Power prices for next year rise after Didcot fire – DMR

The fire at Didcot gas plant is likely to have pushed up prices for electricity bought for delivery in Spring next year. Though prices actually fell on Monday, the day after […]

The fire at Didcot gas plant is likely to have pushed up prices for electricity bought for delivery in Spring next year.

Though prices actually fell on Monday, the day after flames engulfed cooling towers at the plant, analysts believe it has edged up prices for the first three months of 2015 (known as Q1).

In the daily market report for ELN, Steve Walker, Client Portfolio Manager at npower’s Optimisation Desk said: “Q1 ‘15 UK baseload spark spreads increased by 30pence a megawatt hour (MWh) as a result of the likely reduction in availability through the period.”

 

For now the prices are stable though, he added: “In contrast to that rise, November barely moved, around 10p a MWh.”

That’s because of “strong” renewable energy being fed in to the grid – wind hit a record output over the weekend – and “weak underlying demand”.

Prices for UK baseload power in November 2014 were at £47.20 per MWh, while energy to be delivered in Summer 2015 was going for £48.15 this morning, according to the analyst.

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