Monday 12 December 2022

UK energy prices skyrocket as snow blast continues

UK electricity prices smashed a new record.

Data shows that one of the two power auctions in GB (EPEX) cleared at a record baseload power price of £674.78/MWh and the other auction (Nordpool-N2EX) cleared at a second-highest baseload price of £570.60/MWh.

Analysts attribute these high prices to fears of high demand due to the cold snap and reduced power exports from France as many nuclear power stations are still offline.

There was also low wind power production.

The GB day-ahead auctions cleared at a record £2,585.80/MWh on EPEX and £1,585.82/MWh on N2EX.

Phil Hewitt, Director at EnAppSys, told ELN: "Worries before the weekend of a shortage of power on the continent feeding into a capacity crunch in the GB electricity market as the interconnectors either were switched off or were reversed have not materialised.

"The high prices in the GB market were driven by these fears and the post-Brexit trading arrangements with our continental cousins resulting in excess prices being paid for power in GB.

"If the GB market had still been in the internal energy market then prices in GB would have been a lot lower as the power from the continent would have been flowed at a much smaller premium driven by the EU's day-ahead algorithm that prioritises consumer welfare."