Power NI electricity bills to increase by 18% from July

HeadAboveWater

Didn't take long for Airtricity to follow suit.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22729074

GlynD

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

Didn't take long for Airtricity to follow suit.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22729074

So it seems the price of wind HAS gone up!

HeadAboveWater

Apparently!! :rotfl:

ETA:
That's us topped up for the next 3 months. Debating if we should top up again before the 18th...

sill

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

Apparently!! :rotfl:

ETA:
That's us topped up for the next 3 months. Debating if we should top up again before the 18th...

If you can afford it great.... I'll be starting tomorrow .

caz2703

GlynD wrote: »

I fully agree and was going to make the comments you did but ultimately I know very little about how the wholesale price of electricity is calculated and was hoping somebody with more acumen that me would speak out.

Now I could stand to be corrected but this is what I was led to believe during my time in the industry.

Electricity supply control room requires X amount of electricity to be available during a given day. Power stations across Ireland places bids into the market. Now my numbers will be totally out but as an example;

NI requires 1000MW tomorrow
Power station A can provide 500MW at £1/MW
Power station B can provide 750MW at £1.50/MW

The obvious solution is to buy all available output from power station A then the remainder from power station B. Unfortunately it's not that simple. There is a percentage of green energy that must be used so say for example it's 10%. Although wind is free, the ramp up costs for wind turbines are expensive so wind power costs more than you'd think. So to add this in:

NI requires 1000MW tomorrow
Power station A can provide 500MW at £1/MW
Power station B can provide 750MW at £1.50/MW
Wind farm A can provide 100MW at £10/MW

You'd think therefore that what the control room would have to pay the power stations would be:

Power Station A = 500MW @ £1 = £500
Power Station B = 400MW @ £1.50 = £600
Wind Farm A = 100MW @ £10 = £1000
Total = £2100

Now if what I was taught is correct (and trust me, I did query this at the time and was assured that what I was taught was correct) the above is wrong. When it comes time for the markets to be consolidated & invoices calculated, everyone gets the same price per MW which is the highest price bid i.e. £10/MW in the case of the wind farm. This would mean the bill would be £10,000 not the £2100 as above. As I said, things may have changed and maybe I was told wrong by more than one person but this is why the prices haven't come down - there's no real competition if everyone ends up getting the same unit cost.

Awaits legal threats on accuracy of statement :rotfl:

Bigcammy

Caz2703, that tallies exactly with what I was told when there too and frankly it shocked me!

caz2703

Bigcammy wrote: »

Caz2703, that tallies exactly with what I was told when there too and frankly it shocked me!

What about ye

Thank god I'm not on my own with my statement as I wasn't sure if I should post. In reality what I've said should be very very wrong but you were told the same thing so phew, turns out I did pay attention

GlynD

caz2703 wrote: »

What about ye

Thank god I'm not on my own with my statement as I wasn't sure if I should post. In reality what I've said should be very very wrong but you were told the same thing so phew, turns out I did pay attention

Thanks for the explanation. May I ask what your views are on the Single European Electric Market? It seems we may be members by 2016 and that means we'll be paying the same as France and Germany which I believe is a lot less than we currently pay?

36square

caz2703 wrote: »

When it comes time for the markets to be consolidated & invoices calculated, everyone gets the same price per MW which is the highest price bid i.e. £10/MW in the case of the wind farm. :rotfl:

That's so outrageous I can't believe the regulator hasn't clamped down on the practice or that at least one of the suppliers uses a price closer to the weighted average in order to attract more customers.

caz2703

GlynD wrote: »

Thanks for the explanation. May I ask what your views are on the Single European Electric Market? It seems we may be members by 2016 and that means we'll be paying the same as France and Germany which I believe is a lot less than we currently pay?

I'll believe it when I see it would be my view both on a single European Market and cheaper bills.

36square wrote: »

That's so outrageous I can't believe the regulator hasn't clamped down on the practice or that at least one of the suppliers uses a price closer to the weighted average in order to attract more customers.

SONI is responsible for the safe, secure, efficient and reliable operation of the high voltage electricity system in Northern Ireland.
Part of the EirGrid Group since 2009, SONI is the licensed independent electricity Transmission System Operator (TSO) and Market Operator (MO) of the Single Electricity Market wholesale trading system. SONI TSO is regulated by the Utility Regulator Northern Ireland (UREGNI).

SONI works in cooperation with asset owner NIE to develop the grid infrastructure. This is needed to support competition in energy, to promote economic growth and to facilitate renewable energy.

Committed to delivering high quality efficient services to all customers, including generators, suppliers and consumers across the high voltage electricity system, SONI also fulfils market operator functions through the Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO) which has operated the Single Electricity Market (SEM), the wholesale electricity market operating across the Island since November 2007.

As a gross mandatory pool market operating with dual currencies and in multiple jurisdictions the SEM represents the first market of its kind in the world. It aims to deliver long-term economic and social benefits to energy consumers in both jurisdictions on the island.

SEMO is regulated cooperatively by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) and the Utility Regulator (UREGNI) through the SEM Committee.

EirGrid perform the same duties in RoI except they work with ESB who own the assets. ESB also own NIE (not to be confused with Power NI who look after supply). So really ESB own the infrastructure in Ireland and EirGrid control the companies who deal with distribution and the single market in Ireland. Both companies are Irish state owned. You tell me why the regulator approved this as I personally think it stinks (that's my own personal opinion and not that of an employee - well not any more!)