The key challenge for 2019 and beyond will be regulation keeping pace with innovation, writes Verv chief executive, Peter Davies. He thinks 2019 is about joining the dots between learning and actually doing. Innovation outpacing regulation has often been the case in the energy sector. But now more than ever, the consequences of it falling Read more…

Centrica has launched legal proceedings against energy regulator Ofgem over the way it has calculated the incoming price cap on standard variable tariffs. The company said it is not challenging the price cap itself and does not expect its implementation to be delayed. But it is challenging Ofgem’s “decision not to investigate and correct its Read more…

Energyst Media has acquired New Power, a subscription-based expert resource for those interested in developments within the UK energy industry. A comprehensive source of insight and knowledge, New Power examines the challenges of moving from a central high-carbon power system to one that will provide heat and power securely, affordably and with minimal carbon dioxide emissions. Read more…

Energy suppliers have liabilities of hundreds of millions of pounds and more are likely to go bust. Those left standing will have to pick up the tab and pass it on to their customers, according to Chris Bowden, MD of business clean energy supplier Squeaky Energy. Bowden has decades of experience in finance and energy, Read more…

Iberdrola and Drax have amended terms of their proposed £700m deal to include a risk share mechanism in case Capacity Market (CM) revenues are reduced or fail to materialise. Iberdrola aims to sell Drax 2.6GW of gas, pumped storage and hydro assets. However, the deal was undermined by the suspension of the Capacity Market last month. Read more…

Ofgem has allocated £46.8m to energy networks so that they can trial new ways of keeping local and national power grids stable and determine how higher blends of hydrogen might work in the gas grid. The regulator invites bids for innovation trials each year from network companies so that they can try new approaches to Read more…

Ofgem intends to impose fixed charges on all users of the electricity system and do away with usage based charges. The regulator is consulting on whether to implement transmission and distribution charging regime change in 2021 or phase it in between 2021 and 2023. Ofgem also plans to cut embedded benefits further for small generators Read more…

Extra Energy has ceased trading. The firm had 21,000 business customers, mostly SMEs, and around 100,000 household customers. Market participants believe more small suppliers could go under this winter as they struggle to balance their books. Ofgem today set out plans to ensure new suppliers have adequate capital and resource before they are granted licences. Read more…

Ofgem has proposed new rules for new energy suppliers. They will have to demonstrate they have the money and the resource to operate for at least a year before being granted a licence. The move comes as small suppliers feel the bite of rising prices and inadequate balance sheets often in combination with poorly executed Read more…

The European Court ruling and subsequent suspension of the Capacity Market (CM) stunned the market. What are the implications? Most large suppliers are working out their positions. For aggregators, what happens to payments, whether customers should or will respond to stress events this winter – and what happens to agreements secured for next winter and Read more…

Energy suppliers face a cocktail of risk and the cracks are starting to appear in the business models of both large and small firms. There is a significant chance that more will soon go bust or withdraw from the market, says Jo Butlin. Like all dot-to-dot pictures, it is only when the dots are joined Read more…

The Health & Safety Executive has given consent to companies planning to inject a blend of hydrogen into Keele University’s private gas network. The companies can now start work in earnest on a trial funded as part of Ofgem’s Network Innovation Competition, which enables regulated electricity and gas companies to try novel approaches that would Read more…

ITM Power has been given government funding to commence feasibility studies for a 100MW power-to-gas storage project at Runcorn. Project Centurion aims to demonstrate an energy storage system that helps deliver decarbonisation across heat, transport and industry. It explores hydrogen production via electrolysis, transportation and salt cavern storage as well as gas grid injection at Read more…

The UK’s gas and electricity networks invite all energy stakeholders, innovators and pioneers to join them on 16-17 October for the eighth annual Low Carbon Network Innovation (LCNI) Conference in Telford. As innovation in energy is moving so quickly, this is the best place for stakeholders from the world of energy and beyond to come Read more…

Simec Atlantis Energy has hired former Drax conversion manager Ernie Rowe to spearhead conversion of the Uskmouth coal power station to a 220MW energy from waste (EfW) plant. The company thinks conversion to EfW could deliver a second life for coal-fired power stations. In the UK, unabated coal has to come off the system by Read more…

SSE has installed 1 million smart meters, which means it has rolled out some 275,000 since the start of the year. The firm reported it had installed 725,000 as of 31 December 2017. SSE said it continues to increase the rate of installation, but to hit the 2020 deadline it must install a further six Read more…

Npower faces a £2.4m penalty for failing to meet the deadline to install advanced meters at business customer sites, and for installing standard meters at some sites when it should have installed advanced ones. Ofgem said the fine should serve as a warning to suppliers as the 2020 smart meter deadline approaches. The fine is Read more…