LONDON, UK: Between March 2019 and September 2020, ESB Independent Generation Trading Limited and Carrington Power Limited regularly submitted misleading and inaccurate data to NGESO about the minimum amount of energy the Carrington power plant could supply, Ofgem market monitoring has found (1,2,3).
This caused NGESO to purchase more energy from the plant than needed, and at times spend more money than it needed to, to help it balance supply and demand on the system.
NGESO routinely buys power from power plants to prevent there being too much or too little power on the system. It relies on receiving accurate information from generators to make sure it can do so economically and efficiently.
The companies considered their approach compliant with their obligations and believed it would benefit the NGESO. Ofgem found that the companies did not have the internal processes in place to ensure staff understood and applied the rules correctly.
The companies subsequently took corrective action and have since confirmed that they have improved their compliance processes and training around market manipulation and submitting data to NGESO. ESB Independent Generation Trading Limited and Carrington Power Limited have admitted that they inadvertently breached the rules and have agreed to pay £6m to the energy redress fund to support consumers in vulnerable situations.
Ofgem has now closed this issue, taking into account the companies’ admission of the breaches, the steps taken to avoid any future reoccurrence and the redress they have agreed to pay (4, 5).
Cathryn Scott, Regulatory Director at Ofgem said: “Ofgem has taken strong action against another generator for submitting inaccurate data to National Grid Electricity System Operator. Data accuracy is essential for keeping the costs of running the electricity system as low as possible for consumers. This case sends a clear signal to all generators that we are closely scrutinising their conduct and will not hesitate to act if they fall short of the standards we expect.”
