Featured Posts
Gas market tightness causing prices to surge and questions over security of supply
Gas market tightness has caused prices to rise sharply over the past few weeks, not only pushing electricity prices [...]
Circling the drain: the prospect of bailouts in the energy sector
Today the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has raised the prospect of nationalising parts of the electricity industry. Of course, [...]
With tight margins and high prices, was Winter 2020 a sign of things to come?
Winter 2020 was a bumpy ride in the GB electricity market. Electricity Margin Notices ("EMN") (the new name for [...]
Recent Posts
A tough environment for small suppliers as Future Energy collapses
Within days of my post last week where I speculated on the future of smaller energy suppliers, another of them ceased trading. Future Energy, a Tyneside-based supplier with 12,000 customers announced on Thursday that it was closing, citing the [...]
Retail energy market: does size matter?
The collapse of GB Energy in November 2016 was seen by many as the start of a market correction, with other small independent suppliers being seen as vulnerable to rising prices and higher volatility. In the event, 2017 was [...]
Updating frequency control and reserve markets
In December, National Grid published a new roadmap for its frequency control and reserve markets, setting out the principles which are to govern the development of balancing services products with a view to providing greater clarity and investor certainty. [...]
Review of 2017 and the key themes for 2018
A year ago I set out my key themes for 2017, and as predictions go it was definitely a mixed bag! In this post I review the key themes of 2017 and look forward to the current year. What [...]
A recent discovery strikes an interesting note
This time of year is full of music, with carol singers out in force and the ubiquitous Christmas “hits” playing on loop in every store, but a recent discovery has brought music to mind in a different way... The [...]
GB gas market: do recent gas infrastructure failures signal trouble ahead?
The past few weeks have seen unseasonably cold weather in the UK - we even had a dusting of snow in London(!) - which has inevitably put pressure on energy supplies, particularly against the backdrop of the Rough closure. [...]
Smoke and mirrors: talking up battery storage
There has been quite a bit of news-flow about battery storage over the past couple of weeks. There was the announcement that Elon Musk had succeeded in his bid to delivery the world's largest battery storage facility to South [...]
The UK’s new nuclear saga rumbles on, but ABWR reactors may provide hope
The saga of the UK's attempts to re-invigorate its nuclear industry continues, with further criticism of Hinkley Point C, this time by the Public Accounts Committee, speculation that an investor has finally been found for the Moorside project, and [...]
Is it time to look differently at security of supply?
National Grid's outlook for the coming winter is somewhat more positive in capacity terms than in previous winters, with a capacity margin of 6.2 GW or 10.3%. "We are confident that we have the right products and strategy in [...]
Life after Rough: what next for the UK gas market?
Last week the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") announced that it has provisionally accepted an application from Centrica for the company to be released from the historic undertakings relating to the Rough gas storage facility. The application came on [...]
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