The government has urged public and private sector organisations in receipt of EU funding via the Horizon 2020 programme to register their details before Brexit. Current funding for UK projects under the Horizon 2020 programme stands at around €1bn and the UK has received more than €5bn in funding to date. The government has guaranteed Read more…

Our Power has ceased to trade. The Edinburgh-based supplier was set up in 2016 with backing from the Scottish Government. It was owned by local authorities and social housing providers and had hoped to turn a profit by 2020, though its model was not to distribute profits. The company raised £4.4m in bonds in late Read more…

Hitachi has shelved plans to build a new nuclear power plant in Anglesea, North Wales. The company said it would post an estimated 300 billion yen (£2.14bn) impairment loss as a result, plus 300 billion in other related losses. Hitachi said it hoped to continue discussing a nuclear power programme with the UK government, but Read more…

Government is consulting on changing planning rules for new energy schemes that combine energy storage with other forms of generation. At present, schemes under 50MW go through local planning. Those above 50MW have to go through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime. The department for business, energy and industrial strategy thinks that the 50MW cap Read more…

MPs have scolded Ofgem for failing to punish energy suppliers that are not meeting smart meter obligations. Meanwhile, the business and energy department’s public stance on the 2020 deadline may be starting to soften. Questioned by the Beis Select Committee following a critical report by the National Audit Office (NAO), minister Claire Perry said it Read more…

Economy Energy has ceased trading. The supplier, which had around 240,000 domestic accounts, is the latest casualty of the independent energy supply market and its closure was widely anticipated. Ofgem will now appoint another supplier to take on its customers and ask other energy companies to pick up the tab for its levy liabilities. Energy Read more…

Consultant Andy Pace outlines the cost implications of Ofgem’s incoming changes to residual electricity network charges Ofgem published a consultation on its Targeted Charging Review ‘minded to’ decision and draft impact assessment before Christmas. This minded to decision looks primarily at how the residual element of network charges are recovered both at transmission and distribution. No Read more…

Richard Howard, research director at Aurora Energy Research, outlines key challenges and opportunities facing the energy sector in 2019. Capacity Market suspension: this is right at the forefront of people’s minds and came as a significant shock to the industry. There are a number of scenarios for how this plays out. At one extreme it Read more…

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…