Following on from our previous podcast two months ago, 'Crystal Balling - Future power prices and the impacts of net zero'. Emma Burns, Senior Consultant, and Tom Edwards, Senior Modeller, reunited to discuss the thinking behind our 'Benchmark Power curve service' and our view of the market and prices out to 2050. 

They discuss how we can expect prices to evolve, and the role of interconnection, hydrogen, cabon capture use and storage (CCUS) in driving market outcomes and setting prices in future.

They also ask what kind of market design would be needed to deliver net zero and manage the 'net zero paradox', the subject of Tom's recent insight paper.

Insight paper | 'The net zero paradox': https://www.cornwall-insight.com/insight-papers/the-net-zero-paradox-challenges-of-designing-markets-to-bring-forward-low-marginal-cost-resources

Service | 'Benchmark power curve service': https://www.cornwall-insight.com/market-research/modelling/benchmark-power-curve

23) Crystal balling - Seeing into the future with forward power curves

In our latest podcast, Associate Director for Training Ed Reed, Analysts Tom Faulkner and Emma Bill come together from different locations to discuss the importance of energy supplier good practice in ensuring compliance and delivering good consumer outcomes.

With Ofgem having moved towards more principles-based regulation, the trio discuss best practice examples from the regulator’s vulnerability reports as well as lessons learned from Ofgem’s compliance and enforcement work. The podcast follows the latest update to the Energy Supplier Compliance Portal which covers proposed and incoming supplier obligations and, from November, also includes new sections on good practice as indicated by the regulator and recommendations from Citizens Advice and others.

Looking at recent compliance engagement by Ofgem, they consider how suppliers can draw on lessons learned to meet the regulator’s expectations in areas such as customer communications, an area of compliance that comes up often.

With winter fast approaching, they also consider new protections for customers self-disconnecting and self-rationing their energy use. They also discuss how COVID-19 has prompted suppliers to offer support above and beyond what is deemed ‘normal’. Examples include identifying and proactively contacting customers facing, or are likely to face, difficulties paying for the energy they need in the coming months.

Our experts focus on three themes:

-Good practice doesn’t necessarily require great resource.
-Principles-based regulation enables suppliers an opportunity to 
 differentiate themselves .
-How, over time, good practice can sometimes become the norm.

24) Using Good Practice To Improve Consumer Outcomes

In our latest podcast, Senior Consulting Analyst Jacob Briggs and Senior Retail Analyst Oliver Archer get carried away discussing what new data-driven service suppliers and energy service companies are offering customers, and what innovative offerings are in the pipeline. 

From decarbonising household supply, to helping the elderly age well at home, to the nitty gritty of improving customer service, listen in to find out what’s already being done by innovators today, what the future might look like, and when it’ll be arriving.

25) How smart energy data is shaping the consumer relationship, and what does the future hold?

In our latest podcast, Cornwall Insight’s Research Partner, Dan Atzori, speaks with Maria Connolly, partner and head of Clean Energy & Real Estate at TLT, about electric vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure. The decarbonisation of mobility is now increasingly seen as a priority by policy makers and market players on a global level, and the number of both electric vehicles and EV charging points is steadily increasing. 

As we all know, in the UK and elsewhere, the electrification of transport is going to be crucial to reach our net zero targets. In today’s podcast, we will be looking at the main areas of growth in EV charging, upcoming investment opportunities, barriers and bottlenecks, but also policy and regulation, as well as new charging patterns emerging out of the current crisis.

26) Decarbonising mobility after COVID-19, in collaboration with TLT LLP.

The festive period is often a time of reflection, and given the recent publication of the Capacity Market prequalification, we thought it was a good chance to look back at what participants have had to go through to get to this point.

In our latest podcast, two members of our Consultancy team, James Cunningham and Alex McGregor, reflect on the many (many) requirements that potential participants have had to meet in order to just enter the upcoming auctions. They also discuss how the scheme has changed, for the better and worse, over recent years and suggest some potential ideas for how the scheme could be improved. Finally, they look ahead to the future of the scheme, including how the Capacity Market fits into a net zero world.

If you would like further information on the subjects discussed, or anything else to do with the Capacity Market, get in touch with James or Alex. Cornwall Insight offers a range of services in relation to the Capacity Market in addition to prequalification support, including a forecast of clearing prices for the upcoming auctions. If you'd like any more information about our Capacity Market offerings ahead of the auctions in 2021, please get in touch or check out our website.