Tag Archives: Ofgem

Factsheet on Energy Bills

June 2012: Ofgem factsheet providing a useful update and breakdown of what makes up an average energy bill.

Information in relation to the ‘supplier margin’ – that is the profit made by energy customers per customer made across different fuel types – is also published on a regular basis by Ofgem in their ‘Electricity and Gas Supply Market Indicators‘ paper. This highlights that Ofgem’s “estimates also show that for the 12 month period from June 2012 up to and including May 2013 the total indicative net margin for a typical, standard tariff dual fuel customer will be approximately £30 per customer.”


Posted in Library | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Energy & Climate Questions to the Mayor

June 2012: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to: whether the Mayor will look to establish a London energy cooperative; an update on the Mayor’s carbon reduction policies; whether the Mayor will move to developing a single environment strategy; the Mayor’s activities on supporting electric vehicles in the capital; list of buildings under the RE:FIT scheme; an update on the number of homes treated under RE:NEW; delivery of RE:NEW to the over 60s; and jobs created under the Mayor’s RE:NEW and RE:FIT programmes.

Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.

Posted in News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Updated FIT Tariff Table

May 2012: Following today’s announcement by DECC over changes to the FIT programme for photovoltaics,  Ofgem have published a table which sets out the tariff rates for the Feed-in Tariff scheme from 1 August 2012, for non-PV installations only. Download here.

Posted in Library, News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Low levels of FIT activity in London

March 2012: Energy regulator Ofgem have just issued their latest quarterly report on the progress of Feed in Tariff (FIT) installations across the UK, providing details up to the end of 2011. As reported in a previous post, the last few months of 2011 has seen tremendous activity in relation to photovoltaics, due to the reduction in the support tariff levels from Government. The newsletter highlights that as at 31 December 2011, a total of 147,112 renewable installations have been registered under the scheme since 1 April 2010 (when the scheme started) of which, more than 65,000 installations were registered within the last three months.

Continuing from previous quarters, Ofgem report that photovoltaic (PV) installations continue to represent the vast majority of newly registered installations at over 99 percent of all installations registered between 1 October and 31 December 2011.

Ofgem fortunately also provides a regional breakdown of installations, which highlights a disappointing level of activity in London.  In terms of the number of FIT installations, London appears to come at the bottom – just equal or below to the North East – with around 4,000 installations – significantly below all other regions (apart from the North East) – and only 1/6th as much as the best performing region.  This number of installations in London represents less than 3% of the total as at December 2011.

Ofgem also helpfully provide the following regional generation capacity breakdown:

Of the total 661.07MW of of generation capacity registered under the FITs scheme since 1 April 2010, London has the second lowest level of installed capacity at 17.78MW – just 2.7% of the total (only the North East is lower – a region which does after all have lower levels of insolation).

No analysis has been undertaken as yet to why some regions have been more successful than others, or what have been the key factors to the uptake of  PVs. London certainly seems to have an active number of solar companies working within the capital and would have significant roof space, both domestic and non-domestic, that would be suitable for the installation of PVs. The high density of rented accommodation (as opposed to owner-occupiers) in London and typically higher costs associated with scaffolding may have been contributing factors. However, it is unlikely that they are the key determining factors in relation to identifying London’s poor performance.

Posted in Data Store, News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Latest FIT statistics for London

9 January 2012: Ofgem have just produced their latest quarterly detailed spreadsheet providing data on FIT installations across the UK. The spreadsheet now documents information on an impressive 147,114 entries of schemes installed across the UK since the beginning of the scheme!

Filtering the Ofgem spreadsheet to provide London-only data highlights that:

  • 4,053 FIT schemes are installed in London as at 31 December 2011 (2.75% of the total UK schemes installed)
  • These represent a total of 11.2 MW of electricity capacity installed

Additionally – the latest update on the number of photovoltaics (PVs) installed nationally (a regional breakdown not provided) is available via DECC’s weeks PV statistics (dated 5 January 2012). The 16 December deadline date set by Government – after which installations would face a major reduction in the subsidy support from the FIT mechanism – clearly had a dramatic effect as the graph from the statistics illustrates:


Posted in Data Store, News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

RHI FAQ

December 2011: Ofgem question and answer factsheet providing assistance to applicants who intend to apply for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme.

Posted in Library | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Further Details on the Roll out of CESP in London

28 September 2011: Ofgem’s recent Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) Update newsletter provided only limited detail in relation to the progress energy companies are making in rolling out efficiency measures in areas of low income, a key requirement of the CESP targets. CESP, which is funded by an obligation on energy suppliers and electricity generators, is expected to deliver up to £350m of efficiency measures by December 2012, the programme’s termination date.

