Utility Week

4 | 9TH - 15TH NOVEMBER 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... US exempts eight countries from Iran oil sanctions The Trump administration said on Monday it will exempt China from US sanctions on importing Iranian oil for six months, along with seven other countries. They are Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. The waivers will allow those countries to import limited amounts of Iranian oil for six months. Two of the countries will reduce imports to zero within weeks. Another 20 countries have already halted Iranian imports ahead of US sanctions, depriving Tehran of more than $2.5 billion in oil revenues. Financial Times, 5 November New legal challenge to fracking plans The UK government is facing a fresh legal challenge to its proposals to fast-track new fracking sites by loosening planning regulations. Ministers said this summer they would drop the requirement for shale gas wells to obtain planning permission by designating fracking sites as national infrastructure projects. Greg Clark, the business secretary, used a written ministerial statement to tell local authorities they should abide by a definition of fracking that campaigners say is looser than the current one. The Guardian, 4 November Italy clears up after killer storms Nine people from two families have been killed in Sicily aer their rented villa became submerged when a river burst its banks. Giuseppe Giordano lost his wife, two of his children, his parents and a brother, at the property in Castel- daccia. He survived along with his daughter because they were run- ning an errand when water and mud from the River Milicia swamped the house. The Independent, 5 November STORY BY NUMBERS National media Suppliers still owe over £50m in RO payments S uppliers could still owe more than £50 million in outstanding Renewables Obligation (RO) payments for 2017/18, Utility Week under- stands. An industry source has said some struggling firms may be using the missing money to help keep themselves afloat. The RO scheme requires suppliers to source a certain percentage of the power they sell from renewable sources. Accredited generators receive Renewables Obligation Certifi- cates (Rocs) for each megawatt- hour they produce, with the rate depending on a number of factors including technology type. They can then sell these certificates to suppliers. Suppliers must present enough Rocs to Ofgem each year to demonstrate they have met their yearly obligation and make up any difference with buyout payments. These payments are first used to cover the adminis- tration costs of the scheme, with the rest being returned to suppli- ers in proportion to the number of Rocs they submitted to Ofgem. The buyout rate for 2017/18 was set at £45.58 per Roc. Last month it was revealed an "unprecedented" 34 suppli- ers had missed the 1 September deadline for meeting their obli- gations, and collectively owed almost £103 million in buyout payments. They had until Wednesday (31 October) to make late pay- ments, including interest. However, an industry insider told Utility Week: "There are a number of suppliers who haven't paid, and more than half of that Rocs bill is outstanding. Another industry source suggested the amount still owed could be as high as £70 million. If the outstanding payments following the final deadline exceed a certain threshold known as the relevant shortfall, a process called mutualisation is triggered. A number of suppli- ers are believed to be consider- ing taking legal action against Ofgem if this happens. It is unclear what conse- quences will be faced by any suppliers who did not meet the final payment deadline. AJ Domestic energy debt rises Household energy debt has risen by a quarter over the past year, analysis by the price comparison website Uswitch has indicated. £400m Amount owed by three million households. 2,000 Number of people in the online poll conducted by Opinium, from which the data was extrapolated. 11% Proportion of cus- tomers in arrears. £134 Averaged owed to suppliers. 300,000 Rise in the number of households in debt in the past 12 months. £75m Amount debt increased. "There will still be a Dutch power market. There will still be a UK power market. They will still operate in their own national ways" Mark Duffield, interconnectors regulation manager at National Grid, has given assurances there will be no legal barriers to continued cross-border electricity trading in the case of a no-deal Brexit.

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