BREAKING -- Shell says it won't invest in the controversial Cambo development in the U.K., putting the future of the proposed oilfield in doubt. Big win for activists.
Tomorrow, the cost of heating your home and boiling your kettle is set to soar if you're on a variable energy tariff
Here's a reminder of what you can expect to pay to use each appliance under the UK's new energy price guarantee from 1st October
UK government, 23 Dec 2021: We will not fund a relatively small bust supplier to hedge their energy because we don't want commodity risk on our books
UK government, 6 Sept 2022: We are willing to take on essentially unlimited commodity risk for 18 months at a cost of £170bn+
Russia’s Gazprom has rejected a payment from a trading firm that Germany seized from Moscow’s control -- even though it tried to pay in rubles, as Putin asked
Bloomberg exclusive:
Power traders in the UK have pulled in half a billion pounds by using the stations they control in ways that worsen tight markets and increase energy bills
Regulator Ofgem has now called the practice “manipulation”
Exclusive
@business
investigation
SCOOP: Volkswagen is set to make as much as €400 million from selling a load of gas it had bought in advance for next year
It's now sticking to burning coal in its power plant as economic pressures drive German industry to save gas
@BloombergUK
@irinaanghel12
@_jsdiamond
Remember: there is no upper limit on what you can be charged. The £2,500 "cap" is just a guideline figure for a typical household.
The real cap is on unit rates -- the price your supplier can charge you per unit of power or gas you use
Here's a breakdown
Excited to say I'll be moving to New York early next year to cover Wall Street banks for Bloomberg!
Thanks to everyone I've learned from during my time covering energy. If you know anyone in NYC (or anywhere) who can teach me something about US finance, please DM me.🏦
SCOOP: U.K. gas supplier CNG will no longer supply gas to its utility clients, a move that could prompt about 18 (!) further failures of energy suppliers in the British market
The British grid operator is paying £6,000 per megawatt-hour to Vitol for keeping its Rye House power station running right now
That's 100 times the normal price pre-crisis, a record for a gas plant, and at the (no longer so) sacred "Value of Lost Load"
The UK government is set to offer a strike price ceiling of about £70-75 per megawatt-hour for new offshore wind in the next CfD subsidy auction
That's a big jump on this year's £44, which was too low for any developers to bid
Scoop w/
@EllenAMilligan
EXCLUSIVE: UK energy firms could make excess profits of up to £170 billion over the next two years, Treasury estimates say
>> First time an official estimate has been published on the scale of the potential profits from the energy crisis
w/
@alexwickham
Monzo's CEO
@t_blom
on why traditional banks suck, what's wrong with Silicon Valley, and his perilous ordeal to build a sunroom on the roof – my interview for the FT
A major UK power generator avoided paying consumers more than £600 million at the height of the energy crisis
Drax has been accused of gaming a subsidy contract that its own CEO says is designed to guard consumers from price spikes
Exclusive
@BloombergUK
On Monday I'll be shifting beats at Bloomberg (permanently) to cover Europe's energy transition, the mad power crunch happening right now, as well as broader
@climate
stories on the tricky path to net-zero emissions. DMs open for any tips!
#energytransition
Shell CEO Ben van Beurden faced by protesters at TED Countdown Summit in Edinburgh. Panel member Lauren MacDonald walked out with around 30 audience members. “No future in fossil fuels,” reads the banner
#TEDCountdown
Meanwhile, in energy world, Drax announced this evening that it will keep its power station's coal units running beyond their scheduled close in September on the request of the UK government
Totals for Cambridge in the European elections, 23 May:
Brexit Party. 5064
Change UK 1323
Conservative & Unionist 1499
English Democrats. 83
Green Party 9408
Labour Party. 4551
Liberal Democrats 17328
UKIP 482
CSORDAS Attila 68
Rejected. 124
Total votes. 39,930
Uniper announces its coal unit at Ratcliffe in Nottinghamshire will stay online until 2024 -- the third and longest UK coal plant extension
Follows Kwasi Kwarteng's call to keep coal capacity online as we head into winter with a gas shortage in Europe
The UK's energy price cap is tripling from last winter to £3,549.
An 80% jump from April understates how much of a hit this could be to households, whose consumption is much higher in winter months. This is really a 178% rise.
Full story on
@BloombergUK
:
Liz Truss’ government is set to fix the price of business energy this winter to roughly the price of households — meaning a ~50% cut for many firms who’ve signed contracts recently
Scoop + further details w/
@elashton
NEW: Energy regulator Ofgem has opened an investigation into the behaviour of UK wind farms highlighted today by a Bloomberg News report
Read the story ⬇️
New details on UK business energy bills
Government plans to cap cost of wholesale in contracts at 21.1p per kilowatt-hour for electricity and 7.5p for gas this winter. ~50% discount on electric; 25% gas. Numbers could still change.
Exclusive
@BloombergUK
The Labour Party has now called for a government and regulatory investigation into claims of manipulation in the UK electricity market
Follows our investigation w/
@GavinFinchBBG
@jasongrotto
and criticism from PM Rishi Sunak
EDF power traders lost a "shocking" €480 million as prices surged💥
A former trader claims he repeatedly raised concerns about deliberate mismarking of prices, but was then fired for "rocking the boat"
Big story by
@jonny_browning
Europe's benchmark electricity price -- an indicator for costs across the continent -- just traded at €500/MWh for the first time ever.
This time last year, German year-ahead power was about €85. Two years ago, it was at €39.
Story w/
@MathisWilliam
:
“After comprehensive screening of the proposed Cambo development, we have concluded the economic case for investment in this project is not strong enough at this time” -- Shell. Full story here from
@lc_hurst
The wholesale cost of UK electricity has more than DOUBLED in just two months.
The chart below helps explain why Ofgem's price cap is set to more than double. October power at £591/MWh.
Uncharted territory for energy markets and an unprecedented burden facing households.
Not one of Europe's 21 coal companies has a plan to hit all key milestones that align with the IEA's net-zero roadmap, says a new report by
@EurBeyondCoal
@EmberClimate
.
Exclusive:
Something very unusual is happening in Europe’s coal market
Traders bought too much coal last year and are now re-loading ships and selling on the unused excess to countries like India, Senegal and Guatemala
Full story:
Britain’s energy crisis is claiming another casualty: the Aga cooker
“Jack O’Dwyer, a Blackpool-based oven remover, has taken out 35 Agas this year and received at least 100 phone calls from people across the country looking to sell.”
by
@KatieLinsell
Russia has long been Europe's largest supplier of coal.
Utilities are now desperate to get it from anywhere else, like South Africa or Colombia, driving coal prices to record highs today.
w/
@JesperStarn
@isiscarol14
The British government is preparing to step in and temporarily run Gazprom Energy -- which supplies over a fifth of U.K. commercial gas -- as it comes under increasing pressure with companies turning their backs on Russian business
w/
@AlexJFMorales
@BloombergUK
Energy consultants Auxilione are now estimating **£7,272** for the April cap.
Cornwall Insight is predicting £6,616.
These are based on current, volatile market prices, so are hard to predict -- but it's clear that this doesn't end with the October rise.
@lc_hurst
Meanwhile, in South Africa, Shell faces a growing campaign against its plans to conduct a seismic survey of potential oil and gas reservoirs off the country’s coastline
@pburkhardt
@lc_hurst
British households used less gas than expected during December -- saving them £600m and the govt £260m
People ARE able to save energy when the price makes sense to them
Great analysis by
@gemma_buk
in our
@BloombergUK
story
Pharma execs are switching up their Covid vaccine doses, following years of research that suggests doing so will give them mega levels of immunity. One even crossed borders to do it.
My exclusive for
@business
:
One of Drax's largest shareholders has urged the company to get rid of licenses that allow tree-harvesting in Canada's British Columbia
The licenses are the same permits that saw Drax criticized in a BBC Panorama documentary last year
Scoop
@BloombergUK
An ammonia factory in Billingham, near Middlesbrough, has just announced a temporary halt in output because of high gas prices. The strain on UK industry this winter will be big.
Full story: by
@ElizabethElkin
EXCLUSIVE: Energy intensive UK industries are at risk of site closures or slowdowns due to soaring gas and electricity prices, according to briefings received by govt ministers
Chemical and fertiliser manufacturers, cold storage, glass, cement high risk
Pretty comprehensive and damning piece by
@emilygosden
on the UK's energy policy failures over the past decade that have brought us here.
Low insulation & gas storage, failure to develop secure and renewable power, Europe's overdependence on Russia...
