Utility Week

4 | 31ST JANUARY - 6TH FEBRUARY 2020 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... Ofgem's price cap fails to close the energy gap The gap between the cheapest deal available and the cap has widened to £312, according to Mark Todd, co- founder of energyhelpline.com. He said the price cap could therefore be cut by £60 to £1,119 a year because wholesale gas and electricity prices had sunk to a ten- year low. Todd said that wholesale energy costs for an average user had dropped by £66 over the past year. He expected the cap for cus- tomers with prepayment meters to fall from £1,218 to £1,166. The Sunday Times Bulb's business strategy in question For Bulb, the self-styled east London energy start-up, the aim was to "disrupt" the UK's stale gas and electricity market. What it has so far found, however, is that like most technology start-ups, aggres- sively stealing market share while haemorrhaging money only works if you have very deep pockets. Elchin Mammadov, a senior utilities analyst at Bloomberg Intel- ligence, said: "Bulb is an energy supplier, not a tech company. It has to show that it can be profitable, or it could become another WeWork." Daily Telegraph Nuclear sector calls for new funding model The nuclear industry is launching a last-ditch appeal to ministers about the merits of the power source ahead of a decision on a crucial funding deal that could determine developers' appetite. This week, Dr Tim Stone, chair- man of the Nuclear Industry Asso- ciation and a former government adviser, will tell industry leaders that the government and energy sector needs "credible plans" to grow the amount of energy generated from low-carbon energy sources. Daily Telegraph Press roundup Networks failing to show 'true leadership' on net zero T he RIIO2 challenge group has lamented a lack of "true leadership" among network operators when it comes to decarbonisation, stat- ing that none of the companies that submitted business plans to Ofgem in December have been "genuinely proactive". The only exception was the Electricity System Operator (ESO) at National Grid, which showed "laudable ambition" in committing to make the power grid ready for zero carbon operation by 2025. However, the expert panel also highlighted ambiguity over the ESO's future role and called for the situation to be "clarified without delay". In its report on the submis- sions, the challenge group said "all companies have upped their game" when compared with current price controls, but "none have shown true leadership". "Whole-system thinking in particular needs further develop- ment and very few companies have fully engaged with the wide range of potential paths that may be required to meet net zero, particularly as it is for all a game-changing, and for some, an existential, issue." The report praised Cadent and the transmission arm of SP Energy Networks for discussing the issue in an "informed and intelligent way" and consider- ing a range of scenarios, while "drawing on objective sources of evidence, not simply industry perspectives". It said they, along with National Grid Electricity Transmission, put forward "substantive new proposals". "The better plans also include non-asset-related issues, such as billing methodologies, as well as the implications for assets," it added. "Poorer plans lack ambition, analysis and detail. They focus on scenarios that maximise the role of their company, rather than on alternatives, and are not fully informed by outside expert analysis." The challenge group said net zero would require co-ordinated policy on the whole energy sys- tem but it is "not at present clear who will drive that policy". "While there are arguments for the ESO to take a greater overall leadership role," it explained, "this also presents significant challenges and may have unintended consequences. "We think that this is an area that must be clarified without delay." TG See RIIO2 news, p13 "We can summon up the moral courage and imagination this moment demands of us" London Mayor Sadiq Khan pledges to make London carbon neutral by 2030. STORY BY NUMBERS Challenger brands soar Challenger energy brands dominate the Which? annual customer satis- faction survey; incumbents con- tinue to languish. 1st Octopus Energy came out on top for the second year running, with just 11 per cent saying they had experienced a problem in the past year. 2nd Ebico, supplied by Robin Hood Energy, came second, while Robin Hood itself plummeted from second place last year to 20th, tied with Boost Energy and Utilita. 1/3 Proportion of British Gas customers who said they had had a problem in the past year. • However, the Energy Ombuds- man said it would be unfair to char- acterise all large suppliers as bad.

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