Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 23/08/22.
Annual Report: Operation of the Capacity Market in 2020/21 and 2021/22 – Ofgem
22 August 2022. The Electricity Capacity Regulations 2014 (as amended) require Ofgem to provide the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy with an annual report on the operation of the Capacity Market. The report describes Auction outcomes, including Prequalification processes and observations:
Link: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/annual-report-operation-capacity-market-202021-and-202122
News: Regen outlines recommendations to reduce balancing, manage constraint costs in new paper – Current News
19 August 2022, George Heynes. Regen has released a new insight paper identifying seven potential solutions to reduce the cost of balancing and managing constraints, which has already reached £1.2 billion in the last 12 months:
News: Energy bills: Customers can’t carry cost of Ukraine war, boss says – BBC News Online
22 August 2022, Jennifer Meierhans. UK households cannot carry the cost of the Ukraine war which is set to push energy bills even higher, the boss of Octopus Energy has said:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62630787
News: Industry unites behind plan for crisis fund to control soaring energy bills – Guardian Online
18 August 2022, Alec Lawson. A state-backed ‘deficit tariff scheme’ supported by banks would freeze energy bills at their current rate:
News: Good Law Project claims Ofgem has ‘neglected’ vulnerable households as it threatens court action – Current News
17 August 2022, George Heynes. The Good Law Project has threatened Ofgem with court action should it fail to comply with its legal duties to protect vulnerable customers amid plans to raise the energy price cap:
News: Ofgem director Christine Farnish resigns over price cap change – BBC News Online
18 August 2022. A non-executive director at energy regulator Ofgem has quit over changes to the way the energy price cap is set:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62578614
News: Pressure mounts as three quarters of Tories back Labour’s £29bn emergency energy plan – City AM
15 August 2022, Leah Montebello. Three quarters of Tories back Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to freeze energy bills as pressure mounts on Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to come up with a clear strategy to address the “national emergency” for Brits:
News: Centrica and Octopus back plan to freeze UK energy bills for two years – Guardian Online
15 August 2022, Alex Lawson. ‘Tariff deficit fund’ proposed by ScottishPower and Eon would involve banks putting cash into state-backed fund:
News: Labour’s plan to cut energy bills ‘may cost £60 billion’ – The Evening Standard
16 August 2022, Nicholas Cecil. Labour’s plan to tackle the energy bills crisis could end up costing £60 billion, leading economists said on Monday. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the cost of the proposal could eventually double from Labour’s estimate of £30 billion over six months:
Open consultation: Review of the energy intensive industries exemption scheme – Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
12 August 2022. Views sought on amendments to the exemption scheme for energy intensive industries (EIIs) from the indirect costs of funding the government’s renewable electricity policies. This consultation closes at 11:45pm on 16 September 2022:
News: Government seeks to further improve diversity of energy supply by boosting biomass – Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP
11 August 2022. The government has launched a consultation on how to support the development of biomass energy generation with associated carbon captured in the UK over the next decade:
News: Energy bill crisis is on scale of pandemic, Martin Lewis says – BBC News Online
10 August 2022, Becky Morton. The situation with energy bills is “a national crisis” on the scale of the Covid pandemic, Martin Lewis has said:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62483770
News: Liberal Democrats call for scrapping of energy price cap rise – BBC News Online
9 August 2022. The Lib Dems have called for October’s expected energy price cap rise to be scrapped, with the cost covered by a windfall tax on energy company profits: