The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report revealing that the 2017 Contracts for Difference auction will cost consumers £1.5bn. The report says that BEIS made changes to the auction design prior to the 2017 auction that resulted in small “fuelled technologies” raising the strike price for larger projects and that, as a result, consumers face extra costs of roughly £100mn each year. Elsewhere the Lords EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee has written to Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark asking the government for clarity on the possible impacts on the energy industry of a no deal Brexit. The letter posed a series of questions looking at the potential economic impact of the UK becoming a “third country” under EU law, the financial impact of new transmission system use fees in imports and exports being implemented, and more.

In its annual Summer Outlook Report, National Grid forecast supply and demand for the gas and electricity systems to September this year. The report said that both peak and minimum transmission system demands for the electricity system are expected to be lower this summer than last year – the result of increased wind and solar PV. National Grid also predicted gas demand to be slightly lower this summer. An increase in renewable generation combined with the lower electricity demand will result in less demand for gas-fired electricity, it said.

The government has hailed the record low prices achieved in the recent Capacity Market auctions, stating they had secured future energy supplies at the lowest cost for both homes and businesses.

The EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee has warned the UK’s impending exit from the European Union could see it become more vulnerable to supply shortages. Published on 29 January, its Brexit: energy security report called on the government to set out how it will manage and mitigate any risks and potential price increases for consumers. It also urged a transition period for Euratom, separate to that of the EU membership, and that the government uses business connections to influence EU energy policy post-Brexit.