Ofgem have now provided Energy for London some additional information to help better understand the progress of CESP in the capital.

The Update newsletter mentioned that 9 CESP schemes have been proposed in London, out of a total of 201 proposed schemes across the UK.

  • Ofgem have now confirmed that, to date, only two London schemes have been approved, in Barking and Dagenham, and in Westminster, and a further 16 have been submitted, awaiting approval.

The Update newsletter highlighted that 1047 energy efficiency measures were installed in 751 dwellings. Ofgem have provided to Energy for London a breakdown of theses 1047 energy efficiency measures as at 30 June 2011:

  • Cavity wall insulation – 198
  • External solid wall insulation – 342
  • Glazing – 18
  • Replacement boiler – 78
  • Heating controls – 197
  • Fuel switch – 119
  • Solar PV – 95
  • Total – 1047

DECC’s ‘Areas of Low Income’ document sets out that a total of 795 areas are  identified as qualifying areas for CESP out of a total of 3248 in England: that is 25 per cent of the eligible areas for the programme in England are in London.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

FIT Update Newsletter

26 September 2011: Ofgem’s latest Feed in Tariff Newsletter (issue 5) provides detail on renewable installations across the UK. London data shows that 4.4MW of renewable generation has been installed through the FIT programme in London, virtually of which (99%) is photovoltaic. As compared to other regions, London has the second lowest number of registered FIT installations (around 1,700) and second lowest amount of generation installed. The greatest number of FIT schemes installed are in the South East, South West and Scotland, where 6-7 times the amount of renewable capacity of that in London has gone ahead.

Posted in Library, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

CESP Update for London

7 September 2011Ofgem’s half yearly update (to the end of June 2011) on energy companies progress against their targets under the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) has just been published. However, the results provided in the update only refer to the 201 UK-wide ‘proposed‘ schemes, as opposed to the schemes actually ‘approved’ by Ofgem. With reference to London, the CESP update reports that 15 schemes have been proposed. In terms of actual measures delivered, London schemes in operation (an unknown number), have installed 1047 measures in 751 dwellings. The CESP Annual Report published earlier this year noted the slow progress of the programme to date: the update goes on to highlight the difficulties in getting schemes of the ground as even if all of those proposals put forward by energy companies to Ofgem for approval came to fruition,they would only represent around 50% of the CESP target, with only just a year left of the programme to go.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Library, News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Connecting Decentralised Energy to London’s Electricity Network

September 2011: Back in May Ofgem issued an ‘open letter’ requesting views from the distributed generation (also commonly called decentralised generation) industry of their experience of connecting projects to the local electricity network. Ofgem’s letter sets out that they:

“consider  that the efficient development  of distributed generation  could play an important role in addressing a number of key policy issues.   These include helping the UK to achieve its targets for reduced carbon emissions as well as improving the  security of energy  supply and  addressing  fuel poverty issues. To this end,  we have endeavoured to ensure that  those seeking to connect  distributed  generation to the network  do not encounter any unnecessary barriers resulting from the way that the electricity distribution networks are operated and regulated.”

The increased use of decentralised energy is a key element of London’s energy strategy, and the Mayor has established a target for 25% of London’s heat and power to be sourced by localised DE schemes by 2025.

Ofgem have now published a useful ‘High Level Summary’ of responses which highlights the difficulities that DE operators experience when bringing forward a project. This includes the:

  • Limited and inconsistent distribution network data available to generators
  • Costly processes ranging from connection assessments to legal fees
  • Prohibitively complex grid code requirements placed on these smaller distributed generation systems.

No regional aspects are highlighted in the findings – that is – is it any harder/easier to connect DE to London’s electricity distribution system (operated by UK Power Networks in the main and also SSE in SW London) than anywhere else, however, if London is to significantly increase its use of DE, the numerous barriers identified by smaller generators that currently exist need to be removed.

Posted in Decentralised Energy, Library, News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Latest Guidance for FIT Generators

August 2011Ofgem document for renewable generators with a capacity over 50kW up to 5MW that want to benefit from the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme. It provides an overview of the scheme’s eligibility criteria and explains the process of seeking accreditation.

Posted in Library, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Simple Guide to the Renewable Heat Incentive

July 2011: Ofgem have just issued a leaflet setting out the key aspects of the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme for prospective participants. DECC have yet to announce the start of the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP)  – a subsidy for a range of renewable heat technologies that can be used in homes – which will be used as a bridge until the full domestic-sector RHI kicks off in October 2012 alongside the Green Deal. This Ofgem brochure just mentions that “DECC will release further information about the RHPP shortly.”

Posted in Library, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment