EDF in hot water with Ofgem for breaching market rules and Smart Meter Installations fell 7% in November

Misleading signals

According to Ofgem, EDF ETG regularly sent misleading signals to the National Grid Electricity System Operator and ‘frequently inflated’ the amount of power that it said its West Burton B power station could provide.

The ‘signals’ were sent between September 2017 and March of this year and resulted in ESO having to purchase more power from the plant than was needed when the power station was needed to help balance the system. What’s worse is that EDF ETG sent the signals at periods when it knew the power station was not scheduled to generate any energy.

According to EDF ETG, it took this action as it supposedly believed that it would allow it to provide the ESO with lower prices but in reality, it actually cost the ESO spending more money than it needed to balance the grid.

Despite this, Ofgem is not planning to open a formal investigation due to EDF ETG admitting what it had done.

“This case further demonstrates Ofgem’s commitment to monitoring wholesale energy markets in Great Britain and ensuring their integrity on behalf of consumers”.

 “Ofgem’s enforcement action sends a strong signal to all energy market participants that they must submit accurate data to the ESO. If they don’t, we have the powers to intervene and we are ready to use them,” said Ofgem’s Cathryn Scott.

Also read: SSE fined £2.06 million by Ofgem for insider information breach

Breach of the Grid Code

Ofgem stated that the actions carried out by EDF ETG breached its electricity generation licence obligations as it failed to comply with the Grid Code.

By sending the ESO inflated limits of the amount of power the West Burton B station could provide EDF ETG failed to meet the expected requirements.

EDF ETG released a statement apologising for inflating its figures.

“EDF ETG takes this issue extremely seriously and apologises for the error. Although the breach was inadvertent, and EDF ETG considered its approach would reduce costs for the electricity system operator, we should have done better. We have taken swift action to prevent any reoccurrence. We have changed our approach and ensured it is fully aligned with the clarification in Ofgem’s latest guidance (Open Letter, 29 September 2020) and put in place new governance arrangements to ensure ongoing compliance.”

Also read: UK government Energy White Paper reignites Sizewell C power plant argument

Smart Meter Installations fell in November due to Lockdown 2.0

In separate news, Electralink released its latest smart meter installation report that showed that the number of smart meters installed across the UK fell as Covid-19 restrictions took their toll.

The second national lockdown introduced in November resulted in 230,000 smart meters being installed, a significant improvement on the first lockdown introduced back in March when installations declined by over 90%.

All regions saw a decline in installations during the second lockdown and this month too will likely see a drop due to the Christmas holiday season.

In total energy, suppliers have installed 1.82 million smart meters in 2020, bringing the total number of meters to 14.53 million. 

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Further Reading

Smart Meter Installations rebound strongly and held steady during Lockdown 2.0

Total number of Energy Bill payers in arrears climbs over 2 million, and Energy Suppliers criticised for poor customer service

Energy White paper: Energy Billing to be shaken up by introducing automatic tariff switching

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