About the Electricity industry

The Electricity Industry in the UK has four main elements.  They are:

Generation - responsible for generating the energy we use in our homes and businesses.  Although historically, electricity generation was mainly derived from coal consumption, the UK generating industry has moved to a variety of generation methods - nuclear, gas etc. Generated electricity flows into the transmission network and through to the regional Distribution networks.

Transmission - responsible for maintaining and operating the high-voltage transmission network.  This network carries large amounts of power from the generators to the distribution networks - similar to the motorways of the country's road networks. There are three transmission licence holders in Great Britain - Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy in Scotland, National Grid in England and Wales. National Grid operates the network across Great Britain, but only owns the network in England and Wales.

Distributors - are the owners and operators of the network of towers and cables that bring electricity from the high-voltage transmission Network to homes and businesses. Even so, they are not the organisations that sell electricity to the end consumer.  This is carried out by organisations that make use of the distribution networks to pass the energy commodity to your property - the suppliers.

Suppliers - are the companies who supply and sell electricity to the consumer. The suppliers are the first point of contact when arranging an electricity supply to domestic, commercial and smaller industrial premises.

The Story of Deregulation

Previously

· The Regional Electricity Companies were responsible for the supply of     electricity

· Each supplied electricity to a separate geographic area of the UK

Changes

· The Government decided to encourage competition in order to increase efficiency, reduce costs & provide consumer choice

· The market was opened up.

Why have business electricity prices increased?

Increases are linked to faster than expected depletion of UK sources of gas. This has led to tighter gas supply margins and the reliance of gas imports.

These have both contributed to higher wholesale gas prices. Much of the electricity in the UK is produced using gas and so increases in gas prices have a direct impact on electricity prices.

What are the different types of meter profiles?

01 Standard quarterly domestic supply
02 Quarterly domestic E7 supply & Off-Peak
03 Standard quarterly business supply, Single rate & Eve/Wk End
04 Quarterly business E7 supply & Off-Peak. Also Eve/Wk End & Night
05 Monthly supply with Load Factor below 20%
06 Monthly supply with Load Factor between 20% & 30%
07 Monthly supply with Load Factor between 30% & 40%
08 Monthly supply with Load Factor over 40%
00 Half hourly metered (i.e. not a profile)

 What is an Mpan/Supply number?

Components of the MPAN
(Note that the entire bottom line is known as the MPAN CORE) 

What are the different REC areas?

10 EASTERN
11 POWERGEN
12 LONDON
13 MANWEB
14 NPOWER
15 NORTHERN
16 NORWEB
17 SCOTTISH HYDRO
18 SCOTTISH POWER
19 SEEBOARD
20 SOUTHERN
21 SWALEC
22 SWEB
23 Yorkshire

How are electricity costs calculated?

Before we see how much electricity costs, we have to understand how it's measured.  Electricity used at any moment is measured in watts. For example:


·         A 100-watt light bulb uses 100 watts.

·         A typical desktop computer uses 65 watts.

·         A central air conditioner uses about 3500 watts. 

To know how much energy you're using you have to consider how long you run your appliances. When you use 1000 watts for an hour, that's a kilowatt-hour. For example: 

·         Ten 100-watt light bulbs on for an hour, is 1 kWh

·         Ten 100-watt light bulbs on for 1/2 an hour, is 0.5 kWh

·         Ten 50-watt light bulbs on for an hour, is 0.5 kWh

·         Running a 3500-watt air conditioner for an hour is 3.5 kWh. 

Each supplier charges a pence rate per unit which is multiplied by the number of kWh used in your billing period.

Standing Charge

A standing charge is a fixed amount you pay each day a meter is connected to an electricity network. These charges are used to cover costs like meter reading, maintenance and the cost of keeping you connected to the network. This is usually charged at a pence per day rate.

Maximum demand charges

The maximum demand charge is an additional charge that is calculated for meters with a maximum demand load factor. The calculation is based on the maximum electricity demand you will require on any particular day during a month and is calculated as an average of your recent consumption.