Energy news in general

StartledJesus

Anyone unaware of this, or just me?

Extract from Your Money

Energy regulator Ofgem confirmed that the ‘Centralised Switching Service’ will go live on Monday 18 July.

It will require energy providers to ensure switches are completed within five working days, down from the current 21 working days. This must be done within the timeframe where the customer hasn’t specified the speed of the switch, for example if they want the switch to take longer.

If energy suppliers don’t meet the timeframe, there would be an automatic payment to billpayers. As of 1 May 2020, billpayers automatically receive £30 if they experience delays or mistakes when switching supplier.

The faster energy switching has been years in the making and is estimated to have cost energy firms £426m in upgrading their systems and processing to meet the new target.

But, given the current volatile energy market with soaring prices, supplier failures and millions of billpayers on standard variable tariffs as fixed deals dried up, the launch date comes at a challenging time.

Indeed, energy switching figures for the first three months of the year crashed to a record low, with just an estimated 225,000 electricity switches and 158,000 gas transfers reported.

By comparison in Q1 2021, there were 1.37 million electricity switches and 959,000 gas transfers.

Ahead of its launch, there were concerns that the faster switching programme was being introduced at a time where the market is extremely volatile.

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QrizB

Here's a short post looking at wholesale gas prices from TheICE.

Wholesale gas for August delivery closed the week at 204p/therm (just under 7p/kWh). You need to add ~2p/kWh and VAT to that to get the equivalent retail price, which I make to be 9.4-9.5p/kWh. I'm sure that seems a lot (it is) but 4 weeks ago it closed at 241p/kWh so it's down 15% in that time.

And it's not just gas for August delivery that's falling back from the peak. A week ago, gas for Q1 2023 was 448p/therm (15.3p/kWh). Yesterday it closed at 405p/therm (13.8p/kWh), down roughly 10% on the week. That's still crazy expensive (all through last winter you could've bought exactly the same gas for 45-50p/therm, 1.5-1.7p/kWh) but hopefully the price will continue to fall as we get further through the year.

It's unlikely to help the October cap numbers - the pricing period for October ends in a fortnight - but it might help keep a lid on the January price.

markin

From the octopus tracker thread..

Europes heat wave is bad for energy prices but the drought is worse
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-07-13/europe-s-heat-wave-is-bad-for-energy-prices-but-the-drought-is-worse

bristolleedsfan

A little message from Russia. It increasingly sounds as Germany can forget about Nord Stream 1

https://twitter.com/Amb_Ulyanov/status/1548429760597962752

The reduced gas supplies to Europe are not bad for Russia. It may help save gas for future generations for heating, chemical industry etc. Bur if Europe appeals for using Nord Stream 2, Russia may wish to consider possible, may be limited supplies through this channel.

savers_united

It sounds rather desperate by the Russians, they know its a lose/lose situation. I guess its a question of who blinks first. 

Mstty

Going by the invasion of Ukraine they would cut off their nose to spite their face.

QrizB

I posted in another thread about a major German landlord restricting overnight heating to 17C:
https://www.thelocal.de/20220707/germanys-largest-landlord-to-restrict-heating-at-night/

SJMALBA

European Gas Prices Fall as Nord Stream Restart Brings Relief

https://archive.ph/R2UIq#selection-3405.0-3405.61

Spies

SJMALBA said:

European Gas Prices Fall as Nord Stream Restart Brings Relief

https://archive.ph/R2UIq#selection-3405.0-3405.61

I feel indifferent about this, yes its good that pressure on other supplies will mean lower prices, but ethically its not so great.

Mstty

Spies said:

SJMALBA said:

European Gas Prices Fall as Nord Stream Restart Brings Relief

https://archive.ph/R2UIq#selection-3405.0-3405.61

I feel indifferent about this, yes its good that pressure on other supplies will mean lower prices, but ethically its not so great.

I feel Russia will turn this on and off at will just to mess with Europe.

That crazy Ivan lol