The challenge of keeping the national transmission system balanced and stable in real-time is becoming increasingly challenging and expensive. Demand is becoming more unpredictable alongside a generation fleet that is both increasingly intermittent and increasingly distributed. Unsurprisingly, costs have risen. In this ‘Chart of the week’, we take a look at electricity system balancing costs and the challenges posed in seeking to equitably recover those costs.
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Related thinking
Regulation and policy
Capacity Market prequalification
On 29 November, National Grid ESO in its role as EMR Delivery Body published the prequalification registers for the 2023-24 (T-1) and 2026-27 (T-4) Capacity Market (CM) auctions. In this week's 'Chart of the Week', we explore some of the highlights from the initial registers.
Energy storage and flexibility
It’s My Birthday – Two years of Dynamic Containment
October marks two years since the launch of the frequency response service, Dynamic Containment (DC). Its inception was the first in the roll out of new faster-acting frequency response services, accompanied by Dynamic Moderation (DM) and Dynamic Regulation (DR) earlier this year. In this week's 'Chart of the Week', we...
Power and gas networks
CMP395 BSUoS cap
On 21 September, the Final Modification Report for CMP395 was published by National Grid ESO (NG ESO). CMP395 seeks to cap the half-hourly Balancing Services Use of System charge (BSUoS) at £15/MWh over the winter period (1 October 2022 – 31 March 2023), with the deferred costs recouped in the...
Energy storage and flexibility
Key highlights from our Balancing Services Forecast report
In this week’s ‘Chart of the Week’, we will outline some of the key highlights from our latest report, to provide you with a flavour of the latest long-term trends for response and reserve.
Low carbon generation
BSUoS charges: What goes up…
Balancing Service Use of System (BSUoS) charges have continued to be the dominant driver of Third-Party Charge increases in recent months, with costs remaining elevated since last autumn. In this 'Chart of the week', we present a view of past monthly BSUoS charges and expectations for future costs on a...
Commercial and market outlook
BSUoS charges: volatility, deferral and reform
Over the last few years Balancing Services Use of System (BSUoS) charges have experienced significant volatility, with costs reaching record high levels which have added to the rise in consumer electricity bills and ultimately resulted in intervention in order to cap BSUoS rates. In this Chart of the week', we...
Business supply and services
Balancing costs exceed £200mn for three consecutive months
High underlying commodity and carbon costs haven’t only impacted costs in the wholesale market. From April 2021 to the end of October 2021, balancing costs on the electricity transmission system have totalled £1.29bn. This represents a £301.88mn (30.6%) increase in costs over the same period in 2020, where total costs...
Energy storage and flexibility
Grid works hard for the money: an annual look back at BSUoS
This weeks Chart of the Week takes a look at the costs incurred from balancing the electricity system over the last 12 months. The cost of all the actions and day-to-day operation of the electricity system are recovered through Balancing Services Use of System (BSUoS) charges. This changes in each...
