Energy Pricing
In my latest article for The Telegraph, I revisit the myth that renewable energy is cheap. Predictably, some people have come back at me with “ah but Lazard says renewables ARE the cheapest form of energy – see their levelised cost analysis”. So let’s [...]
Hot on the heels of widespread annoyance over energy suppliers’ mythical profits, comes a new report from the Centre for Policy Studies saying that the price cap is stifling energy market competition and costing consumers money. In fact, this is just the latest in [...]
Last week Centrica announced its interim results, which saw British Gas profits increase tenfold, setting off predictable outrage from the media and politicians. Journalists have been falling over themselves to criticise the company, and in particular the fact that much of this “windfall” is [...]
The past couple of weeks have seen unusually high levels of gas price volatility across European gas markets. Prices have declined significantly from their highs last August, and the market has coped well with the dramatic reduction in Russian pipeline gas coming into Europe, [...]
There has been a consistent narrative that the cost of building new wind farms is falling, with falling subsidy prices being offered as evidence. I have challenged this narrative in the past, pointing out that evidence from the accounts of windfarms themselves does not [...]
On 25 May, Ofgem announced the new price cap level that will apply from 1 July. The cap level is to fall from £3,280 now to £2,074 for a typical dual fuel household. Of course, consumers currently benefit from the Energy Price Guarantee ("EPG"), [...]
My blog is 7 years old today! This past year has seen some interesting and unexpected developments for my business and my blog. The blog has been more widely read than ever, particularly my articles about Norway, one of which went genuinely viral on [...]
In May last year, the UK Government introduced a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies operating on the UK Continental Shelf (“UKCS”), in response to press stories about “excess” energy company profits. Regular readers will know my feelings about this [...]
For the past year Ofgem has been trying to address concerns around the financial resilience of energy suppliers after half of them went bankrupt in late 2021 following the rapid increase in wholesale prices. Ofgem has been strongly criticised for allowing suppliers to enter [...]
Today Centrica announced record profits of £3.3 billion (actually the company booked a statutory loss after revaluing its hedging book, but this is an accounting quirk due – more of which later). The outrage has been predictable with the company being accused of profiteering [...]