New energy needs a new market. Not for the first time, global energy markets are in turmoil. Internationally traded gas prices more than quadrupled in 2021. In their wake, many energy suppliers have gone bust and household bills across Europe are set to soar. Energy prices are driving up the cost of living and inflation,
Yesterday (3 January), Ofgem announced a 54% increase in the price cap for the summer period, due to the ongoing energy crisis. In response, chancellor Rishi Sunak set out a number of measures in an effort to manage the impact this will have on consumers. This includes a £9.1 billion one-off repayable discount, a council tax
In 2017 the UK’s biggest gas storage facility, Rough, closed after the Government refused to subsidise costly repairs Britain has been hit harder than its European neighbours by the energy price crisis, in part because it has very little gas storage capacity. Gas stores can act as a buffer against rising energy prices by enabling countries to
Octopus Energy has increased its export tariffs by 36%, as energy prices in the UK remain at record highs. As such, its Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) (export only customers) tariff has increased from 3p/kWh to 4.1p/kWh, and its Fixed Outgoing Octopus tariff has increased from 5.5p/kWh to 7.5p/kWh. The change came into force at
There are 12 suppliers in the UK that are technically insolvent and therefore at risk of collapse, according to analysis from accountants Price Bailey. It looked at the credit risk scores and balance sheet information of the 22 remaining suppliers – with the analysis excluding the big six and two businesses with suppressed risk
Spiralling UK energy prices and the collapse of several power suppliers recently has illustrated the danger of over-reliance for our energy needs on large companies. And with the rise of distributed renewable power sources, such as roof top solar and battery storage, the time is ripe for a re-think of our energy systems. The
The long-term sustainability of the energy sector is at risk from the short-term measures being considered as a solution to the energy crisis. Currently policy makers are focusing too heavily on solutions to manage the upcoming price cap increase, in particular the Default Tariff Cap, without treating the root cause of the energy crisis,
Labour has called for a windfall tax on North Sea Oil and Gas companies to help fund measures to protect households from expected energy bill increases in April. Oil refinery plant at night With gas prices throughout Europe going up exponentially in 2021 and remaining high into 2022, the price cap is
Used lithium-ion batteries taken from carmaker Audi’s electric vehicles (EVs) have been repurposed into a ‘second-life’ stationary energy storage system by energy company RWE at a project in Herdecke, Germany. RWE has deployed the system, which has a capacity of around 4.5MWh, at the site of its pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant at
New data has shown that power from fossil fuels on Britain’s electricity grid fell to an all-time low last week, delivering the UK’s greenest Christmas. The data – from Drax Electric Insights – shows that at 23:45 on Wednesday 29 December, fossil fuels generated 1.7GW of electricity, with this just 6% of the power