The latest quarterly updates from our Benchmark Power Curves
Long-term, technology-specific power price forecasts are crucial for making sound investment decisions. But with the rapidly changing market landscape, obtaining credible, comprehensive insights can be a challenge. That’s where Cornwall Insight’s Benchmark Power Curves step in to deliver the forecasting expertise you need. Backed by our deep market knowledge and...
Two years on: How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reshaped the UK’s energy landscape
Two years ago, on 24 February 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. As well as causing widespread devastation and displacement, resulting in a humanitarian crisis, the ensuing conflict also had a wide range of consequences for the energy sector such as causing a structural change in European gas...
Learning curves and the many moving parts of the CfD Auctions
Learning curves are an important part of the toolbox of energy system modelling, representing the benefits of learning by doing and the economies of scale. The learning rate describes how as production doubles capacity cost reduces, so a learning rate of 15% would imply that as production doubles, costs would...
Calm after the storm although transition begins to lag | 2023 year in review
This year saw a return to relative calmness after the energy shocks of last year, while governments are playing an increasing role as the rate of new renewable generation lags. Spot pricing was subdued compared to last year, with no significant unexpected outages that caused sustained price spikes. Higher levels...
Keeping up to speed: latest developments in the flexibility space
Each month we hold our Flexibility Forum covering the latest developments in the flexibility space in GB, providing an opportunity for forum members to keep up to date with the goings on across policy, regulation, and markets – in a space that is seemingly everchanging and rarely static. In this...
Capacity Market: Rule changes for upcoming auctions
The latest round of Capacity Market auctions is underway following the publication of the auction parameters on 18 July, with the prequalification window subsequently opening on 26 July. In this blog, we explore some of the changes made to the rules and regulations of the scheme ahead of this year’s...
Fixed tariffs and collective switching return to the market
With the Default Tariff Cap falling by 17% compared to the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) at the start of the month, there has been a great deal of attention around the possible return of fixed tariffs for domestic consumers. Several fixed tariffs were indeed launched in recent weeks, representing a...
Businesses facing up to 133% electricity bill rise for fixing at market peak
Data from Cornwall Insight’s Business Electricity Bill Forecast has shown businesses that fixed their energy contracts at the peak of the energy market last year1, could be facing up to a 133% rise in bills from April. The figures, which represent a worst-case scenario2, demonstrate how high wholesale prices at...
Our response to the announcement of the April price cap
The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date, please click here to find our latest forecasts and commentary on the cap. Following the announcement by Ofgem that April’s Default Tariff Cap (price cap) will fall to an average £3,280 per year, nearly a £1,000 drop for...
The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date, please click here to find our latest forecasts and commentary on the cap. We have released the final prediction for the April Default Tariff Cap (price cap) following the closure of the observation window1, on 17 February. We...
Benefits of household rooftop solar – a personal point of view
This is the next blog post in our irregular series from the Cornwall Insight team on their experiences of installing or owning various energy assets. Like my colleague Ed, I took the decision to invest in solar in March last year as energy prices were making front page news. So yes,...
Winter 2023-24 price cap forecasts fall further below 2022-23 EPG, but long-term prospects remain uncertain
The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date, please click here to find our latest forecasts and commentary on the cap. Our latest forecasts for the Default Tariff Cap (price cap) have shown energy bill predictions for a typical household1 have fallen to £3,208...
Are prices going to rise in Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 5?
A number of factors may be about to put an end to the trend for falling energy prices in the Contracts For Difference (CfD) scheme. The CfD scheme has provided strong subsidy support whilst also providing consumers robust levels of protection. High investor confidence and steady reductions in capital costs...
Tales of the unexpected: what’s happening with gas prices
The gas sell-off for contracts relating to this winter/spring & coming summer has continued in the last few days. On January 16th alone, contracts closed down c15%-17% on gas contracts for this spring and through into summer. This is despite some analysts predicting that gapping-up would occur on the promise...
Delays to onshore wind investment increase long-term power prices in Ireland
Note: Cornwall Insight Ireland release the ‘All-Island Power Market Outlook 2023’ on a quarterly basis. The increase in long-term power prices refers to the comparison with our Q3 Power Market Outlook released in October 2022. Data from our fourth – ‘All-Island Power Market Outlook to 2030’ – has forecast that...