Really excited to be studying at Harvard for a year from mid-August, fully funded as a Henry Fellow. Please do get in touch if you have any suggestions for people to meet or places to explore in the US. I'll certainly still be writing, too!
The European Union’s renewable energy sources are helping reduce its dependence on natural gas.
Some countries are going in different directions to others...
Tomorrow, it's Finance Day at
#COP26
. There will likely be a load of banks talking about nifty ways of incentivizing companies to reach net-zero.
"Sustainability-linked" debt is an increasingly discussed method. But, as Tesco shows us, there's a catch.
Britain’s electricity prices are bucking a trend -- normally the priciest in Europe, the market is now among the cheapest as floods of liquefied natural gas arrive and make it cheaper to run power plants
(Spoiler: prices are still super expensive)
My obituary of Stephen Hawking, including previously unreported words of his from his final appearance at the Cambridge Union in November (
@CaiusCollege
)
Those 18 U.K. utility companies will need to find new gas supply at a time of record-high prices. That's far from easy for companies already making losses on their residential business due to Ofgem's price cap.
After years of intense pressure from students and staff, Cambridge University has committed to divesting its £3.5 billion ($4.5 billion) endowment from fossil fuels and invest more in renewable energy. w/
@AkshatRathi
@climate
Private equity giants like KKR, Brookfield and Blackstone are piling into energy efficiency – a largely invisible driver of the green transition, but one that's crucial to reaching net-zero goals
One of my final stories on the energy beat ⬇️⚡️
The energy crisis is set to be a larger hit to UK households than the 2008 crisis when the price cap jumps in October.
Customer debts have already been increasing this summer -- the opposite is usually true at this time of year.
Story via
@MathisWilliam
Fashion house Chanel and supermarket Tesco have more in common than at first glance. They've both been borrowing money at low interest by tying climate goals to debt payments. Except they're not risking much...
Investigation w/
@AkshatRathi
@priazrocha
Heated gilets use less than 1kWh per day. 1kWh of electricity is 34p. Heated gilets use a portable battery and heat the core of the body. Good blog here:
Shareholders are pressuring the State Bank of India over the proposed 678 million USD loan for the controversial Adani coal mine in Australia. Full story on Bloomberg w/
@Suvajourno
Dozens of America's biggest companies made climate pledges in 2015 in conjunction with the Obama White House. Some of them might have forgotten, but -- five years later -- we checked in on how they did. w/
@hellococomo
@tsrandall
Ofgem is set to ban power traders from charging excessive prices to provide back-up power when the grid is tight
It comes after a Bloomberg report which showed that the controversial tactic added more than £525 million to bills in the past five years
My latest with Chen Shalita of Shomrim: In Israel, slain soldiers are becoming dads thanks to a technique called postmortem sperm retrieval. Critics call it planned orphanhood via
@BW
Have now nailed down a dissertation topic for my final year at Cambridge. If anyone knows things about
@FreeStateNH
, American political history or utopian political thought, hit me up! Plane tickets to New Hampshire also appreciated
The monopolization of vaccines by wealthy nations could cause almost twice as many deaths as distributing them equally, a Northeastern University study showed.
w/
@JamesPaton14
Nigel Farage, 2015: “I haven’t got a clue whether climate change is being driven by carbon-dioxide emissions.”
Now he's cashing in on the carbon-offset boom.
It is time to take back the environmental agenda from the climate alarmists who tax the poor and give to the rich.
I want to do something positive for forests and biodiversity which will eat up carbon too.
DGB is a company with ambitious plans.
Fun times on Great Western train from London. Conductor does the tannoy welcome and Covid/masks notice, then says: “But we’re throwing a big party in coach D for anyone who lives in a house that’s a number 10 on its street. Phones must be switched off to prevent any recording.”
Brexit pushed UK energy costs up by as much as £1.1 billion last year because of the separation of key markets, according to EnergyUK
-- Decoupled electricity market means inefficient interconnectors
-- Separate, illiquid carbon market adds on more costs
Some Conservative students had fun trying to rile about five left wing students at a meeting barely anyone goes to, probably partly to incite these headlines. Can we all chill out a bit, please?
The German government is preparing a multi-billion-euro bailout loan for an ex-Gazprom unit to secure stability of Europe's gas supply. The package, worth €5 to 10 billion euros, could come as soon as this week.
