Energy Pricing
One of my readers drew my attention to this article about recent Australian electricity price spikes. The combination of a heatwave and an unplanned outage at the 1,050 MW Loy Yang B coal-fired power station were widely reported as causing the shortages leading to [...]
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. Described in more detail below, [...]
In my previous post, I described the findings of Dieter Helm's review into electricity pricing. Here I will explore in more detail the section on supply costs and his recommendation that a default electricity tariff be implemented, which is particularly relevant in light of [...]
Yesterday the Government published its draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill, essentially imposing caps on some energy bills until 2020, with a possibility of extending until 2023. "The Government wants markets to thrive and we continue to promote competition as the best [...]
Earlier this week, the Government published the results of the second round of CfD auctions, which saw offshore wind secure contracts at lower than expected levels. CfDs were introduced as part of the Energy Market Reform, largely to replace the Renewables Obligation regime which [...]
On 25 July, Ofgem launched a consultation as part of its review of the Secure & Promote licence condition. Secure and Promote was introduced in 2013 to improve liquidity and market access for small and new entrant electricity suppliers. Small suppliers face a number [...]
The Government has this week appointed Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at Oxford University, to lead a review into the cost of energy. He will chair a panel of experts including Nick Winser, executive director at National Grid and former Conservative MP Laura [...]
The press and politicians are currently full of outrage at the announcement by British Gas of a 12.5% increase in its electricity prices from September, describing the rise as "extortionate", "unjustified" and a "slap in the face" to families, and once again there are [...]
On the 12th July, Ofgem issued an open letter launching the process for establishing the next round of price controls, known as "RIIO-2", for the GB gas and electricity systems. These price controls determine the amount of allowable expenditure for network companies (which includes [...]
The market has been waiting with bated breath for Ofgem’s decision on its proposed changes to the embedded benefit regime, since its statement in March that it was “minded to” implement a change to the CUSC that would limit the demand residual ("TDR") component of [...]