Energy watchdog investigates if National Grid was misled over capacity auction
ENERGY watchdog Ofgem has opened investigations to see if five generators provided false or misleading information to Midlands-based utility National Grid.
The investigation centres on planning consents for proposed generating units that took part in the December 2014 capacity auction.
The companies being investigated are GF Power Peaking Ltd, Berangere Ltd, Adret Ltd, Alkane Energy UK and Power Balancing Service Ltd.
Ofgem said the Capacity Market was part of the Government’s reforms intended to ensure sufficient capacity on the system to provide a reliable electricity supply.
Under the guidelines, National Grid runs an annual auction to decide which generators and providers of demand side response will be awarded a capacity agreement, in return for providing capacity at times of system stress.
The regulator said opening of the investigations did not imply that it had made any findings about non-compliance.
All five of the companies were successful in National Grid’s first capacity auction.
The news comes as National Grid revealed its annual pre-tax profit rose 11% last year to £2,876m (2014: £2,584m), with earnings per share rising 9% to 58.1p (2014: 53.5p).
Steve Holliday, chief executive, said: “National Grid delivered another successful year. Overall, our businesses achieved a strong operating performance and we developed new strategic growth opportunities in transmission and interconnection.
“We invested around £3.5bn in essential infrastructure during another year of strong network reliability, safety and resilience. Effective regulation continues to drive efficient investment. In the UK, for example, savings generated in the first two years of the RIIO price controls will reduce future customer bills by around £200m.”
Ofgem said GF Power Peaking secured capacity agreements for all nine of its new build generators and an existing generator in the capacity auction. Two new builds secured 15 year capacity agreements with the rest securing one year agreements for 58 MW of generating capacity.
Berangere (formerly registered as GFE 2015 Ltd) secured capacity agreements for all three of its new build generators in the capacity auction, securing 15 year contracts for 60 MW of generating capacity.
Adret (formerly registered as GFE 2017 Ltd) secured capacity agreements for two out of three of its new build generators in the capacity auction, securing 15 year contracts for 37 MW of generating capacity.
Alkane Energy secured capacity agreements for nine of its10 new build generators in the Capacity Auction, securing 15 year contracts for 40 MW of generating capacity.
Power Balancing Services secured capacity agreements for four of its six generating units, securing 14 year contracts for 28 MW of generating capacity.
