Ofgem

  • Press Releases

    Wholesale price hikes and Ofgem updates raise price cap forecast

    New Default Tariff Cap (price cap) forecasts from Cornwall Insight reveal a rise in predictions for both the July and October 2024 price cap periods against previous forecasts. Predictions for both quarters have risen by around 7%1, with a typical household2 now expected to pay £1,560 from July and £1,631...

  • Press Releases

    Urgent measures needed to prevent vicious cycle of supplier failure and rising bills

    In response to Ofgem’s announcement of a consultation on recovering bad debt, Dr Matthew Chadwick, Lead Research Analyst at Cornwall Insight said: “The energy price crisis has left millions of households struggling to pay their bills, even as prices have begun to fall. With government support all but ended for...

  • Press Releases

    Mixed outlook for energy bills as new cap announcement looms

    The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date please click HERE to find our most up to date forecasts. Cornwall Insight has unveiled its latest forecasts for the Default Tariff Cap (price cap) covering the period October 2023 (Q423) to September 2024 (Q324). The predictions, calculated...

  • Media Mentions

    Guardian| Slight fall in price cap predictions

    Prior to the introduction of the July price cap, we released new forecasts that showed the price cap will only fall slightly over the winter, and are likely to remain above historic levels. Dr Craig Lowrey, a Principle Consultant at Cornwall Insight spoke on the urgency to review the price...

  • Press Releases

    Energy suppliers face over £1.9bn of debt as households struggle to pay their bills

    A new report from Cornwall Insight and Complete Strategy – ‘Bad debt and energy suppliers: A systemic risk’ – has shown domestic energy suppliers could be exposed to approximately £1.9bn of debt1, of which a significant portion could be unrecoverable. The amount of unrecoverable debt, known as bad debt, facing...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight release final Default Tariff Cap and EPG cost predictions prior to Ofgem announcement tomorrow

    The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date please click HERE to find our most up to date forecasts. Cornwall Insight are releasing our final forecast for the January 2023 Default Tariff Cap (price cap), due to be announced tomorrow (24 November).  We are also releasing...

  • Press Releases

    Price cap forecasts for January rise to over £4,200 as wholesale prices surge again and Ofgem revises cap methodology

    The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date please click HERE to find our most up to date forecasts. New forecasts for the January Default Tariff Cap (price cap) from Cornwall Insight have risen by over £6501, meaning a typical household is now predicted to pay...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight responds to the BEIS Committee report on Energy Pricing and the future of the Energy Market

    A report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee (BEIS) on Energy pricing and the future of the energy market, published today (26 July), has laid out a number of recommendations on how Ofgem and the government could lower consumer energy bills and reduce instability in the energy market....

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight’s Price Cap predictions jump after Ofgem release new guidance

    Cornwall Insight’s forecast for the October (Q4 2022) Default Tariff Cap have increased to £2,790 for an average consumer, with the January (Q1 2023) Cap now rising to over £2,800. This is following updated guidance from Ofgem on their proposed shift to quarterly calculations, as well as recent developments in...

  • Media Mentions

    City AM| Price cap hike announced

    After Ofgem confirmed the price cap would be rising by 54% increasing pressure on households, Dr Craig Lowrey spoke to City AM on concerns over continuing with the cap. The cap was never meant to be a permanent solution and today has shown that rather than protecting customers, the impact...

  • Press Releases

    Gap between cheapest energy deals and price cap shrinks to the lowest ever level

    Research from Cornwall Insight’s ‘Domestic tariff report’ highlights the level of savings made by a customer switching to a new energy tariff has reduced significantly. In fact, the difference between the ten cheapest tariffs and the current default tariff cap for September 2021 stands at just £11/year, compared to £291/year...

  • Media Mentions

    The Guardian | Price cap rising

    Our research predicting a rise to the summer default tariff, was featured in The Guardian. Talking about the research Craig Lowrey, Senior Consultant at Cornwall insight explained that the recent high wholesale price would feed into the price cap potentially increasing it by 14% to £1,455 a year for a...

  • Media Mentions

    Bloomberg | Price cap on the rise

    Our thoughts on the rise to the default tariff price cap were quoted by Bloomberg Quint. Ofgem increased its price cap to a record level. The new level of 1,277 pounds comes in to effect in October and will run through March for customers on standard variable tariffs. Craig Lowrey...

  • Press Releases

    900,000 domestic customers impacted by SoLR over the last two years

    Analysis by Cornwall Insight shows that 1.7% of customers in the retail energy market have been with suppliers subject to the Supplier of Last Resort mechanism (SoLR) process. Between 2020 and 2019, 887,000 domestic customers were supplied by a company that exited the market via SoLR, and in 2021 alone,...

  • Press Releases

    More than 65% of households are now supplied by green energy companies

    According to the latest research from Cornwall Insight, households with ‘green’ suppliers – those only offering electricity tariffs backed by Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGOs) certificates – rocketed from less than 20% in 2017 to 65% 2021. This percentage would be even higher if green tariffs from suppliers that...

