Retail Market
Back in February I wrote an analysis of energy supplier OVO, concluding that it faced a real risk of ceasing to trade in the coming 12 months. This week, after being for sale for some time, OVO, the 4th largest supplier by market share [...]
Having written about the somewhat dubious goings on at Octopus Energy recently (still nothing on Companies House about the Kraken de-merger), here is my analysis of the OVO Group's published accounts, which indicate the business is, in my opinion, in seriously bad shape with [...]
I’m writing this in the middle of the night during a business trip to the US, so it feels appropriate that the line “miles to go before I sleep” by American poet Robert Frost is ringing in my ears - a line that captures [...]
With the start of October, the new retail price cap for British households comes into force. The cap level for Q4 24 is £1,717, £149 more than for Q3 2024, for an average dual fuel household paying through standard credit. It is likely that [...]
Today Ofgem has launched a couple of new price cap consultations (wholesale costs review and additional debt costs review consultation) which both close on 17 January. The debt costs review in particular has hit the headlines and is widely being reported as a done [...]
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 [...]
I have frequently been critical of Ofgem in its regulation of the retail energy sector, advocating for the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) to take over, so it has been deeply disappointing to see the extent to which the FCA has been asleep at the [...]
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"), [...]
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 [...]