benefit from any reduction in wholesale prices. The Big Six are unlikely to follow suit as they have possibly already purchased the energy they plan to sell over the next few months.

Homesun, Friends of the Earth and SolarCentury have won their appeal to challenge the government on the recent cuts to the solar feed in tariff.

The government made the shock announcement back in October that the current FIT tariff of 43.3p per kWh would be slashed to 21p per kWh on all installations not completed by 12^th December 2011. Friends of the Earth and both solar companies have challenged that the move made 11 days before the end of the announced consultation period was unlawful.

A judicial review will be held next week and the solar companies are calling for the FIT tariff to remain at the higher rate until 1 April 2012.

Consumer focus has reported a rise in complaints to the big six energy companies based on the July to September 2011 figures.

Each company is awarded a star rating based on the number of complaints received per 100,000 customers.

EDF achieved the lowest ranking with zero stars. This makes the company the first to have a zero rating in the league table and means that the company has 150 complaints or more per 100,000 customers. EDF have acknowledged the issue and are taking steps to rectify the problem.

SSE was top of the league with a 5 star rating, delighted to be the only company in this position and able to boast about having fewer than 50 complaints per 100,000 customers.

Npower achieved a 2 star rating and E.ON a 3 star rating. British gas received 4 stars and Scottish Power 3 stars.

Communication was listed as being a main complaint factor particularly where customers were struggling to speak to the supplier on the phone. Another irritation was regarding back billing where higher bills are submitted to a customer due to previous undercharging by their supplier.

Research published by uSwitch has discovered that only 19% of households have made energy efficient improvements to their homes despite energy bills rising by 21% this year.

The research indicates that the greatest problem lies with the upfront cost associated with making energy efficient upgrades although 6 out of 10 consumers do realise that it will save them money in the long run. Another worrying factor is that over 52% of consumers had no idea that there are grants available to them to make these energy efficient upgrades.

For consumers who have made green improvements to their homes listed reasons such as concerns of a cold winter (40%) and price increases in energy bills (65%) as to what encouraged them to do it.

Kevin Sears from uSwitch.com understands the dilemma consumers face but says that

"For many, the concern is whether the savings will outstrip the cost. But with winter approaching, and energy bills having rocketed by 21% within the last year, it's more important than ever that consumers are able to cut back on the amount of energy they use by being more energy efficient."

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The government has announced that an extra £30m worth of funding has been allocated towards energy efficiency improvements to public sector buildings and to provide local communities with finance towards renewable technologies.

Chris Huhne announced that £10m will be part of the new Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF), which will be managed by the Energy Saving Trust and community groups such as parish councils are invited to apply online for funding of up to £50,000 for their community projects.

The remaining £20m will be allocated to the Salix scheme which provides low interest loans for energy efficiency projects to schools, hospitals and public sector buildings.