MSE News: Boost for 675,000 NI electricity customers as prices drop

Former_MSE_Guy

"Power NI is cutting prices, with the announcement coming a day after SSE said it is raising household bills ..."

Read the full story:
Boost for 675,000 NI electricity customers as prices drop

Newaccount

Shows up SSE for what they are. A bunch of rip off merchants:mad:

alinwales

based on the 'prices are down from where they were 12 months ago but up from january', I guess SSE are just anticipating an increase in costs and passing it on even before they have to. This is even worse than reacting fast to a wholesale rise!

jamesd

There is a single wholesale energy market for those on Ireland. The wholesale prices there are not based on those in Great Britain but on their local Ireland market.

It's interesting to observe such differences and with changes to subsidy rates for consumables like the carbon floor price in Great Britain the difference between prices on Ireland and in Great Britain may rise significantly.

Which wholesale prices were reported in the story, the ones for Great Britain or Ireland? I don't see both so the prices are going to be wrong for one of the two suppliers.

Consumerist

jamesd wrote: »

There is a single wholesale energy market for those on Ireland. The wholesale prices there are not based on those in Great Britain but on their local Ireland market.

So, are you saying Ireland doesn't buy energy from the European energy market, as Britain does ?

Newaccount

Lets face it. All of these Utility companies are rip-offs & are going to milk us for every penny they can get.

They always say they 'buy ahead' that's their justification for big rises.

Well they must employ some of the most inept buyers possible then. Because a few months back wholesale energy prices had a big dip.

Surely (You would have thought) they must have bought a decent amount at those cheaper prices :idea:

Seemingly not. Either that or they are just screwing us over. I know which one I believe :mad:

Nothing will be done about these unjustified rises because nothing ever is .

jamesd

Consumerist wrote: »

So, are you saying Ireland doesn't buy energy from the European energy market, as Britain does ?

As the consultation on carbon price support from HM Treasury says:

4.33 The combined import and export of electricity is limited by the current capacity of interconnections to around 3 per cent of total UK generation capacity2. The majority of imported electricity is derived from nuclear power stations in northern France (via a 2000MW interconnector).

4.34 There is a further interconnector for electricity traded between Northern Ireland and Ireland (600MW), which currently results in a net export of electricity to Ireland3. Since 1 November 2007, there has been a single electricity market in Ireland and Northern Ireland with the trading of wholesale electricity carried out on an ‘All-Island basis’.

4.35 By 2012, interconnection capacity for the UK electricity market is expected to increase by around 1500MW, with new links to the Netherlands and Ireland. By 2020 it could increase by a further 4000MW. At the margin, carbon price support might increase incentives for imported electricity but they will remain relatively small compared with overall UK generation. ...

So, two different electricity wholesale markets, one for Great Britain and one for the island of Ireland, and imports are insignificant for the UK as a whole.

If attributing a price change to wholesale prices when one of the providers is in Northern Ireland it's important not to mislead people by suggesting that the one in Northern Ireland is part of the wholesale market in Great Britain, as this story did.

Grabbit_2

So let me get this right .... they are dropping prices and they are based in Northern Ireland. Part of the UK.
Their price seems to be cheaper than that I am paying Scottish Power even with their dual fuel deal.
I wonder if I can buy my electric from them ??
(I am in England)
I will save £15 per annum.