As of April 2022, a week after Ofgem's cap on energy cost was increased, around 72.7 percent of survey respondents reported their car purchasing intentions were impacted by the cost of living crisis in the United Kingdom. Around 30.4 percent of consumers mentioned looking to buy a cheaper car as a result of the crisis, while around 27.3 percent car buyers were not influenced by the price increases.

The average gas price in Great Britain in May 2025 was 82.59 British pence per therm. This was seven pence higher than the same month the year prior and follows a trend of increasing gas prices. Energy prices in the UK Energy prices in the UK have been exceptionally volatile throughout the 2020s. Multiple factors, such as a lack of gas storage availability and the large share of gas in heating, have exacerbated the supply issue in the UK that followed the Russia-Ukraine war. This has also led to many smaller suppliers announcing bankruptcy, while an upped price cap threatened the energy security of numerous households. The United Kingdom has some of the highest household electricity prices worldwide. How is gas used in the UK? According to a 2023 survey conducted by the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 58 percent of respondents used gas as a heating method during the winter months. On average, household expenditure on energy from gas in the UK stood at some 24.9 billion British pounds in 2023, double the amount spent just two years prior.

The New Energy Foundation (NEF) is pleased to announce that grant for Accelerating the Introduction of Hydropower (among the support projects in the initial stage of hydropower generation business (support projects for initial surveys, etc.), the research and design, etc. necessary for evaluating the feasibility of hydropower generation) (for New Business) in FY 2022 is invited to submit the proposals as follows.

1. Subsidised Project Project: Hydropower plants to be newly built or replaced Power generation output expected to be 20 kW or more and less than 30,000 kW

   (1) Hydropower Generation Utility Evaluation Project Expenses required for projects to conduct surveys and designs necessary for feasibility evaluation of hydropower generation at the initial stage of the project by private businesses and local governments (In principle, only outsourcing and lease fees are required.) We will also subsidize part of the expenses for the construction of work paths necessary for surveys over 100 m in total length.

○ Subsidised operators Private operators in ・ who plan to produce small and medium hydropower themselves (corporations and sole proprietors with blue tax returns) ・ Local Government

○ Subsidy rate Up to 1/2 However, grant's upper limit on the sum of labour and research costs per 1 plant shall in principle be 20 million JPY/year if the basic design is included in the subsidised cost, and 10 million JPY/year otherwise. Workway maintenance expenses are limited to 150,000 JPY/10 m (tax not included) multiplied by the distance (10 m rounded down) and the subsidy rate. However, the maximum limit is 10 million JPY.

(2) Hydropower Project Evaluation and Public Offering by Local Governments Of the expenses required for local governments to conduct surveys, designs, etc. of promising hydropower sites in the region and to solicit public offers of power generation companies to develop such sites or operate PFI projects based on the concession method, the Government will subsidize the expenses for preparing materials for public offering and the expenses for the construction of workways necessary for surveys with a total length of 100 m or more.

○ Subsidised operators Local government that surveys potential sites for small and medium hydropower in the region and invites applicants to generate electricity

○ Subsidy rate A flat rate (10/10) for subsidised costs However, grant will limit its research costs (including materials for the public offer) per 1 plant to 20 million JPY/year. Also, path maintenance will be subsidized for 2 years only, up to 150,000 JPY/10 m (not including sales tax) multiplied by the distance (rounded down to the nearest 10 m) and the subsidy rate. However, the maximum amount per 1 Power Station shall be 20 million JPY.

1. Call Period Wednesday, April 20, 2022 to Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Grant applications will be accepted at any time during the Call Period. Depending on when the grant application arrives at the Foundation, examination and grant decisions will be made at the following intervals. 1 Next Deadline: If applications have arrived by Tuesday, May 31, 2022 and are complete, examination will be conducted and a decision will be made by late 6 → Call End 2 Next Deadline: If applications have arrived by Thursday, June 30, 2022 and are complete, examination will be conducted and a decision will be made by late 7 → This Call End 3 Next Deadline: If applications have arrived by Wednesday, September 28, 2022 and are complete, examination will be conducted and a decision will be made by late 10

Note: Please note that the call may be cancelled even during the call period if there are more than budget for grants.

