Energy news in general

debitcardmayhem

OFGEM licenses Tesla as a supplier , CNBC just now

https://www.energylivenews.com/2026/03/12/tesla-gets-energy-supply-licence/#:~:text=Ofgem%20said%20the%20application%20underwent,governing%20the%20UK%20electricity%20market.

The_Hawk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81919369#Comment_81919369

This useful Sky News video covers the 400m barrels release from the emergency reserves, plus the use of the E-W pipeline and a few other factors:

https://news.sky.com/video/analysis-will-emergency-oil-reserve-release-bring-costs-down-13518318

QrizB

This moght be the press release that prompted the "plugin solar" thread:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-go-further-and-faster-in-becoming-energy-secure

The Energy Secretary will today outline a package of measures to go “further and faster” in the pursuit of national energy security as a response to events in the Middle East.  

The Energy Secretary is today setting out an accelerated package of energy interventions to boost the UK’s energy security:

Announcing that “plug-in solar”, low cost solar panels that families can buy at supermarkets and put on their balconies or outdoor space, will be made available in the UK for the first time.

Announcing that we intend to bring forward the Government’s next annual renewables auction to July, inviting renewables companies to invest in UK energy. The most recent round was the biggest ever and alongside the previous auction, we have confirmed enough clean power to power the equivalent of 23 million homes.

Following the implementation of the Fingleton Review into speeding up the building of nuclear power stations, confirmation that the government will apply the lessons of the review to other infrastructure such as renewables.  

We'll have to see how it turns out.

Swipe

Watch them give the go ahead for plug in solar at the start of winter.

QrizB

CEBR are suggesting that July's price cap (for Q3, the third quarter of the year) could exceed £2100.

https://cebr.com/blogs/forecasting-eye-march/

The latest developments in the Middle East, including the recent strike on the Ras Laffan export facility, have pushed up wholesale energy prices. At current levels, this implies a Q3 Ofgem price cap exceeding £2,100 if sustained, with higher bills likely even if prices ease. The conflict is also expected to shave around 0.1 to 0.3 percentage points off UK GDP growth over the next year.

More at the link, although it's not really aimed at consumers.

Swipe

It's October and January I'm more worried about. Glad I stocked up on thermals.

QrizB

Wholesale natural gas prices are currently ~150p/therm all the way through to Spring 2027.

https://www.ice.com/products/910/UK-Natural-Gas-Futures/data?marketId=6164518

A therm is ~29kWh so 150p/therm is ~5.1p/kWh.

At the start of the year, natural gas was closer to 60p/therm (2p/kWh) so you can see prices are up 3p/kWh since then. That's likely to feed through into the Ofgem cap; exactly how big an impact it has will depend on how long this lasts.

silverwhistle

Just had a quick look back in the thread and certain posters with a negative view of renewables, particularly wind with their talk of curtailment and lack of grid links. I didn't think much of their arguments then and even less now.

In the current circumstances I'm rather glad we've got Sofia 1.4GW, Dogger Bank B 1.2, East Anglia 3 1.37 and the start of Inchcape (1.08 when complete) coming on stream this year. Dogger Bank C (1.2) next year and D (1.5GW) at an earlier stage. There are also some small on shore projects too, as well as repowering older farms which has added a useful amount of capacity with more modern and efficient turbines, and has the potential to do even more.

Last year we had 2GW of solar installed and beginning to see impacts on Agile prices around midday. This development is also continueing and of course there has been significant parallel development of BESS.

Given that most of the economic crashes in my lifetime, let alone international conflicts have been fossil fuel related the argument for renewables is getting stronger.

There'll be pain on the way, and as I'm on Agile it's very visible to me, but that is not an argument to go back to gas. Oh yes, I'm on Octopus Gas tracker too at the moment (wince), but at least I won't need to use any until October and at current prices make that November and thermals!;-)

The_Groat_Counter

I'm planning on making the very best of the summer here, as next winter could be a bit rough… thinking selfishly I've luckily got a fix that covers next winter, but even if you have a fix that doesn't insulate you from rising fuel costs - even if I minimise my driving, the rest of the economy will be hit hard by fuel prices spiking, likewise high electricity and gas costs for businesses which don't benefit from the price cap.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81930295#Comment_81930295

From the most recent incidents it looks like vehicle fuel will probably settle back down fairly quickly once the fighting stops, however Qatar has lost 2 of 14 trains that produce LNG in the last attack which is 17% of it's production capacity and it says that it will not recover that capacity for five years. That represents a loss of around 4% of global LNG production capacity so significant enough to have a long term impact of global gas prices.

Qatar was also planning on increasing capacity going forwards but due to current conditions it now only expects to get back to previous capacity by 2030-2031 and it's plan to double it's production by 2032 has now been pushed back to 2035-2036.