Podcasts from Share Radio Breakfast related to Personal Finance - Energy

Companies vying to build nuclear power stations in the UK have been told they must offer lower electricity prices than that approved for the Hinkley Point plant last year. Government officials have indicated that future projects will be expected to deliver a discount of at least 15-20% on the price of electricity from the £18bn Hinkley plant in Somerset - a settlement widely criticised for its high cost. To discuss this further, Dr Jenifer Baxter, Head of Energy and Environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, joined Nigel Cassidy on Share Radio Breakfast.

Oil prices are sitting at their highest level in a year. For now, financial markets seem convinced the Opec cartel's new deal to limit global crude production will stick. Motoring organisations have already warned petrol prices may rise by 9p a litre, adding about £5 to the average cost of filling up a car. But what of Oil's cousin, natural gas. How has the market for that been affected? Matt Cox has been hearing from Edgar van der Meer, Senior Analyst at industry specialists NRG Expert.

OPEC has reached a deal to cut oil supplies for the first time since the global financial crisis in 2008, prices are expected to rise above $50 a barrel as countries with large oil reserves like Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies accepted big reductions in production. OPEC decided to cut 1.2m barrels a day to about 32.5m b/d for six months from early 2017 after six hours of talks in Vienna. Our energy expert in Vienna Peter Bild joined the show to discuss.

There are calls for Ofgem to look at how to better protect energy consumers from their supplier going out of business. It comes as 160,000 energy customers face uncertainty, after GB Energy Supply was forced to shut down. USwitch is calling on the regulator to look at how suppliers can cope with fluctuating wholesale energy prices more effectively. James Brydges spoke to Claire Osborne, an energy expert from USwitch, about the increase in wholesale prices.

Energy suppliers are allegedly making larger profits than they admit. The Sun Newspaper claimed they could be making a 24% profit margin, almost six times higher than figures provided by regulator Ofgem. The newspaper based its claims on a PwC report commissioned by Energy UK. Energy UK rejects the claims saying they were "a misrepresentation of facts". But now Business Secretary Greg Clark has started an investigation. To get a clearer grasp on the situation and the upcoming investigation, Matt Cox spoke to Senior Analyst at NRG Expert, Edgar van der Meer.