SCOOP w/
@mcnienaber
and
@StephaniBaker
My book review in the Financial Times in print tomorrow – a memoir of a unique journey to understand South Africa by
@Sisonkemsimang
which I strongly recommend
For thousands of Harvard students, including me, this was the last ever week of classes (in person, at least). I wrote a short reflection on the coronavirus evacuation, which you can read here:
I interviewed a man who has spent 36 years of his life renovating a country house he bought from Led Zeppelin. And now you can read all about it in the FT – online now and in print tomorrow
@ftweekend
:
Really unfortunate angle here. Stories like this need to be leading with the vast cost savings over time this produces from using less energy – and the ultimate costs of not doing this at all
We’re talking COP and climate on
#BBCLaurak
tomorrow - this FOI reveals how huge the cost can be even for govt itself - Climate change: Decarbonising UK public buildings to cost £25-30bn 👇🏼
British households will see an £85 jump in energy bills because of the collapse of Bulb and other suppliers, regulator Ofgem said. The documents were released on judge's orders after Bloomberg and FT requested.
via
@rachelmorison
@jonny_browning
My first words in Bloomberg today, reporting from re-opening of the Milk House, Sissinghurst. Not sure how well the one-way systems will last when patrons are a few pints down tonight. With some great colleagues
@poppieplatt
@jadeswilson
@LibbyCherry98
As others have pointed out, it's not the first time VW is making successful commodity trades
It added €3.5 billion to earnings earlier this year from good bets on metal markets to shield against volatile price moves
@MonicaRaymunt
@mburtonmetals
Big day for Europe's electricity grids as cold weather lifts demand, wind levels are low, and the UK prepares to use reserve coal plants to increase power supply
Follow our latest updates here throughout the day:
@BloombergUK
Here's the full unit cost and standing charge breakdown for UK bills from October, with a winter to winter comparison.
+148% electricity rate
+275% gas rate
Now added to our story on the UK price cap rise:
Pharma executives in the know are mixing their own vaccine combinations in the belief it'll give them more immunity than two shots of the same.
Great to discuss this on
@Quicktake
with
@timsteno
and
@kerinalthoff
. Full segment from yesterday's show here:
British energy supplier E.On has been forced to backtrack after complaints that it trivialized the impact of the energy crisis on consumers—by sending customers polyester socks
One estimate: these Nord Stream leaks could emit 9.6 million tons of CO2e.
That’s the same climate impact as the emissions from 2 million gasoline cars over the course of a year, or two and a half coal power stations.
@johnainger
Devastating read on how the UK normalised gambling to become the world's largest online market
-- Political donations growing
-- Innovators trying to help are frozen out
-- 8% of suicides linked to gambling
By
@GavinFinchBBG
@harrynwilson
@annjychoi
Today is my first day on Bloomberg's credit team after a great four weeks covering investing and real estate. Hit me up with any tips on bonds, bills or bankruptcies! tgillespie30
@bloomberg
.net
Labour's
@Ed_Miliband
calls on the government to respond to report of a loophole that allowed Drax to avoid sending millions to consumers
“The Conservatives must explain why they have allowed a situation in which households have been ripped off.”
The UK government is set to approve the sale of bust energy supplier Bulb to Octopus as soon as this week
Possibly the final chapter in a drawn-out nationalisation plan that's seen government liabilities mount
SCOOP w/
@ManySundays
@EllenAMilligan
Bloomberg is hiring!
Come join us on the energy team, covering European utilities, markets and policy.
Job can be based in London, Amsterdam or Frankfurt.
@business
@BloombergUK
The Economist suggests Jordan Peterson's visiting fellowship at Cambridge was rescinded "under pressure from students". As established a month ago, this is not correct
@adwooldridge
. Please correct. See:
The Faculty of Divinity decided to revoke the fellowship offer after they “became aware of a photography of Professor Peterson posing with his arm around a man wearing a T-shirt that clearly bore the slogan, ‘I’m a proud Islamophobe’”, Toope said
“what the past year has shown is that it’s possible to go harder and faster in deploying solar panels and batteries, reducing energy use, and permanently swapping out entrenched sources of fossil fuel”
Great read from
@MathisWilliam
and
@AkshatRathi
Another thing for Europe to worry about: water levels on the Rhine River are dwindling—at a risk to the continent’s efforts to ship fuel for power stations and boost its energy supply