The Renewables Obligation – The Annual Mutualisation War Dance

For anyone involved in the electricity industry, the vexed issue of Renewables Obligation mutualisation rears its head every year at around this time and has been particularly noticeable in the last two or three years. So, why is this happening? The Renewables Obligation (RO) imposes read more…

Published on 13th October, 2020

Coping with the impact of COVID-19 in the electricity sector

The business of operating as an electricity supplier in the industrial and commercial market has largely continued without interruption despite the lockdown imposed by the Government in late March. Since then, the true impact of COVID-19 on the electricity sector has become a little clearer read more…

Published on 10th June, 2020

COVID-19 Lockdown – A view from the world of electricity supply

Whilst collecting my thoughts prior to penning this blog, it occurred to me that there’s a strong parallel between what’s happening with the coronavirus lockdown and how the world looks from the point of view of electricity supply. In the case of the pandemic, society read more…

Published on 24th April, 2020

New year, new costs – a changing world for embedded generators

Historically, when embedded (or distribution connected) generation was limited in scale, the costs of using and maintaining the high voltage transmission system were split primarily between transmission-connected generators and end-consumers. Furthermore, embedded generators were positively rewarded as they were viewed as contributing to reduced demand read more…

Published on 17th February, 2020

A Dickens of a tangle!

“And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!” A read more…

Published on 13th December, 2019

What does the net zero emissions target mean for the electricity sector?

“The future is unknowable but the past should give us hope” – Winston Churchill The UK Government has set a legally binding target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 which has certainly put this country on the spot. Many now believe that achieving this read more…

Published on 7th November, 2019

What caused the power blackout in August?

At 5pm on Friday 9th August, there were widespread power failures across England and Wales which resulted in the disconnection of over 1 million customers. About 60 Govia Thameslink trains were affected and all trains out of Kings Cross were suspended causing major travel problems read more…

Published on 9th September, 2019

Electricity Decentralisation – Where is the market heading?

Decarbonisation and the resulting growth of renewable sources of electricity are key drivers in the decentralisation of the UK electricity system. Part of the reason for this is that technological progress has been driving down the lifetime costs of renewable generation technologies thus making decentralisation read more…

Published on 22nd July, 2019

Electricity Supplier Licensing – What does the future hold?

The spate of electricity supplier failures in 2018 and early 2019 has caused some to argue that the sector is out of control, with consumers over-exposed to the poor business practices of ‘fly by night’ operators who have entered the market without sufficient oversight and read more…

Published on 3rd May, 2019

Supplier Failure – Natural Event or Avoidable Calamity?

In 2018, eight companies licensed to supply electricity in the UK market ceased trading and another one was taken over. Subsequently in January 2019, the names of Economy Energy and Our Power were added to the list of casualties. These developments followed a period of read more…

Published on 1st March, 2019