Some of our team have looked back throughout 2022 and picked their most exciting ‘Chart of the Week’. Their choices include exploring green tariffs, wholesale gas prices, CfD allocation round 4 and the MHHS Implementation Levy. It’s My Birthday – Two years of Dynamic Containment Picked by Tom Faulkner, Head...
Drop in wholesale energy prices sees price cap predictions fall below the EPG for second half of 2023
The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date, please click here to find our latest forecasts and commentary on the cap. Our latest forecasts for the Default Tariff Cap (price cap) have shown energy bills for a typical household are predicted to be below the government’s...
Global shocks but energy transition powers ahead – 2022 year in review
It goes without saying that 2022 has been a tumultuous year for energy worldwide, and Australia was no exception. The unprecedented suspension of the NEM in June 2022 exposed fragility in Australia’s energy market, which could not withstand the shock of high energy commodity prices caused by the Russian invasion...
Energy Market Bulletin: 2022 Review of Power and Gas
2022 has positioned itself firmly as one of the most memorable for the energy sector in recent years. We have witnessed seismic changes in the wholesale cost of energy, transformational proposals for market reform and two new Prime Ministers. In our last Energy Market Bulletin report of 2022, we have...
Determining how we fund, not just what we fund, is critical
Concerns that the strike prices in the upcoming CFD auction round could be too low to be deliverable have been raised as more details of the scheme have emerged. Back in May 2022, our chief executive Gareth Miller discussed why such fears may have some grounding. Last week I was...
Why short-term high wholesale prices aren’t the key driver of domestic energy bills
The current cold snap across most of western Europe has resulted in high wholesale electricity prices. Observed prices in the GB wholesale market are typically higher than those in neighbouring electricity markets, and here we provide an explanation of why this is likely the case but also why short-term periods...
Our response to the announcement of the January price cap
The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will shield consumers from the January price cap of £4,279 announced by Ofgem on 24th November, however the rise will be concerning to the government, who will be shouldering the billions of pounds needed to compensate suppliers the difference. While the January price cap was...
What are social tariffs and why might we need them?
As the government’s primary tools for mitigating high consumer energy bills are expected to end in April 2024, and with the Autumn Statement’s mention of a “new approach to consumer protection” many are discussing the future of the UK’s energy bill support mechanisms. Given the Statement’s express mention of “social...
This report provides captured power price trends for the Queensland energy market (neutral case in line with AEMO’s ISP Progressive Change scenario) from 2022 up to 2041 using outputs from Cornwall Insight Australia’s latest NEM Benchmark Power Curve (BPC), published on 26 October 2022. We hope this information is of...
Predicted fall in the April 2023 Price Cap but prices remain significantly above the EPG
The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date, please click here to find our latest forecasts and commentary on the cap. Our latest Default Tariff Cap (price cap) forecasts for April – June 2023 (Q223) have dropped by over £600 since the last widely released figures...
Lighting the blue touch-paper on electricity cash-out reform
There has been a lot of debate about decoupling wholesale gas from wholesale power prices. Part of the reason for the link is the way cash-out/imbalance prices work. These are the rates at which power market participants are charged for the power they have over or under-bought. The current very...
Modelling from Cornwall Insight has forecast the two-year cost of the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) to be between £72bn in the lowest case scenario, and £140bn in the extreme high case scenario1. The data included in our new EPG report ‘Counting the Costs’, shows a near doubling of the forecasts...
How does REMA impact energy generation, flexibility and consumers?
The Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) is the largest review programme of GB electricity market arrangements for a generation. It comes at a time when European energy markets are suffering extreme turmoil. Depending on the outcome there could be significant implications for generators, flexibility providers, and, indirectly, consumers. REMA...
Cornwall Insight comments on the announcement of the October price cap
If you are a consumer seeking support with their energy bills, please read our blog here: https://www.cornwall-insight.com/support-for-consumers-concerned-about-rising-energy-bills/ The rise in the Default Tariff Cap (price cap) was unfortunately inevitable, as UK bills continue to be the victim of an unstable and unpredictable global market. While there is still some time until...
We release our price cap forecasts in the hope that we can encourage policy change. We have created this infographic to help people understand the price cap and how we make our predictions. We would also like to clarify that we cannot influence Ofgem to change the amount of the price cap. You...