Energy Policy
Today the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has raised the prospect of nationalising parts of the electricity industry. Of course, it isn’t couched in those terms, but the Government has announced that it will appoint a Special Administrator to run any supplier that fails if [...]
In the year and a half from the beginning of 2020 to July 2021 UK power day-ahead prices effectively doubled, and everyone from suppliers, three of whom have closed in recent weeks, and another two today: Utility Point and People’s Energy, to end consumers [...]
This week the National Audit Office (“NAO”) has published a damning report into the Government’s failed Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme. The scheme was originally announced in July 2020, as part of the UK’s “green recovery” from the pandemic, with £1.5 billion funding being [...]
Last week I was invited to speak at the Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum on the subject of smart energy markets. The transcript of my speech is below: Developing smart energy markets for suppliers and consumers - modernising entry rules, delivering smart [...]
The Government has finally announced a review of so-called “green tariffs” to assess whether suppliers are communicating appropriately with consumers, or whether they are engaging in “greenwashing”. According to the Government, 9 million British households are now on green tariffs, with over half of [...]
From 1 April 2023 the way that Balancing Services Use of System (“BSUoS”) costs are recovered could change - Ofgem is proposing to exempt generators from the charges and to recover the costs solely from end consumers. This would likely prompt a reduction in [...]
Yesterday I had the pleasure of addressing the All Party Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies (and was delighted to be confirmed as the newest member of the PGES Executive Council). Along with Richard Norris from Pandreco and Mike Lakin from Envoi, we discussed the [...]
Shortly after I published my post on the use of coal on the GB electricity system in Winter 2020, there was excitment after the G7 nations (United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan) announced they would end state support for unabated coal-fired [...]
Last month saw the launch of the UK Emissions Trading System (“UK ETS”), which replaces the EU equivalent which the country left at the beginning of the year with the implementation of Brexit. The first auctions on ICE took place on 19 May with [...]
Over the last couple of years, Britain’s ongoing reliance on coal has been the subject of a few of my posts. Despite the “coal-free” days hype in the summer, the continued use of coal in winter goes unremarked. But the year-round economics for thermal [...]