Business

Households will pay less for their gas and electricity from today but bills will still be almost double what they were before the energy crisis. The average household energy bill will fall by £426 a year from 1 July after Ofgem dropped its price cap following tumbling wholesale prices. People had been advised to submit

Apple has entered the history books as the first public company to be valued at $3trn. The 47-year-old technology juggernaut, co-founded by Silicon Valley legend, the late Steve Jobs in 1966, officially closed up 2.3% at $193.97 per share at the end of trading on Friday. This brought its market value to $3.04trn – equivalent

A firm in Iceland is pioneering cutting-edge technology that turns CO2 into stone – promising a boost to the global fight against climate change and its devastating consequences. Carbfix takes the greenhouse emissions from industrial plants and dissolves them in water, which is then injected deep underground into porous rock formations such as volcanic basalt,

Rising mortgage rates have yet to hit the housing market but threaten to be a “significant drag” in the short-term, Nationwide has said. However, the high street lender said “a relatively soft landing is still possible” against a backdrop of income growth and modest falls in property prices. The building society also said while typical

An estimated 15.7 million people in the UK experienced postal delays last month, according to new research commissioned by the charity, Citizens Advice. Many of those who experienced delays said they had suffered knock-on impacts, such as missing health appointments, fines or bills. One woman said at least four of her hospital appointment letters were

UK households withdrew a record amount from their savings last month and were more cautious with credit card spending, according to Bank of England data highlighting the extent of the squeeze on consumers. The smallest net increase in monthly unsecured lending this year, at £1.1bn, was recorded by the bank in May. A figure closer

The governor of the Bank of England, which has raised interest rates to a 15-year high, has said the UK labour market and not Brexit is to blame for stubbornly high inflation. Andrew Bailey said the tight jobs market – with near-record low unemployment, more than a million jobs vacancies and wage growth of 7.2%

The National Grid Electricity Systems Operator (ESO) has confirmed it will have no coal-fired power as back-up this winter, if needed, to help keep the lights on. There were five contingency units to call on last winter as the energy market reeled from the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine. They were warmed up several

The chief executive of London’s water provider has resigned with immediate effect after criticism of her £1.6m pay packet and the company’s environmental performance. Thames Water announced its chief executive Sarah Bentley was stepping down after less than three years in the role. The announcement comes just weeks after it was reported that Ms Bentley

Executives from the country’s biggest supermarket chains have defended their grocery prices but backed the idea of greater fuel transparency over claims customers are paying over the odds for both. The business and trade committee of MPs heard representatives of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons deny any suggestion of food profiteering on their part as

Another wave of rail strikes is disrupting train journeys in July – and industrial action announced by the ASLEF and RMT unions will coincide. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has announced more action over pay, jobs, pensions and conditions. This means there will be disruption to both the rail and Tube network across

HSBC is set to leave its home of 20 years at 8 Canada Square in Canary Wharf, and relocate to a site near St Paul’s Cathedral previously occupied by BT. The move, first reported by The Times, is hugely significant in what it says about demand for office space – and not just in London.

The chancellor is urging a focus on rip-off charges ahead of a meeting with UK regulators this week, as stubborn inflation threatens the government’s target of halving inflation this year. Jeremy Hunt is to meet bodies with oversight of key industries such as food and energy in the week after the shock Bank of England

Braemar, the London-listed shipbroker, faces being plunged into crisis as a delay to the publication of its full-year accounts threatens to trigger the suspension of its shares. Sky News has learnt that Braemar, which has a market capitalisation of approximately £92m, is likely to tell investors within days that it will be unable to meet

A logistics technology business run by a 29-year-old entrepreneur has swooped on parts of Tuffnells Parcel Express, the prominent delivery company which collapsed this month with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs. Sky News has learnt that Shift, which was founded by Jacob Corlett, has struck a deal with administrators at Interpath Advisory to

A water company boss has blamed people working from home for a new hosepipe ban.  South East Water will impose the first hosepipe ban of the summer from Monday, affecting more than two million homes and businesses across Kent and Sussex. Its chief executive, David Hinton, said in a letter to customers that post-pandemic working