Great Britain and Northern Ireland Regulatory Authorities Reports 2020
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Great Britain and Northern Ireland Regulatory Authorities Reports 2020 Publication 31 July 2020 Contact: Caitlin Bromfield, Analyst Catherine Contiguglia, Senior Policy date: Manager Team: Wholesale Markets Tel: 020 7901 3169 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Regulatory Authorities Report pursuant to section 5ZA of the Utilities Act 2000 and section 6A of the Energy (Northern Ireland) Order 2003: The Great Britain (GB) report covers: Developments in the GB energy markets in the calendar year 2019 and the first six months of 2020. In some cases, data is only available for a subset of this period (ie the 2019 calendar year only). Where this is the case, it is clearly stated. The regulation and performance of the GB electricity and gas markets along the themes of network regulation, promoting competition and security of supply. Our compliance with the Electricity and Gas Directives on consumer protection and dispute settlement. Since GB energy markets have been fully liberalised and the regulatory structures in place for a number of years, this report is intended as an updated version of the submissions made since 2007. In accordance with the structure agreed by the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER), this report includes references to compliance with the Clean Energy Package. Report – Great Britain and Northern Ireland Regulatory Authorities Reports 2020 Finally, for further information on Ofgem’s wider activities, please consult our Annual Report. The 2018-19 Ofgem Annual Report is available at the link below.1 Legal basis All National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) are obliged to report annually to the European Commission, in accordance with Directives 2009/72/EC (Electricity Directive) and 2009/73/EC (Gas Directive). The structure of the report is based on that agreed by CEER. Ofgem is the GB Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. It is governed by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (the Authority). The terms ‘the Authority’, ‘Ofgem’, ‘us’ and ‘we’ are used interchangeably in this document. The Northern Ireland National Report, from the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator, is in the second section of this United Kingdom (UK) Report. As the NRA for GB, Ofgem’s above annual reporting requirement is specified in section 5ZA of the Utilities Act 2000. The Utility Regulator’s equivalent requirement is specified in section 6A of the Energy (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. Definitions References to the ‘Electricity Regulation’, unless otherwise specified, refer to the Regulation on the internal market for electricity (EU) 2019/943 which replaced the Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 and entered into application on 1 January 2020. The term ‘Electricity Directive’ is used throughout the report to refer to the Electricity Directive 2009/72/EC. The term ‘Gas Directive’ is used throughout the document to refer to the Gas Directive 2009/73/EC. © Crown copyright 2020 The text of this document may be reproduced (excluding logos) under and in accordance with the terms of the Open Government Licence. Without prejudice to the generality of the terms of the Open Government Licence the material that is reproduced must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the document title of this document must be specified in that acknowledgement. Any enquiries related to the text of this publication should be sent to Ofgem at: 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4PU. Alternatively, please call Ofgem on 0207 901 7000. This publication is available at www.ofgem.gov.uk. Any enquiries regarding the use and re -use of this information resource should be sent to: [email protected] 1 https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2019/07/anuual_report_and_accounts_2018-19_web.pdf 2 Report – Great Britain and Northern Ireland Regulatory Authorities Reports 2020 Contents 1 Chair’s foreword .................................................................................. 4 2 Main developments in gas and electricity markets............................... 7 2.1 Evaluation of the market development and regulation ........................................ 7 2.1.1 Investment ........................................................................................... 7 2.1.2 Wholesale markets .............................................................................. 10 2.1.3 Retail markets ..................................................................................... 13 2.1.4 Compliance and enforcement ................................................................ 16 2.2 Report on the implementation of the Clean Energy Package .............................. 18 3 The electricity market ........................................................................ 19 3.1 Network Regulation ...................................................................................... 19 3.1.1 Unbundling ......................................................................................... 19 3.1.2 Technical functioning ............................................................................ 20 3.1.3 Network tariffs for connection and access ............................................... 28 3.1.4 Cross-border issues ............................................................................. 32 3.1.5 Security and reliability regulation ........................................................... 41 3.1.6 Monitoring of supply and demand .......................................................... 45 3.1.7 Implementation of Network Codes and Guidelines .................................... 46 3.1.8 Compliance ......................................................................................... 51 3.2 Competition and market functioning ............................................................... 64 3.2.1 Wholesale markets .............................................................................. 64 3.2.2 Retail markets ..................................................................................... 75 3.2.3 Consumer protection and dispute settlement for electricity ..................... 100 4 The gas market ................................................................................ 115 4.1 Network regulation ..................................................................................... 115 4.1.1 Unbundling ....................................................................................... 115 4.1.2 Technical functioning .......................................................................... 118 4.1.3 Network and LNG tariffs for connection and access ................................ 121 4.1.4 Cross-border issues ........................................................................... 126 4.1.5 Compliance ....................................................................................... 129 4.2 Competition and market functioning ............................................................. 132 4.2.1 Wholesale markets ............................................................................ 132 4.2.2 Retail markets ................................................................................... 138 4.2.3 Consumer protection and dispute settlement ......................................... 148 4.2.4 Security of supply .............................................................................. 148 3 Report – Great Britain and Northern Ireland Regulatory Authorities Reports 2020 1 Chair’s foreword The past year in Ofgem has been an exciting one dedicated to and shaped by change. Internally, we welcomed Jonathan Brearley as our new Chief Executive, taking over the post from Dermot Nolan, who led Ofgem since 2014. The year began with a major change when the UK left the EU on 31 January and entered into the transition period where we continue to be subject to EU rules. Negotiations to determine the future relationship between both parties are currently underway. While we cannot predict the final outcome of these negotiations, we are committed to working with our fellow regulators in Europe and to act in the spirit of cooperation. COVID-19 has undoubtedly presented a serious and unexpected challenge on a national and international scale. Our response has been to take a flexible approach to make sure our overriding objectives of protecting consumers, ensuring secure energy supplies, and maintaining the safety of consumers and the workforce are upheld. As we transition to a new phase of response, our policies remain focused on allowing companies to meet the needs of consumers – especially those in vulnerable situations - as well as on how to support a green post-COVID recovery. In the midst of these changes, our focus over the past months has been setting out our action plans to support the urgent call for achieving net zero carbon emissions. In June 2019, the UK Parliament committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. In February, we released our ‘Decarbonisation Action Plan’ to set out actions that we will take in the next 18 months to begin our next steps in the journey to net zero. We were also able to announce a number of landmark achievements over the year. Our investigation of the 9 August 2019 power cut that impacted supply for over 1 million consumers resulted in voluntary payments from Hornsea One Ltd, Little Barford and UK Power Networks into the Voluntary Redress Fund, and helped inform our review into management of Electricity System Operators. Then in April, we imposed a record fine of £37.2m on InterGen for a breach under REMIT,