A £1 billion contract has been awarded for the construction of the first sub-sea electricity link between Scotland and England, energy firms announced today.

The builder Balfour Beatty has won a five-year contract worth up to £750m to upgrade Britain's electricity network.

The energy regulator Ofgem has fined National Grid Gas and Northern Gas Networks £4.3m and £900,000 respectively, for failing to meet mandatory targets for dealing with their gas leaks on time last winter.

Two major utility firms will be fined a combined £5.2 million for failing to attend potentially dangerous gas leaks on time, the energy watchdog said today.

A hi-tech underwater "plug socket" that tests ways of producing energy from wave power has been taken over by the Government.

Services company Carillion has warned 4,500 staff that their jobs are at risk following plans to halve subsidies on solar power.

A light aircraft crashed today near a busy A road, police said today.

Investing in wind farms is more than hot air. It's a chance to use your cash to make a difference, while hopefully making a profit. But it's an investment where returns are at risk, not least from the vagaries of British weather. If the wind doesn't blow hard enough, the wind farm can't generate alternative energy or profits.

As with the banks, so with care homes: some private enterprises are just too important to fail. Gordon Brown had to promise bank depositors their money was safe; now David Cameron has to make a similar promise to the residents of Southern Cross. Profits to shareholders in the good times; losses sent to the taxpayer in bad. The parallels are powerful.

The relatively quiet week could turn noisy on Friday when key US unemployment stats are issued. The non-farm payroll numbers are expected to come in at 195,000 and unemployment is expected to tick down to 8.9 per cent.

It has hardly been a promising run-up to the release tomorrow of Vodafone's full-year figures. The past few weeks have seen disappointing results from a number of its global peers, including Telecom Italia and the Dutch group KPN, while Carphone Warehouse, O2 and Everything Everywhere have all made cautious noises over the UK.

Sky Sports' new pundit Gary Neville is hoping the exorbitant price of tickets for the Champions' League final, travel to Wembley and overnight accommodation (it is an evening kick-off) will not adversely affect the attendance at his testimonial match between Manchester United and Juventus on Tuesday week, from which proceeds will go to local community projects.

Cookies are an integral part of browsing the web. They don't make a fuss and they stay out of sight, quietly getting on with their job – a bit like gravity, or the bloke in charge of managing the National Grid.

Amec surged up the top-tier index yesterday after investors were told that nuclear energy still "remains an area of significant potential" for the engineer, despite the ongoing events in Japan.