Being shafted by the EU?

dogshome

In trying to understand why Energy prices have increased so much, my research led me to Noordpool  -  This is a Norwegian owned auction site where the Elec generating companies sell their power to users on the Continent, and the UK via the Under Channel cable which both Imports and Exports power.

The site has historical pages that show power costs over recent years, so the first thing was to compare prices in 2020 to those in 2021, which revealed a nasty surprise.

The power is Bought & Sold in one hour or even half hour slots during the day, so I compared the "Next Day" prices for the same hour on 17th of August in both 2020 and 2021.

17/8/20

Hour  2100 - 2200 ( 9pm to 10pm )  Euro Price...... 52.62

                                                         Stirling price.....47.65

 Having checked the Exchange Rate for that day, the prices are on par with each other

17/8/21

Hour  2100 - 2200 (9pm to 10pm)  Euro Price.......100.50

                                                       Stirling Price.....132.67

  As the Exchange Rate is presently standing 1.17 Euros to the pound, we Brits are now paying nigh 40% more for the same product at the same moment in time, than our European friends-(?)

daveyjp

No shafting by anyone.

Currency exchange is a cost of business and reflects the wider money markets,

Oil is priced in dollars and price always reflects exchange rates.

greenguppie

dogshome said:

In trying to understand why Energy prices have increased so much, my research led me to Noordpool  -  This is a Norwegian owned auction site where the Elec generating companies sell their power to users on the Continent, and the UK via the Under Channel cable which both Imports and Exports power.

The site has historical pages that show power costs over recent years, so the first thing was to compare prices in 2020 to those in 2021, which revealed a nasty surprise.

The power is Bought & Sold in one hour or even half hour slots during the day, so I compared the "Next Day" prices for the same hour on 17th of August in both 2020 and 2021.

17/8/20

Hour  2100 - 2200 ( 9pm to 10pm )  Euro Price...... 52.62

                                                         Stirling price.....47.65

 Having checked the Exchange Rate for that day, the prices are on par with each other

17/8/21

Hour  2100 - 2200 (9pm to 10pm)  Euro Price.......100.50

                                                       Stirling Price.....132.67

  As the Exchange Rate is presently standing 1.17 Euros to the pound, we Brits are now paying nigh 40% more for the same product at the same moment in time, than our European friends-(?)

I'm not quite sure what you are looking at, which is always a dangerous place to start commenting from.

But from this page:
https://www.nordpoolgroup.com/Market-data1/GB/Auction-prices/UK/Hourly/?view=table

If I set the date to 17-Aug-2020 and look in the 17-Aug-2020 column for 21-22h CET then I do see 52.68 EUR or 47.65 GBP

But changing the date to 17-Aug-2021, looking otherwise in the same spot, I see the price as 131.22 GBP
It will not dispay the price in EUR for that date. It reverts to 31-Dec-2020 and shows 66.72 EUR or 60.39 GBP for the same time slot.

Anyway, surely whoever is buying will pay in the best currency price they can get, if there is an option to pay in either EUR or GBP. That's what I do when buying from sites that offer the chance to pay in different currencies.

greenguppie

Or were you getting the prices from here?

https://www.nordpoolgroup.com/maps/#/n2ex

17-Aug-2020, the prices are shown in EUR & GBP for GB
i.e. 52.68 EUR or 47.65 GBP (price is only shown in GBP for GB)

But on 17-Aug-2021, the prices on mainland Europe are shown in EUR only (as last year) and for GB in GBP only

i.e. 131.22 GBP

100.50 EUR appears to be the price in France and Belgium?

As you can see, different prices apply by country.
e.g. 63.80 EUR in Sweden & Finland and 139.90 EUR in Holland?
In 2020, prices were as low as 1.78 EUR in parts of Norway, 51.10 EUR in France , and as I said 52.68 EUR in GB.

I don't know what any of this means, other than I'm not sure you are comparing apples with apples.

QrizB

greenguppie said:

I don't know what any of this means, other than I'm not sure you are comparing apples with apples.

It mignt explain why the cross-Channel interconnectors have been running flat out to feed the UK with electricity for the last three months; electricity is much cheaper on the Continent than it is over here!

Gerry1

QrizB said:

greenguppie said:

I don't know what any of this means, other than I'm not sure you are comparing apples with apples.

It mignt explain why the cross-Channel interconnectors have been running flat out to feed the UK with electricity for the last three months; electricity is much cheaper on the Continent than it is over here!

We gotta pay for those smart meters somehow !

QrizB

Gerry1 said:

QrizB said:

It mignt explain why the cross-Channel interconnectors have been running flat out to feed the UK with electricity for the last three months; electricity is much cheaper on the Continent than it is over here!

We gotta pay for those smart meters somehow !

  My smart meter is very nice, head and shoulders above eg. a Geo Minim when it comes to monitoring my energy use. And that's no fault of the Minim; the smart meter has direct access to the billing data (it *is* the billing data) plus the DCC back-end to get the info to my supplier and, via their app, to my phone.

Plus it gives me access to TOU tariffs which should save me £25 over the next 12 months.

Plus it gives me a solar export meter, something I've not had previously.

Don't tell EDF but I *might* even have considered paying them to fit it, if they weren't being rolled out for free.