  • Media Mentions

    Current | RO Mutualisation

    Tim Dixon shared his thoughts on the recent announcement by Ofgem on RO Mutualisation. In September, we commented that the threshold was once again being neared. Suggesting there is a potential shortfall in the RO buy-out fund of approximately half of the £16.94 million mutualisation threshold at the time. Unfortunately,...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight comments on Renewables Obligation mutualisation

    Commenting on the announcement that Ofgem has confirmed mutualisation has been triggered for the 2019-20 compliance period (CP 18) of the Renewables Obligation (RO), Tim Dixon, Wholesale Team Lead Cornwall Insight, said: “This will be the third consecutive year in a row that mutualisation will have been triggered. This CP...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight comments on Ofgem’s price cap announcement

    Commenting on Ofgem’s announcement of the default price cap falling by 7% to £1,042 per year for the six months effective from 1 October 2020, Robert Buckley, Head of Relationship Development at Cornwall Insight, said: “This is a dramatic reduction and sees the price cap fall to its lowest level...

  • Media Mentions

    The Guardian | Energy bills cut

    Robert Buckley commented the Ofgem's default tariff cap reduction has lowered after wholesale energy market prices tumbled during the coronavirus pandemic. He explained the difference between the costliest deals on the market and the cheapest stood at £562 at the end of last month, meaning a “notable gap will remain”,...

  • Media Mentions

    The Guardian | Energy bill savings

    Our predictions showing approximately a £100 fall in the price cap for this winter was featured in The Guardian today. This is following a record low energy market prices during the COVID-19 lockdown, according to analysts. We are expecting to see a significant decrease to the default price cap in...

  • Press Releases

    Smart meter rollout significantly dented by COVID-19 lockdown

    Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the progress of the smart meter rollout uncertain. Research from Cornwall Insight looks at BEIS and Ofgem’s initial indications of future rollout levels compared to pre-pandemic expectations. The below graph shows two COVID-19 impacted rollout profiles, based on recent assessments from Ofgem and BEIS...

  • Press Releases

    Regional flexibility | network companies and Ofgem need to tread a delicate balance

    The third in the series of research papers from Cornwall Insight in partnership with Complete Strategy and Shakespeare Martineau has been released. Future Networks – RIIO2-ED2 investigates the interaction of regional flexibility markets with network company price controls. Key findings of the report are: The transition from Distribution Network Operator...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight responds to Ofgem’s announcement on Toto energy exiting the market

    Commenting on Ofgem’s announcement that Toto Energy has ceased to trade Robert Buckley Head of Retail and Relationship Development at Cornwall Insight, said:  “Failure of any business affects many people, including its customers, and it is always sad to see one fail. “The Renewables Obligation (RO) deadline is looming, and...

  • Press Releases

    Smart installs need to take place every seven seconds to cover 85% of homes by 2024

    Last week, BEIS issued plans to set new binding annual smart meter installation milestones for suppliers, culminating in the requirement for each supplier to meet a minimum 85% coverage level by 31 December 2024. However, this is by no means a reprieve for suppliers, with figures from Cornwall Insight showing...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight comments on National Grid ESO’s blackout investigation

    This morning Ofgem published National Grid’s investigation into the blackouts that occurred on 9 August. The regulator was concerned enough to launch its own examination to see what “lessons can be drawn” to “further improve the resilience of Britain’s energy networks”. The regulator will try and establish whether any network...

  • Press Releases

    Switching programme should not lose sight of improving reliability

    Faster and more reliable switching has been on Ofgem’s agenda for some time. It is intended to potentially encourage customers to change supplier in bigger numbers. Ofgem are progressing a programme of reforms to progress reliable next day switching for domestic consumers by summer 2021. However, while much of the...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight Explainer: the new Target Operating Model

    The Design Working Group (DWG) has delivered its preferred Target Operating Model (TOM) for Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) to Ofgem, outlining how settlement arrangements could be reformed to industry and consumers. Below, Cornwall Insight describes these critical changes and explains the possible benefits of the new model. Key changes The...

  • Press Releases

    Strong regional variation in residual costs

    Ofgem’s Targeted Charging Review (TCR) proposes to charge network residual costs – those relating to the sunk costs of the network – through fixed or capacity charges. However, the latest Third Party Charges forecast from Cornwall Insight highlights that there is substantial regional variation between residual values which appears not...

  • Press Releases

    Price cap rising today but is predicted to fall in October

    Today, Ofgem announced the price cap will increase by £117 to £1,254. Cornwall Insight’s tariff cap predictor (graph below) was forecasting a new cap level of £1,250 back in November 2018 only £4 out. However, with wholesale cost pressure starting to fall Cornwall Insight’s early predictions for winter 2019 show...