1. budget for grants Amount 700 million JPY

   1. Application Requirements grant Grant Application Form and all required attachments must be submitted electronically (J Grants) (this system). If there are unavoidable circumstances, we accept applications by e-mail. Please refer to the Public Offering Guidelines for details. Please download the application guidelines and forms from "Details" below. It can also be downloaded from the NEF Hydropower Subsidy Website at the following URL:

2. Public Offering Seminars Public Offering Seminars will be held at the following times and locations: (Interview and Online)

   [Interview] 1st 2 GoogleX Tuesday, May 10, 2022 13:30~16:00 Venue: Ikebukuro, Tokyo → done 1st GoogleX Thursday, May 12, 2022 13:30~16:00 Venue: Osaka → done 1st 3 Tuesday, May 17, 2022 13:30~16:00 Venue: Fukuoka → done 1st 4 Thursday, May 19, 2022 13:30~16:00 Venue: Sapporo → done

   Interview 1st 1 Tuesday, May 24, 2022 13:30~16:00 1 Meet→ done 1st 2 Tuesday, June 7, 2022 13:30~16:00 Meet ★ In addition to the above, there will be other online information sessions. For details and application, please refer to the NEF Hydropower Related Subsidy Project Website below.

★ For more information and application, please refer to the NEF Hydropower Subsidy Program website below.

■ Reference URL For more information, please refer to NEF Hydropower Subsidy Program Web Page https://suiryokuhojo.nef.or.jp

■ Contact Information Hydropower Promotion Department, New Energy Foundation, Tokyo 3- 13 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, 2, Immobul Kojima 2 F Phone: 03-6810-0371 E-mail: phpd1@nef.or.jp

Keywords: Hydropower Renewable Energy

The UK inflation rate was 3.4 percent in May 2025, down from 3.5 percent in the previous month, and the fastest rate of inflation since February 2024. Between September 2022 and March 2023, the UK experienced seven months of double-digit inflation, which peaked at 11.1 percent in October 2022. Due to this long period of high inflation, UK consumer prices have increased by over 20 percent in the last three years. As of the most recent month, prices were rising fastest in the communications sector, at 6.1 percent, but were falling in both the furniture and transport sectors, at -0.3 percent and -0.6 percent respectively.
The Cost of Living Crisis High inflation is one of the main factors behind the ongoing Cost of Living Crisis in the UK, which, despite subsiding somewhat in 2024, is still impacting households going into 2025. In December 2024, for example, 56 percent of UK households reported their cost of living was increasing compared with the previous month, up from 45 percent in July, but far lower than at the height of the crisis in 2022. After global energy prices spiraled that year, the UK's energy price cap increased substantially. The cap, which limits what suppliers can charge consumers, reached 3,549 British pounds per year in October 2022, compared with 1,277 pounds a year earlier. Along with soaring food costs, high-energy bills have hit UK households hard, especially lower income ones that spend more of their earnings on housing costs. As a result of these factors, UK households experienced their biggest fall in living standards in decades in 2022/23. Global inflation crisis causes rapid surge in prices The UK's high inflation, and cost of living crisis in 2022 had its origins in the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the initial waves of the virus, global supply chains struggled to meet the renewed demand for goods and services. Food and energy prices, which were already high, increased further in 2022. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 brought an end to the era of cheap gas flowing to European markets from Russia. The war also disrupted global food markets, as both Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of cereal crops. As a result of these factors, inflation surged across Europe and in other parts of the world, but typically declined in 2023, and approached more usual levels by 2024.

On January 1, 2025, the largest volume of Russian crude oil shipments went to India, at around ******* metric tons per day based on a 30-day running average. Since the beginning of 2022, the shipments to the European Union (EU) and the United States have decreased significantly. Both the EU and the U.S. imposed sanctions on oil imports from Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The EU banned seaborne crude oil imports starting from December 5, 2022, while the U.S. banned all imports of oil and petroleum products from Russia on March 8, 2022. Existing deals had to be ended by April 22, 2022. Furthermore, the G7, the EU, and Australia imposed a price cap of 60 U.S. dollars per barrel from December 5, 2022, to reduce Russia's energy export revenue, which is one of its largest sources of income. Which countries started buying more oil from Russia? Faced with Western sanctions on Russian oil, Russia increased crude oil shipments to China, India, Turkey, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. In fact, China contributed the most to Russia's oil export revenue since the war in Ukraine, at approximately *** billion euros as of January 2025. However, the oil price ceiling imposed in December 2022 could make it more difficult for Russia to export to non-Western countries, too. This is because the policy also applies to tankers that belong to the sanctioning countries, as well as those insured or financed by them. For instance, Russian oil cannot be transported to Turkey for a price above the market cap if it is insured by EU or United Kingdom (UK) companies. How much does Russia earn from oil exports? Crude oil has traditionally been the main source of fuel and energy export revenue of Russia. Between February 24, 2022, and January 30, 2025, Russia earned around *** billion euros from oil exports, including crude oil and refined products. Over the same period, EU countries paid around *** billion euros for Russian oil.