Featured Posts
Why Norway’s views on energy security should ring alarm bells across Europe
Norway's energy security would appear to be a done deal, yet the past couple of years have been very [...]
BEIS Select Committee set to increase oversight of Ofgem after accusing the regulator of incompetence
This week, the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee published its report on its inquiry [...]
Addressing the high real cost of renewable generation
Over the past few months we have been inundated with claims from interested parties that more renewables are the [...]
Recent Posts
The DFS was activated for the first time but was it really needed?
This week National Grid ESO has activated its Demand Flexibility Service (“DFS”) for the first time. The scheme was used for 1 hour on Monday 23 January and 1.5 hours the following day. The coal reserves were also placed [...]
Expensive energy subsidies to be scaled back
Back in October, the Government put in place energy subsidies for households and businesses, designed to protect them from the impact of high energy prices. For households, the intention was to reduce the number of people that would be [...]
Gas prices have halved in recent weeks but it may be too soon for optimism
Gas prices have fallen across the curve in recent weeks, returning to levels last seen before the war in Ukraine (but still higher than they were before the covid recovery began in September 2021). The reasons for these reductions [...]
War in Ukraine will continue to drive energy markets in 2023
It’s always interesting at the start of the year to look back at what I was thinking this time last year. In my opening remarks I said: “I suspect that by the end of 2022 we will have finally [...]
A brief history of Christmas dinner
Last year’s Christmas blog, while definitely tongue in cheek, was a little bleak, and this year has been bleak enough without adding more, however light-hearted. So, I thought I’d explore a slightly different aspect of energy: traditional Christmas fuel [...]
The EU gas price cap may disturb the markets to little benefit
This week the EU finally acted on gas prices by agreeing a cap. Under the “market correction mechanism” which is due to come into force on 15 February 2023 and last for one year, gas contracts traded on European [...]
Government brushes off BEIS Select Committee recommendations
In July, the BEIS Select Committee published a damning report into Ofgem’s performance, committed to greater oversight of the regulator, and made a series of recommendations, to both the Government and Ofgem, to improve retail energy market regulation. Government [...]
Ofgem waters down financial resilience proposals
Back in July, Ofgem launched a consultation on plans to boost financial resilience in the retail energy sector, in which it made three key proposals: Protecting consumer credit balances and Renewables Obligation (“RO”) payments: Ofgem believes there is a [...]
Another low-wind Capacity Market Notice with more tightness expected
On Monday 28 November, National Grid ESO issued the second Capacity Market Notice (“CMN”) of the winter, again on a day with low wind output. Although the Notice was cancelled after around half an hour, it is certainly a [...]
The first Capacity Market Notice of Winter 22 indicates difficult times ahead
Just after 2:30 yesterday afternoon, National Grid ESO issued the first Capacity Market Notice (“CMN”) of the winter, predicting a spare generation margin of just 177 MW at 7pm – CMNs are issued automatically if the margin drops below [...]
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