In the week that National Grid is set to launch its 2019 Future Energy Scenarios (FES), this week’s Energy Perspective looks more closely at how new approaches could make it more attractive for small generators to connect to the transmission system. While we await with interest to see how FES treats these issues, the vision will likely involve connecting small as well as large power plants to a well-planned and managed transmission network – another step towards a renewables-focussed version of the transmission network as a step towards the 2050 net zero target.
The government’s Green Finance Strategy, published 2 July, is aimed at changing the behaviour of the financial sector, from the way it evaluates company performance to the services it offers customers. We look in more detail at the strategy in our Policy section this week, suggesting that all companies will come under growing pressure to increase the quantity and quality of data they provide on their climate impacts. In the same section we take in a Treasury Select Committee evidence session on the economic opportunities from decarbonisation and green growth which, through evidence given, made clear that while power decarbonisation has been achieved by and large without disruption to consumers, transport and heat will require behaviour change.
Ofgem’s latest consultation setting out the next steps in the development of the enduring Retail Energy Code is another very large consultation in the Switching Programme that covers numerous topics. In this week’s Regulation section, we dig down on the details, finding that the scope for amalgamating codes is considerable but some areas – like theft and the GDAA – will require further thought.
The latest switching figure from both Energy UK and Xoserve’s show that domestic switching is now at record highs. We analyse the data in our Industry Structure section, finding that the switching data sets measure differently, but for both gas and electricity we think switching is at least 20%. That for gas is nominally higher as Xoserve’s switching numbers include supplier of last resort transfers. Both rates are up at least two percentage points in a year.
We have two Nutwood’s this week. In the first, Cornwall Insight Associate Peter Atherton discusses the approach of the H119 results season and gives some pointers on what investors might be looking for; the second distils a presentation from Cornwall Insight Chairman Volker Beckers at Imperial College Business School under the theme of ‘a practitioner’s view of electricity market privatisation and liberalisation’.