Retail Market
Back in February The Times published an exposé into the forced installation of pre-payment meters ("PPMs") by British Gas among others. The article created a huge scandal, putting British Gas in particular in the cross-hairs of politicians, the media and Ofgem. However, I had [...]
Two weeks ago I summarised the hearings held in late February before the Administrative Court in the application for a judicial review of sale of Bulb Energy to Octopus Energy in a deal involving a subsidy worth up to £4.5 billion. I concluded that: [...]
At the end of February I attended five of the six sessions of the application for a judicial review (“JR”) of the decision to sell Bulb to Octopus Energy which was heard in the Administrative Court. Since I missed the final session I had [...]
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 [...]
The Octopus takeover of Bulb which was announced in November is now subject to a legal challenge from a group of the company’s rivals who argue that it received preferential treatment from the Government. Bulb collapsed in November 2021 and was placed into Special [...]
In July, the BEIS Select Committee published a damning report into Ofgem’s performance, committed to greater oversight of the regulator, and made a series of recommendations, to both the Government and Ofgem, to improve retail energy market regulation. Government gives the Committee the brush [...]
Back in July, Ofgem launched a consultation on plans to boost financial resilience in the retail energy sector, in which it made three key proposals: Protecting consumer credit balances and Renewables Obligation (“RO”) payments: Ofgem believes there is a “good case” for insuring or [...]
Yesterday the new Chancellor. Jeremy Hunt, issued a new Budget for the UK in his Autumn Statement, reversing most of the policies in the Truss/Kwarteng Growth Plan. The Statement heralds significant tax increases for just about everyone, with several announcements relating to the energy [...]
Today National Gris ESO has officially launched the Demand Flexibility Service it announced in its Winter Outlook after Ofgem approved the scheme. It will run from today until 31 March 2023 allowing both businesses and households to be paid for reducing demand in times [...]
Over the weekend, the Government announced that failed supplier Bulb which entered Special Administration back in November last year, is to be acquired by rival Octopus Energy. Although the sale process was described as “competitive” it is widely believed that there only ever was [...]